In , Random Netizen wrote:
In article ,
says...

I like the idea of saving money with energy saving compact fluorescent
bulbs but I don't like the color of their light. What do you think?

There is a fair bit of variety out there in terms of CF bulb colour
temperature. Buy some of the bulbs and see what you prefer. Cheap CF
bulbs tend to have really awful color, but some of the better bulbs are
much nicer. Philips bulbs have a nice color.

Most Cf lamps are 2700 Kelvin, roughly incandescent color, but I see
variations:

1. Spirals 19 watts or less tend in my experience to have a less-pink,
more-yellow color, more like incandescent.

2. Higher wattages of all kinds in my experience have a tendency to be
slightly more pink and less yellow. I have found Philips and GE to be
less bad than others in this area.

3. Sylvanias are mostly 3000 Kelvin - slightly whiter than most others.
But I have also found those to be a little harsher - slightly less
yellowish and more whitish-pinkish, rather than halogen-like.

4. Sylvania makes a 3500 Kelvin 13 watt spiral that is whiter still, what
I would call a "semi warm white". They call it "daylight", which is
usually used to refer to a cold pure white or a bluish white color.
I find Sylvania 3500K spirals rather pleasant, despite being a bit
"harsh" by continuing their less-yellow, more-pinkish-white tendency.
They may also look a litle "dreary" when you don't use enough light to
illuminate things brightly.

5. I have noticed a trend where ones with non-electronic ballasts glow a
little less yellow and more pink than ones with electronic ballasts. PL
types don't have ballasts, and most fixtures and adapters I have seen for
them have non-electronic ballasts.

6. Philips makes 15 watt "outdoor" models in 2700 Kelvin and 5000 Kelvin
("daylight" icy cold pure white). These are suitable indoors also except
maybe not in recessed ceiling fixtures because of heat buildup. But you
probably don't want the 5000K one if you are using it indoors for general
room lighting.

7. You may find a few others with various higher color temperatures like
4100 (color of "cool white"), 5000 (icy cold pure white) and 6500 (bluish,
color of "daylight"). My experience is that these usually cause a "dreary
gray" effect in home use. You need high illumination levels (typically
around or over 1,000 lux) to avoid this "dreary" effect.

8. If any FUL types are still around, avoid them. The ones I have seen
have a lower color rendering index.

9. Avoid dollar store ones, especially ones $2 or less and/or of brands
only seen in dollar stores. Most have a "daylight" bluish white color,
even many in packages that say "soft warm white light" or "sun lighting".
In addition, I have yet to see a dollar store one significantly outshine a
40 watt "standard" incandescent, not even ones that claim to replace 150
watt incandescents. Color rendering is also usually a little worse than
that of most non-dollar-store compact fluorescents. Many dollar store
ones that actually are "warm white" have an ugly purplish-pinkish-whitish
shade of "warm white" as well as outright low color rendering index.

- Don Klipstein )