Due to the local wildlife who treat our estate as easy meat, I've
decided to get some external lights to the driveway at the side of my
house and to the rear garden. This
(http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLES42C.html) is what my
electrician suggested. To me it looks a bit flimsy and the range is
only 110 degrees. How good can it be for a tenner? This
(http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/STHS500B.html) looks a better
bet.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Or alternatives?
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have I strayed"?

On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:05:21 +0100, Hugo Nebula wrote:

This (http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLES42C.html) is what my
electrician suggested. To me it looks a bit flimsy and the range is
only 110 degrees. How good can it be for a tenner?

Do you have to ask... That's the going price for black painted
pressed steel.

This (http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/STHS500B.html) looks a better
bet.

Well that says it's diecast ally, but which bits? If the mount and
lamp housing it should last more than one winter.

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you won't
be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will create. The
"wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

Several much lower power lights along the side wall over the drive
would be better. They will tend to mutually "fill" the shadow a given
lamp produces and with less light about the shadows won't be so
black. You only need to illuminate the drive so anyone there can be
seen, you don't need 500W of halagen light to do that.

Of course you are now going to say your garden is the size of a
football pitch...

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Jun 10, 11:37*pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:05:21 +0100, Hugo Nebula wrote:
This (http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLES42C.html) is what my
electrician suggested. To me it looks a bit flimsy and the range is
only 110 degrees. How good can it be for a tenner?

Do you have to ask... That's the going price for black painted
pressed steel.

This (http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/STHS500B.html) looks a better
bet.

Well that says it's diecast ally, but which bits? If the mount and
lamp housing it should last more than one winter.

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you won't
be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will create. The
"wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

Several much lower power lights along the side wall over the drive
would be better. They will tend to mutually "fill" the shadow a given
lamp produces and with less light about the shadows won't be so
black. You only need to illuminate the drive so anyone there can be
seen, you don't need 500W of halagen light to do that.

Of course you are now going to say your garden is the size of a
football pitch...

500w halogens are obsolescent. If you want that much light from one
fittings, go with cfl or other options, but not halogen.


NT

On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:50:28 -0700 (PDT), Tabby
wrote:

500w halogens are obsolescent.

TFFT. The sooner they're obsolete (with no spares available anywhere)
the better.

--
Frank Erskine

On 10/06/2011 21:05, Hugo Nebula wrote:
Due to the local wildlife who treat our estate as easy meat, I've
decided to get some external lights to the driveway at the side of my
house and to the rear garden. This
(http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLES42C.html) is what my
electrician suggested. To me it looks a bit flimsy and the range is
only 110 degrees. How good can it be for a tenner? This
(http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/STHS500B.html) looks a better
bet.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Or alternatives?

Steinal are the mutts nuts - really well made, top quality. They do a
150w as well.

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:05:21 +0100, Hugo Nebula wrote:

This (http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLES42C.html) is what my
electrician suggested. To me it looks a bit flimsy and the range is
only 110 degrees. How good can it be for a tenner?

Do you have to ask... That's the going price for black painted
pressed steel.

They had some ali ones in lidl for £7.99.
They had florescent bulbs but you could fit halogens if you wanted.

One that looks the same as the link is £10 in b&q BTW.

In message , Hugo Nebula
wrote
Due to the local wildlife who treat our estate as easy meat, I've
decided to get some external lights to the driveway at the side of my
house and to the rear garden. This
(http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLES42C.html) is what my
electrician suggested. To me it looks a bit flimsy and the range is
only 110 degrees. How good can it be for a tenner? This
(http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/STHS500B.html) looks a better
bet.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Or alternatives?

Overkill. You will find that these lights will start to annoy you (and
your wallet) when they go off with the passing of every stray
cat/dog/mouse. They will annoy your immediate neighbours even more.

These lights, that are burning half a kW, are designed to light an area
the size of a football pitch.

I have one mounted to illuminate my 80 ft back garden but it is on a
switch operated manually on an infrequent basis.

You don't need to blind the potential thieves, vandals or the postman in
the winter.

Consider using fittings that take low energy bulbs. The very presence
of illumination, and not its intensity, is likely to act as the
deterrent. Go outside with an extension cord, table light and a
selection of bulbs to see how little energy you need to illuminate the
area to want to "protect".

However, as for price of the lights you quote. you will find it is a
very competitive market and these kind of lights are dirt cheap
everywhere and worth the money. The only advice I would give is that
when you install them put a little grease on the screw thread that holds
on the cover and then you can replace the bulb a few years down-line.
--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Consider using fittings that take low energy bulbs. The very presence of
illumination, and not its intensity, is likely to act as the deterrent. Go
outside with an extension cord, table light and a selection of bulbs to
see how little energy you need to illuminate the area to want to
"protect".

Be aware that CFL's when used outside in cold weather are like candles
initially when turned on from cold and need time to warm up operating
temperature before giving out full illumination.

There are LED based ones now that will be better in cold weather but as to
how much light they give out is another question.

Stephen.

In message , Stephen
writes
Consider using fittings that take low energy bulbs. The very presence of
illumination, and not its intensity, is likely to act as the deterrent. Go
outside with an extension cord, table light and a selection of bulbs to
see how little energy you need to illuminate the area to want to
"protect".

Be aware that CFL's when used outside in cold weather are like candles
initially when turned on from cold and need time to warm up operating
temperature before giving out full illumination.

I find 150 halogens OK for ample illumination of 25m or so of yard.
Passing cats will trigger the sensors though:-)

A problem is that, unless they are mounted very high up, the close
coupling of the sensor to the rectangular lamp housing make it
impossible to tilt the reflector to only illuminate your own land. A
separate sensor might be appreciated by those of us who drive tractors
with dusty windscreens at night!

There are LED based ones now that will be better in cold weather but as to
how much light they give out is another question.


regards

--
Tim Lamb

On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 10:09:38 +0100, Stephen wrote:

Be aware that CFL's when used outside in cold weather are like candles
initially when turned on from cold and need time to warm up operating
temperature before giving out full illumination.

If they start at all... My conventional florry tube garage light is
very reluctant to start if it's below about 5C...

There are LED based ones now that will be better in cold weather but as
to how much light they give out is another question.

I spotted some LED ones digging about on tne TLC site from the link
given for the tenner jobbie. They don't give lumens (grrr...) only
300/140W equivalent. Not cheap £250 (IIRC) for the 300W equivalent.
Not that you want that amount of light of course... I would expect
lower rated ones to be a vailable.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In message , Stephen
wrote
Consider using fittings that take low energy bulbs. The very presence of
illumination, and not its intensity, is likely to act as the deterrent. Go
outside with an extension cord, table light and a selection of bulbs to
see how little energy you need to illuminate the area to want to
"protect".

Be aware that CFL's when used outside in cold weather are like candles
initially when turned on from cold and need time to warm up operating
temperature before giving out full illumination.

But the OP is not attempting to read with the light.

--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

Of course you are now going to say your garden is the size of a
football pitch...

....For pixies, maybe. 10m x 8m.
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have I strayed"?

[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you won't
be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will create. The
"wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

My electrician did think that 150W might not be enough. With the
higher wattage floodlights we could experiment with 400W, 300W or 200W
elements to find a reasonable level.
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have I strayed"?

In message , Hugo Nebula
wrote
[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you won't
be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will create. The
"wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

My electrician did think that 150W might not be enough.

It will more than enough to cause a nuisance to near neighbours. Having
fitted 150W, 200W, 400W or 500W lights you may soon afterwards to get
some robust requests to disable them.

Whatever your electrician does make sure that you have a way off
manually turning them all off. The PIR sensors often have a mode where
switching on/off in a sequence can put them into a mode to leave the
light on. This can happen during mains disruption or after power is
restored after a power failure. Having a couple of kW of lighting
permanently on can get expensive.

Perhaps have low level lighting pretending to provide light for a dummy
camera with a bright flashing red LED. Wouldn't this provide the same
type of deterrent?
--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On Jun 11, 2:00*pm, Hugo Nebula abuse@localhost wrote:
[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you won't
be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will create. The
"wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

My electrician did think that 150W might not be enough. With the
higher wattage floodlights we could experiment with 400W, 300W or 200W
elements to find a reasonable level.

100-200w is around the sort of total suitable, so about 25-50w of cfl.
If you're lighting that much with just one fitting you need it mounted
high up, and be sure you can reach the bulb & cover from an upstairs
window to change it. Its always going to look better if you use more
than one light fitting, but if youre not diying of course that would
add cost.

An unlikely possible alternative is low voltage LED dice. You could
mount them within reach, and wire it without the complications of
mains voltage, making the exercise quicker and easier.


NT

Hugo Nebula abuse@localhost wrote:
[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you won't
be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will create. The
"wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

My electrician did think that 150W might not be enough. With the
higher wattage floodlights we could experiment with 400W, 300W or 200W
elements to find a reasonable level.

I can recommend these (or similar)

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GLSFB26PC.html

if you want brighter then use the 42W version. The non photocell versions
work with PIRs.

--
Adam

On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:45:39 +0100, The Medway Handyman
wrote:
Steinal are the mutts nuts - really well made, top quality.

I would highly recommend the Steinel units too. I have used several of
them, mounted high enough that 500 Watts isn't excessive considering the
area they illuminate. As others have pointed out they are very sensitive
- even moths will set them off - but they need to be to work well at that
height!

Although you can't adjust the sensitivity you can aim the sensor
independently of the light (though not in the tilt direction,
unfortunately) and they are supplied with masking pieces which you can fit
if there's a source of nuisance triggering in one particular direction.

There is also the advantage of having UK-based support. One of mine did
fail (stuck permanently on) and after describing the fault to a Steinel
technician they sent me a new one without needing the faulty unit returned
first.

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/

On 11/06/2011 14:49, Alan wrote:
In message , Hugo Nebula
wrote
[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you won't
be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will create. The
"wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

My electrician did think that 150W might not be enough.

It will more than enough to cause a nuisance to near neighbours. Having
fitted 150W, 200W, 400W or 500W lights you may soon afterwards to get
some robust requests to disable them.

Whatever your electrician does make sure that you have a way off
manually turning them all off. The PIR sensors often have a mode where
switching on/off in a sequence can put them into a mode to leave the
light on. This can happen during mains disruption or after power is
restored after a power failure. Having a couple of kW of lighting
permanently on can get expensive.

Seconded. A few years ago I fitted 2 PIR lights to a bungalow in a
remote village & the owners kept finding them on all night. It wasn't
till I noticed the clocks on the ladies oven & microwave blinking (3rd
visit) that I sussed it.

Brief power interruption/resumption during the night put them in manual
mode.




--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

The Medway Handyman wrote:
On 11/06/2011 14:49, Alan wrote:
In message , Hugo Nebula
wrote
[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you
won't be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will
create. The "wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

My electrician did think that 150W might not be enough.

It will more than enough to cause a nuisance to near neighbours.
Having fitted 150W, 200W, 400W or 500W lights you may soon
afterwards to get some robust requests to disable them.

Whatever your electrician does make sure that you have a way off
manually turning them all off. The PIR sensors often have a mode
where switching on/off in a sequence can put them into a mode to
leave the light on. This can happen during mains disruption or after
power is restored after a power failure. Having a couple of kW of
lighting permanently on can get expensive.

Seconded. A few years ago I fitted 2 PIR lights to a bungalow in a
remote village & the owners kept finding them on all night. It wasn't
till I noticed the clocks on the ladies oven & microwave blinking (3rd
visit) that I sussed it.

Brief power interruption/resumption during the night put them in
manual mode.

The smarter sensors revert back to normal mode at the next sunrise.

--
Adam

In article op.vww43blmn5ksl5@richard, Richard Russell
writes
On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:45:39 +0100, The Medway Handyman
wrote:
Steinal are the mutts nuts - really well made, top quality.

I would highly recommend the Steinel units too. I have used several of
them, mounted high enough that 500 Watts isn't excessive considering the
area they illuminate. As others have pointed out they are very sensitive
- even moths will set them off - but they need to be to work well at that
height!

Although you can't adjust the sensitivity you can aim the sensor
independently of the light (though not in the tilt direction,
unfortunately) and they are supplied with masking pieces which you can fit
if there's a source of nuisance triggering in one particular direction.

There is also the advantage of having UK-based support. One of mine did
fail (stuck permanently on) and after describing the fault to a Steinel
technician they sent me a new one without needing the faulty unit returned
first.

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/

Just put some 10W LED floodlights off eBay up at Church on a PIR, will
let you know what they are like when it gets dark enough!


--
John Alexander,

Remove NOSPAM if replying by e-mail

In article , ARWadsworth
writes
Hugo Nebula abuse@localhost wrote:
[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you won't
be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will create. The
"wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

My electrician did think that 150W might not be enough. With the
higher wattage floodlights we could experiment with 400W, 300W or 200W
elements to find a reasonable level.

I can recommend these (or similar)

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GLSFB26PC.html

if you want brighter then use the 42W version. The non photocell versions
work with PIRs.

I like the idea of having the PIR separate so you can just have a
switched live going to for manual switching.

Relay output PIR ok for the photocell one? The mfr website is a bit ****
for wiring diags & so on.
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's ********

fred wrote:
In article , ARWadsworth
writes
Hugo Nebula abuse@localhost wrote:
[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you
won't be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will
create. The "wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

My electrician did think that 150W might not be enough. With the
higher wattage floodlights we could experiment with 400W, 300W or
200W elements to find a reasonable level.

I can recommend these (or similar)

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GLSFB26PC.html

if you want brighter then use the 42W version. The non photocell
versions work with PIRs.

I like the idea of having the PIR separate so you can just have a
switched live going to for manual switching.

Relay output PIR ok for the photocell one?

Is there any point having the photocell version with a seperate PIR as most
PIRs already have a built in photocell?

--
Adam

In article , ARWadsworth
writes
fred wrote:
In article , ARWadsworth
writes
Hugo Nebula abuse@localhost wrote:
[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you
won't be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will
create. The "wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

My electrician did think that 150W might not be enough. With the
higher wattage floodlights we could experiment with 400W, 300W or
200W elements to find a reasonable level.

I can recommend these (or similar)

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GLSFB26PC.html

if you want brighter then use the 42W version. The non photocell
versions work with PIRs.

I like the idea of having the PIR separate so you can just have a
switched live going to for manual switching.

Relay output PIR ok for the photocell one?

Is there any point having the photocell version with a seperate PIR as most
PIRs already have a built in photocell?

Good point . . . .

Now to find a PIR that doesn't have 'helpful' override modes, if stuck I
might end up using a burglar alarm PIR and use a photocell floodlight
after all.
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's ********

fred wrote:
In article , ARWadsworth
writes
fred wrote:
In article , ARWadsworth
writes
Hugo Nebula abuse@localhost wrote:
[Default] On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:37:30 +0100 (BST), a certain
chimpanzee, "Dave Liquorice" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

I question the spec of 500W that is an awful lot of light, you
won't be able to see anything in the deep black shadows it will
create. The "wildlife" will be able to hide in those shadows...

My electrician did think that 150W might not be enough. With the
higher wattage floodlights we could experiment with 400W, 300W or
200W elements to find a reasonable level.

I can recommend these (or similar)

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GLSFB26PC.html

if you want brighter then use the 42W version. The non photocell
versions work with PIRs.

I like the idea of having the PIR separate so you can just have a
switched live going to for manual switching.

Relay output PIR ok for the photocell one?

Is there any point having the photocell version with a seperate PIR
as most PIRs already have a built in photocell?

Good point . . . .

Now to find a PIR that doesn't have 'helpful' override modes, if
stuck I might end up using a burglar alarm PIR and use a photocell
floodlight after all.

Burgular alarm PIRs tend to have a 1 second timer!

I have fitted the non photocell versions with seperate PIRs and all was
well:-)

Personally, I use a 35W CDM-T dusk till dawn flood light at my house. A very
bright and very white light. At least the same light output as a 300W
halogen.

--
Adam

On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:27:33 +0100, John wrote:

Just put some 10W LED floodlights off eBay up at Church on a PIR,
will
let you know what they are like when it gets dark enough!

Just been down to test them - still dusk and ample light to see/read
with. They create shadows and give a nice warm light without the hard
edges you get with a halogen flood. I would say they are about the same
as an 80W tungsten, probably more.

Having looked on ebay there are single or multiple LED floodlights
rated at 10W? Not sure I trust a single 10W LED just yet but what
happens to multi LED one after a few have failed...

--
Cheers
Dave.

In article , ARWadsworth
writes
fred wrote:

Now to find a PIR that doesn't have 'helpful' override modes, if
stuck I might end up using a burglar alarm PIR and use a photocell
floodlight after all.

Burgular alarm PIRs tend to have a 1 second timer!

Yep, second time you've caught me out today not thinking :-)

I have fitted the non photocell versions with seperate PIRs and all was
well:-)

Personally, I use a 35W CDM-T dusk till dawn flood light at my house. A very
bright and very white light. At least the same light output as a 300W
halogen.

This is for an older rellie who likes to have a visual indication of
intruders, be they scrotes, pussies or foxes so PIR is indicated. The
more expensive PIRs (steinel) have the desired performance but I'd like
to put in multiples to get all routes covered and it's looking pricey.

We've had multifunction ones lock up in always-on in the past and she's
far enough away that a single visit to recover the situation costs more
that the cheapie light unit, so I want to avoid them.
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's ********

In article o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:27:33 +0100, John wrote:

Just put some 10W LED floodlights off eBay up at Church on a PIR,
will
let you know what they are like when it gets dark enough!

Just been down to test them - still dusk and ample light to see/read
with. They create shadows and give a nice warm light without the hard
edges you get with a halogen flood. I would say they are about the same
as an 80W tungsten, probably more.

Having looked on ebay there are single or multiple LED floodlights
rated at 10W? Not sure I trust a single 10W LED just yet but what
happens to multi LED one after a few have failed...

First saw the single LED ones at the Eden project in the domes where all
the paths have them as low level lighting.
--
John Alexander,

Remove NOSPAM if replying by e-mail

fred wrote:

This is for an older rellie who likes to have a visual indication of
intruders, be they scrotes, pussies or foxes so PIR is indicated. The
more expensive PIRs (steinel) have the desired performance but I'd
like to put in multiples to get all routes covered and it's looking
pricey.

That's why I swapped the PIR lights at my parents for dusk till dawns. My
Dad used to open the curtains and have a look everytinme the PIR
activated.:-)


We've had multifunction ones lock up in always-on in the past and
she's far enough away that a single visit to recover the situation
costs more that the cheapie light unit, so I want to avoid them.

I have fitted a couple of beam detectors at places where normal PIRs would
have lots of false alarms and never had a problem with them apart from snow
covering the sensors..

--
Adam

On Jun 12, 6:49 pm, "ARWadsworth"
wrote:
fred wrote:
This is for an older rellie who likes to have a visual indication of
intruders, be they scrotes, pussies or foxes so PIR is indicated. The
more expensive PIRs (steinel) have the desired performance but I'd
like to put in multiples to get all routes covered and it's looking
pricey.

That's why I swapped the PIR lights at my parents for dusk till dawns. My
Dad used to open the curtains and have a look everytinme the PIR
activated.:-)

We've had multifunction ones lock up in always-on in the past and
she's far enough away that a single visit to recover the situation
costs more that the cheapie light unit, so I want to avoid them.

I have fitted a couple of beam detectors at places where normal PIRs would
have lots of false alarms and never had a problem with them apart from snow
covering the sensors..

can you point me to a source plse?
tia
Jim K

On Jun 11, 10:44*am, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 10:09:38 +0100, Stephen wrote:
Be aware that CFL's when used outside in cold weather are like candles
initially when turned on from cold and need time to warm up operating
temperature before giving out full illumination.

If they start at all... My conventional florry tube garage light is
very reluctant to start if it's below about 5C...

different tubes, different ballasts.

There are LED based ones now that will be better in cold weather but as
to how much light they give out is another question.

I spotted some LED ones digging about on tne TLC site from the link
given for the tenner jobbie. They don't give lumens (grrr...) only
300/140W equivalent. Not cheap £250 (IIRC) for the 300W equivalent.
Not that you want that amount of light of course... I would expect
lower rated ones to be a vailable.