A Guide to the Absolute Best LED Garage Lights

Sufficient lighting is an essential component of any high-functioning garage. Without it, you or your visitors can easily trip over objects or wires, or suffer from easily avertable injuries. Inadequate garage lighting can also be difficult to work in—making you less productive—and even pose potential hazards to your power-tools, vehicles, or gear. As you might expect, the absolute best garage lighting fixtures solve for all these problems and more. They can transform a drab, dark space into a brightly-lit room that’s safer, brighter, and better looking—while being more energy-efficient to boot.

In this short post, find why commercial LED garage lights make the best garage lights on the planet, and explore a few of our own that undoubtedly make the cut.

Why LEDs Make The Best Garage Lights

LED stands for “light emitting diode,” a fancy way to say that there’s a tiny component in the bulb that illuminates when electricity runs through it. LEDs are a popular choice for all kinds of lighting applications—from warehouses and commercial kitchens to parking lots and metal shops—but they’re especially great for both residential and commercial garages.

Here’s why:

Greater brightness & energy efficiency

LED garage lights feature unparalleled brightness and energy-efficiency compared to other types of garage lighting fixtures. They shine bright without emitting any heat which can lower your utility bills.

Better performance

They also perform better than other types of lights in both hot and cold conditions (and can be manufactured to be waterproof or vaporproof, as well). In sharp contrast to alternative fixtures.

Longer lifespan

The average lifespan for a standard LED garage light is 50,000 hours (roughly 17 years running for 8 hours a day). If you only turn on your garage lights for a few hours a week, they could easily last for decades.

Greater light efficiency

A final reason why LEDs make better garage lights has to do with how their light is distributed. Fluorescent garage lights feature omnidirectional, 360-degree light that shines in all directions. This accounts for a whopping 50% of light loss, despite them consuming more energy. In contrast, the light emitted from an LED lighting fixture features directional, focused light that shines directly on your work surface. This means your LED garage lights will appear brighter while consuming less energy.

The Absolute Best LED Lights For A Garage

So now you know why LED garage lights are the best lights for a garage. Now it’s time to discover what lights are best for you. Fortunately, we’ve rounded up a few of our top-performing LED lighting fixtures for garages of all kinds. Read about the following fixtures to be one step closer to finding the best LED lighting fixture for your garage.

The BOLT – 3 Lamp LED Shop Light

Looking for a commercial grade garage lighting fixture that’s easy to install and requires virtually no maintenance? Look no further than this 3 Lamp LED Shop Light. This UL-listed light is made of heavy duty 24 gauge steel and finished with a white baked-on enamel. With damp-listed certification, long lasting durability, and unmatched brightness, these lights are perfect for garages of all sizes and shapes. They’re also incredibly easy to install yourself—simply attach the fixture to the ceiling or wall using the included screws.

The BOLT- Motion Censor Garage Ceiling Light

Looking for an LED garage ceiling light with motion activation? Look no further than this 66-watt motion activated 3-lamp shop light. With its contemporary design, shatterproof LED tubes, and long lifespan, this light is perfect for any garage. Once the built-in sensor detects movement, it will turn on its LED tubes automatically, providing ample lighting while you work. And don't worry about replacing the tubes, either—they’re shatterproof and easily replaceable, and are included in our five-year warranty.

Buying motion-sensor lights for your garage or shop? Contact PrimeLights today to ask one of our experts for the proper placement of your sensors to ensure optimum motion-activation efficiency.

The BOLT 8 foot 6 lamp LED Garage & Shop Light

Need a large lighting fixture that provides ample lighting and is easy to install? This 8-foot shop light combines 6 clear lamps using two rows of our 4-foot 3-lamp BOLT fixtures. The result: an 8-foot shop light that produces the same amount of light in half the install time. Made with an extension plate for quick assembly and easy wiring (with the same lighting benefits of our traditional BOLT), this is a fantastic lighting fixture for two-car garages or larger.

The STINGRAY 4XL Highbay LED for Garage

The PrimeLights LED Stingray 4XL is the perfect highbay LED for your garage! This energy-efficient, cool-running light fixture provides 11,970 LED lumens of 5000K daylight-like white light and features a long life of 50,000 hours. With a voltage range of 110-277V and an input wattage of 88W, this LED highbay is great for any size shop or garage. The fixture also features a 83+ CRI rating for accurate color reproduction, operates without a ballast or driver, and can be easily surface mounted or hung via “s” hooks or aircraft cable hangers.

The Howard Double Twin Head Tripod Work Light

Looking for a portable work light that can stay on for hours without emitting heat? Check out the Howard Double Twin Head Tripod Work Light! This energy-saving LED light features two 36W LED lights to provide 7200 lumens of brightness, giving you plenty of illumination. The durable die-cast aluminum housing and frame is heat dissipating, making it optimal for thermal management, and the polyester powder-coat finish ensures long-lasting use. Plus, the L-14 tripod with extension leg makes it easy to set up and take down—so you’ll have access to light whenever and wherever you need it in your garage.

The PATRIOT LED Utility Shop Light for Garages

Our Patriot LED Utility Shop Lights are one of our most popular garage lights, and it’s easy to see why. Not only do they feature T8 linear LED lamps, a 50,000+ hour lifespan, and 8,550 LED lumens of brightness, but their enclosed and gasketed design keeps weather, dust, bugs, and vapors out. With bright, clear lens that diffuse light evenly, a CRI rating of 85, and 8,550 high-output LED lumens—it’s the best way to bring clean, natural-looking light into your garage workshop. Paired with its 5 year warranty (on the complete fixture including the tubes) it’s one of the best garage lights on the market!

The Best Lighting for Garage Conversions

Converting a garage to an office, extra room, or gym is commonplace for those homes with a driveway. Lighting is a necessary upgrade to make during home improvements of any kind, and a popular question we get at PrimeLights is “what’s the best lighting for garage conversions?”

Generally speaking, garages in the United States tend to have fluorescent lights, instead of more modern and energy-efficient LED lighting fixtures. When deciding on the best lighting for your garage conversion, you should first ensure that you are switching to LED light bulbs instead of fluorescent light bulbs. LED light fixtures are brighter, last years longer, and consume up to 85% less energy than standard fluorescent lighting fixtures. In some cases, existing fluorescent fixtures can support LED light bulbs, but this is only true of newer fluorescent light fixtures. 

To be more specific, selecting the lighting for your garage is highly dependent on the layout of your garage, in terms of square footage, ceiling height, and whether or not it will regularly be exposed to dusty and wet conditions. With our LED Shop Light Fixture calculator, you can quickly find the right light fixture and amount of lights for your garage conversion. Additionally, give us a call or contact us online for a FREE computerized lighting layout and fixture recommendation.  At PrimeLights, we help our customers find the best lighting for garage conversions daily, and we’re ready to help you next! 

Get Your LED Garage Lights Today!

Ready to purchase a lighting fixture for your garage but aren’t which one to get? Use our handy garage lighting calculator to determine the best light for your space. Simply plug in your ceiling height, square footage, and exposure conditions to see a compatible LED light fixture that’s perfect for your garage, or give us call today to speak to a PrimeLights team member. One of our lighting experts would be happy to talk shop about our top-quality garage lighting fixtures, or to recommend a specific fixture depending on your lighting needs.

Prefer to browse? Check out our entire collection of LED garage lights to find one for your needs. Filter by feature or brand (on the left) and read the reviews to find the best garage lighting fixture for you!