On Mon, 3 Jul 2006 19:49:24 +0100, Andrew Gabriel wrote
(in article ):

In article ,
Andy Hall writes:
On Mon, 3 Jul 2006 00:13:10 +0100, Andrew Gabriel wrote
(in article ):
I found an EU survey on adoption a year or so back, which
broadly agreed. Number one reason given for not using them
was not fitting in lampshades/lightfittings people want to
use or already have.

One can add a number of additional things to this:

- People don't like being dictated to by the government that they should
have
a particular kind of lighting in their house. They shot themselves in the
foot by it being a different fitting.

If there was actually a good range of home fittings which took
remote ballasted compact fluorescents, it might have worked.

That would have been more reasonable in that the ballasts could be located in
equivalent positions to those used for SMPS supplies for tungsten halogen.
However, I wonder about the RFI in a scenario like that.


However, there are none. (The EU survey was specifically looking
at retrofit integral ballasted CFLs though, without changing
light fittings.)

- Quality of the light

The low initial output and run-up time is always very high on
the list of complaints about compact fluorescents. Light output
being below the claimed tungsten equivalent also comes moderately
high up the list, and is often given as a reason for someone
having tried one once, and decided not to use them. (This is
why I always say ignore the claimed equivalent power on the box,
and just multiply by 4 to get tungsten equivalent.)

the trouble is that it takes a very long time to get over poor first
impressions, especially when the promoters try to pretend that functionality
and aesthetics are the same. If there had been more honesty it might have
been a different story.




People not liking the colour in the way you describe is not
something I've ever seen any complaints about in consumer
feedback. There are a small number of complaints that much higher
CCT lamps are not easily available (which would emphasise the
features you dislike).

- People are not that sensitive to the costs of running tungsten lightbulbs.

Indeed, and they are completely horrified when you point out how
much it costs to run a room full of halogen downlighters.

That depends on how they are used and they are dimmable.



- People are sensitive to paying a great deal more for other bulbs where
they
don't see the benefit.

There are some good quality ones available for 50p now, so this
really shouldn't be an issue.



Too late. Now buying habits will need to change and it will take a lot of
time for that to happen.