While they start pretty much on the dime, they do get about
50% brighter the first minute or two of operation.

That's what I noted with the Home Despot lamps.

The extended warm-up can be a bit disconcerting. Some bulbs
can start out pretty dim. They are lit OK, but they are pretty dim.

My first CFLs were Philips, and they took "forever" to come to a reasonable
brightness, let alone full. But the Home Despot cheapies are quite bright
from the moment they're enerigized, and take only about a minute to real
full brilliance.


It was startling at first to see a fluorescent lamp come on faster
than an incandescent.

Try a CFL on a really cold Michigan morning, say in an unheated
garage. ;-(

If I don't find a job soon, I might very well be living in an unheated
garage, come Christmas.