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November 16, 2007

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Our CFLs don't flicker, but the thing that gets me is that they take a couple minutes to increase their brightness - not ideal in certain areas where you're looking for a lot of immediate brightness - same question as FMF - just cheap ones or is that the way they are? How far away are we from affordable LEDs?

Same as CF - our CFLs don't flicker, but they do have a "warm-up" period. It bothers me in our bathroom and our living room overhead light, particularly. But I've learned to live with it.

I have my grandparents' old fridge, circa 1960. They don't make appliances like they used to, that fridge weighs a ton and is indestructible. I'm sure it costs me a fortune in electricity to run, but nothing I can buy today will perform like that dinosaur.

My dad had CFLs in various parts of his house with varying effects. Some that he had in the kitchen put off a nice yellow light and turned on nearly immediately, but he had some others in his office and his step-daughter's bedroom which put off a harsh white light and took like 10 minutes to "warm up".

I agree about the CFLs having a warm-up period. However, one variety we purchased (from Lowe's I think) were so bright, we only had to use one bulb instead of the 2 bulbs the fixture calls for.

We bought a front-loading washer about a year ago and we did notice a decrease in our water consumption.

Popular Mechanics did a roundup test of a bunch of CFLs:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/4215199.html?series=15

I switched almost all of our light bulbs to CFLs. I found that they have different output types of light. What I mean is that some are "soft white" equivalents and some are sunshine/daytime equivalents. I am sure there are other types as well. This is what Brandon was referring to with the yellow and harsh white light. When looking to replace the bulbs, you might want to check what type of light the current one produces and try to match it if possible. Also, the ones I purchased (at home depot), had warnings on them not use in high moisture areas like bathrooms, outside, and kitchen appliances (like refrigerators). They may make special CFLs for these uses, but at the time I purchased mine I did not see them. Yes, ours do have a minute or two warm up period, which did take some getting used to, but is not really annoying anymore.

You didn't necessarily get cheap ones, but you probably don't have "new" ones. They have gotten a lot better over the past 2 years or so. I've been using CFLs for longer than that, so most of my lights are annoying, but I just put newer ones where they're needed and deal with the others. They're still cheaper to operate and last a long time.

And, as I've discovered this week, you can even break them and put them back into "like new" working order, which you can't do with a normal bulb.

Mine have a warm up period, but they don't flicker. They get gradually brighter. I use them in every room except the bathroom (because I switch on/off the light frequently, and you're not supposed to do that with the compact bulbs.) Maybe try a different brand to see if you like them more?

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