What are good brands of CFL's?

Question

I have been trying to help the environment by buying CFL's instead of regular bulbs. I bought a pack of Philips 60 watt equivalent bulbs. One lasted 2 months at about 4 hours per day which is about 250 hours. The second one lasted about an hour, went out, and smoked. The third one is in the package which cost $8.98 for 3 bulbs ($3 each). I can get regular bulbs at Wal Mart for 19¢ each which outlast the 2 CFL's I've used so far. Is Philips just a bad brand or are these new bulbs just not what they claim to be? I can't afford these things if they don't last a fourth of the time a regular bulb lasts. I can't see why throwing them in the garbage is environmentally sound.

Answer 1

GE

Answer 2

There's a green products website which has user reviews of CFLs, among many other products here:

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/ca...

I've found that Greenlite and TCP CFLs are pretty good.

Answer 3

I would contact the company....they should last longer than that. Either they are defected or maybe you are using them in an imappropriate socket?

I like GE. I haven't had any problems with our GE CFL bulbs. We got them at Walmart.

Answer 4

I can't recall the brand, but the CFLs I bought at Wal-Mart  work great for me.

Answer 5

Last question first: CFL bulbs contain mercury, which is toxic and often leaks from landfills into water. Bad!

Sadly, no CFLs are made in the US, so its hard to recommend a brand based on that. Clearly the Phillips aren't working out, but it almost sounds like there might be a problem with the outlet if you're blowing through bulbs like that. I had an outlet with a short in it that did the same thing.

Answer 6

I've been wondering the same thing.  I've been in the process of replacing all of the bulbs in my house with CFLs to save on my energy costs.  The only thing is I've noticed about a 30% failure rate over a period of about 6 months.  I've also noticed a significantly higher failure rate from bulbs mounted upside down. (about 75% of the failed bulbs were upside down)

I've had my best success with some off-brand from Walmart, but I can't remember the brand off the top of my head.  It is the only brand I've found that 1) has yet to fail and 2) doesn't take time to ignite (which is super annoying).  Actually, I now have these bulbs in some of my upside down fixtures without a problem.  Sorry I can't remember the name of the brand though.   I will tell you that I have not noticed any correlation between the quality/longevity of the bulb and brand recognition or cost.