Since I am almost always take the opposite stand, I will say that IMHO is indeed MH is a North American fad. I will also say that I use only PC's over my 50 gallon tank. I will, however, temper my opinion by saying it depends entirely what you intend to keep in the tank. If you want to keep Acropora, and have colorful tips on them you will need the higher intensity of MH lighting. If you keep only softies, and LPS like I do then PC's will be just fine.
I realise there will be lots of disagreement, but that is my opinion.
