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List Price: $14.99
Sale Price: $10.25
Today's Bonus: 32% Off
At a little over 10 bucks for 8 of these, you can't go wrong.
These are just your basic CFLs, at the 2700 kelvin temperature range. That means they're about the same shade as your basic ordinary 60W incandescent bulb. A pale yellow white, not pure white (5100 Kelvin), or daylight (around 6300 Kelvin).
Pure white or daylight CFLS cost more because the phosphors in them are more expensive, but they do have the advantage of being more natural light, rather than imitating the poor quality light of an ordinary light bulb.
So if you're thinking of upgrading to CFLs these bulbs are a great deal to start from. But do take advantage of the technology & get a higher quality light at a higher color temperature for some of your areas, & enjoy better quality light, rather than just using CFLs that imitate the poor quality light of old fashioned light bulbs.
Winter depression can be triggered by lack of natural light because of less hours of daylight, & more cloudy, overcast days in winters. In northern climates when it's cold, people stay inside more, use heavy insulating window curtains, further reducing their exposure to natural light. 5100K-6700k CFLs help with winter depression by exposing you to more natural light. Colors look more rich & vivid. Things look more cheery. It's even easier to read under natural light.
I find I can read just as easy under a 4-watt 5100k CFL than a 13 watt 2700k CFL.
The backlight in your LCD display that you're probably reading this from is probably a 5100k-6700K bulb.
Look at the white areas on the screen & then look at your lighting in the room. Doesn't that ordinary light bulb or 2700K CFL look a lot more yellow by comparison?
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Things to look on the package:
1. Kelvin temperature (K): The only accurate measurement for the kind of light or "color" of light you'll get. 2700K is pretty close to the "warm" incandescent we are all used to, 4100/4200K is known as "Cool White" (you might look "ghostly under that) and 5,000+ is the daylight/sunlight. If the lamps do not have the K designation, do not buy them they are the cheaper variety since establishing the K temp. costs more.
2. Lamp Life (Hrs): The life of a light bulb is the MEAN life, that is at the stated hours HALF of them will be dead and HALF of them will still be working. Life can be affected by many factors, one being how many times a day you turn them on and how long they stay on. As a rule, the more on/off's, the less they last.
3. Initial lumens: If it is not listed try another brand. For the typical 60W equivalent it ranges between 700 and 900 lumens. Try for 800+ In general the highest the K temp. (see #1 above) the higher the lumens.
4. Make sure you read what they say about DIMMERS, as well as photocells, timers, etc. Avoid costly surprises.
5. Make sure they are rated for outdoor use if that's where you want to install them. The environment's temperature has a lot to do with the CFL performance.
6. Buy as few as you can first and redo, say one room. See how YOU like it (allow 90 seconds warm-up time). If you are a male, have your female with you...she might have some objections you can't even think about!
HAPPY HUNTING!
Best Deals for GE 13W (60W Equivalent) Energy SmartTM Light Bulbs
I bought two 8-packs at my shopping club a couple of years ago. I needed them to replace 8 incandescent bulbs in the basement where, with the exception of the area where my home office is located, I didn't need very bright lights. The second carton was bought for 'spares' and because they were on sale at the time I made the purchase. Two years later, the spares carton has 3 bulbs left, indicating that 5 out of 8 have burned out. This tells me that the 5-years/8000 hours life expectancy claim is wildly optimistic, to use a mild term.
My personal experience with these bulbs is as follows:
the light they produce yellow, not very bright is more or less on par with what you get of a 60W incandescent, maybe a little less than a traditional 60W.
they do save energy for as long as they last given their short lifespan in my basement, not sure if they pay for themselves
quality seems to be an issue 5 out of 8 burned out before 2 years all 8 subjected to about the same conditions (they all go on/off at the same time
the claim of 8000 hours or 5 years life expectancy is clearly way off-base perhaps GE should make their test data available
the Amazon price at the time I am writing this review is competitive with what I saw at my shopping club.
This may come close to comparing apples to oranges but I must say that I am very happy with the Feit Electric ESL40TN/D 42-Watt Compact Fluorescent High-Wattage Bulb, Daylight of which I am using 2 in the same basement, in my 'office' area and I bought 2 more a few months ago for the study. I paid a premium for them and I've only used them for a little less than one year at the time I write this (Feb. 2010) so the fact that none has burned out yet is not 'proof' but... time with tell.
I hesitate between 2 and 3 stars 2 Amazon stars means 'I don't like it' vs. 3 stars meaning 'it's okay'. My generous nature wins this time and it's 3 stars but GE needs to seriously look into the 'quality' thing or these CFL may discourage some people from adopting replacing their incandescent bulbs with the more efficient fluorescents.
Honest reviews on GE 13W (60W Equivalent) Energy SmartTM Light Bulbs
I have changed to CFLs (GE) in my home. I now write the install date on the bulb because of failure sometimes within three (3) months. The fixtures that fail are random but have used standard bulbs for years. ALSO PLEASE NOTE: The package states the bulbs should be placed base down. What kind of saving do you get if you need to replace the fixture? One positive point is that GE has provided me with discount coupons when I called.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for GE 13W (60W Equivalent) Energy SmartTM Light Bulbs
I have switched all of my bulbs to CFLs over the past 5 years. I started noticing that I was changing bulbs more often that I used to with the incandescent type. I then started writing the date on the ballast of the bulb when I changed it. I discovered that it was only the GE brand bulbs that were burning out in less than 6 months. In fact, the last one I changed lasted 20 days (8 of which I was on vacation). It was in a two bulb fixture with a generic bulb that lasted for several years which proves that under the same conditions the GE bulb lasted 3 weeks and the generic lasted several years. On average I get one or two months from the GE CFLs. I have bought generic unlabeled bulbs that have lasted several years. The 5 year warranty requires you to pay more for shipping than it would cost to buy a new one. Talk about a company selling junk with a fake warranty. I will never buy anything made by GE ever since all they make is junk.
