In article , JimL wrote:

You want to do it on the cheap?

Walmart has some T8 fixtures wiith electronic starters for less than
$17 dollars. The two bulbs are super bright and will please you.

That's cheap enough that you can remove the parts and stick them in
your old fixture and toss what you don't want.


I would be wary of WalMart for:

1. Being good at getting low bid stuff.

I would be wary if the bulbs are made for WalMart by someone other than
(good) GE, Philips, Sylvania or Osram - and then suspect a low bid
contract manufacturer if the bulbs were made anywhere other than in North
America or in Europe and having no manufacturer indication other than a
brand. Then again, I am wary of anything made to WalMart's order, no
matter by whom is willing to cut corners enough to get the job.

Better "traditional" ballast manufacturers are Universal, Magnetek and
the better brands for lamps ("bulbs") and also Motorola. Another brand
that I thought of as good, just did not notice known "commercial grade"
product from recently, is Valmont. I would be more wary if the ballast
was none of the above.

I would be more wary if anything was custom manufactured to WalMart
specifications, since I have experienced widespread mention of opinions
that WalMart demands lower cost at the expense of anything else good to
the extent they can get away with it.

I would be wary of anything made to WalMart's order in China for the
reason above.

2. Forcing their managers to get away with labor law violations to
whatever extent is possible, given Reagan cutbacks in enforcement budgets
for agencies responsible for enforcing the laws and regulations that
Reagan disagreed with but could not get repealed.
Namely, forcing workers to work significantly "off the clock".

I remember one thread (which I contributed to) where there were more
posts defending WalMart on this by "blaming the victims" than even posts
defending WalMart by claiming that this was not true!

- Don Klipstein )