On Sun, 4 Mar 2012 11:56:08 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Gabriel wrote:

I suspect it was the dishonesty of the filament equivalence labels
meaning they were always dimmer than expected, ...

Agreed up to about a year ago the "equivalence" was optomistic to say
the least. More recently the packaging does seem to reflect more
accurate values and the lumen output is more promimently displayed as
well.

... combined with retail outlets like supermarkets not stocking any
genuine 100W (or above) equivalents.

I've never lived anywhere that had 100W tungsten bulbs, far to fing
bright! 60W perl was the norm. Clear ones are just to harsh. Mind you
main living areas would have a fitting with several bulbs in not just
a single pendant. Are those that seem to require the light output of
100W bulbs just have the one bulb per room?

--
Cheers
Dave.