Questions About Light Intensity/Meters. Help!

[x Darth Vapor x]

Can someone please give me some feedback on these questions? I'm in the process of building my first room and any help would be really appreciated.
1) What is the most popular way to measure light intensity? Is it LUX or FC?
2) What is a good light intensity for seedlings? Clones? Vegging plants?
3) Where's a good place to get a light meter? I've seen ones from $30 all the way to $500. All I need it for is to determine the light intensity at any given point in the room. I don't need any special features like digital memory. Is all I need a light meter that measures in just one of the units of measurement (LUX or FC)?
Thanks a lot for any time,
~ D
:?:

[Doobiedude]

I just bought a 3-way meter that measures light, pH and soil moisture. It works quite well and I got it at Lowes hardware. It's called Soil Master from Mosser Lee. Around $10 bucks, doesn't need batteries.
For light info, go to this site:

Questions About Plant Grow Lighting?

and you'll find answers about lighting, bulbs, intensity and much more.

Seedlings don't need HID lighting in the beginning, get a couple compact fluorescents, 42W (150W CFLs) for each plant for the first week or so. Then go to metal halide for vegging, HPS for flowering. There are ballasts that are switchable and there are bulbs that are conversion, meaning they have both MH and HPS characteristics. Lots of info out there.
Hope this helps.