Very similar to what I did. 17'x36' with 17' ceilings. 5 rows of 4 fixtures. Fixtures are 4' LEDS. Cheep Chinese from Amazon. 3 years in and no failures, no shadows. Still have additional task lighting on the drill press, Lathe, Vertical Bandsaw and Mill. Mostly due to my aging eyes. Very happy with the light. My advise is if in doubt, add more lights. Better to have more light than you need that less light that you need.
Mine are split 3 rows and 2 rows. Much of the time I use just 3 rows. At $18 a fixture you bet more is better. I already had 4 foot hanging LED which are Honeywell daylight high quality lamps over all the machines from when I had the dismal fluorescent lighting. I use them as task lighting. As I’ve gotten older it really is important to have enough Light. So frustrating not to be able to see the scales.
How many lumens do these put out, and how high are you putting them? Do you have a link? Hi bays are ~ $50 each for 150w/20,000 lumen lights. 18$ a piece sounds pretty nice!
I got them on Amazon. Just search kihung 8 ft led. I can’t get the link to copy. They are 9750 lumens each. they use spring clips to mount. 3 or 4 per. I mounted the first ones with two, no good they tend to pop out. With 4 it’s fine. I have them at 12 ft.high At 4 feet between the rows there very little lux variance at 3 feet off the floor. Nice and even. I took a few and hung them to see if I liked the spacing before putting them all up. Only negative I can say is they seem to suffer a bit of thermal expansion and the ones that are direct linked have tended to unplug them selves a couple times. No big deal just annoying.
I do this in my kitchen and living room where I have fixtures that aim the light at the ceiling and I get reflected light in the room. As you say, great for no shadows and a nice soft lighted area