Which T8 price point for cost/longevity?

[jamesfjamesf]

Just spent a few hours reading through the lighting threads and decided on 4' T8s for my garage. Lowe's has some for $20, with some reviews saying the ballasts crapped out at 6 months. HD has a $32 with one review (filtered to 4 stars and up).

Since this is a pretty dynamic market, and I'm not near a Menard's, which Lowes/HD fixtures are people happy with?

thanks,
jim
Tyngsboro, MA

 

[pattenp]

Lowes Metalux Item #: 163719 | Model #: SNF232RC or Item #: 162876 | Model #: WS232

 

[PushnFords]

Hopefully this is helpful to the thread & not a hijack...how useful is the wrap/diffuser in a home garage?

I've been researching the same thing:

Wrapped

vs

Bare

 

[Falcon67]

I did the same thinking about warp vs unwrap and 4' vs 8'. I went with 8' 4 bulb T8 Lithonia fixtures from HD. $40/each, takes 1/2 the time to mount and wire vs the equivalent output of 4' fixtures. Fixture cost worked out about the same. I went unwrapped so I'd not have to deal with cleaning the diffusers. Bugs and such. I just try to remember to look up when swinging around an 8' board LOL.

I'm at 3 years and have replaced three bulbs and zero ballasts in 13 fixtures.

 

[minerfarmer]

I put up 20 of the four foot Metalux SNF232RC in a 36X20 shop on four switches. I ended up using 4100k bulbs and like how it turned out.

 

[rburke65]

I bought my 8' long T-8s fixtures....4 lamps.....from Home Depot. Very happy with them.

 

[Rookie2]

FYI:

http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/lightingAnswers/t8/sitemap.asp

Ten years ago Graybar Electric Co. told me as a commercial customer that to insure a long lamp life that the longer the initial start up (8-10 hours) the longer the lamp will survive. I've had lamps burn ten years in a commercial office setting.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

I used Lowe's tandem T-8 with 6500K bulbs

 

[NUTTSGT]

Other than price, one thing you may want to look for also is the type of ballast the fixture has. Things have changed a bit in the last couple of years.

I bought some fixtures at Menard's (American Fluorescent) and they had a commerical ballast creating RFI. I actually had to move the radio to the other side of the garage. When I put new fixtures on that side, I went to HD and bought some Lithonia fixtures. The Lithonias, I've only had a month or two but they have an electronic ballst and create no RFI.

Also, I'd suggest that you consider the price difference between a 4' 2 lamp fixture and 8' 4 lamp. You may find that the larger fixtures are not that much more expensive.