1st time grower.... EVER

I'm growing autos because I'm growing in a closet I can't keep light in/out of. It has a nifty readymade pole for hanging lights and other things hehe You can technically grow autos on a window ledge in whatever size pot you want and you WILL get bud at the end of it. You only have to buy into all the other stuff if you want a particular/better outcome.

You don't need autoflowers when you have a small area. You can flip them to 12 and 12 to keep them small. There is nothing wrong with autoflowers if this is the way you want to go. With autoflowers you need to be very selective with the seeds you use. Fast buds, Mesphito, Anesia, Barny. I buy my beans from 207 Genetics, they are great. I would go with any seed they sell except for their own. Don't buy 207 Genetics seeds, not that great. They sell a lot of other breeders seeds and they're all good.

Meh, i don't think space has anything to do with the choice. If you are concerned about maintaining an uninterrupted dark period, then i'd favor autos. Otehrwises, photos are just better plants overall. Some contexts do favor them.. the difference is small in quality and more about inconsistencies of structure etc. They are much more sensitive to how you treat them and any mistake fucks the yield, whereas you only lose time with photoperiods due to mistakes in vege. Don't skimp on your light. A high-end LED will last 7+ years of constant use. The intiial cost will be mitigated by saving electricity over that entire time and longer before you buy a new one. It may cost more day 1 but will be cheaper by the end. (if samsung lm301 based light, a high end light absolutely must have a wats:diode ration at or near 0.25w/diode, otherwise the advertised "50k" hours of use is total bullshit relative to how far it deviates from that 0.25w/diode mark -- anything too far over 0.5w/diode i wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole.) The benefit of autos would allow you to skimp on tent or skip completely... the reflective walls are nice but don't make nearly as big of a difference as advertised. you will absolutely not see any majore increase to yield... your lower and side buds on periphery may improve in quality slightly. Without a tent you don't need exhaust fans etc... a simple nearby fan for circulation is plenty. imho, go soilles your first grow. It's super easy to control with very little guessowrk by comparison. There are benefits to soil grows and hydorponics, but soilless is mindless and easy. you will still learn a lot about the process and can easily transition later. Simply irrigate with a 1.3-1.5EC balanced mix every single irrigation with 10-15% runoff and it will be near perfect if oyu choose good products. checkout Jack's nutrients or anythign similar if not in usa/canada. dry nutes have a 30year shelf life and cheaper, but are more of a pain to mix. liquid nutes are more expensive but easier to mix. A proper brand will have good ph-buffering and not need more than ~3 products to provide for the plants. A 2 or 3 part system is useful because it allows for some adjustment.

Stick with photoperiod plants, autos are not all they are made out to be and really need a lot of skill to get the best out of them. You can save a lot of electricity too Using a fairly typical 12 week cycle as an example........ Autos = 12 weeks at 18 hours of light, for a total of 1512 hours of lights on time Photos = 4 weeks at 18 hours of light and 8 weeks at 12 hours of light, for a total of 1176 hours of lights on time..... Therefore, growing photoperiod plants will save you 336 hours of lights on time over the 12 week cycle. I know which power bill I would prefer!

I’d go photo periods personally. You’ll get more bud in about the same time and it’s better quality and more forgiving. Reality is autos aren’t for beginners IMO.. I’d research easy to grow resilient varieties that are fem photo period and go from there

More relevant than whether you grow autoflower or photoperiod is what "not a lot of equipment or space" means. Neither of them will grow without proper grow lights for example, and without a tent or other light proof space you can forget about photoperiods that require real uninterrupted darkness.

Autos are what I started with and the only thing I've grown.. but they're a lot more finicky than photoperiods... you only have a finite amount of time to do anything to correct problems you might encounter... and if you don't correct them in time, you risk losing the entire grow... which is what is happening (I think) to me right now... trying to learn how to grow in DWC and I'm pretty sure I screwed them up badly early in the game and they're not going to give me any harvest whatsoever... That being said, if you do go with autoflowers, and things go right, you'll have a good harvest very quickly... Photoperiods are a lot more forgiving and there's a lot more you can do to them to keep them confined to your space. They can still be harvested in a relatively short amount of time and if you screw things up, you can always re-veg them to get them back on track... Lots to consider here... whatever you decide, enjoy the journey and ask a lot of questions!

If you dont sale or get some other profit from it, grow only photo periods. I had few good auto strains, but generally its still 12-14 weeks for autos and its running 18/6 , bill way higher. Plus taste and hit stronger of photo depending .