Useless energy saving light bulbs!

BexTech

jackieb wrote: »

I have 2 of these in the kitchen. Everyone in the house is really impressed with them. I'm saving up for the rest of the house because they're expensive. When walking into the living room after being in the kitchen, it's so dull and dingy looking.

They are pretty good, though the cost of them is coming down. Certainly make a difference, we've had friends and relatives impressed with them.

bubblesmoney

another factor that might be an issue on the perceived brightness of these energy saving lamps might be the type of light emitted by these lamps. almost all of the energy saving lamps that i found in the uk were those that emit yellow coloured light. where as in many other countries u get ones that emit white light similar to bigger tube lights found in offices etc. even if they are of the same wattage i have found that the white light energy saving lamps are much brighter than the yellow ones. ask most people who have used the white ones and the yellow ones, my personal opinion is that most who have used white ones would never use a yellow one again as in comparison the yellow one is depressing and seems less bright (even if they are of the same wattage).

but the white ones are hard to get in the uk. in many other countries people wouldnt touch the yellow ones with a barge pole but unfortunately in the uk stores it is difficult to find a white energy saving lamp atleast where i live. unless u want to install the massive tubelights instead. to get around this problem i got others travelling from abroad to get me some white energy saving lamps, a few of my friends did the same too and none of us would go back to using the yellow ones available in the uk unless we cant find the white ones in the uk or cant import them. u have to see the difference with ur own eyes and see for urself how crap the yellow light ones are in comparison. most people who have used the white light ones say they find the yellow ones depressing in comparison. at present i have a few 24w and a 36w white light ones at home!! but do still use a few yellow light ones as i cant find white ones in the uk. cant wait to go abroad and get some more white ones on my next trip out but will get some smaller wattage ones as the ones i have are a bit too bright for the smaller rooms. i just have one of these white light low wattage bulbs per room and its pretty bright and especially for the 36w one i might need to get a lamp shade to avoid the glare, so wont be buying anmore 36w ones. u just have to stand in the street and see all the houses at night in comparison and u can see the difference what the white light makes.

maybe it is a personal preference thing and i am sure quite a few others would prefer the yellow dim light instead

mcjordi

i use the ones i can get for free,

they take a few minutes to warm up so to speak then they are similar in light as the normal bulbs

BexTech

bubblesmoney wrote: »

another factor that might be an issue on the perceived brightness of these energy saving lamps might be the type of light emitted by these lamps. almost all of the energy saving lamps that i found in the uk were those that emit yellow coloured light. where as in many other countries u get ones that emit white light similar to bigger tube lights found in offices etc. even if they are of the same wattage i have found that the white light energy saving lamps are much brighter than the yellow ones. ask most people who have used the white ones and the yellow ones, my personal opinion is that most who have used white ones would never use a yellow one again as in comparison the yellow one is depressing and seems less bright (even if they are of the same wattage).

but the white ones are hard to get in the uk. in many other countries people wouldnt touch the yellow ones with a barge pole but unfortunately in the uk stores it is difficult to find a white energy saving lamp atleast where i live. unless u want to install the massive tubelights instead. to get around this problem i got others travelling from abroad to get me some white energy saving lamps, a few of my friends did the same too and none of us would go back to using the yellow ones available in the uk unless we cant find the white ones in the uk or cant import them. u have to see the difference with ur own eyes and see for urself how crap the yellow light ones are in comparison. most people who have used the white light ones say they find the yellow ones depressing in comparison. at present i have a few 24w and a 36w white light ones at home!! but do still use a few yellow light ones as i cant find white ones in the uk. cant wait to go abroad and get some more white ones on my next trip out but will get some smaller wattage ones as the ones i have are a bit too bright for the smaller rooms. i just have one of these white light low wattage bulbs per room and its pretty bright and especially for the 36w one i might need to get a lamp shade to avoid the glare, so wont be buying anmore 36w ones. u just have to stand in the street and see all the houses at night in comparison and u can see the difference what the white light makes.

maybe it is a personal preference thing and i am sure quite a few others would prefer the yellow dim light instead

I have the 6400K Daylight (white) lights, I much prefer these.

SpoonyOh

They're not particularly eco-friendly either. As is my understanding, energy saver bulbs cannot be recycled and contain mercury.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain someone on this forum has said that their local council told them not to bin them when they're expired.

michaels

I agree that they are less bright than the claimed equivalent (even afte rthe 'warm up' time. I like my house bright and had standard 100w, replacing with 20w energy savers is too dim. I have bought some 23, 28 and 32 energy saver replacements, these are bright enough but cost a fortune and seem to last only a few months

credit_crunch_victim

we have these in every room except our bathroom
we used to get through loads of ordinary bulbs in our lounge/diner 6 bulbs in total but since using these bulbs we are yet to replace one
if you don't want them post them to me

seven-day-weekend

I don't know why everyone doesn't have them, it's such a simple little thing to do to help save energy. I don't find them too dim if you get the right wattage and the daylight ones are really bright.

Totality

We have them throughout the house. A couple of them take a few seconds to get going but I can't fault them at all.

amcluesent

For weeks I tried to 'get used' to a daylight-balance 125W equivalent bulb.

Impossible. Even with a paper shade, the quality of light was awful, harsh and fatiguing.

I see companies always fit these bulbs in mirrored holders let into false-ceilings Maybe that's the key to making the light acceptable.

IMHO these bulbs are a fraud between the supplies and the politicians. We'll soon be told that we need to use LED or some such and have the buy bulbs all over again. Remember, until a 'low energy' bulb has been running for at least 60 minutes, it's actually taken more energy than a normal bulb would have.

I'm stocking up on 60W and 100W proper bulbs while I can.