Hybrid LED T8 Lamps
After installing dozens of LED lamps that were costlier, required comparatively complicated rewiring, needed to retain a ballast (which is, eventually, a maintenance issue, and can also be noisy), or had a low lumen output, along come these tubes to save the day. These are the most versatile and user friendly LED T-8 tubes I have ever installed/used – and I have installed and tested a bunch.
If your lights currently have an electronic ballast, which is common with modern fluorescent fixtures, these are simply plug and play LED T-8 tubes. If you do choose to use these with a ballast, when the ballast finally fails, the lights can be direct wired as easily as replacing the bad ballast - at no extra cost, while eliminating a part that will fail before the tube fails. That’s all very nice but, if you would rather not have to ever be concerned with a ballast eventually failing or making noise, bypassing the ballast and wiring directly could not be any simpler (refer to the spec sheet on the Polar-Ray website), and these tubes can be used in shunted or unshunted fixtures with a voltage input of 120-277 volts AC.
So, what more do you want? Great price? You bet! When you consider how long these tubes last, the initial cost is quite insignificant compared to the purchase cost for the number of fluorescent tubes that would need to be used over the life of these LED tubes, not to mention the time that adds up when it comes to fluorescent maintenance, both tubes and ballasts. When you add to that the cost savings in energy consumption, the initial cost is certainly negligible compared to the combined costs of using fluorescent tubes.
Along with all the above, you get instant start, no fluorescent light flickering, a nice color temperature, CRI, and lumen output too. Since LED tubes have more directional light than fluorescent tubes, I find that the brightness of these tubes is quite excellent! Numerous fluorescent tubes might be listed as having higher lumen output, however, that output degrades comparatively rapidly and the light output is 360°, so much of that light is wasted, even with reflectors.
As far as color temperature (K/Kelvin), I like 4000K for areal lighting in my workshop and my office, and a combination of 4000K and 5000K at my hobby workbench. I find the 4000K produces a much warmer, and realistic coloring when it comes to both domestic and exotic woods and, for office use, I find the 4000K to be a bit more relaxing than the brighter 5000K (and these 5000K tubes do not produce the obnoxiously bright, bluish color that equivalent 5000K fluorescent tubes exhibit). My use of the combination of 4000 and 5000K seems, for me, to produce a much nicer light color for my numerous small hobby projects than either color temperature does separately. The one thing that might be considered as a drawback with these tubes is that they are not dimmable but I have no reason to need dimmable area lighting in the work areas in which these are used.
The mentioned applications are my personal preferences and yours may vary but, overall, whatever color temperature you might prefer, these tubes are pretty much a no-brainer, as the price is definitely right, and the overall quality, longevity, and ease of installation are all excellent. So, if you’re thinking about replacing fluorescent tubes with fluorescent tubes, think twice, because these are, at least, twice as efficient, will definitely outshine, outlast and, overall, outperform any fluorescent tube you can find.
