Are your sacrificing K coloring over a price point ? Also not seen is the wattage or the equivalent wattage of the LED's your trying to compare your older shop lights to. To see bulbs that are reasonably priced LED that provides a good color will also provide the savings that you may want simply Click here.

Thank you for your response =D

I'm not sure what I'm sacrificing for what, per se, would like to spend as little as possible right now, as my budget is quite tight until the end of the month.

Weather looks like it will not hold till then, lol.

Wattage for Costco lights says 'uses 35 watts, 3700 lumens'.

The BJ's light says '40 watts, 4500 lumens'.

Will definitely compare bulbs linked above...at the risk of asking a ridiculous question, I wonder if you could briefly explain the benefits of the link above, over BJ's and Costco's alternative?...

PS: already gave away ballasts in a spring cleaning frenzy, so I don't have the old fixtures anymore.

explain the benefits of the link above, over BJ's and Costco's alternative?...

@ $ 8.33 a bulb you would have a brighter and more effective K coloring using a lower 18 watts per bulb, less wattage used to burn a bulb is less out of pocket cost to to when operating a bulb.

Not a benefit but in common to either BJ's or Costco bulbs the LED's on link are also direct wired/ ballast free for 110-117 V they also have an equal estimated life expectancy.

A small perk I experience VIA LED during winter use is (for some but not all in my succulent collection) an easier inside to outside transitioning. I also have a happy medium of your March - May and get summer growing things out Mid April while looking for and finding hiding spots for the others that require less direct sun during summer tropical epic type winter growers All being said all the LED lights are off on and sometimes before April 10th turning them on with timers wont be done until mid Oct Even then for some I am still kicking and screaming and fighting not to bring in. Mind you that 40's isn't frost and some can even handle some of that

Your growing zone means close to nothing to me but is imprtant to others Fact is zones are determined and assinged by how cold it gets at a depth of four feet in the earth not by how warm they get A potted plant and it's roots losses apx 3 zones in the coldest times of winter to early spring but that same potted plantt gains apx three zones in warmer springs and summer months.

I just don't get it -___-

The bulbs linked above seems to require re-wiring of fluorescent ballasts?...it just isn't that kind of party 8)

I also don't have the ballasts anymore, so I would have to buy fixtures in order to use the bulbs linked above...then I would have to make sure the ballasts are compatible somehow, not really sure where I could find this information.

I freely admit I am frustrated by information overload and still don't see the downsides of either Costco or BJ's offering compared to link to bulbs above.

Am I missing something?

I don't recommend white leds for any plant. Only special red and blue phyto-leds.

Spend the money and invest in some higher grade fixtures like FX Luminaire. It is what we use on all of our projects.

Mulling over information given above, thank you for talking the time to explain Pagan =) you've helped me narrow down choices considerably.

Ray, when I google FX Luminaire, I only see outdoor landscape fixtures.

Quoted/asked I also don't have the ballasts anymore

Seeming as you already don't have them, discarded or for other reasons. Assuming you have 110 V- 117 V ( which every person I know does) somewhere in your home and want to use a 110 V electric source for power over 220 V you wont need a ballast to burn as many bulbs as you want It's an easy direct polar negative to polar positive wiring

Ballast free wiring demo in pic

If you don't already have ballast ( whihc you said you dont have)you may/will still need to check the fixtures for proper wiring Meaning if you want bulbs to work unfortunate you are going to have that party that you don't want to have

Shows disconnecting VIA by passing the still usable ballast

Note the bulb wording is directly wired to the positive and negative fixture

The opposite side that use to be wired looks like this when finished re -wiring

When ready to re-assemble the wired side will look like this

re-place the shield and the removed screws loss lee (<< sp) first on both sides then tighten

I have no possible way to show you the bulbs working (on) with an open cover ballast free becuse the cover has holes used to hang and hold the fixture(s) but if there where I would

IMO all you need is close less is more ( sometimes) and usually works better your plants you don't need nothing fancy if you want fancy go for it grab a plasma lighting system ( a different party and that you don want to be at as well) isn't going to work very effectively at all for any winter dormant plant.

IME @ 5000 K color I can over brightness ( burn) VIA use of the same bulbs you see in the demo wiring pics any attenuata haworthia in a few days, any epic type cacti and some of them arid guys as well. Go figure huh ? I'm only using a modest time of 12 hours with 4 LED 5000K bulbs being on per day from Mid October to early April My bulbs are only used underneath the sills which are two rather wide window sills @ 108 inches, three if you count the east side one that doesn't get any sun as of lately I often shift 3 tray filled succulents from under lights to one of the 2 short time winter sun filled sills moving the sill sitters to under lights.

Simply

don't forget to ventilate I use lights on fan as a rule during winter and cracking windows open on warmer winter days I can grow a potato on any of the S or SXSE sill over winter but will ( Ironically worded so pls excuse the pun) bake that same potato by late May early July if left there .

Technically the potato I have is a relative of a yam and is currently breaking dormancy with ANY additional lighting