Sylvania 75173 SubstiTUBE Instant Start 4100K Compatible LED T8 Bulb, 4-Feet, Cool White

My basement and workshop are marginally illuminated by twelve twin-tube fluorescent shop light fixtures. If the ballasts don't burn out first, the lamps eventually begin flickering and turning black on the ends accompanied by diminishing light which necessitates maintaining an ample supply.Changing these tubes has been a pain for 35 years.It's long been known that flashing lights can cause seizures in some people. I don't lose awareness when a tube starts flashing but certain muscles do seize up real tight when it happens.Standing on a ladder and holding a chain-mounted fixture steady with one hand while inserting and turning the tube with the other hand is an art that's hard to master.I was both interested and skeptical when Amazon offered me this expensive LED T8 bulb. However, it was perfect timing as I had recently installed two new twin-tube T8, 32W 4100K fixtures and was cursing those responsible for making me work under such pitifully DIM lights.Life is all about learning curves. I crashed and burned on my first attempt at installation as all the light was focused upward into the fixture. Although unmarked, these tubes have an up and down side just like a light bulb and I had inserted the wrong prongs in first or else twisted them the wrong way.Once the tube was inserted correctly, I was amazed at the INSTANT brightness. With this much light, I don't care what color it is. I've never seen this much illumination from any fluorescent tube in the 32W - 40W category.Having said all this, I do have one major problem. I need 24 of these LED T8 tubes which would currently cost $420.00 and last 41 years.Why do I need a 41-year light bulb? Are they heirlooms or what? In 2056, our indoor light will be emitted from paint and wall paper.When CFL household light bulbs first hit the market, they were expensive and advertised to last 7 years. I purchased several of the top brands. They were all about the same, PITIFUL! I would flip a switch and then stumble in the dark for a minute waiting for the light to appear. The absolute worst of the bunch was the enclosed spiral bulbs. Some didn't last a year. The packaging boasted about how much money these magic bulbs would save me. I have yet to have one last more than 2 years. I felt like I was a gullible kid again getting ripped off at the county fair trying to win a Teddy Bear for my Honey Bear.If Sylvania will cut both the price and lifespan by 50%, I'll buy what I need now. 24 LED T8 tubes for $210 that will last 20 for years sounds about right. I can live with that. ehehehNever having to stand on a ladder again to change a shop light bulb does sound too good to be true. That's what worries me. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.As the old saying goes, "Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me."At the moment, I couldn't be happier with this LED 32W T8 bulb. I wish I had 23 more.Unfortunately, I can't read the future.I've got about 20 new fluorescent bulbs on hand. Some are outlaws that are not made anymore. It will take about 3 years to burn through the bunch. If this LED T8 bulb is still burning brightly at that time, I'll be a semi-believer. Until then, it's wait and see. In 3 years, I suspect the price of LED T8 bulbs will drop by half. If I haven't fallen off a step ladder and killed myself by then, I'll go shopping for a truck load.Let me get this straight. If the average lifespan in the USA is 78 years, that means that any purchaser over 37 years old will probably not live to celebrate if these T8 bulbs do last 41 years.Go far for the brass ring. You only live once ... albeit not long enough.

UPDATE:Ok, after several hours of use, the light has started cycling on and off. It stays on for about 15 to 20 minutes and then it shuts off. After about 5 minutes, the light comes back on and the cycle starts up again.At this time, I cannot recommend the product or give it anything higher than one star since failure within 6 hours is no where near the 45 year life expectancy. I will attempt to resolve this with Sylvania and will update my review when I have more information.++++++++++++++++++++++++++Original Review++++++++++Like a lot of folks, I have a garage that was built 25 years ago and that has florescent light fixtures in it with T8 bulbs. While I have always appreciated the amount of light they put out, changing bulbs every four to six years was never one of my favorite jobs. Also, whie they came on almost immediately, they did take a bit of time to get to full brightness.I have tried replacing a few of the bulbs with LED bulbs before, but those bulbs required me to rewire the light fixtures which was also not a lot of fun since the fixtures are 10 feet off of the ground. So, when these lights appeared on Amazon and said that I would not have to rewire the light fixtures, I was all in and ordered a bulb to try. Here is what i found: 1. While this bulb is like the new energy efficient Florescent lights in that it is thinner, it is a direct replacement for the 1 inch thick light bulbs. Just keep in mind that as you put in this new bulb, the metalic label on the bulb goes UP into the fixture. That will keep the LEDs pointing down which is what you want. 2. This bulb works in either a two lamp or a 4 lamp fixture. I do not have any single bulb fixtures, so I cannot tell you if it will work in one of those, but have to presume it will. 3. Here where I have an issue with these bulbs. The light output is not a warm white, but it is also not a cool white either. It is right inbetween. So, if you have several light fixtures and you do not plan on replacing all of the bulbs at once, expect to have a color descrepancy. The LED lights that I had to rewire have a cool white color that matches the cool white color of my florescent bulbs. This bulb is warmer than either and it shows. Does it put out enough light? Yes, it is just that the color is off.All in all, this is a nice light, but would be much better if the color was actually a cool white instead of being inbetween. Probably not a problem if you replace all of the bulbs in an area, but does definately show up if you try and mix the lights. Keep in mind that it is cooler in color than a warm white florescent as well. I did try it with my kitchen florescent bulbs and it then looks odd as well.

I hesitate giving this product only 2 stars because I'm not exactly sure what the problem is. I used it in a 4 ft fluorescent fixture and when I turned it on, it stayed lit all of 1 second and then went off. I then put the original fluorescent tubes back in the fixture and they didn't light at all. I pulled the plug on the fixture, plugged it back in and then it worked fine (with the old tubes). I tried the SubstiTUBE on a different fixture and the exact same thing happened. It was almost as if the SubstiTUBE was tripping something inside the ballast that didn't allow it to work. Note, one of the fixtures has an "electronic" ballast in it and the other has a "rapid start" ballast. Both are less than 5 years old. Any suggestions on this problem will be appreciated.