[RiovistaAndy]

I came looking for a place to offer a review on a purchase UPS dropped off tonight. I'd ordered 5 LED lights from Rockler. They were $15.00 each, with free shipping.

I panicked, seeing the package. The box was about 5" x 6" x 4'. I thought I'd screwed up and just bought tubes that replace fluorescent tubes. It was late and the picture in the ad can be mistaken for the common double tube type fixture (it's on me, I did).

I opened the box, and one of the 5 boxes inside. They were single tube lights in their entirety. I took it to a back room, where I had just installed a corncob LED. I plugged it in and was pleasantly surprised to see it better lit the room than the 30 watt corncob did. [For those unaware, 30 watts is a lot of wattage in the LED world.]

I have twenty-four double 4' lights, of which four are still fluorescent. Thanks to Costco aside, I'm thinking I like these better, for the mere $6.00 bucks more than two of the double type fixtures ran me. With these, I can separate two bulbs, which seems a much better solution to lighting my 30x60 shop.

3200-Lumen Metal 4' LED Shop Light

An easy, efficient and long-lasting lighting solution—emits 3,200 lumens to illuminate the darkest corners of your shop.

www.rockler.com

I bought five Harbor Tools LED four foot lights. And one 3200 lumes from Rockler. The HT are a lot less expensive than Rockler unless you find them on sale.
I could not see a difference between the HT and Rocker's. I'm going to add two LED spotlights in three areas in my shop. None of these 3200 lumin class bulbs give enought light to do intricate work.
But my eyesight is probably different than the OPs.

 

[mtlakejim]

I've only really briefly looked at the replies but one thing seems missing and that would be the height and type/color of the ceiling/walls. My shop is an unfinished part of my basement and while I have hung more than a few LED "shop" lights the shields and covers make a difference as does the height. The walls have bat insulation (white paper cover and the ceilings are studs) Then of course there's the "warmth/color" as well. Soft sucks for a shop in my opinion but you may like it, it's a personal choice. Diffuses make a difference as well. As of now I have 16 - 4' double tubes hung and there are times when measuring or setting a jig it can be too dim. This shop is 22'x30' less the steps to upstairs. Of course older eyes don't help........and now thanks to taking the pictures and posting I see I still haven't run the "new" wiring as I wanted to..........

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We made our workbenches out of white melamine and that seems to help a lot too. We plan to go with white ceilings once we sheetrock for the same reason. For sure hanging mulitple fixtures at different angles over work areas helps reduce shadows.

 

[Alphonse53]

I now have all LED in shop, garage, office (shed) and throughout the house. I have two 3200 lumen reflector lights over TS and bench, plus several other high out put LEDs in sockets. Old eyes love lots of light. I have one 5k from HF on my patio, but it's almost too bright. I wonder if they're any good as grow lights for my wife's plants?

I'm replacing mine as the fluorescent starters play out. I have a 5K lumen over my metal lathe. With 6x diopters, I've found that magnification to focus up close works, but requires a lot more light. With a 10x magnifier headset, the more light the better.

 

[RiovistaAndy]

We made our workbenches out of white melamine and that seems to help a lot too. We plan to go with white ceilings once we sheetrock for the same reason. For sure hanging mulitple fixtures at different angles over work areas helps reduce shadows.

Other than the white painted walls and melamine it's just like you said.

 

[imaginationuninc]

Yep, finishing walls and ceilings makes a HUGE difference. Even with the help of equipment, putting up 4'x8' sheets of rock is a project. As such, only one end of my shop is finished out (i.e., rocked, taped, sanded, sealed, primed and painted semi-gloss white). The difference in lighting is almost night and day between this section and the section with just tan batting with writing.

. . . . lights the shields and covers make a difference as does the height. The walls have bat insulation (white paper cover and the ceilings are studs) Then of course there's the "warmth/color" as well. Soft sucks for a shop in my opinion but you may like it, it's a personal choice. Diffuses make a difference as well. As of now I have 16 - 4' double tubes hung and there are times when measuring or setting a jig it can be too dim. This shop is 22'x30' less the steps to upstairs. Of course older eyes don't help........and now thanks to taking the pictures and posting I see I still haven't run the "new" wiring as I wanted to..........

View attachment 404127 View attachment 404128

 

[RiovistaAndy]

Yep, finishing walls and ceilings makes a HUGE difference. Even with the help of equipment, putting up 4'x8' sheets of rock is a project. As such, only one end of my shop is finished out (i.e., rocked, taped, sanded, sealed, primed and painted semi-gloss white). The difference in lighting is almost night and day between this section and the section with just tan batting with writing.

I have the same problems when laying out marker lines. My area of 8×12 has 6 single bulbs. I'm going to get a couple of old school clamp on reflector light fixtures and use spotlight bulbs.