I don’t usually go out on a limb and claim that something is the best ever. But the Big Ass Shop Lights have blown me away. They are made in the USA and are the best quality light fixtures I have ever seen. They are made from one extruded piece of aluminum that is tough enough to hold a 4 ton Ford F350, see the video below.
These lights literally are the last lights you will ever buy, you will need to put them in your will when you die. 13,000 lumens are produced by this 122W fixture. The LEDs last over 150,000 hours and have a whopping 7 year warranty. We opted for the additional programmable occupancy sensor, which basically turns on the lights whenever it detects motion. Unlike fluorescent lights which take a while to warm up in the cold, these LEDS are instant on and bright.
The quality of light in my garage now is better thanks to the LEDS. My garage is white and bright compared to a yellowish dim hue that it had before. The light covers slide out for easy cleaning and you can put different ones in to get a different angle of light. I was not paid for this write-up and I would recommend these lights any day. Big Ass Lights are the best lights you can get.
I love ’em. Even though they are a “lifetime tool”, the price is tough to swing. So while they’re “on my list”, they’re a ways down.
All things considered, I would argue “best” needs to factor in cost. When I saw these in Feb, I checked them out. Here’s my personal analysis, fwiw:
I compared my current fluorescent shop lights to the BigAss (which I’ll call BA) light. From what I researched, turns out most fluorescent lights are still more efficient than LED, and way, way cheaper. In the real world (in common light fixtures, not labs or super expensive fixtures like the BigAss light) fluorescent produces 80-100 lumens per watt, while most LED fixtures produce 60-80 lumens/watt. The BA light is producing 114 lumens/watt which is very high compared to most LED fixtures. They definitely did a great job with this light.
But bottom line, the BA puts out for $439 what three fluorescent fixtures with daylight bulbs put out for a total of $75, and I can distribute or cluster those three to get the light distribution I want. In use, the BA light is slightly more power efficient than the fluorescents, but the payback period would be decades.
Regarding light quality – I use daylight spectrum fluorescent bulbs, so the the color and quality of the light is just as good as LED sources. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of LED lights and have quite a few, I just find this particular light extremely expensive when I can achieve the same result at a fraction of the cost.
Great response sawdusttx! Thanks for taking the time.
Man since U guys did the video on these I really wanna hook up my garage with one of these so bad I just gotta save some funds for now. Thanks guys!! T.I.A!!
Cool looking light. Hefty price to pay for it though. Maybe for Christmas:)
Cool light wayyyyy to expensive, and last time I checked I hang my lights on the ceiling not drive over them with a F350? why companies do that is beyond me. I can see dropping an Iphone in a Otterbox case from the roof, or driving over the phone case, but Light fixtures?
Price? price? price?. Great for your dream garage. Or if you get one free somehow… Maybe the author got one free to review.
What I see I like very much the way my garage is set up, I would need two BALs, So I will start saving my pennies and get one at a time.