comm'l grade lights vs big box lookalikes

[Howard Burger]

My friend wants to put florescent lights in his wood working shop. I recommended what I got, a good quality Lithonia commerical light:

http://www.lithonia.com/commercial/L.html?pt=Commercial+&+Industrial+Fluorescent

which is about $65 a pop from my friendly neighborhood lighting store. He's asking why not buy something similar from the big box store for about $25 less, each.

The only thing I know for sure is the commercial is made of heavier tin. So, what are other advantages of buying a commercial grade light vs the cheaper one from the box store? Ballast quality? Thanks for your thoughts on this.

 

[Cavie]

Yes, there is a big differance in the ballast even if the part numbers are the same. They are made of different quality parts dictated by the big box stores. I know this from 1st hand experiance in my own house and info from ballast manufacturer rep.

 

[Howard Burger]

thanks

thanks

Thank you. I'll pass that info on tomorrow.

 

[ultramegabob]

the main difference is the ballast, a lighting salon owner also told me that the cheap fixtures have a different lens that becomes brittle and yellows much sooner than the better fixtures.

 

[dbuckley]

I've seen lots of resi intended cheepie fluoros that have no power factor correction caps. Makes no difference on a resi, just another way they can sell it to you for almost $0.00

 

[K8MHZ]

Beware of Lithonia.

They are now having China make their products and I have suffered the consequences.

Check the label before you assume you are buying a quality product.

 

[Power Tech]

Customer bought some small 4' cheap 2 lamp Lithonia with NO WIRE ON ONE END GOING TO THE LAMPS?

Things got realy cheap in the 80's then they slowly got better until the late 90's. Now I am being sold junk.

It is getting to the point I cannot find quality.

 

[Cow]

I've heard that the residential grade lights don't cause RF interference like the commercial lights can. Whether that's true or not I couldn't tell you.

 

[peter d]

The only major difference between the HD "luminaires" and the commercial ones is the ballast. The ones they sell at HD have a Lithonia OEM ballast while the commercial ones will have a name-brand ballast.

I had to assemble 250+ Lithonia 8' industrials for a retail store and they were (obviously) not purchased from a home center. They were as cheap as cheap could be and of course were assembled in Mexico. The only good thing in them was the Advance Ballast.