Actually, it's not that bad, really. Step back for a second. What kind of bulb are you interested in running? Then figure out what ballast you're interested in. If money isn't an object, then get the nice ones. Price wise the electronics are the most expensive by far (probably about twice as much as anything else), then the pulse starts, and then the probe starts can be found for pretty cheap usually.
It's not like you can't run a bulb designed to run on a pulse-start ballast on a probe start ballast (I run 2 175W Ushios using M57 ballasts I paid $30 each for 4 years ago!) but it IS better to match bulbs to preferred ballasts. You might encounter problems with starting, or premature bulb aging, stuff like that. I suppose worst-case scenario the bulb won't light at all but I've not encountered that.
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-- Tony
My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
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