T5 or T8 my current take

let me shorten this up because my last post i spent forever typing got deleted. Im getting ready to switch to 12/12 and have been looking at T5HO fixtures. a 4 bulb T5HO puts out around 20000 lumens. problem is theyre 100-120 bucks, on the low end. a regular 2 bulb T8 fixture puts out about 5400 lumens, so it'd take 4 fixtures to put me slightly over 20000 lumens. Here's the catch i can get a 2 bulb T8 fixture and a pack of bulbs for around $22 putting me at under a hundred bucks to get the same amount, actually slightly more lumens, with my T8 fixtures. now i understand the T5HO fixtures are desired because they emit high intensity light over a smaller area but i cant imagine slightly lower light intensity emitted over a greater area is such a bad thing, after all the plants are still recieving the same amount of lumens. and even with a T5HO, id still need to subsitute in more light, so what im going to do is get a shit ton of shop lights, to equal the amount of lumens necessary. More fixtures less money, same amount of lumens, anyone see a problem? also with many 2 bulb fixtures i can position some fixures at different angles. Open to suggestions, except the ppl who suggest getting a HPS, ive discussed this with my grow partner, and we've both agreed that at this point in time, it isnt an option.