alltatup I was hesitant to chime in at all when
sweeper91 posted his question...."what's best"
If "best" is simple, then using a single manufacturer could be construed as `best`.
If `best`` is economical, then mixing and matching compatible products or even making your own nutrients from base salts might be `best`
If `best` is ease of use, then no one would ever resort to mixing base salts, they`d just buy bottles and trust the manufacturers to be acting in their best interests.
I have some personal biases against certain manufacturers because of their advertising and labelling....I`m never going to buy a product from A.N. because they don`t put all of their info on the labels, rather, they plaster them with cartoon pics of women with their tits out (B-52). If I have to resort to reading a Safety Data Sheet, to find out what`s in the bottle, that spawns some trust issues for me.
I try to listen to what people are saying about their nutrient choices and take it in context. My experience is that people with money to burn will tout their product choices as status symbols, and gloss over the actual results.
I`m not the first to suggest that environment plays a bigger role in growing healthy plants, than choice of nutrient lineup.