I’ve had this bulb in my ceiling-fan light fixture that has seemingly lasted forever. I’ve lived here almost three years, and the bulb has been here longer than that. Well, last night, it finally burnt out. As I took the bulb out, I decided to examine it and find out what made this particular bulb so amazing. Well, there isn’t any brand name on the bulb, but it says “4000 hours” on it. I look over at the box of General Electric Soft White replacements, and they proudly proclaim that their product will last “1000 hours”.
What gives? Where can I get more of these “4000 hour” light bulbs? I’d love to have more light bulbs last three years!
The bulb is a 60-watt bulb, just like the GE bulb I replaced it with. It is a little bit shorter than the GE bulb.
The big difference that I can see is that this light bulb says “385 lumens”, whereas the GE bulb box says “Avg. lumens 840”. This bulb did seem a little dimmer compared to the others. However, there are places in my home where it is a pain in the butt to change light bulbs, and I’ve had to change light bulbs there several times so far. If I could put off that chore for three years, it would be, as Martha Stewart says, a good thing.
In January I installed Sylvania Halogen Capsylite 60-watt bulbs in the track lights over the desk in my home office, because the old ones were always burning out. According to the box, these are 960 lumens, 60 watts, 3,000 hours. We bought them at Menards (home building supply place) for about $2-3 each. I did not notice any significant difference in light intensity or color. The Sylvania Web site (http://www.sylvania.com) might have more info.
I use “Verilux” bulbs…they are not cheap though, a 60 watt is 8 bucks. They claim to last 5000 hours. In addition, they are what they call “Natural Spectrum” meaning they let out a better light that is easier on the eyes.
I get them at Bed, Bath and Beyond…not sure where else you can get them.
In California they are of course pushing these weird ugly looking $15 light bulbs ($5-10 after rebates). They are compact flourescents that you use in a regular bulb socket. They are for many thousands of hours though & a 60 watter uses like 15 watts.
I used to use compact flourescent bulbs all the time. The problem I have is the flicker and the quality of light.
The flicker, when reading a book is bad on the eyes. The brightness is almost too much, especially in a bedroom or living room.
They last what seems forever, I had one live for 3 years. Except for the occasional power outage I never turned it off. Flourescents seem to last longer if you aren’t constantly turning them on and off. (it was in my living room and I always keep a light on in my living room.)
Good golly, they are pushing flourescent bulbs in California? Next thing you know they’ll want me to get rid of my second and third refrigerators, sheesh.
I don’t really like Flourescent lights, the light they cast is appalling… gives everyone a death pallor, and they flicker enough to give me headaches. Ugh.
We have one of those compact flourescent bulbs in the ceiling fan fixture in our dining room. That light is also closest to my PC; this is the second such bulb I’ve used for working at my PC. The first one got broke when the desktop lamp it was in fell over. I have had no problem with these bulbs. There’s also a newer type which is designed for enclosed fixtures, I have one of these in my bedroom. There’s no light in my closet, but the enclosed compact flourescent provides just enough for me to see in there.
On the other hand, California is probably discouraging the “long-life” incandecent bulbs, as they’re far less efficient: Note the difference in lumens (visible light produced) for two different bulbs of the same wattage (electrical power consumed). They acheive a longer life by keeping the filament at a lower temperature, but that means that an even greater than usual proportion of the light is in the useless infrared portion of the spectrum. Long-life bulbs might be worthwhile if they’re in a particularly awkward place to change, but if your only concern is price, then the extra energy cost of a long-life bulb is far greater than the savings from buying bulbs less often.