Some updated shop lighting...

[Joe Jensen]

I'm big on lot's of light, in my 22 by 32 shop I have 36 four foot T8 bulbs. I am also pretty passionate about accurate color rendering especially in the shop. Color temp is one factor but color linearity is even more important. Your eyes adapt to color temp but color linearity will trick you. Color Rendering Index is a measure that is required by law on bulbs. I buy high CRI bulbs but they still aren't perfect. Here is a ling to an article that explains why.

http://yujiintl.com/high-cri-led-lig...ZmKhoCETXw_wcB

[Greg R Bradley]

Where does one buy better T5 and T8 bulbs than the 10 or 12 packs at HD and Lowes? And how do we find the correct specs to know whether we're buying the right bulbs?

The florescent light manufacturers are really good about the published information. Heres a link to Sylvania overview:
http://www.sylvania.com/en-us/produc...-T8-Lamps.aspx
If you click on "Product Specifications" below each bulb type it will give you a PDF of that entire product.
The 800 XP XL is their super long life, which sacrifices a bit of efficiency to last for 10 years of 24x7 use.
The 800 XPS is the high efficiency long life. 21681 is the 97 lumen per watt 40,000 hours bulbs in 4100K.
The 800 XV is power saver version, less wattage but less light too.

If you find it hard to get a decent price at a local light supplier, Amazon can be very useful. I recently bought 30 21681 from Amazon for $100 including shipping. I see they are now showing them at $98 + $11 shipping for me across the country: http://www.amazon.com/SYL-FO32-841-X...sylvania+21681

eLightbulbs has them at about $4.50 each but then shipping is on top of that. Probably still reasonable as long as you were buying several at a time.

I haven't seen any florescents with even rare earth phosphors in a while in Lowes or HD. They did have them in small quantities 10 years ago. But they are buying something like Sylvania 21681 for their own use in their own buildings......

[Art Mann]

I wish Sam's or Costco would distribute economical LED fixtures that were designed for flush mount. I don't want to have outlets, extension cords or lots of esxposed wiring on the ceiling of my shop. It is easy to buy T-8 fixtures that are flush mount.

[Jim Becker]

I installed the Feit LED replacement lamps this weekend in most of my remaining T12 fixtures and they worked perfectly. While at just under $20 a tube they are not as low cost as the direct-wire versions, they greatly simplified my install since the fixtures and ballasts were just fine. They work in both T8 and T12 fixtures, too. They appear to essentially be the same LED assemblies used in the full fixtures I already installed. The light in my shop is now outstanding...and at the 4100K temp I like.