IMHO CF bulbs are good for certain applications but for others really don’t work well at all. Why is that? It seems were you are reading or doing detailed up close work the CF light just causes less definition, making the surface harder to read. In my cealing fan I replaced the 4 IC bulbs with CF, which I had for quite some time. I then replaced a single CF bulb with a leftover IC bulb and noticed that it was much easier to read. That single IC bulb is only 25 watts also (the CF bulbs are 9,11,11 watts).
Are CF bulbs doomed? I guess not as they are great for areas you wish to light and not be there but IC lights just seem better in terms of allowing us to see.
I know some countries have banned IC bulbs, is there a backlash, a increase in eye problems, a black market for smuggled IC bulbs?
Also I’ve used LED flashlights and headlamps, they seem easy to read by, but they don’t allow true color viewing. I noticed this when I had to find the yellow wire, but couldn’t tell it from some other colors.
CF bulbs are doomed, but not because of poor lighting. Many people dislike their light, but more people are happy with it. There are many varieties. You can use much brighter bulbs in sockets rated for lower wattages. Using the 100w equivalent bulbs in 60w sockets provides much more light.
Back to the doomed part. In the next 5-10 years, the LED bulbs will start rolling out and eat into the niche that CF has found. In the meantime, for most people they are a good alternative for many application and save money over the life of the bulb.
I’ve had bad luck with CFs – I don’t mind their light quality (although I’d prefer if they came on faster), but…
I’ve got a ceiling fixture in my home office, that takes two 60W bulbs. I replaced them with low-wattage CFs. Within six months (about two months apart), BOTH CF bulbs caught fire: smoking, melting plastic, actual flames in one case. The house is new, the fixture tests fine, and now it’s got incads back in it.
I’ve also tried them in the garage, but they have a lifespan of about three months – I think it’s the vibration. And if I put CF bulbs in both garage fixtures (a different brand from the ones above, I can’t afford a fire in my garage), they’ll do a rapid on-off-on-off flashing until I take one out and replace it with an incad. So those are back, too.
I’m looking forward to the LED ones being cheap enough to even consider: clean, bright light for almost no electricity? I’ll take it.
Last I checked, fluorescent bulbs were still more efficient than the best white LEDs. I think fluorescent bulbs will be around for a long time. (Now color LEDs are a different matter, they are far more efficient than fluorescent or incandescent bulbs fitted with color filters. That’s because LEDs can produce monochromatic light directly, without having to use a filter.)
White LEDs do have the advantage of being smaller than fluorescent bulbs. Which means it’s easier to focus into a tight beam. So they are better for spotlights, vehicle headlights, projectors, etc. But for illuminating a room, size doesn’t really matter, only efficiency.