Exactly. A lot of what goes into light preference is upkeep cost, power usage, desired features, setup and lighting aesthetics. I don't think any reef-targeted light is truly better at growing coral than another if set at the light's ideal height and ideal schedule for the coral, that includes fixtures with those tiny rectangular leds like the finnex ray 2 that literally grew acropora, the most light-intensive coral. Would you set those light up 16" above the display? No, of course not. But that doesn't mean they can't grow coral perfectly fine at 3" above the display.Its just so funny because all of the options work well. It is simply down to what the user prefers in terms of features. For me, I couldn't hang a light nor have a mini heater above the tank, so t5 and metal halides were not an option in any of the tanks I have had. But, that doesn't mean those lights are bad at growing coral. The only likely difference in just the light source itself (i.e. not mounting height, not spread, not shimmer, etc.) is that LEDs can be more efficient per dollar in terms of growing power due to the extreme customization of color (i.e. more blue = more the quicker one can hit photosaturation, despite what some claim about full spectrum being the best for coral growth rates). But guess what, they all grow coral just fine.
See Comparative performance of light emitting plasma (LEP) and light emitting diode (LED) in ex situ aquaculture of scleractinian corals