Hello, I mentioned these lights in a previous post, but didn’t have the means to photograph/post an example. Thanks to my lovely wife and a recent birthday, I now have that ability.
Sylvania makes a florescent bulb that puts out light very similar to an incandescent bulb. I personally hate the hard blue white of a regular florescent bulb, and fell in love with these. The light is very pleasing. They are called “Sylvania Designer Warm Whites” $7.00 a pair
It’s hard to photograph light, but you can see the color of the light on the white wall of the shop. The warm whites are on the left, standard bulbs on the right.
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Justus, Thanks for the photo, the difference is pretty dramatic. I built a shop two years ago with nine 8' fixtures for a total of 36 4' tubes. Without giving it much thought I put in cool white bulbs. The amount of light is great but it is harsh, especially at night. I'd planned to try something else when these start going bad so will check out the Sylvania. Are they commonly sold at HD etc?
Ian
In my shop I used GE SPX triple phosphor lamps. They have a very high color rendering index (CRI). You can get them balanced to warm (SPX30), mid (SPX35), cool (SPX41). Retail they are about $10 for a 4 foot T8 tube, but from an electrical contractor's supply house I paid $3 each. They produce excellent color, very natural looking. I went with the mid range SPX35.
Thanks Wayne, I recall now that when I originally bought the 36 lamps the savings was considerable at our elec. supply vs. Lowes. I'll check out the SPX35.
I have found Sylvania's Sun Stick (their name for a "full spectrum light") to be great. More expensive than plain/cheap tubes, but you get the best full color for when you are finishing/staining/painting and need to judge color.
Warm white, daylight, etc., are not full spectrum lights. They don't have all the colors in the spectrum. Therefore you get a variation on light.
Alan - planesaw
The warm whites are sold at Lowes, I haven't seen them at HD.
You are right Alan, they are not full spectrum, and I have Sylvania "SunSticks" in my finish room, and they are very good for determining color match and so on, but I've only got four tubes in there. I've got 32 tubes in the rest of the shop and at $7.00 a tube for the sunsticks that is quite an investment.
I actually prefer the warm color of these compared to the full spectrum lights for general work. Everyone that comes in my shop notices the lighting, and that is a pretty good sign. Justus Koshiol
Running Pug Construction
I have a 50/50 mix of daylight and warm white in my shop that are installed on a 10-foot ceiling. Recently I put in two of the full-spectrum 48" tubes above my workbench and immediately noticed the difference (better). As I replace any of the old ones that wear out it will be with the full-spectrum tubes.
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