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CFLsRe:Still... (Score:5, Interesting) There is a new generation of CFLs about to be released next month from a company called PureSpectrum. They have a new ballast which fixes the power factor problem (it's 0.93!) and is instant-on and fully dimmable. It's expected to be priced about the same as the current generation of non-dimmable CFLs. Looking a bit further ahead, another company called Vu1 has a novel idea for a light which uses electron stimulation against phosphor to produce light (sorta like a crt). It has no mercury and is also dimmable. It's also shaped like a regular incandescent so lamp shades will fit on it. They will be less expensive than LEDs and produce much better color rendering, but they will likely cost more than CFLs. Re:Harshness is all about color temperature (Score:5, Informative) > Also, there's the whole cold-weather thing. Traditional fluorescent tubes will start up in the garage for me, provided it's over 0F or so. Not so for CFLs; I went back to incandescent. I was on the board of our rather large condo complex and wanted to replace the 100 or so incandescent bulbs outside with CFLs but was afraid of the cold factor (it gets to -40 sometimes where I live). So, I took four brands of CFLs and did a controlled experiment: stick two of each brand in the deep freeze overnight, then quickly screw them into sockets to how well they light up. GE and Sylvania 's ballasts punked out, even after warming up. The only brand that worked completely was Globe, the cheapest of the bunch, so don't always go by price. We switched the bulbs in 2005, and haven't replaced a single one yet. They are controlled by photo sensors, so on and off once a day, with no hiccups even in the cold... |