Does anyone else hate these CFL lightbulbs, or is it just me?

Perks

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I'm trying to do my part. I want to conserve and be good and tighten down my carbon footprint to a delicate little Cinderella slipper.

But I swear on my seventh rib, I hate these CFL lightbulbs.

It casts the most Space Station Zulu pall I've ever had the misfortune to sit under. I'm going anemic under its cold ooze. This cannot be good for me.

I hate global maturity.
 

Yeshanu

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I like them. Ex doesn't like them so much. *shrug*
 

astonwest

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I like them so much, I've converted around half our house to them, and plan to do the rest at some point. I especially like them for the outside lights, because I don't have to replace them as often (I keep the outside lights on full-time).
 

Perks

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Okay. It's gonna be just me. This is the ugliest light I've used, but I'll have to admit, it certainly ain't dark in here. I can see the veins under my skin, but god bless my duty to global warming.
 

Bayou Bill

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Okay. It's gonna be just me. This is the ugliest light I've used, but I'll have to admit, it certainly ain't dark in here. I can see the veins under my skin, but god bless my duty to global warming.
It ain't just you, babe. One thing you can try to do is get the lowest "KELVIN" rating you can find. As a rule-of-thumb, the lower the number the more "natural" the light.

250px-CFBulbs.jpg


A photograph of various lamps illustrates the effect of color temperature differences (left to right):
(1) Compact Fluorescent: General Electric, 13 watt, 6500 K
(2) Incandescent: Sylvania 60-Watt Extra Soft White
(3) Compact Fluorescent: Bright Effects, 15 watts, 2644 K
(4) Compact Fluorescent: Sylvania, 14 watts, 3000 K

Rumple Foreskin :cool:
 

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No, Perks, it isn't just you. I hate those freakin' things.
 

Perks

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I think I've been validated here, but I can't be sure. My eyes have shriveled to raisins, so reading isn't what it used to be.
 

Shadow_Ferret

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They are horrible for the environment. They are filled with mercury. If you drop one and break it? The government has a whole posting on what you're supposed to do. Open all the windows and let the room air out. DO NOT use brooms or vacuum to clean it up. This will contaminate them. Use pieces of cardboard to sweep up the glass. Then masking tape to pick up the rest.

Seriously. I'm too tired to find the link. But its a hazmat situation if you break one.
 

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Now that you mention it, I read that too, SF. They are good for the environment with regard to energy usage, but terrible once they end up in a landfill.
 

Unique

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It's you.

But I don't like them for task lighting. My reading lamps have regular bulbs because they just aren't bright enough for that.

Those 6 fluorescent tubes in the kitchen are the bomb, though. BRIGHT!

But then, they're 4 feet long. :D
 

Perks

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They are horrible for the environment. They are filled with mercury. If you drop one and break it? The government has a whole posting on what you're supposed to do. Open all the windows and let the room air out. DO NOT use brooms or vacuum to clean it up. This will contaminate them. Use pieces of cardboard to sweep up the glass. Then masking tape to pick up the rest.

Seriously. I'm too tired to find the link. But its a hazmat situation if you break one.
Are you serious? Gah. I am so annoyed. My daughter broke the last glass thermometer last year and it was the biggest damned hassle to clean up. Crap.

I think I'm with Ben and going back to candles.
 

regdog

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Hate them . We had four in the house I've already taken two out and will be replacing the third soon. The two I took out I put in the outside porch and garage lights since the claim is they last for a real long time. We'll see. One I'll leave because it's in the cellar and I rarely go down there;spider phobia.

The longer the lights were on the brighter they became it got so bad in the hall light i thought I was going sunblind. Give me old fashioned incadecent bulbs anyday. I'm going to start hoarding them I think.
 

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No, you're not alone, Perks. I hate 'em, too... and one of the cats, believe it or not, hates 'em even worse. She's my SAD cat. She loves to sit under the lamp shades and get warm - but these bloody things don't help her any.
 

Perks

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Yeah, the color of light they give off is hideous. I can see, but it turns out, I'm not sure I want to. Poor SAD kitty.
 

Deccydiva

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They are good for the environment with regard to energy usage, but terrible once they end up in a landfill.
So - the point of using them is... ? :Shrug:
 

Pagey's_Girl

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I don't see any difference one way or the other in the quality of the light, but I spend so much of my time under office lights that I'm probably immune to flourescents by now.

I did learn the hard way, though, that if you're making a necklace with a pattern that calls for blue beads (say, for instance, red white and blue for July 4th,) you need to check those blue beads under incandescents first to make sure they stay blue. There's a type of Alexandrite glass that looks blue under flourescents and purple in incandescent light and sunlight. Red white and purple just doesn't work...
 

CaroGirl

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I didn't like the kind of light they cast at first, but quickly got used to it. The worst thing about them now, for me, is if you use them in outside lights in cold weather, they take more than 30 seconds after you flip the switch to come on. It feels like forever when you're used to instant light.
 

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Are you serious? Gah. I am so annoyed. My daughter broke the last glass thermometer last year and it was the biggest damned hassle to clean up. Crap.

I think I'm with Ben and going back to candles.
I don't think thermometers contain mercury any longer. It's some glowing red liquid.

Here's the information from the EPA on cleaning up broken CFLs.

Funny thing is, they don't list that stuff on the PACKAGING!

Anyway, if you want to conserve energy and get awesome lighting, go with the LED lights. Except they're expensive. About $20 a bulb. But they last like a million times longer than regular bulbs. So the initial outlay is expensive, but over the long haul, you'll actually save money. Me? I'm way too cheap to fork over $20 for a bulb.
 

CaroGirl

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I don't think thermometers contain mercury any longer. It's some glowing red liquid.
You should definitely invest in an electronic ear thermometer. They're fast, accurate and non-invasive (if you know what I mean).
 

Shadow_Ferret

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You should definitely invest in an electronic ear thermometer. They're fast, accurate and non-invasive (if you know what I mean).
We have this thermal temperature strip that you stick to their forehead. We had one of those electronic ear thingies. It was expensive and broke within the year.

And maybe I like being invasive. :e2brows:
 

Perks

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I don't think thermometers contain mercury any longer. It's some glowing red liquid.
Possibly. But the one I had, that my daughter broke, was full of a silver liquid that beaded up all over the floor and changed my DNA so that when I get angry, well, you know...