Saving Energy W/ CFLs And Other Gadgets

[jyl]

I've been using the n:Vision brand at Home Depot. Pretty cheap, seem to work well, no failures yet.

Startup is right away, a couple of the bulbs are slightly dimmer at first then get brighter after a minute, but I don't notice this with most of the bulbs. Color is very close to incandescent, basically the same as far as I'm concerned, you have to buy the "warm white" bulbs and/or look for color close to 2700-2800 Kelvin.

When you get to 23 watts and up (equiv to incandescent 100 watts and up) the bulb's base gets a bit big, sometimes have trouble fitting in a tight fixture, solution is a $0.50 base extender.

Previously I had a few older Phillips CFLs and did not like them.

I haven't changed my habits as far as switching off the lights goes. I figure if too much on/off shortens the life from the rated 10K hours to 5K hours (just picking a number), that is still 3-4 years, and by then CFLs will be much cheaper and anyway might want to replace with LED if more efficient.

Originally posted by gr8fl4porsche
Which brand of bulbs are you guys using. I switched to the pigtail type and could not stand the slow start and the color of the light. I still use them in my AV closet due to the low temp output and all my exterior dust to dawn lights but for main lighting I did not like them.

Are you happy with the slow start and color of light?