Here's today's shop lighting update...
Went to the orange BORG to get some new fluorescent lamps and another fixture, and the only low-priced ($9) shop light fixture they had in stock was for T12 lamps only. Seeing that the only T8 fixtures they had were $20 or more each, I figured that I must have been mistaken, and the $9 fixtures I bought a few days ago at OSH must have been T12 fixtures after all. So I grabbed one of the fixtures and eight higher-priced Philips T12 lamps. These lamps have a color temp of 5000K, and a color rendering index of 92.
Got everything home and checked the fixtures from OSH, and sure enough they
are for T8 lamps (but they can also accept T12s). I also then discovered that the new T12 fixture from the BORG did not have a pull-chain switch...something I wanted for the location it was going to. So there's one item to be returned. (I'll go to OSH later this week and pick up another T8 fixture to match my other three. Shoulda done that in the first place.)
Then I installed a couple sets of the new Philips bulbs, and LOML and I both like the plain, cheap GE Residential EcoLux bulbs better. I'll leave them up and see, if like Glenn says, I get accustomed to them. Still, the two unopened packages of Philips bulbs will also go back to the BORG. I'll probably continue to experiment with different lamps. Next, I'll probably try the Sylvania model Bruce suggested.
Despite a few wrong moves, the shop lights are a vast improvement over what I previously had in there.