While I have to agree that, on paper, 2 tube 8 footers give the most bang for the buck, I went with el cheapo 2 tube 4 footers from the local big box.
Reasoning?
They are cheap. (Do get the ones with a reflector to aim most of the light down.)
Most big box’s have a little, if any, questions asked return policy in case the fixture goes bad. (I do keep a special file for these kind of receipts.)
4 foot tubes are easy to get late on a Sunday night if you need them.
4 foot tubes are often a sale item. That makes them even cheaper.
I like to use a mix of bulbs and tubes to avoid strobe effect that the woodworking guys are afraid of. It makes a table saw blade look like it is standing still when it is running. This is real important if you ware earmuffs or like loud tunes and cannot hear the saw running.
Tubes on a cord are real easy to move around if your first guess on placement wasn’t quite right. A “J” hook and a chain are pretty easy to put where you want. I plug them into the bulb fixtures with an outlet built in. This makes them come on with the bulbs to make sure I don’t have the above problem, and lets me move them if I want.
4 foot tubes are so common there are no questions asked about them. I once had a trash guy refuse to take some bad 8 footers. They were “hasmat”. He laid them out real careful on the lawn and his office called to explain why he didn’t take them. Of course they didn’t know about the plastic bag full of broken glass in the can the next week, but why set yourself up for the problem?
Sometimes pretty has to make way for practical.
