Dear all,
just in front of me I have a specvtrometer made from paper as a kit for children, resolution is 5nm.
I´m telling you that because with this 6.80 euro tool, you can easily examine the spectra of lamps. It is available at
www.astromedia.de and called "Handspektrometer".
Fluorescents are usually sold with a number like 645, 750, 837 or 965... at least in europe.
The first number tells you about the colour quality, the 2nd & 3rd about colour temp, so a "970" bulb makes a spectrum which is nearly complete, with only a few "dark lines", and makes nearly 7000K, so it is "blueish"; a "645" makes only a few discrete lines (for example violet, turkoise, green, orange and red), and is yellowish.
The best lamps in terms of colour quality are 9xx bulbs. Some special ones are not only having a gapless spectrum, but also a close-to-daylight intensity spectrum. They are called "lumilux de luxe daylight", "truelight", "biolight" or "biolux". I have them in use everywhere where I could win the everlasting discussion with my wife, who does not like fluorescents at all no matter how good they are.
For Osram products, there is a comparative spread sheet which tells you about output, bulb shape & size, colour qality, colour temperature a.s.o. in german, but easily understandable:
http://www.osram.de/pdf/service_corner/farb_lumenkarte.pdf
"Farbtemperatur" means colour temp, "Farbwiedergabe" means colour rendering quality (100=sun). "entspricht GE" means "equivalent General Electric product, "entspricht phillips" means equivalent phillips product a.s.o.
so maybe this sheet is usable for U.S. inhabitants as well.
Don´t buy full spectrum lamps from esotherical money makers which also sell wonder medicine and other stuff for bored housewives with too-good-earning husbands. Buy full spectrum lamps from the sortiment of a quality brand. It is hard to figure out, but they ARE available without the money for the internet woodoo priests who unfortunately like to sell them as "depression medicine".
Regards
Dudeldam