It must sound odd to go on and on about light bulbs. But I've noticed a lot over the years, and companies as usual haven't made it easy.
I do live in the snowy midwest. CFLs didn't do very well outside, and the ones inside took awhile to get started. Combine that with the mercury and I'm done with CFLs.
The halogen floods are supposed to be best for weather resistance. I used many over the years. They're expensive and they don't last very long. Three to six months. Closer to three. I'm not a big fan of ladders. That was one thing that led me to more efficient bulbs, that and the delusion that I'm doing my part to reduce energy. I bought one of those long poles for changing bulbs, and it worked OK for a long time, but eventually the attachments slid around when I twisted the pole, twisting the pole and fixture with it, therefore defeating the purpose. I bought another pole, but meh, too many problems. I turned it into a duct-taped contraption just to change a bulb. Nutty.
That was when I started trying outdoor LED floods, only to realize that they don't give off much light. The beam isn't wide at all. They are more like spotlights. I see others complain about this online, but these bulbs continue to be sold as floods, though sometimes they are called reflectors.
I read that yellower light keeps away more bugs, so I wanted to stick with that. I'm used to the 2700K soft white, but it's true as you said that the whiter light can give an impression of greater brightness, so I was taking into that account in the garage. Maybe a whiter bulb of whatever kind will disperse more light.
Although I did move some stuff out of the garage, it is still somewhat hard to predict how often I need light. Not often. Winters here are much milder than they used to be. I got a trickle charger if I ever worry about the car battery. Regardless of the models I've owned, Toro always says the snowblower will start after X number of times, and X is always wrong. And this is with the electric start, because I have a bad back. So, sure, I don't need light often in the garage but it's hard to predict. It would be nice to install a long-life bulb and forget about it, as I've done indoors.
Last edited by deniro; 12/14/17 05:18 PM.
