how to select quality fixtures?

[ugabulldog]

Anything I should look for to distinguish quality light fixtures over cheapos? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[user 4883]

assuming you've narrowed down the type of lighting you want, additional considerations would be:
look for brand name
look for coutry of manufacture
look for type of bulbs it is capable of
most of all, price will tell you something about the quality.

 

[ToolGuy]

One thing I always look at is if the lamp holder is plastic or porcelain. Better quality lights usually use porcelain.

Much of the quality is inside the light and not redily visible. Better quality switches, better quality soldered connections, etc. Going with higher-end lighting is usually your safest bet. If the price is cheap, you can pretty much rest assure the quality will be cheap too.

Lighting suppliers usually carry overall better quality than the big-box stores (depot, lowes, etc) but that's not to say they don't also carry better quality, just that they also have cheap stuff for those customers who don't want to spend much. In short, lighting is one of those things where you generally get what you pay for.

 

[480sparky]

I have noticed, as a general rule, the heavier it is for it's size, the better it is. Flimsy = cheap.