GE 47448 12/23/29-Watt CFL (50/100/150-Watt equivalent) Energy Smart Spiral 3-Way Light Bulb
by GE
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of GE 47448 12/23/29-Watt CFL (50/100/150-Watt equivalent) Energy Smart Spiral 3-Way Light Bulb
Customer Review: Works great, don't let negative reviews scare you
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok, the short version is this lamp works great. The main concern is if it will *fit* in your lamp, so check the dimensions carefully.
The "color" of this lamp is great and most would never guess it's a fluorescent lamp under the shade. But it's using about 1/5 the energy. It's also brighter than most when first turned on (CFL bulbs take a minute or so to reach full brightness).
There are many reviews claiming this lamp flickers, or only worked as a 1-way lamp, or died an early death, etc. While GE might have some quality issues, a more likely cause is 3-way lamp sockets tend to get "fried" from the extreme heat of 3-way incandescent bulbs (which can go up to 150 watts). 3-way bulb sockets also have less area for the added contact needed for 3-way bulbs which makes them more prone to problems. And the high heat, over time, corrodes the contacts in the socket. All this means 3-way lamps are way more likely to have contact problems. This is the fault of the LAMP not the BULB.
CFL lamps, being electronic devices, don't like to be turned on and off hundreds of times a day which is what's happening if you have a bad socket in your lamp that's causing flickering. So yeah, if you have an old lamp, with "fried" contacts, and you screw *any* CFL lamp in, and it flickers, it will probably have a short life span.
So, while I don't know for sure, I suspect many, if not nearly all, of the people complaining about problems with this (and any other 3-way CFL) bulb, have a bad socket in their lamp. CFL lamps, in their early days, had some major reliability problems. But they've been out for a long time now, have long warranties, and the manufactures have generally figured out how to make them reliable to avoid lots of warranty returns.
So before you screw an expensive bulb into your 3-way lamp, you might want to unplug it and use a pencil eraser to clean the 2 contacts at the bottom of the lamp socket just to be safe (unless it's a brand new lamp). The contacts should be bright and shiny. If they're discolored, dark, etc. you may have a problem.
Customer Review: Nice warm light ...
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're looking to move to more environmentally-friendly lighting, these are for you. These 3-way spiral fluorescent bulbs are wonderful. I haven't had mine long enough to address the extended lifespan. But they serve beautifully as a replacement for standard 3-way 50-100-150W incandescent bulbs.
The "color" of the light is very warm -- not at all like the greenish-bluish tone one usually associates with fluorescent light. It does take a few seconds for the full intensity of the light to develop at the 29W (150W-equivalent) level, so keep that in mind. It comes on fairly dim, then develops the bright light you expect in about 15 seconds or so.
I'm currently in grad school (an older "non-traditional" student), and I do a LOT of reading. I'd been going through standard 3-way bulbs about one every 3 months or so, so I was looking for a more economical solution. The claim for "7 year life" is based on 4 hours per day of use. I know I use mine a lot more than that (more like 18 hrs or so), so I don't expect 7 years. But if they last more than about 24 months, they'll pay for themselves.
Also, my local discount hardware store charges $22.99 apiece for the exact same bulb, so Amazon's price is a good deal.
UPDATE: It's now March 19, 2010, and I'm still using the SAME 3-way CFLs I wrote about above. One of them is in my living room, where it's in use on the highest setting from around 9:00am until around midnight nearly every day; another one is in the bedroom where it's on from around 5:00pm until around midnight. That's right -- these are the same bulbs I purchased in January 2008, and they're still going strong. They've MORE than paid for themselves. Maybe I lucked out or something (I've read some of the other reviews from folks who've had problems) -- but I'm definitely planning to continue using these, and will be replacing ALL light bulbs in my home with CFLs as the incandescent ones burn out.
Customer Review: Yes, it's bigger, so measure first...
Summary: 4 Stars
I've now bought a few of these CFLs and am quite happy with the purchase. They're longer than typical incandescents, which means that you may not be able to use them in all lamps, and in other lamps you may have to work a little.
We used these in two Stiefel lamps successfully, although we had to remove the harp (this is easy) to screw in the bulb. Once the bulb was seated, the harp went back on just fine.
You can also get harp extenders for use with large bulbs such as this, so that may be an alternative. It's worth it to get the energy savings.
One unexpected bonus: we used to experience some intermittency (flickering) due to heating of the contacts with incandescents - an annoying and potentially dangerous situation. Because of the lower current draw and lower heat generation of CFLs, this has gone away.
The reason I took off a star is that the vendor (Ace) took a long time to ship, and I had to call them because the shipment apparently never left their company (although I received a shipment notice, a trace indicated that pickup never occurred). They ended up "re-shipping". If you buy it there, keep an eye on the shipment.
Customer Review: Excellent replacement for regular bulb
Summary: 5 Stars
We love the light from this bulb. As with all of these energy efficient bulbs you need to wait a small amount of time for the true level of light to be achieved and that is the case here with each of the three levels of light. You do not need to wait for each level and can easily just switch to the highest level immediately and then it comes up to the brightest for that level in just a quick amount of time. I'm so used to it now that I barely notice the warm up period but I definitely enjoy the brightness (just exactly as bright, or a little brighter, than our old 50/100/150 bulbs) and I will be enjoying the benefits of a lower electricity bill for years to come. Highly recommend! We are back now to buy a couple more so all the three way lamps in the house will be energy efficient.
P.S., as far as the size of the bulb, yes, these energy efficient bulbs are all slightly larger than normal bulbs. However, I have not replaced any lamp harps and have had not trouble fitting the bulbs into our lamps.
Customer Review: Not suitable for my 3-way touch lamps
Summary: 4 Stars
I was really hoping to use these in my 3-way touch lamps that I use most frequently, but my lamps work with normal 1 filament bulbs by dimming them and these 3-way CFLs didn't work right (instead of 3 light levels I would only get one). This is not the fault of the bulbs, I just thought I would mention it.
The bulbs themselves, when in the correct fixtures, work fine. There is a brief pause (maybe half a second) between turning on the lamp and when the CFL turns on, but otherwise the transitions are quick and the light level is steady. I do however, think the difference between the levels is less than in a standard 3-way incandescent bulb.
One note about the light color. Another reviewer had mentioned that the color of the bulb's light was objectionable, but I think it is pretty comparable to a "soft white" bulb (which is yellowish), which is how these are advertised. They definitely aren't meant to, nor are they advertised to, have the same color profile as a full spectrum bulb.