On Saturday, December 13, 2014 2:14:29 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Over the many years I have used trouble lights, I have ruined many
incandescent bulbs by dropping the light. And those trouble lights are
prone to falling due to poorly designed hooks.

I thought using a CFL was the solution. WRONG!
Those CFL bulbs are more fragile than an incandescent bulb and make a
bigger mess when they break, not to mention the toxic mercury inside
them getting into the environment. Besides that, the higher wattage
CFL's dont fit in a standard trouble light. So, the limit seemed to be
a (way to dim) 60W equivalant. And in cold weather, they are almost
useless.


I used a CFL in a trouble light. Think it was 100W, it fit fine. It
did break though and you're right, it's a much bigger mess. I agree
cold temps are a problem. On the plus side, they are cool so you
can't burn yourself on the hot metal housing.





The good news is that they still sell the 100W incandescent "Tough
Bulbs". They were designed just for trouble lights. They still will
burn out or break if dropped hard enough, but far out last the common
bulbs.

Those "tough bulbs" can still be used in home fixtures too, if you
require an incandescent bulb. I use them in my garage lights, because
the CFL bulbs dont get bright enough in cold weather.

I have not yet tried a LED bulb in my trouble lights, due to their high
cost, and some LED bulbs only light up on their top (not much light from
the side of the bulb), so they would not work well in a trouble light.

I guess trouble lights were appropriately named, since they are always
causing troubles. But I wanted to share the fact that those "Tough
bulbs" are still available in the larger wattages and can be used
anywhere you desire an incandescent bulb. They are more costly than the
standard bulbs, but still cheaper than the LED bulbs and comparable in
price to CFLs.

They also have trouble lights now that are LED period. IDK how
well they work and haven't tried an LED in a regular one. What you
point out is why I strongly disagree with those that want to force
this stuff on us. I say, let the free market decide what to use and
where. If it's anywhere as good as they claim, there is no reason
to force us to change.