I reviewed the Rockler Lights of America 4 ft LED shop light last December, and since then I’ve been looking to replace the rest of my fluorescent lights with LED lights. Why? Because LED lights are brighter, start faster, last longer, and they don’t fragment into thousands of tiny shards when I’m moving wood around the workshop and accidentally hit one.
I’ve been eyeing the Feit shop lights and fluorescent replacement tubes at Costco for a while, and recently saw more people touting them on various social media outlets, driving up my interest. I was at Costco a few months ago, spotted the lights, and bought a few to test.
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The Feit shop light is rated for an output of 3700 lumens, and has a color temperature of 4000K. It is a plug and go product, everything you need is right in the box. You hang the light, plug it in, and turn it on.
There’s more talk about color temperature in our Zebralight headlamp review.
The Feit fluorescent replacement tubes are rated for an output of 1700 lumens each, with a color temperature of 4100K. No rewiring is necessary — they can be used to replace any 4ft T12 or T8 tube, although the box says the ratings apply to T8 fixtures.
I wanted to see how these two LED options compared to my current fluorescent tube lighting and to the Rockler LED shop light I already have. In order to do so, I created a quick test fixture to make sure I could compare the lights in as close to the same conditions as possible.
Test Setup
I created the above test fixture consisting of a table, some clamps, and a white folding poster board. I hung each light so the bulbs were the same distance above the table (30″). Then, for each light I photographed the drill to compare the colors and captured the lux reading on my phone.
I used the free Android Lux Meter app on my phone to get a general intensity reading in lux, but without a standard in which to calibrate the app, the lux readings aren’t very accurate. I tried to eliminate some of the error by calculating the relative intensity. I divided the lux reading for the light under test by the lux reading of the brightest light — the Rockler light.
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To find the actual watts used and the power factor for each fixture or bulb, I used a Kill-A-Watt. (You can find energy usage monitors for as low as ~$20.)
Since I ran the fluorescent tubes and the LED replacement tubes in one of the 2-bulb T8 fixtures from my shop, the measurements for these tube includes that fixture too.
Results
- Upper Left: Feit Shop Light
- Upper Right: Rockler Shop Light
- Lower Left: Fluorescent Tubes
- Lower Right: Feit LED Tubes
The composite picture gives you an approximation of the color differences among the lights. It’s not a true color representation, but it’s as close as I can get with the equipment I have. Each square is only lit by the light under test.
I set the camera white balance to “daylight,” because unfortunately you can’t turn it off. Daylight color temperature is around 5600K. With the white balance set to daylight, warmer illumination, such as a 4000K source, will appear to be yellower, despite appearing “whiter” in person.
I set the camera to manual mode, and adjusted the exposure settings so that the resultant photos would be relatively close to the same exposure level. To do this, the focal length, ISO, and aperture were fixed, with only the shutter speed being adjusted. The intent was to show the relative color and illumination spread (if any) differences, and not relative brightness.
The chart below shows a summary of the specs and the data I recorded from the tests. Color temperature, lumens, and rated wattage are manufacturer specifications.
| Image | Fluorescent Tubes (Pair) |
Feit LED Tubes (Pair) |
Feit Shop Light |
Rockler Shop Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Color Temp | 4100K | 4100K | 4000K | 5000K |
| Lumens | 2800 | 3400 | 3700 | 4500 |
| Relative Intensity | 0.57 | 0.81 | 0.66 | 1.0 |
| Rated Watts | 64 | 34 | 42 | 40 |
| Actual Watts | 53 | 37 | 38 | 37 |
| Lumens/Watt | 52.8 | 91.9 | 97.4 | 121.6 |
| Power Factor | 0.61 | 0.59 | 0.96 | 0.97 |
| Price | $4 | $18 | $30 | $60 |
Analysis
I do not have the CRI (color rendering index) for any of these lights. (A higher CRI means more accurate colors.)
I contacted Feit, and they gave me the run around on the phone. I was told that I should instead contact them via email, which I did, and then they either ignored, missed, or blew off that email. So not knowing the CRI for those two lights, I didn’t think it made much sense to try to get the CRI values for the others.
In my opinion, the Rockler light gives off the best quality of light — I feel it reproduces color better, but that could also be because the color temperature is in the daylight range. The color of the original fluorescent tubes, the Feit shop light, and the Feit replacement tubes are all pretty similar, but I think the Feit LED replacement tubes have a slightly better color, and the fluorescent tubes have the worst overall color.
What is really surprising though is the relative light intensity. I ran the test twice and got similar results both times. The Feit replacement tubes delivered greater illumination intensity directly beneath the light than the Feit shop light, even though the shop light has a slightly higher lumen rating. At first I thought this might be because the replacement tubes have a built in reflector, but I examined the Feit shop light and it uses a similar internal reflector.
Lumen ratings just tell you how much light a fixture puts out, whereas lux measures the intensity of that light at a certain location. Since I was measuring the intensity directly underneath the lights, it is possible that the distribution of light from the Feit shop light and the replacement tubes is different. Perhaps the shop light disperses more light to the sides.
Both the fluorescent tubes and the LED replacement tubes use a fluorescent fixture with an electronic ballast. This makes them less efficient and gives them a poor power factor. The efficiency difference between the Feit shop light and the Feit replacement tubes isn’t really enough to worry about, but the power factor might make a difference if you are in an industrial setting or if you use a motion detector to turn on the lights when you enter the shop.
Motion detectors, timers, and home automation switches can be rated differently for different types of lighting. For example a typical device might say that it can handle up to 800W of incandescent bulb lighting, or something like 400W for fluorescent lights, or sometimes they’ll say 800VA.
For example, both the Feit shop light and the replacement LED tubes in a fluorescent fixture use about 38 watts, but since the power factor of the fluorescent fixture is 0.6, this means it uses more VA – about 63VA, so you’d be able to control fewer fixtures.
What to Buy
While I was working on this comparison, Costco sold out of the Feit LED replacement tubes and started selling a similar Feit replacement tube under a different stocking number and packaged in a different box.
After comparing both sets of replacement tubes and repeating all the readings from the Kill-A-Watt and my Lux Meter app, the only real difference between the two products I could find was that the old product had a part number “T48/4K/LED/2,” while the new product had a part number “T48/41K/LED/2.”
The Feit LED shop lights can be found at Costco for $30 , but I’ve seen them go on sale for as low as $24. I can’t find the old Feit tubes anymore but the newer seemingly identical tubes regularly run $18.
They are on sale for $14 each, thru 10/23/16.
If you are looking for the best bang for the buck, the Feit LED replacement tubes seem be the winner. If you already have fluorescent fixtures, they are the cheapest option and compare favorably to the Feit shop light.
If total efficiency and daylight color are what you are after, and you don’t care about paying more, the Feit lights can’t beat the Rockler light.
The Rockler LED shop light regularly retails for $60, but it goes on sale regularly for $50.
Buy Now (Model 8140SE2 at Rockler)
Compare (Model 8140SE at Amazon)
Sorry, but I don’t have any links for the Feit products. I’ve looked and I cannot find anything close enough to either the Feit shop light or replacement tubes, at least not close enough to where I could recommend without having to retest them. The closest I’ve found is people reselling Costco products on eBay.
BonPacific
I have a bunch of the Feit lights in my woodshop, and I like the warmer color balance since it’s similar to what I use in my house. The 5K Rockler lights do look like they would be better for detail work, or if you are lighting a larger space, as the higher temperature seems to “bounce” better. I’m clearly not an expert thought.
Home Depot sells the Feit tubes online, if you don’t have a Costco membership. Though they are a lot more expensive.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electric-4-ft-T8-T12-17-Watt-Cool-White-Linear-LED-Light-Bulb-T48-841-LED-RP/206036836
BonPacific
I should mention, I supplement the Feit shop lights with Daylight LED bulbs for task lighting.
Tom
I’ve looked at the Feit lights at Costco many times. I don’t get why they are plug-in. Would it be hard to convert these to being hard-wired? I would like to put a bunch of these up on my ceiling but really don’t like the idea of adding plugs up there and all those wires running around.
BonPacific
You’d need to add the wiring boxes anyways wouldn’t you? It’s not that much more work to wire in a switched outlet. I run mine off a wireless switch through the outlet that feeds my garage opener.
BonPacific
I suppose you could also find some cheap t8 fixtures at a salvage yard or craigslist or something, and then use the LED bulbs in that.
Benjamen
I think what Tom is looking for is the ability to run romex or conduit right into the fixture and make up the connection inside –like you would for a bathroom fan for example.
I just took the Feit fixture apart and 1) there is no knockout and 2) there’s no room inside the fixture to make a connection if you made your own hole.
To answer another question I’m sure somebody will ask: You could probably surface mount Feit shop light by drilling right through the upper shade. There’s no space in there with electronics, it’s just a piece of sheet metal.
BonPacific
I can confirm that you can mount right through the shade.
John
I installed these with just replacing the light fixtures with plug outlets which are actuated by a switch. Not as neat and tidy as you can see the plug in and cords. However, if you are mounting these with the chain mount that comes with them, you’re still going to “see” a cord regardless. With that method though you can cut off the plug end and wire it to the box like you would any suspended light. If you want to go flush mount method it may be a big more problematic but it does have keyhole mounts and as mentioned in other posts you could drill right through the shade.
Not my video, but here is a good example of similar to what I did:
https://youtu.be/OJ0AveJmRpk
Tim
From Fluorescent I’m getting red eyes how about led light.
Benjamen
When I was younger I remember fluorescent lights bothering me. I’m not sure if I grew out of it or if they have improved since them.
I’m betting they improved. The T8 fluorescents with electronic ballast are so much better than the T12s with the magnetic ballasts. They don’t flicker, they start up almost instantly and they work in the cold.
I’ve found LED lights usually have a better quality of light. I don’t know if they will help in your situation.
Drew M
I actually just put these in my garage (temporarily for now) and I generally like them. At first, I wished they were closer to the brightness of a dual 48″ T8 fixture but now I actually like the fact that I need 6 to light my garage since with more fixtures I have fewer shadows. I do hate the mounting options but for the price I’m pretty happy with them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/282167807159
Drew M
For now, I took them apart and screwed some scraps of wood to them from the inside and then reassembled them. I’ll probably do something similar for their final mounting but I’ll probably pieces of 1/2″ plywood with holes drilled for access to the screws that hold the ends together.
JeffD
I had CFL’s in my shop. I recently swapped them out with the LED fixtures from Costco. I’m not a light scientist, but they are brighter, cooler, and much more efficient.
Adam
I’ve been thrilled with the Costco shoplight fixtures, since I picked them up when they were on sale for only $20. I’ve been using six in an unfinished basement (replacing two woefully inadequate porcelain pull-cord lightbulb sockets). And I have another eight for a two-car garage (20×20) with a raised third bay (about 12×15).
They are rated for surface mount (many LED fixtures I’ve found are not), and go up on an unfinished ceiling perfectly with a pair of washer-head screws into the joists. The daisy-chain plug-in option makes it quick and easy to install without running additional wiring.
On a finished ceiling, I found it surprisingly difficult to find a duplex cover plate that fit a round ceiling box (i.e. not round/octagonal metal ones not suited for drywall) when replacing a round porcelain fixture. The only I found was a US-made option at: http://www.kyleswitchplates.com/round-duplex-outlet-wall-switch-plates/
I’ll probably go that route vs. replacing the boxes from the bare bulb fixtures and patching the garage ceiling.
John
Another benefit to these LED fixtures, whichever you choose, is that now as the colder season is approaching you won’t have the terrible startup troubles regular CFL tubes have when starting up.
Put up 6 of these Feit shop lights in my garage and they’ve been the best buy I’ve made in a long time. Very happy with them.
Benjamen
I haven’t had a problem with cold starts since I upgraded my garage lights to T8 with electronic ballast and I live in Minnesota. Before my T12 fixtures with a standard ballast sometimes wouldn’t even start in the deep of winter.
Lance
I would generally agree if it weren’t for the fact that T8 bulbs don’t last. I have a small garage with three dual-tube fixtures in it, and it seems I have to replace the tubes every two years or so.
Looking at a ten year ownership period, I’m betting that the LED fixtures would be ahead despite their higher entry price point based on zero maintenance over that time. Assuming of course they are still problem free at that time.
YMMV, but in my attached garage I’m always turning the lights on for a minute or two at a time during the week when I need to step into the garage for something. Only on weekends do they stay lit for longer periods. But yes, you’re right that they light up in the cold no problem.
The T8 fixtures in our basement laundry room are the same way.
SiSiX
As a general rule, florescent bulbs don’t seem to tolerate short duty cycles very well. They really need to be put somewhere where they are able to be run for 30min+ duty cycles (or more) rather than the quick sub 1 min cycles like they frequently get used for. (Which drives me nuts when I see them installed in newer houses inside of closets.) LED’s are great replacements for this type of duty. (Actually, the LEDs are greaty replacements for pretty much any type of duty.)
Personally, I’d rather eat the cost once, and just replace all the lights in the garage with LED and never have to worry about them. Not to mention that T8 (and T12) tubes are generally a PITA to replace in an overhead fixture. (Seriously, what genius thought two pins slotting into two separate plugs 4 feet apart that had to line up nearly perfectly and then had to twist 90 degrees either direction was a good idea?)
Lance
Agreed, agreed and agreed!
The only reason I went with the fluorescent tube fixtures was because LED fixtures were so costly just a few years ago. There are much better options now, and the situation is improving all the time.
We’re looking into building a new house, and if we do I’ll go to great lengths to make sure not a single fluorescent bulb of ANY kind makes its way in!
Jim
I totally agree with the genius comment! Seems like a lot of engineers have never had to actually use what they design.
Matt
The philips ones from Home Depot are only $9 or so and come individually and don’t require a Costco membership (if you aren’t near one like me). They seem to be a little bit nicer color (for my preference).
Benjamen
I just picked up the Philips tubes from HD and I paid $7 a piece. They are 4000K and 2100 lumens per tube. The package states they are 32W. (17W LED). So a pair are 4200Lumens and 34W which if true would make them more efficient than the Rockler Light.
What I don’t get is why the tubes where you have to remove the ballast are 4 times more expensive. You’d think it’d be cheaper to run a tube off of 120V rather than regulating the voltage of a fluorescent fixture to something usable. I may have to dive deeper into this and take one of these tubes apart.
RKA
One small question or clarification. To get a photo comparison you fixed ISO, aperture AND shutter, correct? You stated you adjusted shutter, which would affect the exposure levels.
shatter
He actually answers this in the post:
“The intent was to show the relative color and illumination spread (if any) differences, and not relative brightness.”
He adjusted shutter speed to compensate for different brightness levels of the bulbs – the photos aren’t intended to provide a comparison of brightness because he has a lightmeter already in the test providing more accurate results. Adjusting shutter speed to provide a balanced exposure between the different bulbs lets you more easily discern light spread independent of light output.
Benjamen
Incorrect. I stated exactly what I did. It is a good question though, let me walk you through my though process.
I mentioned that I couldn’t get the CRI for the Feit lights and I still wanted to compare the quality of the light. To get rid of all the other variables I wanted to try and equalize the apparent brightness of the different lights, so the only difference you’d see was the color.
The only way I could figure out how to do this was to try and get the EV to be 0.0 for the four shots of the lights. To do this I fixed fix two legs of the exposure triangle — ISO and aperture and varied the third — shutter speed. Unfortunately shutter speed isn’t fine enough so some shots appear brighter than others.
Why change shutter speed? If I changed the Aperture, it would change the depth of field and some things might be out of focus in one shot and in focus in another. If I changed the ISO, then one shot might be more grainy than the others and the quality of the shot would look different. I also had to fix the focal length of the lens to be the same because I wanted to frame each shot exactly the same. Unlike an SLR, my mirrorless camera doesn’t keep the focal length when it goes to sleep, so that’s the only reason I mention it, because I recorded it to make sure it was identical from shot to shot.
Does the composite photo show you anything useful? I’m not really satisfied with the results. They are way to exaggerated, and I wasn’t able to equalize the apparent brightness of the lights. In hindsight I really should not have included it, but by the time I took all the photos, resized them, and placed them in a grid, I had too much invested to drop it.
If I do another comparison I likely won’t try this again.
RKA
I didn’t realize you were trying to equalize the brightness across the pictures. I was looking to see the difference in brightness and didn’t see what you recorded (in numbers), then I saw you manipulated the shutter. I would say what you posted was somewhat useful in the sense it shows all except the Rockler are similar in color temp, and given our eyes adjust to some degree, the differences are negligible. Showing the relative difference in brightness would be helpful as well.
Gary
Did these lights kill/reduce your AM/FM Radio reception? Do you have a garage door opener? Is the range reduced when the lights are on (Not sure why you’d open the door with the remote while you’re in the garage though)?
I’ve had several people tell me that LED drop-ins were affecting their radio reception and garage doors.
BonPacific
Could this be an issue with leaving old magnetic ballasts in place? I can’t think of any reason an LED would be causing radio interference.
Gary
I’m guessing that the interference is being generated by LED Driver. The LED driver is probably some sort of switching power supply operating at a high frequency and the large LED bus and house wiring might be acting as an antenna. Add this to the LED’s low impedance, and maybe it acts like a spark gap transmitter.
Old magnetic ballasts are basically just a transformer. They also do produce some interference, but not as much as LED bulbs can. They are also usually encased in a metal box, which acts like a faraday cage to shield RFI. In addition I believe they operate at 60Hz, which is much lower than AM/FM frequencies.
Jimmie
Back in August I tested some Philips “Instantfit” T8 4000K LED refit tubes in my garage and came away with somewhat different results. These LED tubes are rated at 2100 lumens per tube and they work with existing electronic ballasts.
The fixtures I tested the tubes in are the typical dual-tube contractor-special hardwired fixtures that you find in big box stores for $40-$50. They have the standard “spiky” clear plastic diffuser which I left in place for my tests. The ballasts were aftermarket instant-start electronic ballasts that I’d installed a few years ago.
These are hardwired fixtures so I couldn’t directly measure current or power factor but I did use a dedicated lux-meter to measure maximum light intensity 2 feet below the center of each fixture. I didn’t measure the garage temperature but given that it was mid-summer, I’d have to guess it was probably around 85-90F in there so the fluorescent tubes should have reached full brightness very quickly.
To my eye, the fluorescent fixtures appeared slightly brighter but not hugely so. The light meter agreed.
The fluorescent fixtures came in at 2660 lux and 2610 lux.
The LED fixtures came in at 2450 lux and 2440 lux.
Anything below 10% difference in brightness is difficult for the human eye to discern so this comparison was right on the borderline. Since the Feit tubes are rated at 1700lm (vs 2100lm for these Philips tubes), I would hazard a guess that the difference would be more noticeable.
That being said, I’m sure the LEDs would outperform the fluorescent tubes in the winter. Even with instant-start ballasts, in an unheated garage it takes a good minute or two for fluorescent tubes to come up to full brightness.
Jimmie
Gah, I didn’t fully-describe the test setup.
Okay. So my garage has four dual-tube T8 fixtures with instant-start electronic ballasts. For this test, I installed four Philips LED tubes. The other fixtures had GE-brand 4100K 32W T8 tubes. The fluorescent tubes were maybe 18 months old at the time.
Sorry.
Charles
Can you use the Phillips led with t12 ballasts or do I have to put t8 ballasts in?
Lee Hopkins
I have both the drop in and another where you by pass the transformer.
I really like the by pass model better as you don’t have to worry about the transformer going bad and having to replace.
I have also purchased the LED lit fixture from Costco really like it nice color and bright.
I have been working with LED lights in the house since the came out, i would only recommend 4500K or higher to get the true color. We just painted the rooms and the difference from a 2600k, 3000k and the 4500K is amazing the 4500k give the best and most true color of the paint the wife picked out
Marvin L McConoughey
I have one LED 48″ tube. It appears bright when looked up at because the light is directed downward via a reflector built into the tube. But it is not highly effective at reflecting light off the ceiling. My best results come from a big orange box store which has light fixtures that hold two 54 watt 46″ fluorescent tubes. Each tube puts out about 5000 lumens, with slight variances depending on manufacturer.
Tom
I got a few of the Feit lights for $19.99 a while back for the basement.
For my garage, I used led ribbon lights attached directly to the joists. In an old garage with 7′ ceilings, I get even light and nothing to bump into. They go up quickly since they have an adhesive backing and I add in a few staples.
Keith Whitmore
When I first saw these tubes in the article above in Costco I bought some. Their ok, but I won’t buy them again. because I am fed up with these type of bulbs. The 2 prong conection at both ends like a standard flouresence tube, I’m sick of them. in the summer when the humity is up through the roof, sometimes they just don’t work. I’m slowly replacing those style of lamps with the plug in style lamp from Sam’s club. They are like a standard flouresence light except they have LED’s in a clear glass tube. They are bright! But, after seeing things i a white light, like sunlight. I’m use to them. As far as wiring them in, I hardwire in a short pigtail of RX wire with a 3 prong female plug on the end of it. Then I just plug in the lamp’s plug into it. Just like wiring in a string of temporary lights. But, now with a plugs involved, if the lamp assembly goes bad, all I do is unplug it, take it down & install a new one. I’m done hardwiring lamps of this type in solid. So much easier to install it that way.
Charlie Clayton
I am using the Costco T48/41K/LED/2 Tubes.
Should I remove the ballast?
Thanks
Lon
I bought some Feit T48/41K/LED/2 replacement tubes at Costco to replace my T12 bulbs in my 5-year-old fluorescent fixtures. All three fixtures were working fine with the old T12 bulbs, but when I inserted the new T48 tubes, one pair lit up fine, while both other pairs lit very dimly. Will these work if I remove the ballast and wire 120VAC to the tombstone (socket)? They are supposed to work without any rewiring according to the box, but will it hurt anything if I remove the ballast and wire direct?
Al Watts
Seems to make sense- “work without any rewiring” and “remove the ballast and wire direct”. Let us know how much brighter you get.