Syn,
My best success has been starting indoor with T5 ho lamps. I see much better growth in veg during the first few weeks when under t5s in a controlled environment than outdoor. Not to mention T5s are cheaper for the amount of area they cover and wont give you heat issues.
I wouldn't say the risk of pests, sunlight or transplant shock should isn't worth starting them indoor. The chances of your plant being eaten outdoors (particularly in the case of all of the growth nodes being eaten off rendering the plant useless) is significantly higher in the first 3-4 weeks - period. If you grow them inside past this point you should have much better success. After this point of growth when put outside in some areas you have more risk of animals simply digging them up, so put a small wire cage on them if you can.
When transplanting outdoor just try to disturb the roots as little as possible and make sure you water it good after. Unless the soil is super hard clay (which you shouldn't be planting in anyways) you wont have to worry about over-watering outdoor. Light shock can be overcome using two methods..... the first is to wake up and put your plants outside before the sun comes up, and the second is to put them in a shady area under a big tree that you know the sun will hit after a few hours. Both methods are using the same principal to overcome shock - they ensure thatt the sun light wont hit the plants all at once and strait on, instead it slowly hits them from the side a little, and gets stronger as the sun moves.
My point is that even with all factors considered, I believe most people will have better yield per plant and better survival rate when started indoor for the first few weeks (though depending on your circumstances it can be ALOT more work). And I'm sure I'm not the first to have said this here.....
I hope this helps.....
Jigga
