Magnetic and Electronic Ballasts

[demeyer2]

What are some of the differences other than the obvious one. Is one better? All opinions welcome.

[jwithem26]

electronic ballast will run mogul or double ended while magnetic will run one certain kind of bulb. in my opinion electronic is better.

[nyvp]

I also belive they are more $ to buy but cheaper to run

[kfowler]

Supposedly you don't hear the "hum" with electronic.

[demeyer2]

thanks guys

[monicaswizzle]

I recently purchased an electronic due to the lack of hum issue. (Never had either one before, but my wife was concerned about possible noise.) In addition to the bennies listed above, I have read that they start the bulb more gently and therefore extend bulb life. The one downside that I experienced is that as soon as I installed the electronic my TV reception (satelite) went to hell.
This kind of interference turns out to be fairly common with electronic, I am not sure if it is also an issue with magnetic. In my case it was easy to fix simply by replacing the coax cable that went from the wall to the TV with a shielded one (less than $1 per foot). In the process of figuring out what to do I read horror stories of folks who spent $100s and still finally switched out the electronic for a magnetic.

Good luck whichever route you go.