I was surprised to see so many people complaining about the “cold” light of fluorescent bulbs, since I always thought that resembled sunlight the most, which is what all artificial light tries to recreate. I thought people liked warmer light, because they were used to fire, and then incandescent bulbs (which fortunately had the same color as candlelight). So, which is more popular: warm or cool white?
The package says “soft white.” I’m not sure how to categorize that.
Blacklights. It makes my entire living experience surreal.
Other – whatever is on sale.
2700 degrees kelvin. Kinda yellow.
Most of our bulbs are GE Reveal incandescents, so they’re definitely “warm.”
Assuming warm is yellow and cool is blue, then definitely the former. The latter makes me feel like I’m at a hospital.
And sunlight simulation doesn’t work unless you actually have full spectrum bulbs. Otherwise you know the difference.
Cosmic ray.
I know what I like – those ones labelled “natural” or whatever. I guess that’s cool blue. But I keep the lights off when I’m home during the day, unless I have guests/students/feel like it – I like it dark and like what little sunlight comes through.
My main front room light is a 100W CFL that I like (it makes a slight hum, which I don’t like), and some halogen-filled (?) track lights in my office. No idea how those qualify – blue? yellow?
Fucking hate the yellow, though – never buy them, never turn them on if they have yellow bulbs in them. Make me sick, they make me want to puke, disgusting maggot yellow lights can go fuck themselves.
Both. I refuse to use compact fluorescents so all the regular sockets have regular bulbs which would be warm white. The fluorescent fixtures I have where light quality is secondary to light quantity (the kitchen, laundery, and workroom) have cool white linear fluorescents. My father salvaged a bunch of 40 watt fluorescents that were being discarded following relamping at his company decades ago and I’m still going through them. If I were to buy tubes I’d probably by the neutral white, as the “warm white” fluorescents look too “pink” to me.
I’m in Thailand where fluorescents are standard issue and I absolutely hate them. They some how make a room look darker and more dismal when you turn them on.
Actually i know why it looks that way. It’s a lot like the way a photo gets darker when you take a picture of a scene that has a bright spot in it. The bright fluorescent spot on the ceiling is right in your field of vision and therefore causes your iris to close-up, which makes it harder to see whatever amount of feeble dim light manages to actually reach the table or whatever surface you’re trying to illuminate.
I searched high and low and finally found some incandescent lamps an bulbs (thank you Ikea) so I now have effective bright task lighting instead of institutional jail cell style lighting that came with the house.
To answer the OP directly, some hue of creamy-faint-yellowish light. Not so much yellow that it looks like a bug light, but enough to take the edge off the sterile bright-white color of fluorescents.
Whichever one I happen to grab from the shelf at the store.
You forgot an option for “Whatever is cheapest at the store because I’m to effin’ poor to be choosey”
I use CFL’s that look to me just like incandescent. I use 100w bulbs in my stained-glass floor lamps, and once I tried one of those “daylight” bulbs. I turned it on for about 5 minutes and it made me feel kinda crazy - too blue - not like daylight looks to me at ALL. I had to remove it and exchange it for a “regular” one.
My apartment is on the 4th floor, and I get a LOT of direct sunlight. I don’t need electric light during the day unless it’s storming. It does not at all look blue-white to me, it looks yellowish, like a really bright one of the CFL’s. Maybe a little whiter, but certainly not bluish. That bluish tint makes me feel all stabby.
I only use yellowish, warm bulb unless for reading.
I prefer a red light, like the one your mum has outside her front door.
Alone among my aquaintances I prefer the Cool White. I’ve always preferred blue colors though, and the overall trend for “warm” colors in decorating, etc, is annoying to me.
There’s no question that in my area (Washington DC suburbs) I am distinctly in the minority.
Like other posters, I have a collection of whatever was cheapest when I bought them. I’m sure I have a variety of colors, but they all look the same to me. I also keep it pretty dim in the evening so that I’ll actually be ready to sleep at bedtime. For instance, my reading lamp has a 25 watt bulb.
I have noticed though that the Chritmas lights this year are almost all Cool White LEDs. When I pass a house with the old kind up it looks yucky to me now.
Except for the Chrismas lights and the LED displays they all look white to me.