In article wIo9d.12393$na.6133@trnddc04, James Sweet wrote:

I have not had any of the really smnall ones like you referred to, but
have some considerable use of the larger wattages. Name brands, like
GE and Sylvania have held up well. Lights of America have been pretty
poor, others somewhere in between. I have taken to saving the
guarantees and using them whenever I had a failure. It is barely
worth the trouble, but we need to hold manufacturers to the fire and
so I go through the process.

To their credit, I had Feit send me some replacement lamps for free when I
explained a rash of early failures. LOA wanted me to mail them the old lamps
along with the reciept from when I bought them, even if I'd found the
reciept it'd cost more to mail the lamps than to buy new ones.

I'm starting to wish I did when three of the four LOA ones that I bought
so far this decade died very young. If enough people pester those who
give us junk with their junk and work to go through honoring their
warranty, then they will shape up or go out of business.

- Don Klipstein , http://www.misty.com/~don/cfx.html)

In article , I - Don Klipstein wrote:

I'm starting to wish I did when three of the four LOA ones that I bought
so far this decade died very young. If enough people pester those who
give us junk with their junk and work to go through honoring their
warranty, then they will shape up or go out of business.

Oops - I look back on written records handy to me, turns out I only
bought three LOA units so far this decade and had early failure of just
two.

Other early failures I had so far in CFLs that I bought so far this
decade:

1. Two GE 25 watt spirals that I bought in 2001 both failed after just a
few hundred operating hours. I no longer see GE 25 watt spirals on the
market.

2. I have purchased at least three dozen dollar store compact
fluorescents, totalling 10 "brands" and 22 "models". One was DOA and one
failed after just a few minutes of operation. Two others were "not right"
- one with an excessively hot base and one that flickered and had light
output much lower than that of other dollar store CFLs.

My main complaint of dollar store CFLs, however, is exaggerated claims
of light output. None of my 22 "models" matched nor exceeded the light
output of a 40 watt "soft white" incandescent, rated 445 lumens. Some of
these claimed to replace incandescents of 125 watts. One claimed 1130
lumens.
Another complaint of dollar store CFLs is that most are bluish
"daylight" in color, including some in packages saying "SUN Lighting" and
some in packages that say "Soft warm white light". A majority of the few
of my dollar store CFLs that actually had a "warm" color had a color more
purplish than other "warm" CFLs and also had a low color rendering index.

- Don Klipstein )

"Don Klipstein" wrote in message
...
....
| My main complaint of dollar store CFLs, however, is exaggerated claims
| of light output. None of my 22 "models" matched nor exceeded the light
| output of a 40 watt "soft white" incandescent, rated 445 lumens. Some of
| these claimed to replace incandescents of 125 watts. One claimed 1130
| lumens.
| Another complaint of dollar store CFLs is that most are bluish
| "daylight" in color, including some in packages saying "SUN Lighting" and
| some in packages that say "Soft warm white light". A majority of the few
| of my dollar store CFLs that actually had a "warm" color had a color more
| purplish than other "warm" CFLs and also had a low color rendering index.
|
| - Don Klipstein )

Ain't that the truth? But considering the source (China) and the price I
guess they're still a good deal. After all, Leno makes jokes about dollar
store items regularly.

N

lumens.
Another complaint of dollar store CFLs is that most are bluish
"daylight" in color, including some in packages saying "SUN Lighting" and
some in packages that say "Soft warm white light". A majority of the few
of my dollar store CFLs that actually had a "warm" color had a color more
purplish than other "warm" CFLs and also had a low color rendering index.


Usually those "daylight" ones cost significantly more, I like them for
outdoor lighting, they really make plants glow.