Portfolio White Flush Mount Fluorescent Light – DLE232RLPB

So I was asked to replace a ceiling light fixture for a relative. Not a problem – having done many I gladly offered my assistance to roll up my sleeves and do the job. The previous light fixture had died (probably needed it’s ballast replaced) and the decision was made to get something a bit more updated looking – the old patterned plexiglass light fixtures was simply not cool anymore. We rolled into Lowe’s and this one immediately caught their eye. Simple, clean, white and under a hundred dollars! Score.

We picked up some new T8 light bulbs too, and decided to go with the ‘cool light’ temperature since this did not come with any. Having installed many appliances/fixtures in the past – I also went ahead and also purchased some toggle bolts screws just in case.

So we proceeded to open up the box and in the instructions it recommends 3000K lamps! Great – wouldn’t it have been nice if that recommendation was written on the box it came in!? Oh well, so as I start analyzing the fixture and I already am noticing some concerns..

• The fixture does not have a backing white reflector – it relies on the ceiling. So, if your ceiling is uneven – expect light spillage. I was hoping this would be a completely encased fixture – not the case.
• The fixture has mounting points in the opposite side corners – naturally this results in the fixture slightly twisting when mounted. I was pretty ticked off about this aspect the most, and looked over and over for additional mounting points but found none except in the center which I could not use. Why didn’t they have mounting points in all corners or down the middle of the fixture!? This is where my additional purchase of toggle bolts came in handy!
• If you tighten the fixture too flush against ceiling then the finials (end caps) won’t fit. I ended up having to loosening the fixture a couple of times just so that the finials could slide in comfortably.
• It relies on two threaded screws on each end to keep the finials attached, and one of the screws was rusted out. Glad I had some WD40 and a brush handy to somewhat restore the screw to a usable state.
• I would have liked the center wire hole to be a tad bit larger for pulling the wires through but this one worked out ok.

So this is a decent product, especially when you consider comparable ones for the price & size, but a few adjustments (HINT HINT PORTFOLIO / LOWE’S) would make this even better. The installation took about a half hour from start to finish and does the job well.

There is one more aspect that I’d like to point out that just confused me.. while I was browsing through the instruction manual.. I just happened to notice that the ‘Estimated Assembly Time’ in English and French was 30 minutes, but for the Spanish portion was listed as 60 minutes! Could someone explain this discrepancy?

I included a snapshot below of that section from the manual: