I do also get into a slight sad phase when I see a lamp burnout (this has been the case with 3 of my F15T8 GE lamps
that have recently burned out... since my living room is now much darker and I still haven't replaced those lamps)
but the EOL shows can be dazzling sometimes lol
I do hope that 20 years from now the old school lighting does stick around and reliability doesn't end up being
a past thing. And, even if that be the case, if I'm alive by that time I'll definitely have the reliable lighting
in my settings/home. Always!

I do hope that 20 years from now the old school lighting does stick around and reliability doesn't end up being a past thing. And, even if that be the case, if I'm alive by that time I'll definitely have the reliable lighting in my settings/home. Always!

The problem is, reliability is already a thing of the past. Ever since firms started outsourcing manufacturing to places like China, nobody has made anything to last any more 

Ive have been collecting for several years now.

I have over 300 4ft T12 , around 100 4ft T8s, a hand full of F30T12s and a single mixed box of F20T12s.
As for other lamps, i have a few LEDs, a box of CFLs, and around 100 or so of a variety of HID lamps.

As for fixtures I have quite a few , I rarely ever get rid of any. But I store them as efficiently as possible. I have 8 1x4 troffers disassembled and stored in two 4x1x1 boxes , wrapilights are stacked on a shelf  and full troffers and bulky fixtures stored in closet.


I like to keep my lighting equipment stored in quiet, low traffic places like my closet, a huge storage shelf in the basement and in the space under the stairs. There is a few fixtures under my bed.  It is important to keep them all out of the way otherwise they would run a high chance of tampering or damage by others.

My ultimate purpose for my lights is collect & store them now, and enjoy/use in the future. I don't bring home as much anymore because Im just about satisfied with what I have vs my intentions. Really I just need a few more 3000k lamps, and some HID stuff and done. As for fixtures, I only take in specimens of the exact model and make of ones I already have or if they are interesting

@Lightingguy1994, what about the 8 footers, 7 footers, 6 and 5 footers? (slimline, HO and VHO) Did you collect any
of those? 300 4ft T12's is alot, so you the man!! I wish it were possible that you could use all of them lol

Good question i totally forgot about the other types. I just have 2 Old Sylvania lifeline 75w Daylight tubes that came with my 8 foot louvered fixture. Still not fully sure if ill keep them since id like to convert that louver to 4 lamp F40T12 tandem. But I could also just use them up someday then convert.

It would be neat to see them all going but that 300 is all my variety mixed. Most of which is CW in 34 and 40w , daylight and warm white and a few pink tubes.

I plan to use the warm whites in the kitchen and bathrooms, cool white in the shop and common areas and daylight in laundry roon and backlit sign boxes.

My girlfriend plans to have an art room but she'll get T8 electronic RS fixtures since any EOL flickering could ruin concentration.

Ahh but remember, there are electronic RS ballasts that still do have similar EOL flickering to regular magnetic
rapid start fixtures, at least the dim flicker characteristic...
...unless you're talking about the LPF or NPF rapid start EOLs.
But yeah at my final high school, back in 2009 the upstairs classrooms were lit with mainly Philip Alto 34watt T12 two lamp wraparounds
that were attached to ceiling tiles... 3 rows of fixtures, about 7 fixtures each row. Almost all of those fixtures
had electronic rapid start ballasts in them. When a lamp was EOL, the end result was *almost* like that of a HPF magnetic
rapid start type flicker.
Funny thing is that there were occasional fixtures that had HPF magnetic rapid start fixtures, and it was obvious because
of the 120 hertz flicker, and the fact that the magnetic ones were brighter.