On Apr 28, 7:05*pm, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:
They give you full brightness at switch on, unlike
compact fluorescents that take time to warm-up.

Yes, but...

The better CFLs are quite bright at turn-on -- bright enough that you
don't feel you bought a defective lamp.
The operative word being "quite". I thought you said that your Home Despot
types came on quicker than an incandescent. Certainly doesn't sound that
way
from that description ... And as far as I'm concerned, any incandescent
replacement technology lamp that does not produce the *full* light output
within a few mS of switch on, or is ambient temperature dependant for its
performance, *is* a defective lamp.

The Home Depot lamps come on instantly at a level I'd judge to be around
60% -- maybe higher -- of full brightness. Full brightness takes another 30
seconds or so. This is a huge improvement over the bulbs from 15 years ago.

Nothing I've seen on the market today equals the Panasonic CFLs of
years ago, either in time to full output or longevity.