I am just a week or two from finishing my first grow which is successful in that all the plants didn't die but probably not what in the future I would consider a successful grow. Because of the summer coming up I may not grow until the end of summer here but I'm thinking about trying a grow of photoperiod strains. I know that it's a personal decision but I'm interested to hear opinions on the subject.
Ken
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It really depends on what you are looking for and the equipment you have. There are benefits and drawbacks for each.
For instance, I assume you are not growing in summer because of heat. If you were to grow autos you could grow them on a longer cycle at lower power and remove heat as an issue. In that same regard, you can also get a better yeild with an inferior light because your light doesn't have to be as strong. Probably the biggest upside to autos in my personal opinion is that you can rotate them so that you have a harvest every 2 to 3 weeks while only using 1 tent. This also opens up the possibility to rotate in new genetics whenever you want without much issue. Light leaks are less detrimental to the development of the plant also. The main drawback is that you can't keep a mom if you find that fire pheno, it will just be gone forever.
On the other hand photos are not bound by time so you can veg however you want and wait until things are just the way you want before you flip. Photos can also be grown on a longer cycle during veg with lower wattage to reduce heat. You also have the option to keep a mom around if you find something worth keeping. Photos give you a bigger buffer for correcting issues in veg but a smaller buffer for correcting flowering issues than autos. The down sides to Photos are light cycle restriction, they require higher ppfd, and they are sensitive to disruptions in their dark cycle.
Either is good, it just depends on what you want out of it.