What Type Of Light Bulbs Do You Prefer And Why?

13 years ago

I haven't tried any bulbs that don't completely change the color of any fabric in my rooms, clothing included of course! Yuck.

I'm looking for recommendations for a warm fluorescent, although I prefer incandescent light.

How long before incandescent bulbs are no longer available in the US?

Please share the brand names of bulbs you like!

Also, dumb question, if a lamp needs a 40w bulb max, is the only fluorescent bulb to use a 40w equivalent, or could you go higher?

(confuzzled)

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Comments (18)

charlieinnj
13 years ago
You can use a higher watt FL bulb.
dilettante_gw
13 years ago
I haven't found any compact fluorescents that I like. I just had an energy audit, and they installed CFs throughout my house. I'm trying to give them a chance, but I'm itching to switch them back. I'm really questioning whether they'll actually save energy or money. I leave them on longer because they're slow to warm up, and I turn on more lights than I used to because the CFs are dimmer than the incandescents. If I stick with them, I'll have to re-paint my kitchen -- the yellow is just too hideous under fluorescents.

The light quality of the CFs is inferior, and they're never as bright as their supposed incandescent equivalents. The long warm-up time is annoying, especially in my kitchen and bathroom. (There are some CFs that are supposed to be instant-on, but they only come in the spiral version.) Plus, CFs become noticeably dimmer over time. (Incandescents also become dimmer at the end of their lifespan, but less noticeably so.) The candelabra CFs are ugly, put out too little light, and can't be dimmed. The 3-ways CFs are dim, and many of the CFs are too big to fit in my fixtures and lamps. I'm hoping there will be better options before the supply of incandescents runs out.

According to the article below, incandescent bulbs (except for certain specialty bulbs) will be phased out from 2012 through 2014 in the US.

As for your question about using a higher FL equivalent, yes, you definitely can. Wattage is a measure of how much electrical power is consumed. The wattage limits of fixture is purely for safety, to prevent overheating and fires. As long as you don't exceed the wattage limit, you can use any bulb that you want, even if it produces more lumens (a measure of light output) than the original. For example, suppose your fixture is limited to 60 watts. The CF equivalent of a 60 watt incandescent is 14 watts, but you could use a 19 watt CF (75 watt incandescent) or 23 watt CF (100 incandescent) or even a 32 watt CF (150 watt incandescent) instead, since each of these is less that the 60 watt rating of the fixture. This, IMO, is the only advantage to using CFs.

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ: The End of the Light Bulb as We Know It
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mjsee
13 years ago
I'm hoping that Cree gets their LED bulbs perfected before The Great Incandescent Embargo. Because...I HATE the light from every CFL I've tried. And I've tried many.
hoosiergirl
13 years ago
FYI, there are instant-on CFL bulbs, but they do cost more (very much worth it to me!) I agree, the yellows can look ugly with CFL's, but I found the daylight color is not as bad as the soft white (which makes everything *very* yellow).
Oakley
13 years ago
I'm glad this topic came back up because I'm going to start buying light bulbs to save!

Am I correct in saying a CFL is the same as a fluorescent bulb? So we'll all eventually end up with fluorescents?

I have floating furniture in the LR, will a fluorescent keep it as bright as my current incandescents do?

Hoosier, why do you like the fluorescent?

I do know when I'm in a store that only has fluorescent lighting, my eyes start watering badly! And I'm not the only one that happens to get watery eyes.
tuesday_2008
13 years ago
The only CFL's I will have in my home are the Daylight. The only way I know how to describe the light is that it is a brighter "whiter" light and paint colors stay true. I get them at Lowes or Home Depot. Sometimes they are difficult to find.

I prefer a higher wattage, so I use 75W in all my table lamps.
natal
13 years ago
I only use cool white fluorescents. All of ours are instant on tubes. Don't have any of the spirals. Am stocking up on incandescents. Don't like LEDs at all!
franksmom_2010
13 years ago
How did I not know that regular bulbs will be BANNED?! Seriously?! That's just insane. Guess who's going to be hoarding? And I suppose it's a good thing that I have a whole collection of old lamps, because it looks like we're going to need them!

And I predict a whole new line of paint formulations...instead of "full spectrum" they'll be "color correcting" to try and cancel out that hideous light from all of the CFLs. Oy!
sovra
13 years ago
Dilettante, thank you for posting the article. I hadn't heard about the advanced incandescents, and was not looking forward to being forced to use CFLs. I like the incandescent light better, plus I've heard that CFLs can trigger migraines. Hopefully the advanced incandescents will be available in time!
hoosiergirl
13 years ago
Oakleyok, I don't like the fluorescents, but I do like the energy savings. I've found that the instant-on CFL bulbs are much better than the cheaper CFL's, and the daylight color is better than the warm or cool white colors.

I also didn't realize that incandescents were being fazed out. That's a problem for my chandeliers! I'm hopeful someone will come up with an acceptable product before that time comes (although I'm sure it will have a hefty price tag -- so much for the $ savings!)
hoosiergirl
13 years ago
(fazed s/b phased) ARGH!!!
Oakley
13 years ago
Would one of you kind souls find a website that sells the CFL/instant-on/daylight bulb for me, I'd prefer a 100+ wattage. Do they come in 3-way? I want to experiment with these.
hoosiergirl
13 years ago
Here's one Oakley. And you can get CFL's in 3-way (I didn't know this till I searched!)

Here is a link that might be useful: CFL on Amazon
hannah_md
13 years ago
Be careful with those new bulbs as I had one break off in my hand as I was unscrewing it and I don't know how much mercury i got exposed to. I hate them too.
catkin
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for all the information!

What brands make the *daylight* version of the CFL that you like. Just GE? Sounds like the way to go.

Do they specifically say *daylight* on the package or do you have to decode all the numbers?

It's bad enough I keep forgetting to look for these bulbs but when I finally do, they're not easy to pick!

Once again, thank you!
msrose
13 years ago
Do the packages actually tell you if it's an instant-on bulb?

For those of you that are still using incandescents, do you prefer the daylight or something else? I have alot of floodlights in my house and I think the previous owner bought a different one everytime, because one corner has a pink tint, one corner has a yellow tint, and one corner has a green tint. I replaced two of them with the fluorescent, but I don't know if I like the color, so I'm thinking about going back to incandescent.

Laurie
natal
13 years ago
I recently bought new tubes for the bathroom. Tried both daylight and cool white. Didn't care for the daylight, so I'll be returning those. Both were GE.
User
13 years ago
Another CFL hater here. One was broke in our basement and I wasn't thrilled.

You know, we have CFL bulbs in our chandelier over the table. They're very warm/yellow and I forget which ones there were. I do remember we needed another box and we bought a different kind by accident the light looked almost bluish white in the globe! I'm wondering if that was the cool or the daylight. I can't remember what we have even if I needed to replace one.

What are they getting rid of the old bulbs? To be "green"? Gosh, I hate that overused phrase. Bulbs filled with mercury are so green dontcha think?

What Type Of Light Bulbs Do You Prefer And Why?

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What Type Of Light Bulbs Do You Prefer And Why?

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