Globe 4860201 13-Watt Ultra-Mini Compact Fluorescent Spiral Bulb (60-Watt Incandescent Equivalent), Soft White, 4 Pack
by Globe Electric
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Our Price: $14.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Lighting See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Globe 4860201 13-Watt Ultra-Mini Compact Fluorescent Spiral Bulb (60-Watt Incandescent Equivalent), Soft White, 4 Pack
Customer Review: A mixed bag of results
Summary: 3 Stars
We have had mixed results using CFLs. We primarily use them in a recessed kitchen lighting fixture. Most of the CFLs we've tried did not come anywhere close to meeting the long life expectancy quoted by the manufacture. A few months ago we purchased the equivelent a 200 watt CFL that used 40 watts at lowes for around [...] The bulbs life expectency was quoted as 5 years. After about 1 month, the light output had dimmed to the equivelent of about a 60 Watt bulb. At 2 months the bulb died completely. We returned the burned out bulb to lowes and received a refund with no hassle. Consumers Reports did a study on this and found that how long a bulb lasts is related to the manufacturer of the bulb. Some bulbs fail VERY early. Others actually meet the stated life expectency numbers. The study noted GE and a few others as having good life expectency results. More recently, we purchased a 200 watt equivelent CFL bulb that uses 42 Watts from a ONLINE company called PowerCFL.com. That one has been working for over 3 months now (quoted life expectency is 5 years) and continues to put out 200 watts of light as when it was new. So the jury is out on that bulb. One thing to note is that the long time quoted by a bulbs manufacturer is for a limited numbers of hours use per day. In the case of these bulbs from PowerCFL.com they are rated for a 5 year life at 3 hours use per day. However, our kitchen is dark and my guess is that our kitchen light is ON closer to 8 hours per day. Thus, if we get 2 years use out of the bulb I'll consider it to have lived up to it's stated life expectency. However, getting 200 watts of light from a bulb that you only pay for 42 watts, running it 8 hours a day for 2 years amounts to a sizeable saving.Customer Review: Not bad, but the expense versus real life is totally false.
Summary: 2 Stars
The problem with these, and all the compact flourescents on the market is that the advertising hype and the environmental PR is way off. I would be ALL FOR THESE if the promises were true - that you'll buy less bulbs, thus throw away less, and you won't add to the waste in our world.
Unfortunately, there are a few problems. Mainly, the life of every brand I've tried is way shorter than advertised. Often, the life is exactly the same if not just a little bit longer than standard incandescent bulbs.
Besides the fact that these bulbs DO contain Mercury, which is in no way recyclable, you are spending way more and not helping our environment at all.
Yes, they consume less energy. A 13 watt bulb for example, is supposed to be as bright as a 60 watt incandescent. But really, the difference in your bill and energy consumption won't be noticed at all on your bill. The resulting addition to the waste dump of Mercury, is far worse then lowering your wattage consumption.
The other factor to consider is the 3-5 minute time it takes for the bulb to gain it's best brightness. When you turn it on, its very dim, then takes a bit to really light up. This build up means you might need to turn on the light EARLIER than you normally would, in order to get the light you need. So, you aren't saving wattage at all unless you can deal with the initial dim light. (Ladies, forget about makeup until these things are really humming).
Hopefully LED bulbs, that don't have these problems, will come along in technology and price soon, and we will have a real alternative. Until then, skip these.
Customer Review: Don't be afraid to try flourescents!
Summary: 4 Stars
I really dragged my feet about switching to these compact fluorescent bulbs, even though I knew they were an excellent choice for my budget and my striving to have a "greener" home. Having spent most of my young working life in fluorescent light, I couldn't stomach the idea of having that ghastly flickering & unnatural lighting in my own home!
But we keep several very-low-wattage lamps on in our house 24/7, and I was bothered by how often I had to replace the incandescent bulbs. Since the shades on those lamps are already slightly tinted, I figured I'd replace just those bulbs that we keep on all the time with the compact fluorescent bulbs, keeping incandescent in the lamps and ceiling fixtures that get turned off when we leave a room.
I was really surprised at the quality of the light put off by these bulbs from Amazon. It is not noticably different from the old bulbs. While I'll keep my "daylight" incandescents at the bathroom mirror and in my reading/crafting lamp (where color really counts!), I am now replacing all our other bulbs with compact fluorescent.
The only thing I'd like better would be for them to fit in all my fixtures. The regular compact bulbs fit only about half my fixtures, so I had to get the ULTRA-MINI for the rest. Unfortunately, the higher wattage are hard to find in ULTRA-MINI, so I have to keep incandescents in a few rooms where 60W-equivalent is simply too dim, but my fixture globe cannot accommodate the larger bulbs.
Customer Review: Ultra-mini: size to use w/ small or medium harp (perfect for stained/underpainted glass or bedside lamps)
Summary: 5 Stars
ULTRA-MINI is the perfect size for most table & floor lamps including those with a small harp such as bedside swing-arm wall lamps. Much smaller than most Compact Fluorescent Spiral Bulbs. Works well w/ shallow Stained Glass (table) lamp shades & scounces. Has standard twisty base like Joe Average incandescent bulbs.
The 'soft white' is somewhat yellow but not obnoxiously so. Though specified as a "60 watt equivalent", I think it's on the bright side (closer to to a 75 watt than 40 watt).
The bulbs do take a minute or so to fire up to full brightness but like the reviewer for another bulb, I've learned to rather like that! I have *not* noticed a "hum" as remarked in reveiws of *other* fluorescents.
Of the 3 "four packs" (e.g. 12 bulbs) I have ordered (me & relatives), I have had one bad bulb. I am ordering more: great gift as they fit nearly all lamps & throw a lot of light!
Highly, strongly & 100% recommend
Customer Review: These bulbs burn out within two years of occasional use
Summary: 1 Stars
Do not buy these bulbs expecting superior life to traditional incandescent bulbs. We bought 12 of them in January 2008 and cycled them into our ceiling fixtures and floor lamps as the old incandescents burned out. Well, these burn out even faster than the old bulbs: only one remains uninstalled at this point and six of them, half the number we purchased, have already failed: a faster, not slower, rate of failure than incandescent bulbs. The five-year guarantee, as noted by another reviewer, is worthless since it involves mailing cost to Canada.
The "green" advantages of buying bulbs that use less energy than incandescent bulbs is compromised when the flourescent bulbs are of poor quality. These bulbs contain mercury, and they are more expensive to manufacture (use more resources to make) than incandescents. It burns me up that we are dumping mercury and extra resources back into the waste stream after only one to two years.