CFL bulbs - do the math

[billvon 3,118]

>Simple, then, get the CFLs down to about $5 . . .

??? They're $1.66 each.

> Right now, 3X price, even if they last 4 times longer doesn't matter to
>Joe Normal . . .

They last 10x longer. I think most people are smarter than your "Joe Normal" (perhaps Joe Slow would be the more likely purchaser) but I agree that many people will buy the cheapest thing no matter what. Nothing you can do about that, other than education.

[billvon 3,118]

>Yeah - the best CFL's still suck.

I have a feeling you've seen a pretty small sample of CFL's then! The best CFL's may suck, but they are significantly better (in terms of CRI and color temp) than regular incandescents.

It should also be noted that since incandescents don't have the greatest CRI, things under CFL's will definitely look different. Perhaps people are just used to how things look under incandescent light, and so everything else looks bad now. Sort of like tungsten film used outdoors.

[Remster 30]

I think its definatly a case of what we are used to.

I wasnt a big fan - at all - of CFL's light colour. My wife just swapped a whole bunch in our house last year, and while during the 1st few weeks, things looked odd, I got used to it, and now find it very normal.

Remster

[speedy 0]

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I think its definatly a case of what we are used to.

That's true, I am used to switching on the light and... well there is instant light. The CFL's take time to provide the light. This means I tend to leave them on most of the time in the evening.
I don't save much electricity with them, but I certainly don't need to change them as often.

Dave

Fallschirmsport Marl

[billvon 3,118]

>That's true, I am used to switching on the light and... well there is instant light.

Again, that depends on the bulb. Some CFL's (with magnetic ballast) have to strike before they turn on, so they are completely dark for a few seconds. Some CFL's have noncompensated electronic ballasts, so they come on and they're dim at first. Some CFL's with compensated ballasts come on to full brightiness instantly.

[Nightingale 0]

The Ace Hardware around here has CFLs for about 99 cents.

[Remster 30]

Quote

That's true, I am used to switching on the light and... well there is instant light.

The ones we got from Ikea are very close to instantaneous. And they appear to shine at full britness from that point on.

I agree, some of the older ones took 1/2 a seond to start, and were dimmer for a few minutes, but not the ones we have now.

Remster

[speedy 0]

Ahhhh ... compensated ballasts
What's that in German? Never mind I'll figure it out.

The only problem is I will have to wait a million years before the ones I've got burn out

Dave

Fallschirmsport Marl

[FlyingJ 0]

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I have some CFL's in the house, but, to be honest, the light they produce is ugly. The warm glow of an incandescent is so much more pleasant.

Will they ever be able to produce a similar light with a CFL?

Right there with you. I bought a handful of them to put in the lights I use most often, but I hated them. I left them for a week, but I got a headache sitting in and reading in that light. I even tried one or two other brands/types to see if there was one that was better to no avail. Now I have a pile of really expensive lightbulbs sitting in my cabinet not getting used.

Killing threads since 2004.