Brian Elfert wrote:

Do you recommend 4' or 8' fixtures? 4' fixtures are a fair amount less
money, but a lot of wreckers recommend 8' for better lighting.

A lot depends on hours of operation and ambient temperature.

A 96" HO tube has better terminations than a 48" standard, but usually
more than double the cost.

Life of either one is usually quoted at 20,000 hours.

If you are looking at a typical home workshop type application, consider
the following:

2-3 hours/night, 5 maybe 6 days a week will be about 20 hours per week.

20 hours per week, 50 weeks a year = 1,000 hours/year or 20 year life.

How long the system lasts becomes moot with numbers like that.

Things like inital cost, power costs, winter time temperatures, become
signficant issues.

The very first one you want to address is temperature since light output
is so temperature dependant.

If you need insulation, that is ahead of lighting, IMHO.

Notice how everything I touch turns into a systemG?

It's just the nature of the beast.

Lew