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[John Halliburton]

What you can find in the big box stores (or at Costco) for under $30/fixture is pretty nice nowadays. I ended up hanging some 4' Feit Electric shop lights in my garage, nice light and they barely draw anything which is a big plus for my single-circuit detached garage.

I've got two dual HO 96" main fixtures, a 4x48" over the bench, and 2x48" over the table saw. I have a slightly oversized two car garage(shop).  Ceiling is actually a bit taller at 102".  This lighting rig draws 4 amps.  Been looking at replacing it all with LED fixtures, which would probably drop the draw down to 1amp, and probably be as bright with fewer fixtures.


Not having to change tubes or replace ballasts is a nice touch as well.

Best regards,

John

[Keith Broughton]

I just installed 4 - 4' LED fixtures, in my garage/shop, from Lights of America (8140SE2-WH5) 4500 lumens at 5K.
Plug in style and can be mounted close to the ceiling.
Paid about $75 CDN each from TSC store.
http://www.lightsofamerica.com/shop-lights/

[Bob Stone]

I just installed 4 - 4' LED fixtures, in my garage/shop, from Lights of America (8140SE2-WH5) 4500 lumens at 5K.
Plug in style and can be mounted close to the ceiling.
Paid about $75 CDN each from TSC store.
http://www.lightsofamerica.com/shop-lights/

Yup, those are the same as I'm using (in the pics above). They go on sale at TSC all the time for $50-55 CAD.

[Stephen Swaffer]

Another vote for these. Bought 3 packs (18 in total) and have plenty of light in a 20' x 24' workshop/garage. Very lightweight, easy to install and only protrude an inch or so.

With LED lights pay attention to the color temperature. It can be a bit of a personal choice. 6500k as linked above to too blueish for my tastes so I went with the 5000k version of those lights. I'm happy with that but If I had to buy again I think I would go with 4000k for the garage as going from the house where all my lights are 2700-3000k to the garage is a bit of a change. 3000k is too yellow for shop work as you don't get good color rendering. If you do a lot of painting you probably want a higher temp. Older people generally like higher temp too but that gives a very sterile hospital feel to the room.

Also the above lights have a frosted diffusor on them, If you want brighter more focused light you can take the diffusor off like I did or buy them with clear diffusors. Without the diffusors you do get a shadow high up on the wall.

If color rendering is a concern, pay attention to the CRI-higher is better 100=daylight.  LED's can vary quite a bit and cheaper is often lower-typically there will be missing "bands" of color.  Efficacy can vary a lot, too-but probably not a huge issue in a small shop.  I recently had a vendor suggest a 23,000 lumen fixture using 200 watts-my alternat was the same (actually a bit more) lumnes at 135 watts.  4K is typical office lighting-I prefer 5K for shop work.

[Bob Faulkner]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! 

Researching what you all provided led me to another alternative:
https://fusion-lamps.com/wp-content/fusion-assets/pdf/Fusion_DataSheet_FLED40HID5KMED.pdf

I went with this solution due to not needing to install (or rework) anything... and that the light it produces is exceptional. 

The garage/shop area does have an area that will need its own light source, of which I will probably do a LED light tube (as you all referenced above).

Thanks for the assistance.

[Keith Broughton]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! 

Researching what you all provided led me to another alternative:
https://fusion-lamps.com/wp-content/fusion-assets/pdf/Fusion_DataSheet_FLED40HID5KMED.pdf

I went with this solution due to not needing to install (or rework) anything... and that the light it produces is exceptional. 

The garage/shop area does have an area that will need its own light source, of which I will probably do a LED light tube (as you all referenced above).

Thanks for the assistance.

The problem, I find, with lights like this is that there is a high intensity light from a small source rather than spread out a little.
With my glasses (and age) the glare is hard to take.
I started with 1600 lumen (regular style) LED bulbs but eventually went to a 4' fixture.
Just my $.02 worth.

[Dave Garoutte]

The problem, I find, with lights like this is that there is a high intensity light from a small source rather than spread out a little.
With my glasses (and age) the glare is hard to take.
I started with 1600 lumen (regular style) LED bulbs but eventually went to a 4' fixture.
Just my $.02 worth.

An certainly not flush mount.

[Bob Faulkner]

An certainly not flush mount.

I originally considered the flush mount because that's all that appeared available for what I needed.   On these "bulbs", the square-area that emits the light is somewhat large (the bulbs themselves are ~10" long and ~4" in diameter).  The garage ceiling is about 16' high.  It's high enough that I don't "see" the light source and though the light does hang down (from the length of the light itself), it's still high enough that it rarely (so far) comes in to view while working in the garage.

[Kevin Conlon]

I just put 4 of these in my garage and love them: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HBT3BVM

They're not flush, but they don't stick out but an inch from the ceiling. In a 20x20ft garage space they light things up noticeably brighter than ambient sunlight. They link together easily and my only gripe is that the clips to mount them don't play nice with textured ceilings so I sometimes have to pop one back in every few months (scraping all that crap off is on my to-do list this year). Didn't have that issue at my old place which was just plain sheetrock.

I used the wall cable and a screw-in edison adapter to power them for a while before pulling the screw fixture out and just hard-wiring them in. No issues for well over a year. Instant light and a surprisingly even coverage. I even got a couple of the shorter 2ft versions and put them over my workbench in case I really need to examine something. Hard to beat for the price.

Those are what i bought but mine were 120 bucks for 25 of them, i got 2 boxes. Instant on, even when cold, and put tubes to shame. I rent my work place so i disconected  the ballasts in the tubes and conected these. Superior light output and low kw use.

[drew gandy]

If color rendering is a concern, pay attention to the CRI-higher is better 100=daylight.  LED's can vary quite a bit and cheaper is often lower-typically there will be missing "bands" of color. 

Timely topic for me! 
I would love to shop using CRI but so many of the inexpensive shop lights don't have this info. 

Has anyone noticed a change in color or character of the light as they "burn-in"? 

A couple months ago I bought a couple packs of 4' Fluorescent -> LED replacement tubes at Costco.  When I installed them I was instantly impressed with not only the amount of light but also found the character of the light was surprisingly "satisfying".  I don't recall at the moment what the color temp is supposed to be but they just feel good to stand under, even with just one fixture.   

Although I do have a lot of fluorescent fixtures that I could install replacement tubes into I'm working on a new section of the shop and have been tempted by the standalone LED fixtures.  So, I picked up a "single tube" model from Menards that claims 5000 lumens with a 4k color temp.  They have a nice solid aluminum extrusion body, a 5' cord and a 3-prong extension outlet all for about $20 each. 

But..  A) I've found the color is rather yellow.  I generally prefer a warmer temp and expected 4k to be on the colder side compared to the 2700 fluorescent tubes I've had for years.  The light is decent in output but feels like it's missing something in terms of color.  I'm wondering if it might even out a bit over time.  B)  Same complaint as Keith except this actually is a 4'.  The light is so concentrated in the single narrow tube that, at least with one fixture hanging up, it feels harsh.  I think this would improve with several more of the same fixture in the same room because the whole room would be brighter and the light sources spread out. 

Anyway, I'm thinking about this issue and appreciate the suggestions. 

Looks like I bought two different part numbers for what appears to be the same FEIT tubes at Costco.  First set were 1063293.
Second set was 1279279.  I will try to update with the FEIT part number later on.  I'm just going off the receipt for now. 

http://costcocouple.com/feit-electric-4-ft-led-tubes/

https://www.menards.com/main/lighting-ceiling-fans/indoor-lighting/work-shop-lights/smart-electrician-reg-45-5000-lumen-led-shop-light/gt-sl5000-link/p-1521873022724-c-1472133557086.htm?tid=-6875255619801169894&ipos=1

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