CF Light Bulbs Suck

I find it amazing how many people are willing to compromise and put in CFL's. It's a compromise I'm unwilling to accept. However, I drive an electric car, something most people would consider a compromise. Me, I consider it a step up. LED's are the same way, they are a step up from incandescents. I'll be buying some eventually.

Nate

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TimBikes @ Nov 14 2007, 11:24 PM) [snapback]539799[/snapback]</div>

We've had CFL bulbs in our home for 5+ years and most are still working. I did have some fail that were mounted pointing down in a light fixture. I guess they work better pointing up. Costco recently had a special with 10 bulbs for $4. 13 watt gems too. Nice and bright and the right color. I only have two old bulbs in my home now, one in the fridge and one in the oven.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(naterprius @ Nov 15 2007, 12:40 AM) [snapback]539855[/snapback]</div>

Which switchers? In what?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(n8kwx @ Nov 15 2007, 10:03 PM) [snapback]540400[/snapback]</div>

I'm guessing these are the power supplies that we call "wall warts." The cheap ones that come with many devices are NOT switchers (if they're heavy and always warm, they're not switchers). The switchers are more efficient, and better in every way - except more expensive.

 

I would echo the experience that the Home Depot CFLs suck. When they don't go out, they have an even worse behavior. They get dimmer slowly and sneakily. After a while I go "Why the heck is it so dark in here with the lights on?". "Oh", I say.

The IKEA CFLs also suck -- they burn out if you look at them sideways.

So far I've been happy with the "Durabright" brand "Sunlight" CFLs. The bluishness was striking at first, but then I preferred it to the yellow. My favorite is actually mixing the bluish and yellowish lights in one room. Then I remembered that's exactly what I would do with stage lights back in high school, mixing the blue and amber light filters for good color.

I'll wait for LEDs to get cheaper, since I consider the cost of the LEDs to be some measure of the energy that went into producing them. If I can save money on electricity with a replacement bulb, then I can be pretty certain that I am reducing overall energy usage including production.

 

I put in several CFLs. I bought some at a small light-bulb store downtown, and I might have bought some from Amazon. I did not shop by price. I shopped by lumens and color spectrum: I am unwilling to accept reduced light output compared to a 100 W incandescent because dim light gives me a headache. And I try to find the closest to daylight color I can. Several burned out in a matter of a month or so. One flickers sometimes, but works fine at other times. All of them take a small but annoying time to come to full brightness. Overall I am so dissatisfied with their longevity and performance that I just bought a box of incandescents for when the CFLs die.

I am also extremely upset at the marketing strategy which advertises 900-lumen CFLs as "replacements" for 1250-lumen incandescents! If you want to argue that I should be using 900-lumen bulbs instead of 1250-lumen bulbs, fine. There are arguments to be made for using less light. But advertising a 900-lumen bulb as a replacement for a 1250-lumen bulb is fraudulent advertising.

My CFLs are all indoors, and installed preferentially where I tend to have the lights on for considerable lengths of time, such as my office room and the kitchen.

I would be willing to spend several thousand dollars to convert my entire home lighting to LEDs, on condition that I did not lose total illumination or have to settle for an uncomfortable color spectrum. But I gather this is not possible at this time.

I have an LED headlamp, sold for night-time hiking, but which I use mostly for reading in bed in hotels and hiking lodges, where there is never adequate reading light. I love it! It's also useful any time I need a flashlight and both hands free. And I have a very small flashlight with LEDs, which is excellent. And finally, for emergencies, I have a shake-action flashlight with LEDs. You physically shake it to generate electricity. Three minutes of shaking gives a bright light for a while. It gives adequate light. The main advantage is that I don't have to worry about keeping fresh batteries available for a power failure.

 

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(naterprius @ Nov 16 2007, 09:50 AM) [snapback]540642[/snapback]</div>

Darell said they're not available unless you build them yourself, which I would not attempt to do.