How good do the led's work?

He has $200 total for lighting and needs to light up a 3x4 area for veg and flower, led isnt gonna work for him very well. If he had more to spend then ok, but $200 for a 3x4=HID, T5s, or some higher watt cfl's.

I agree but he has a 3x4 area which he said he'll only use for maybe two plants, so I don't think he needs to light up/cover that whole area. But as JBone said, maybe the HID or CFL/T5 route might be the better in this case with the limited funds.