Better compact fluorescent bulbs?

[cgallery]

I wanted to replace a few floods in some lights w/ CF bulbs w/ integrated reflectors.

My problem with them, though, is that they take a few minutes to reach their rated output in lumens (and never really make it all the way, IMO).

Are some CF bulbs (brands) better than others? Have you a favorite brand or type?

[gsmittle]

I have some BORG cheapies in my kitchen light. They take FOREVER to get up to not-quite-full brightness. I won't buy them again.

g.

[LJR]

I've had good results and performance with GE brand. I buy them through Grainger.

[LCHIEN]

Good luck. BTW, got any color temperature issues, as well?

And if you read the fine print, they say that the CFLs work best with the base down. With the base up (as in many recessed canister lights and fixtures where you would use floods), output is reduced another 5% and there is also loss of lifespan.

[cgallery]

Good luck. BTW, got any color temperature issues, as well?

And if you read the fine print, they say that the CFLs work best with the base down. With the base up (as in many recessed canister lights and fixtures where you would use floods), output is reduced another 5% and there is also loss of lifespan.

The current ones (Phillips) color temp is okay for soft white. Not great.

And yeah, I've been startled in the past to see the evidence of heat on the bases of CF bulbs installed base up.

I looked at LED bulbs but the lumens are fractions of conventional and CF, and the bulbs cost a fortune.

I guess it is back to incandescent bulbs.

[aggrex]

I tried a set of CFLs in the kitchen to try to save a few bucks on the electric bill. The package stated uses 15w with 60w output which sounds great with a seven year warranty. Two problems cropped up that made me switch back to incandescent bulbs:
1) the CFLs light output affected the appearance of meals and even it if tasted great it sure did not look appealing---so get the right light temp for best results
2) read the fine print for the warranty: mine stated 7 years if used only 3 hours daily on average.......

The CFLs ended up in the basement in the hopes saving some $$ on the electric bill but I am not getting 7 years on them so the high initial cost is not exactly resulting in any savings with the current CFL tech IMO

[LCHIEN]

I tried a set of CFLs in the kitchen to try to save a few bucks on the electric bill. The package stated uses 15w with 60w output which sounds great with a seven year warranty. Two problems cropped up that made me switch back to incandescent bulbs:
1) the CFLs light output affected the appearance of meals and even it if tasted great it sure did not look appealing---so get the right light temp for best results
2) read the fine print for the warranty: mine stated 7 years if used only 3 hours daily on average.......

The CFLs ended up in the basement in the hopes saving some $$ on the electric bill but I am not getting 7 years on them so the high initial cost is not exactly resulting in any savings with the current CFL tech IMO

the big savings on CFLs is not the long claimed life (which i don't seem to be getting either) but the electricity saved. It costs about $20 to light a 100W
incandescant bulb for its advertised life and about $5 to light the replacement for the same amount of time, even if the CFL dies right then instead of another 6 years later.

Of course, I can't get advertised life from my incandescants either, the GE 65W BR40 floods I use are supposed to last 1500 hours, the last one i took out lasted 29 days about 8 hours per day (240 hours) and they cost about $5.00 apiece.

[pelligrini]

One thing that affects CF and other fluorescent lamps life is the number of strikes (on off cycles). They won't last as long as advertised when used in places where they get switched on and off a lot, like bathrooms.

[bruce hylton]

My whole house is cfl's and the one we never turn off last and work well, those that are switched frequently die after about a year or so. I only buy the ones I can get cheap and never over $5.00 including fixture[costco].

[Chris_B]

Check out 1000bulbs.com

With out-of-sight marginal electric rates here in CA (now >$0.40/kWh... ) we now use mostly CFLs throughout the house. The main place where we use incandescents is in frequent on/off situations like closets. Each power cycle reduces the effective life of a CFL by ~1 hr.

In my experience, the obvious knock-off brands (e.g., "Lights of America") have almost always been terrible. However, I've had very good success with 7W or 13W Sylvania CFLs, combined with an external reflector for ceiling cans. The reflector significantly increases the output, and requires a small amount of modification to work with non-TCP brand bulbs (just trim the length of the flange). Having the external reflector enables me to choose any CFL rather than being limited to models with built-in reflectors, so the bulbs are better and cheaper.

A pair of 7W CFLs in PAR30 cans with reflectors put out a surprising amount of light. In fact, I am sitting under a pair right now. We also use the 7W CFLs with smaller reflectors in our PAR20 cans, and they work extremely well.

All fluorescents take a few minutes to reach 100% output, but the better models reach fairly high output in just a few seconds. Be sure to get 2700K color temperature if you want the look of incandescents. Color rendering index (CRI) is also important, but rarely specified.

See:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/7-to-8-Watt...-Fluorescents/
and
http://www.1000bulbs.com/Aluminum-Reflector-Options/

[Richard in Smithville]

I have been using cfl's for the past ten years or so. The only time I had to replace one was when the lamp fell over. I have used all different brands and never had a problem. The lamps are off every night and some, like the kitchen, are on and off many times during the evening.

[Kristofor]

I do see a much longer lifespan on CFLs. It's not 10 years+ per bulb but it is year(s) per bulb even in areas that are used a lot and cycled a lot (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen).

The problem for me is that while the better brands start out ramping up to near full brightness fairly quickly over time that performance degrades significantly. In the winter when we keep our furnace set to 62 degrees (cooler at night but with solar gain from lots of southern windows it's often 70ish during the day) it can take a minute plus to reach a usable level of light once the bulbs are older. For that reason there's one incandescent in each cluster in the bathrooms, and probably always will be until the LEDs are a reasonable option.