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T8 tube prices: A comparison of budget, mid and premium tubes
If you are looking to replace your fluorescent tubes with LED equivalents, there are a few factors to consider including size, wattage and fitting type. Once you have chosen these, you can then focus on some of the subtleties of choice including warranty, life span and lumen output.
Assessing these details can be hard work as the finer details are often buried at the bottom of a supplier’s website. This means that comparing like for like can mean a huge amount of clicking backwards and forwards to find the information you need.
For this reason, we’ve put together this guide to compare T8 LED tubes according to their price range.
In this guide:
A comparison of the factors that affect the price of budget, mid and premium tubes
Find out more about the prices of our ranges of T8 LED tubes
Learn more about LED tubes
Factors that influence the price of a T8 LED tube light
Lifespan (Hours)
A budget friendly T8 LED tube light can have a lifetime ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 ours. However, higher price T8 tube light can last up to 50,000 hours.
Warranty
Warranty can affect the overall price of a T8 LED tube and can range from three to five years.
Wattage
Some of the technological developments in tube lighting mean savings are being made in energy usage. As technology advances less and less power is needed to produce the same light output which means lower wattage tubes can be used to provide the same amount of light output as older, higher wattage fluorescent tubes.
Colour Rendering Capability
LED tubes also vary in their CRI (Colour Rendering Index) number. As a general rule, the higher this number is, the closer the light should be to natural daylight. Budget-friendly LED tubes usually have a CRI of 80, which is adequate but is not the best light quality.
Higher priced LED tubes have 90+ CRI which should make the colours in the room appear as natural as possible. For some uses and applications, this is highly important. For example, in retail, it may be important to display products such as cars, clothes and jewelry in the best possible light but this is less important in the average 9-5 office environment.
Energy Efficiency
All LED lights have an energy rating of A, A+ or A++. The most efficient bulbs tend to cost a little more.
Tube Material Type
A budget-friendly option is often made of polycarbonate. While high-end tubes are usually made of glass or nano-coating. Therefore, the latter tends to be more durable and long-lasting than the former.
Direct Replacement or Retrofit
A replacement tube is more expensive than a retrofit tube, mainly because it can be installed in place of a fluorescent tube without any need to make electrical/wiring changes or buy any other products needed to complete the retrofit.
2020 price comparisons for T8 LED tube sizes
2ft T8 Tube Price Comparisons
| Budget £3.00-£5.00 | Mid-range £5.00 - 7.00 | Premium £7+ |
|---|---|---|
 Sylvania 2ft T8 LED Tube |
 Energizer T8 2ft 9w LED Tube Frosted |
 Osram 2ft 8w SubstiTUBE Value |
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Our Pick – The Sylvania 2ft T8 LED Tube is a great all round tube at a good price. Retrofit.
4ft Tube Price Comparisons
| Budget £4.00-£5.00 | Mid-range £5.00 - 7.00 | Premium £7+ |
|---|---|---|
 Brite Source 4ft 18w LED T8 Tube |
 Osram LEDVANCE 4ft 1200mm 16.2w |
 Energizer T8 4ft 18w LED Tube Frosted |
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Our Pick – The Osram LEDVANCE 4ft 1200mm 16.2w is a great choice.
5ft Tube Price Comparisons
Currently the market is very competitive on 5ft tubes but our preference and most popular tube is the Brite Source 5ft 23w LED T8 Tube available in 4000k (Cool White) and 6000k (Daylight). This tube provides 2300 lumen output, 30,000 average life span and a 3 year warranty. This is retrofit tube.
If you are looking for a great direct replacement option – then equally well priced is the Energizer T8 5ft 22w LED Tube Frosted Tube. These ship with a 3 year warranty as standard and is a glass tube.
6ft Tube Price Comparisons
| Budget £10.00-£11.00 | Mid-range | Premium |
|---|---|---|
 Brite Source 6ft 28w LED T8 Tube - Single Ended Wiring |
 Sylvania 6ft 30w LED T8 Tube - 6500k |
 Energizer T8 6ft 30w LED Tubes Frosted |
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Our Pick – The Energizer 6ft T8 is our most popular T8 due to its plug and play nature and flexibility of tube replacement.
8ft Tube Price Comparisons
| Budget | Mid-range | Premium |
|---|---|---|
 Lampshoponline 8ft 40w LED T8 Tube - Single Ended Wiring |
Currently only one product sold | Currently only one product sold |
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Useful further reading
We have a number of other useful resources relating to LED Tubes:
LED v Fluorescent LED Tubes
How to replace your fluorescent tubes with LED counterparts (includes cost comparisons)
Our most popular brands Energizer, Osram & Sylvania
Our best picks for warm white, white and cool white Led Tubes
Frosted V Clear Led Tubes – what you need to know
Picking T8 Tubes – Budget, Mid-Range and Premium options
Picking T5 Tubes – Budget, Mid-Range and Premium options
Waterproof Led Tubes – what this really means
Glass v Polycarbonate LED Tubes
Single v Double Edge LED Tubes
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