Subject: Which T8 bulbs throw best light for shop?
Define "best", in this context. Notwithstanding a few "oddball" special-application models, all standard F32T8 tubes put out more-or-less the same amount of light (say, +/- 5%, which isn't enough of a variance to notice; the ballast will make WAY more difference than that).
I've got a 4 (4') bulb - T8 light fixture with 32W "Cool White" bulbs, but they are just not bright enough for me...
Where and how is this fixture mounted? In what sort of space? What is the mounting height, vis-a-vis the ceiling height? How are the interior surfaces of that space finished? Does this fixture have any sort of built-in reflector or diffuser? And do you REALLY have only one of them? Even in a smallish single-bay garage, that would be horribly inadequate to light up the entire space, regardless of any of the other answers; in a larger space, it's simply that much more inadequate.
Any suggestions? Bright White? any others?
Yeah... I'm thinking it's more of a 'color' issue for me.
I've seen bulbs for (1) Cool White, (2) Bright White, & (3) Day Light.
First, none of those terms have any real meaning. They are merely marketing buzzwords, which can effectively mean anything the manufacturer wants them to mean, with no inherent correlation to what the NEXT manufacturer might mean by the same term. The only MEANINGFUL designation for the spectral output is the Color Temperature (in degrees Kelvin) and the Color Rendering Index ("CRI"), which for fluorescent tubes is crappy-at-best anyway.
Second, neither of these factors has much of anything to do with "brightness", per se. For that, you need more raw output (i.e., lumens), period.
But I suspect, from the whole of your comments, that what you REALLY need more than a "brighter" light, is better distribution of whatever light you have.
Actually considering swapping the ugly laundry room fixture to the garage and updating the laundry light to LED. I'd also like to chat with the person who outfitted our garage with ONE dual receptacle on one wall and ONE single outlet on the opposite wall.