[Question Liberal Authority]

I don’t buy the cheapest CFL’s I can find. I buy ones that work well with a good color temperature and are usable as soon as you turn them on (cold). The added cost, about $8 a bulb, is well worth it. They pay for themselves many times over in saved electricity costs over the life of the bulb.

I've heard that about CFL's - that there are "good" bulbs which are well-made and "bad" bulbs which are cheap crap. My general thinking is that an $8 incandescent would probably be pretty darn good as well. Plus, I'm suspicious of the folks who are trying to push CFL's onto us as part of their "green" agenda.

In your experience, how can you tell before purchasing whether a CFL is one of the "good" kind or the crappy kind? Besides the $8 price tag, that is. Are there any good brands that you would recommend, not made by GE?

[DB]

What I do is buy a sample or two of various brands/types and try them. I don’t buy the cheapest no name on sale “its too good to walk away from” bulbs. When I find one that works well I stick with it until there are clearly better options available (something new comes along). I’ve had good luck with TCP Instabright CFLs. Mine are essentially all in recessed “can” lights and are R40 style floodlights. The color is good (close to a incandescent), no visible 60/120 Hz motion flicker and on average last a long time in an enclosed fixture. The TCP (TCP is the brand) CFL’s above are 14 watts each replacing 60 watt incandescent bulbs for a average savings of 280 kWh over the life of each bulb. If your electricity costs 20 cents a kWh that’s a savings of $56 minus the difference in the cost of the two types of bulbs. The added cost of a CFL that does the job well is easily paid for due to the energy savings when compared to an incandescent.

[DB]

For me CFL’s have nothing to do with “greeness” but simple economics. I’m trying to minimize my electric bill which is already way to high.