"Home Guy" wrote in message ...
Meanie wrote:

You best stock up on t12 ballasts also (if you can find them)
because when they blow, you'll be left with those great prized
30 count boxes.

Haven't there been any T12 fixtures sold during the past decade or so
with electronic ballasts?

Very few. After T8 lamps arrived from Europe and were redesigned for North
America, they proved themselves more efficient and, until recently, were
less expensive too. So manufacturers moved quickly to promote T8 over T12
systems as more economical. The 4-foot T8 lamp fits into 4-foot T12 sockets
and fixtures, so a ballast change makes it simple to convert. T8 lamps,
until the recent restrictions by China of the rare earth materials used for
T8 phosphors which increased the lamp prices, are smaller, lighter and take
less raw material, packing material and space to ship.

Tomsic