unfinished basement light recommendation
$250 to light a huge room is, in the grand scheme of things, not that big a deal. That's about $0.25 per square foot. If the existing lighting is 4' fluorescent tubes (as basements have typically had for a very long time) and your issue is simply quality of the light, then you can do quite well with any of:


Replace the fluorescent tubes with LED tubes. But remember some tubes are better than others - compare CRI, lumens and power usage.
Replace the fluorescent tubes with better fluorescent tubes - particularly CRI can vary quite a bit.
Replace the fluorescent tubes and the ballasts - as Harper noted, newer ballasts can improve things in a number of ways.


With LED tubes and ballasts, or with a full LED fixture replacement, some manufacturers are much better than others. I have my own experiences with going cheap on LED fixtures - they tend to fail early - not all but a significant enough percentage. So if you go on the cheap side to save money (which is not necessarily a bad thing to do), make sure to buy from a store that will stand behind the products. If you order online then stick with well-known manufacturers as the "unknowns" are far more likely to give you trouble and returns are crazy on this type of product (easy to ship back small, high value, stuff; not so easy to ship back 4' light fixtures).

Personally, I have replaced my fluorescent &amp; incandescent bulbs and/or fixtures one at a time with LEDs. Still have a bunch of fluorescents in place and will switch to LEDs as they need replacement so that the $ impact isn't so high.

On the other hand, if your existing lighting is a "mixed up mess" - 4' fluorescents in one part, hanging incandescent bulbs in another, etc. - then I would spend the $250 to get everything all new, up-to-date, bright and energy saving.