<p>We moved into our house in 2000 when all the sockets had Edison lamps, and over time, started replacing them with CFLs. After noticing that some of these alleged 5000- to 8000-hour lamps failed before the Edisons, I started marking each light bulb with the installed date and failed date. It was not possible to exactly calculate the hours, but I know the bathroom and master bedroom average less than 4 hours a day and the CFLs average a year-and-a-half, well below the 8000 hour rating. </p>
<p>Worse, I was paying the company that held “recycle days” once a month for things like computers and half used paint cans and so on, a buck a lamp to dispose of them.</p>
<p>Have these worked out for you? I previously used the ones from Sams Club, but changed to Home Depot because of their take back policy, but the quality doesn’t seem to be any better. In winter I really need to keep at least one Edison lamp in the cluster because the older CFLs are as slow getting to work as I am to get out of bed.</p>
<p>I hate these CFL bulbs. I hope this thread turns into a big rant against them, because I will enjoy reading all the comments lol. I hope you are correct DadOf3, and all the stuff we read about them lasting lots longer is a big scam.</p>
<p>I am honestly an ecology-minded, green-type person. But I just can’t make myself love these bulbs. The light is ugly, and I HATE walking into a room, flipping on a light and getting a dim, ugly light that takes several seconds to get brighter.</p>
<p>I personally don’t mind them but I make compromises. In rooms with multiple recessed lights, I use 1 or 2 regular light bulbs in spots to compensate for the slower CFLs. Outside lights, definitely, since they are on all night long and who cares about delay time? I also notice both the light color and delay time have improved over time so I try different brands and stick with the ones I like best. I have not found a reasonably priced CFL bulb that works well with dimmers yet so I use incandescent in those.</p>
<p>I am not as sensitive to the light spectrum as others so I can understand the resistance. One of our friends who is an artist absolutely refuses to use them, even though she is feels so guilty since she is an absolute stickler for recycle reuse and reduce and yet, can’t live with CFLs!</p>
<p>I’ve been very happy with my LED bulbs (which do work with dimmers)! And no, I don’t like CFLs, mostly because of the hazardous waste issues. However, I haven’t had a problem with longevity. Just replaced one that had been on 24/7 for two years (I know because I put the bulb in when we moved in)–others from the same package are still going.</p>
<p>I’ve heard from a number of people that CFLs don’t last nearly as long as advertised. There are a lot of situations where I don’t like the lighting they produce. I purchased a couple for a laundry room and ended up removing them and returning them to HD because they were slow to produce the full output and at times were noisy with buzzing.</p>
<p>On top of all of this they’re representative of government making short-sighted poor decisions to force people into buying these for one environmental reason (energy savings) when in fact they represent a large environmental issue (dangerous substances).</p>
<p>I jus remodeled the kitchen and had to choose between CFL and LED (incandescent isn’t permitted). I ended up going with LED lights. They were expensive, a little over $100/fixture including the cost of the fixture, but they’re much nicer - better light, no warm-up time, no environmental issues with disposal, use half the energy of a CFL, and purportedly will last at least 25 years (I hope that’s right).</p>
<p>The issue is that CFLs’ longevity decrease every time you turn them on and off. If you use a CFL on a lamp that is turned on and off frequently, you won’t get nearly as much usage as what is advertised.</p>
<p>I haven’t tried any of the individual LED ‘bulb replacement’ type of bulbs. They’re pretty expensive and I think we’re at the beginning of the price curve that’s headed in a downward direction. IMO within 10 years or so few people will be buying the CFL bulbs (the government might even admit to the error of its ways and outlaw them for environmental and safety reasons) but will be opting for the LED ones instead once the price gets down there which it will as the volume increases.</p>
<p>I’ve used a mix of CFLs and traditional incandescent bulbs. As best I can tell the CFLs last about as long as the incandescents; I’m forever changing light bulbs, and it seems to be pretty much random which goes out first. I need to drive to a special facility and pay a recycling fee to get rid of the CFLs, and if I should happen to drop and break one, which I did a few months ago, it’s not just broken glass I need to worry about, it’s toxic mercury. I was a CFL enthusiast at first, based on the promised longevity and energy savings (and despite the fact that we don’t like the light from the CFLs as much, which is why we mix them with incandescents in multiple-bulb lamps). But I’ve come to hate them. The higher initial price and the recycling fee pretty much offset the energy cost saving, and from an environmental perspective the problem of disposing of mercury-laden CFLs seems more problematic than landfilling an equivalent volume of incandescents.</p>
<p>I hate them too, for the reasons already mentioned. So what are you all planning to do? Stockpile incandescent bulbs until the LED prices come down?</p>
<p>LED bulbs are already about half the price they were a year ago.
I have bought the screw-in LED bulbs for several hard to reach bulbs and am quite pleased so far.</p>
<p>I have several lights I never turn off—over the front door, in a corner of the living room.</p>
<p>Incandescents are not banned, despite everyone’s belief; merely, their efficiency is required to increase.</p>
<p>CFLs don’t work well for us–they take a long time to illuminate and seem to burn out long before “traditional” bulbs. H made me return all those I bought from Costco at great prices.</p>
<p>This is so interesting. Like many of you, we replaced our bulbs some time ago, and we keep scratching our heads - shouldn’t these bulbs be lasting longer??? I just replaced the one above our washer and dryer, one that I DO turn on and off frequently. I just put it on as I load or unload the wash. </p>
<p>I am happy to know that others have had the same experience, it lets me know I am not nuts.</p>
<p>They LIED about the lifetime. I’m hoping some class action attorney comes along and files a whacking great lawsuit.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the warm-up time is aggravatingly slow for most of them, and the color rendition is not usually too nice. Then when they burn out way ahead of time you’ve got to deal with the resulting hazardous waste. All in al – nasty.</p>
<p>The LED lights are already quite a bit better, imo.</p>
<p>CFL is the biggest scam ever. H keeps taking the ones that burn out to HD for “proper recycling”; however, I’m not sure that “proper recycling” does not mean that they are shipping them to a landfill in China.</p>
<p>Our Christmas lights are all LED, and every new bulb we buy will be an LED. The prices are coming down as the volume of production increases.</p>
<p>The stated lifetime of CCFLs is mounted in an open UPRIGHT (that is, ballast below) fixture. Not under a shade, and certainly not inside an enclosure - particularly not recessed light fixtures. I’m not defending the CCFL manufacturers (their figures are a but dubious and their assumptions are stupid), but that would probably be why you’re seeing shorter lifetimes. </p>
<p>That said, I haven’t had to replace most of mine in quite a while. The one next to my desk I’ve had on 24/7 at least a year now (it’s a pretty large “100w” unit that sits… upright in a torch lamp with no cover XD)</p>
<p>As far as mercury dust goes - how about those massive 3’-8’ long CFL tubes you see all over the place? I’ve smashed more of those than I care to admit sadly. I’m pretty sure they contain even more mercury :S</p>
<p>The part I hate about CCFL bulbs is they suck - and so do the tube florescents. I used to have nightmares about the fixture in my bathroom when I needed to go at 4am and would turn on the light only to get a very dim pink glow because it was too cold and the ballast needed some finagling with. Gah! The fixtures in my kitchen need new ballasts too :(</p>
<p>That and they produce a sorta dim, yucky yellowish color light and FLICKER TOO. It drives me nuts in my bedroom lol. </p>
<p>That flicker drives me nuts about those LED christmas lights too (whoever came up with the idea to run LEDs off an AC circuit was clever, but should be punched upside the head).</p>