GE 13-Watt Energy SmartTM - 8 Pack - 60 watt replacement
by GE
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Our Price: $8.54 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $8.49 (click here) Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of GE 13-Watt Energy SmartTM - 8 Pack - 60 watt replacement
Customer Review: CFLs save energy, but have problems
Summary: 3 Stars
Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL bulbs) do use significantly less energy than incandescent bulbs (IC bulbs), so if you eventually replace all your burned out IC bulbs with CFL bulbs, you will see a decrease in your electric bill. However, CFL bulbs are more expensive, so it will take a while to recover their higher cost with your savings in electricity. And there are some other problems:
1. These GE CFL bulbs do NOT last five years in normal use like GE claims, so their long-term cost advantage over IC bulbs is not as great as advertised. The five years is a dubious GE advertising claim which is apparently based on continuous usage, that is, never turning the light off. I have bought a few packages of spiral GE CFL bulbs over the last few years, and at least half of them have burned out - well before the five year claim.
2. CFL bulbs need to warm up. When you first turn the bulb on there is a slight delay before any light is produced (less than one second). Also, there is a short time before it comes up to full light output, although this has improved in the latest bulbs. However, if you are using them outside or in a garage, this warm up period can be a few minutes if it is cold.
3. If you break the bulbs, they release a small amount of mercury vapor into the surrounding area. The federal and state governments and GE say it is a tiny amount, so you shouldn't be worried. But they also say that the bulbs are considered unsafe to put in landfills, so you are supposed to double bag all broken CFL bulbs, store them away from children, and take them somewhere that can dispose of them properly. (There is only one store in my area that takes them.) So I guess they are not a health problem according to the government, but then again, they are.
Because of this, an inexpensive regular IC bulb or rough-service IC bulb is better than a CFL bulb for use in applications where the bulb could often break, like in a "trouble light" (a portable work light with a cord).
4. The electronic parts in a CFL bulb can get hot and fail prematurely in some applications. Inside the base of the CFL bulb are some electronic parts. If you mount the bulb with the base up inside a recessed lighting fixture or in any fully enclosed fixture with no ventilation, these electronic parts will get hotter than usual, and the bulb won't last as long.
5. The light from CFLs has a different hue than the light from IC bulbs and does not look as natural, meaning that the colors you see on objects in the room don't look quite right compared to natural solar light. This is particularly true when compared to the IC bulbs from GE and Sylvania that are advertised to produce natural-looking light. While older CFL bulbs looked noticeably blue, the light has improved significantly in the newest GE bulbs. However, most people can still notice a difference from IC bulbs.
6. In any case, politicians are going to force you to buy these bulbs whether you like them or not. The U.S. Congress passed legislation that will soon effectively outlaw IC bulbs, except for certain high and low wattage bulbs, and some other specialty IC bulbs.
IMPORTANT SIZE NOTE: Because of the plastic base which houses the electronic parts, these 13 Watt GE CFL bulbs are about 3/4 inch longer than the 60 Watt IC bulbs that they are supposed to replace (with about the same amont of light output). So if you are putting them in a very small lamp or light fixture, they may stick out slightly and look a little odd. Also, GE also makes larger 26 Watt CFL bulbs (to replace 100 Watt IC bulbs). These are about one inch longer than 100 Watt IC bulbs.
Customer Review: Another factor for CFLs--- CRI; also, shortened life factors
Summary: 3 Stars
Another rating that isn't often listed for CFL bulbs that can be helpful is the Color Rendering Index, a score on a scale of 100 that reflects how accurately a source of light renders colors, compared with noontime daylight. The highest CFL rating I've seen is about 90-91, but some fluorescent tubes can go as high as 98. The lowest I've ever seen for any fluorescent light is in the 30s, but more common low ratings run 50s-70s. A lot of 2700K CFLs run about 82.
- - Most Color-Temperature scales treat 5000K as the color of noonday sunlight, though a few peg it at 5500K. Color Temp is the color of the light, while CRI measures how the light renders colors. Natural daylight isn't just one color, but is made up of a full spectrum of colors, the whiteness of it being the net effect. Fuller-spectrum light has more colors in it, and this can explain why color temp doesn't correlate directly with CRI.
- - Once I replaced eight 4' tubes in an office for a friend who had been using warm white tubes with daylight tubes with CRIs about 95. Immediately, everyone present noticed how the colors in the room became noticeably more vivid. Good color rendering makes visual tasks easier, as long as you're not not in a room that's painted in one color, filled with objects that are all of the same color.
- - Warm white CFLs aren't yellow, like incandescents; they're a kind of pinkish orange. It reminds me of vomit, and I'm not surprised that many people find it ugly and resist CFLs. The whiter light of a high-CRI 5000K CFLs may be an adjustment from the warmth of incandescents, but this can be offset some when they're installed behind paper lampshades, and what you're getting used to is, in the end, a better light for visual tasks.
- - CRIs aren't often included in retailers' ratings, but can be found on manufacturers' websites.
- - As for shortened life- the bases of CFLs contain the electronics, and they last longest when installed base-down, so that the heat rising from the bulb doesn't make the electronic components hot. Installing them in base-up ceiling fixtures will shorten their lives noticeably (say, by half or a third), but installing them in enclosed fixtures shortens their lives by about 80%, in my experience. One solution is to leave off the globes, but in my apartment I've installed 2" collars with large holes for ventilation, and that helps a lot. (A canned-tomato can or Progresso soup can is just the right diameter for many old ceiling fixtures). Even with a moderately shortened life, these things save so much electricity that I come out ahead, if they're bought relatively cheaply.
Customer Review: Direct From Your Congress ...
Summary: 1 Stars
...energy savings that will cost you a fortune and diminish your comfort. Good thing that your politician knows what's best for you!! Look at the price compared to standard incandescent. But, "they last so much longer" you say? Guess what: they only last long if you turn them on and leave them on. If you turn them on and off (as though you were living in a home), or use a timer, the life span is dramatically shortened (look it up), which is why you see all of the comments here about how they don't seem to last long. Congress was pushed into this by the lighting industry so that you would be forced to pay 3-4 times what you used to pay and get little in return.
These are marketed/legislated as being energy efficient. They are more efficient: it takes them 3-10 minutes to fully "warm up" (like every fluorescent light) and they don't waste as much energy in the form of heat, so your home will stay nice and cool during the winter (Don't worry; your heater will run more oil or gas to compensate for this). Greenhouse gas emissions are actually expected to INCREASE as a result of CFL usage. In the summer, you don't need as much light, so you won't miss the heat of an incandescent.
These things 1) give off less light (despite the lumens and wattage claims) than standard incandescent bulbs (compare them yourself) and this decays further as the bulbs are used, 2) don't work in dimmers or three-way lamps (unless you want to pay 30% more for special bulbs) and 3) flicker. Mine are going right back to the store.
CFL's (like all fluorescent bulbs) emit UV radiation. Over time, this will discolor/destroy things surrounding the bulb (pictures, paintings, lamp shades, skin, etc.) just as sun bleaching/bathing does, but to a lesser degree. When they break, you will be exposed to mercury - get used to it.
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me!! I think I'll write an email to my Congressional representatives to thank them for making us all feel so good about their pretending to address the energy issue. Can't wait to see the comments from the Greenies!
UPDATE: Look at all the Greenies that don't find my review "helpful"!! One of them, after insulting me, actually believes that light bulbs (and people) won't add heat to a room! Another commenter even imagines he can count energy savings! Wish hard enough ...and you, too, can believe.
Customer Review: Energy savings? Yes, while they last
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought two 8-packs at my shopping club a couple of years ago. I needed them to replace 8 incandescent bulbs in the basement where, with the exception of the area where my home office is located, I didn't need very bright lights. The second carton was bought for 'spares' and because they were on sale at the time I made the purchase. Two years later, the spares carton has 3 bulbs left, indicating that 5 out of 8 have burned out. This tells me that the 5-years/8000 hours life expectancy claim is wildly optimistic, to use a mild term.
My personal experience with these bulbs is as follows:
- the light they produce - yellow, not very bright is more or less on par with what you get of a 60W incandescent, maybe a little less than a traditional 60W.
- they do save energy for as long as they last - given their short lifespan in my basement, not sure if they pay for themselves
- quality seems to be an issue - 5 out of 8 burned out before 2 years - all 8 subjected to about the same conditions (they all go on/off at the same time
- the claim of 8000 hours or 5 years life expectancy is clearly way off-base - perhaps GE should make their test data available
- the Amazon price at the time I am writing this review is competitive with what I saw at my shopping club.
This may come close to comparing apples to oranges but I must say that I am very happy with the Feit Electric ESL40TN/D 42-Watt Compact Fluorescent High-Wattage Bulb, Daylight of which I am using 2 in the same basement, in my 'office' area and I bought 2 more a few months ago for the study. I paid a premium for them and I've only used them for a little less than one year at the time I write this (Feb. 2010) so the fact that none has burned out yet is not 'proof' but... time with tell.
I hesitate between 2 and 3 stars - 2 Amazon stars means 'I don't like it' vs. 3 stars meaning 'it's okay'. My generous nature wins this time and it's 3 stars but GE needs to seriously look into the 'quality' thing or these CFL may discourage some people from adopting replacing their incandescent bulbs with the more efficient fluorescents.
Customer Review: Great deal
Summary: 5 Stars
At a little over 10 bucks for 8 of these, you can't go wrong.
These are just your basic CFLs, at the 2700 kelvin temperature range. That means they're about the same shade as your basic ordinary 60W incandescent bulb. A pale yellow white, not pure white (5100 Kelvin), or daylight (around 6300 Kelvin).
Pure white or daylight CFLS cost more because the phosphors in them are more expensive, but they do have the advantage of being more natural light, rather than imitating the poor quality light of an ordinary light bulb.
So if you're thinking of upgrading to CFLs these bulbs are a great deal to start from. But do take advantage of the technology & get a higher quality light at a higher color temperature for some of your areas, & enjoy better quality light, rather than just using CFLs that imitate the poor quality light of old fashioned light bulbs.
Winter depression can be triggered by lack of natural light because of less hours of daylight, & more cloudy, overcast days in winters. In northern climates when it's cold, people stay inside more, use heavy insulating window curtains, further reducing their exposure to natural light. 5100K-6700k CFLs help with winter depression by exposing you to more natural light. Colors look more rich & vivid. Things look more cheery. It's even easier to read under natural light.
I find I can read just as easy under a 4-watt 5100k CFL than a 13 watt 2700k CFL.
The backlight in your LCD display that you're probably reading this from is probably a 5100k-6700K bulb.
Look at the white areas on the screen & then look at your lighting in the room. Doesn't that ordinary light bulb or 2700K CFL look a lot more yellow by comparison?