Which CFL bulb is best?

I am not getting much product life out of the Luminus CFL bulbs that I bought at Costco. I bought the 13W=60W ones and I am only getting a year or so of use (about a half dozen have failed so far) before they stop working, not the 5 to 7 years promised. Is there a brand of CFL bulbs that others find to be more reliable?

As a side note, the new bulbs do not seem to be nearly as reliable as the older style Flurescent bulbs - got a couple going about 10 years or so now.

The ones I had bought from IKEA are still goin after 3 yrs or so.

Dollar store ones crap out alot earlier from my own experience.

I buy philips. The color output on them are very close to incandescent (I'd say better then incandescents )

Pricing wise they are pretty decent, I bought 2 sets, 1 was 13w and other was 15w.

15w had a bit more light output but the 13w's are perfect.

Switch my entire house over to florescent and ordered 3 60led focus bulbs.

Going green, saving $$$!

I got my lights (11 watts) from Dollarama over 2 years ago and none of them have crapped out yet.

Another question: where do you get your best bang for your buck? I was going to get some 11W ones from Ikea yesterday, but they only came in two packs and I couldn't help wonder if I wouldn't get them cheaper somewhere (as well as something a little brighter than what you'd get from 11W).

My vote goes to the Philips Marathon bulbs. Long lasting, virtually instant-on, and reasonably priced. Make sure you take advantage of these coupons: http://www.everykilowattcounts.com/H.../coupons.shtml.

One reason why your bulbs could be burning out too fast is that they are being turned on for very short durations. In any case, the Philips should last you longer (I've had both brands).

when are LED screw-in bulbs going to be sold in the mainstream?? The only one at B&M stores is that party light that changes colours

I haven't had any trouble with any brand of CFL, luminus, globe, philips etc... haven't bought from dollar stores yet though.

I've always been disappointed by "cheap" brands.

Of the name brand stuff the shortest life I have had was a GE (6yrs) and the longest a GE(13yrs). I currently have a mix of GE & Phillips that are anywhere from 2-5 yrs old.

I do kind of like the Phillips 15w over the GE 13w now, but that may be because I have no south facing windows now. The old house had lots of south windows.

Ive bought Ikea, Noma from CT and some Philips here and there. All seem to be lasting.

Just moved into a new house with tons of lights, am definitly going around and changing my bulbs

Thank you for all your responses. Looks like I will give the Phillips ones a try next.

I've only had one bulb burn out on me, a pur-lite from Canadian Tire. It was installed in a bathroom, so I'm not sure if the humidity shortened its life. No issues with any other brands, ikea, globe, dollar store. My oldest ikea bulbs just won't die.. almost 5 years and still going.

Wondering if those that buy the Philips CFL's from HD can comment on the difference between the 'Daylight' and the other regular ones?

The Daylights are in the blue packaging, the others in the green.. what are the color of the light they give off? Is one comparable to a soft white?

Originally Posted by Eldorado

Wondering if those that buy the Philips CFL's from HD can comment on the difference between the 'Daylight' and the other regular ones?

The Daylights are in the blue packaging, the others in the green.. what are the color of the light they give off? Is one comparable to a soft white?

if i remember correctly the blue packaging one is 6000k (very blueish light which is too painful for inside the home use, I have one in my garage and on cool starts its pretty darn blue), the green packaging is I believe 2700k and provides close to incandescent type of color with a bit more output.

go with the greens.

I like the Argonauts CFL bulb the best.

I installed the ones from HD, I beleive they're made by phillps. After 3 years, still going strong!!!!

sk