:strip_icc()/bhg-best-garage-lighting-tout-92534f6b3510485595ee654707578af2.jpg?w=1920&resize=1920,1267&ssl=1 "Illuminate Your Garage With the 5 Best Garage Lights")
Poor lighting in your garage can make it impossible to fully utilize your garage space, especially if you use it as a workshop for DIY projects or car maintenance.
“If you’re working on something in the garage, you need your light as bright as possible,” says Rod Donnelly, CEO and president of Donnelly Construction.
Installing a few garage lights is a simple fix for dim garages, and you don’t need to hire an electrician to do it. Our favorite garage lighting options are easy to install and don’t require any hardwiring.
What We Researched
To find the best garage lights, we researched dozens of options and compared their ease of installation, design, features, and price. We also took note of the type of light, like LED or fluorescent, and the watts, brightness, and color temperature of each garage lighting option.
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With a linkable design and easy plug-in installation, we think the Seobiog 2-Pack Garage Light is a great option to illuminate most garages.
Rather than hardwiring a light fixture, these lights can be plugged directly into a power outlet. The power cord is also almost 10 feet long, so it can reach your garage’s outlets with ease.
Each of the lights includes six adjustable light panels that can fold 90 degrees, so you can adjust the panel to brighten dark areas of the garage.
The lights can be installed using a hanging hook mounted on the ceiling or with a retractable hanging chain mount, making them suitable for any ceiling height. They also have a linkable design so you can connect multiple lights and control them all with a single switch.
Although you can only connect up to four lights together, we think four lights would easily illuminate even large garages, so it’s not a dealbreaker.
Product Details: Watts: 200 | Brightness: 20,000 lumens | Color Temperature: 6,500 K
Key Terms to Know
- LED: LED lights are a bright and long-lasting option for garage lighting. LED stands for “light-emitting diode,” and LED lights are much more efficient than traditional incandescent light bulbs.
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If you want to upgrade your garage on a budget, consider the Meiqils LED Garage Light. This option is less expensive than other styles and is also easy to install, making it a quick fix for dark garages.
The light features three LED panels that can be adjusted from 0 to 90 degrees, meaning you can direct the light to wherever you need it most. Installing the light is quick and easy since it simply screws into any standard E26 or E27 lightbulb socket.
If you have a large garage, you may want more than one light to fully illuminate the space. Keep in mind that these lights have to be screwed into a lightbulb socket, so you can only install as many lights as you have sockets for.
Product Details: Watts: 80 | Brightness: 8,000 lumens | Color Temperature: 6,500 K
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If you prefer a light fixture that can be hung or mounted directly on the ceiling, we recommend the Hykolity 4-Pack Linkable LED Shop Light.
Although they are a more traditional light fixture, you don’t have to worry about hardwiring these lights. They come with a 59-inch power cord that you can plug in to any outlet in your garage.
To make installation even easier, the lights come with everything you need to mount or hang them on the ceiling, including hanging chains, mounting screws, and mounting brackets.
With four lights that are each 4 feet long, they offer plenty of lighting to brighten even large garages. You can even link all four of the lights together to turn them on and off using a single switch.
Keep in mind that the power cord for each light is just under 5 feet long, so it may not be long enough to reach your garage outlet. However, you can simply add an extension cord.
Product Details: Watts: 42 | Brightness: 4,400 lumens | Color Temperature: 5,000 K
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If you have a large garage, we recommend using several light fixtures to illuminate every corner of the space. The Barrina LED T5 Integrated Light Fixture includes six LED shop lights that can be linked together for easy operation.
Each of the light fixtures is 4 feet long, so you get a total of 24 feet of tube lights in the pack. We think this would be more than enough to brighten any large garage. The light fixtures can be hardwired or simply plugged into an outlet for power, and you can operate them all with a single switch since they link together.
While the set comes with 20-inch connector cords, you can also link the light tubes directly to one another using the seamless connectors at the end of each tube. This way, you can keep all of the lights together if you have a specific area you want to brighten, or you can space the light fixtures out throughout your garage to brighten the entire space.
The default temperature option for this light set is 6,500 K, but the set is also available in several other color temperatures, including warm white, cool white, and daylight white options.
Since they use only 20 watts, the lights are very energy efficient and have a long lifespan. However, the lifespan will shorten if you add a motion sensor to the lights, so keep this in mind if you plan to upgrade them.
Product Details: Watts: 20 | Brightness: 2,200 lumens | Color Temperature: 6,500 K
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Some garages don’t have access to a power outlet or lightbulb socket, which can make it difficult to install a garage light. Luckily, the TooWell Motion Sensor LED Ceiling Light is battery-powered, so it can be installed anywhere you need extra light.
All you need is four D-cell batteries to get the light up and running. It even features a built-in motion sensor that detects motion from up to 22 feet away, so it will turn on instantly when you enter your garage. You don’t have to worry about turning it off, either, since the light shuts off automatically after about 20 seconds of no motion.
Since it mounts to the ceiling with included screws, the light is simple and quick to install anywhere you want it. You can even mount it on the wall if you don’t want overhead lighting.
Keep in mind that the light is only 300 lumens, so it’s significantly less bright than other options on our list. That being said, you may want more than one light if you have a large or very dark garage.
Product Details: Watts: 3 | Brightness: 300 lumens | Color Temperature: 3,000 K
The Bottom Line
We think the Seobiog 2-Pack Garage Light is the best garage lighting option overall. The lights are linkable and have a plug-in design for easy installation, making them a good choice for most garages.
What to Know About Garage Lighting Before Shopping
Watts
Wattage is a measure of how much energy a light uses. Lights with lower wattage are more energy efficient since they use less energy to operate, meaning you pay less for electricity.
The most energy-efficient garage light on our list is the Barrina 6-Pack LED T5 Integrated Light Fixture, which uses only 20 watts. Our best battery-powered pick, the TooWell Motion Sensor LED Ceiling Light, is technically even lower in wattage at 3 watts, but it doesn’t affect your energy bill since it uses batteries.
Brightness and Temperature
Brightness of a light is measured using lumens, while the temperature of a light is measured using kelvin.
Bright lights with 3,000 lumens or more are best for garages. “Bright white lights are good for safety and utility,” Donnelly says. If you have a large garage or want to illuminate a workspace, you may want even brighter lights with 5,000 lumens or more. The brightest light on our list is the Seobiog 2-Pack Garage Light, which has 20,000 lumens to brighten almost any space.
As for temperature, lights with a temperature between 5,000 and 6,500 K are ideal for garages since they appear brighter and mimic daylight. Lights with a lower temperature tend to be a warmer, more yellow shade that may look dim in dark garages. Most of the lights on our list have a temperature of 5,000 or 6,500 K, meaning they are a cool-toned, bright white light.
Installation
Many garage lights can be either mounted or hung from the ceiling in your garage. The Hykolity 4-Pack Linkable LED Shop Light, for example, comes with everything you need to either hang it or mount it on the ceiling. You can also opt for a garage light that screws into an existing light socket, like the Meiqils LED Garage Light.
After you hang or mount the garage light, you’ll need to connect it to a power source. Most of the garage lights on our list include power cords to plug them into an outlet, making installation quick and easy. You can also choose to hardwire your lights if you want to avoid power cords.
If you don’t have access to a light socket or power source in your garage, we recommend a battery-powered option like the TooWell Motion Sensor LED Ceiling Light.
Your Questions, Answered
What type of lighting is best for a garage?
LED lights are the best type of light for garages, which is why all of the garage lights on our list are LED. “They’re white-light bright, are long-lasting, and are inexpensive,” Donnelly says.
While there are other types available, like fluorescent or incandescent lights, LEDs are brighter, last longer, and are more energy efficient. They also come in a variety of styles, including strip lights, tube lights, and panel light fixtures.
Who We Are
Molly Blanco is a senior writer for Better Homes & Gardens. To find the best garage lights for this article, she researched dozens of options and compared factors like ease of installation, features, and lighting type. We also consulted Rod Donnelly, CEO and president of Donnelly Construction, for more information on garage lighting and what factors are most important to consider when choosing a garage light.