While I have no basic argument with most of the statements. They pretty absolute and mostly unqualified.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironduke
[*]3) They don't provide the same quality of light of an incandescent.
- Modern CFLs match or exceed the light quality emitted by an incandescent. Light quality issues are a thing of the past.
|
While this is not a deal killer, I would argue with the statement that modern CFL's match or exceed incandescent light quality. It is getting close, but it is not there. Incandescent color is still the gold standard for measuring color accuracy. In fact, the measurement (Color Rendering Index) is based upon incandescent. The latest C.F.'s have a CRI in the low 80's as opposed to 100 for incandescent. This is very acceptable, but by no means does it meet or exceed incandescent light quality. Much of the improvement comes from the reduction of mercury in the lamp. Less mercury means less of the green spike that is characteristically a part of the color distribution of fluorescent lamps. Mercury has always been a critical part of the proper and efficient operation of the lamp. I am amazed at the amount that they have been able to remove and I would be equally amazed if they can remove all of it, but who knows?
Regarding strike and warm-up time, I recently bought a package of G.E. retrofit CFL's that have the A19 envelope. This is the outer bulb that looks similar to a frosted incandescent lamp. The lamps start instantly, but they have very low initial output that rises very slowly. It takes at least a minute for them to come up to anything approaching full output. This too slow for use in interior room lighting.
I also would not consider buying anything except lamps from the "big three"; G.E., Osram Sylvania and Philips. There are a lot of other lesser brands that are marked with all of the appropriate energy efficiency marks that also have terrible long term lumen maintenance. In other words, their light output drops significantly over their lives so that lamp efficiency drops significantly and light quality is heavily compromised. The reason for this is profit based. This is now an extremely high unit volume business where unit production cost savings of 1/100 of a penny, or even less, provides big returns. This is realized through the use of lower quality phosphors and components, and also looser quality control and lower quality production methods.