Sylvania 2-Pack 23-Watt (100W) - Bright White

I picked up a pack of these last night while shopping at Lowes. I've sworn off CFL's since I purchased my first one somewhere around 2004 or so. I wanted to give them another chance and cut the cost of running 2x100w incandescent in the garage. Plus, although I'm a tint snob I'm not as concerned with this being in the garage.

I ran the 100w incandescent for a minute and tried to take a mental photo of the tint and output for comparison. After inserting the CFLs, I was immediately worried they were not bright enough. The tint looked pretty good though. After warming up for about 2 minutes, I noticed they were MUCH brighter and the tint was PERFECT, especially for a garage (wandering towards 'too cool' if anything).

Since many trips to the garage will just be for 30 seconds or so, I'm not sure what to do. Do I keep the CFLs and live with the weaker output (when not fully warmed up on short visits), or go back to the incandescents? Since I really like them at full output, I think I'll give them a try for a few weeks.

p.s. One funny thing is the Kelvin ratings, in general. These are 3500K, but actually a million times cooler when compared to my Zebralight "w" lights at 4200K. A Fluorescent vs LED thing? Inaccurate measuements by the manufacturer?

Since 100 watt equivalent LEDs are not a reasonable cost yet, this is what I have in my garage: http://m.homedepot.com/p/Philips-Ec...e-Halogen-Light-Bulb-4-Pack-426049/203637038/

I usually only have my garage lights on for a short time, so CFLs do not make sense. These use 28% less electricity than a standard bulb and I still get instant full brightness.

markr6 said:

p.s. One funny thing is the Kelvin ratings, in general. These are 3500K, but actually a million times cooler when compared to my Zebralight "w" lights at 4200K. A Fluorescent vs LED thing? Inaccurate measuements by the manufacturer?

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FWIW, I have now had too many Zebralights that had funny occurrences like that where they were much cooler or warmer than they "should" have been to have any faith in Zebralight's specs for color temperature. They just don't seem right.

One good thing about LEDs is that they will last a long time. Incandescent bulbs (and CFL bulbs even more so) can be sensitive to vibration, it can considerably shorten their lifespan.

In many applications where there is vibration, "rough service" incandescent bulbs, which have extra filament supports, are used. (Most rough service bulbs have a filament designed for a slightly higher voltage than what they run on, so as a result the filament is not quite as hot, which more than doubles the lifespan, but can also make the light more dull and orangish)

Let me ask you a question. Do you use the garage much? I mean, does the light get left on very long?
Do you use your garage as a workspace, usually in the night? Does it get cold in there?

Anders Hoveland said:

One good thing about LEDs is that they will last a long time. Incandescent bulbs (and CFL bulbs even more so) can be sensitive to vibration, it can considerably shorten their lifespan.

In many applications where there is vibration, "rough service" incandescent bulbs, which have extra filament supports, are used. (Most rough service bulbs have a filament designed for a slightly higher voltage than what they run on, so as a result the filament is not quite as hot, which more than doubles the lifespan, but can also make the light more dull and orangish)

Let me ask you a question. Do you use the garage much? I mean, does the light get left on very long?
Do you use your garage as a workspace, usually in the night? Does it get cold in there?

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I just moved in, so I'm not sure how cold winters will be. My last home got down to about 50°F on the coldest winter nights. My wife and I will be going in and out with the dog, getting something I forgot out of the car, getting a tool, etc. They provide adequate light for those short trips even at the dimmest output, but it's just one of those things that annoys me - knowing that I'm not getting all the output possible.

Other times I'll be working at my workbench (separate 4' fluorescent overhead for that) and longer tasks like waxing cars for 30 minutes to several hours, so the warmup time is not an issue there. Come winter, I'll probably ditch these and go back to incandecent or the halogen mentioned becasue I have a feeling the cold will really hamper their performance.

markr6 said:

so the warmup time is not an issue there. Come winter, I'll probably ditch these and go back to incandecent or the halogen mentioned becasue I have a feeling the cold will really hamper their performance.

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I was not talking about the warm up. I have someone in my family who works in a garage, typically in the evenings and nights. Except in the summer, he uses an electric heater in there year round. Now of course, using "energy efficient" lighting is not saving him any money. It makes absolutely no sense to avoid the use of an incandescent filament for light, while simultaneously using a heating filament to warm you. In fact, I got him a portable 250w halogen lamp as a gift and discovered he was leaving it on all the time just for extra heat. Just something to consider.

(disclaimer: I really hate CFL bulbs and just want to smash them whenever I see one, so my post may be a bit biased)

Sylvania doesn't seem to make a 75 equivalent micro-mini at 3500K. So I use 2x 40 watt in my closet. [on 90 degree splitter]
It came as a 3 pack, so the other is on a timer as an indoor security light.
The output changes after the initial 'burn in' period. I would say the initial output is cooler than the output from 1,000 hours of use. It now looks 3500K.

The closet only has about 10 hours of use, so it still looks extra crisp. Looking at the lumen maintenance curve, the output drop to 90% at 1,000 hours, and a much flatter to 85% @ 5,000 hours. Extrapolating out, if it can make it to 15,000 hours, the output should be 80%.

I once tried out the 23w=100 equivalents, and they have a slightly longer warm up time than the 40w equivalents. (they went back)
For winter usage, I've tried CFSs. The mercury doesn't vaporize as quickly below 25F, and at 0F it will take almost an hour to fully light off.
So instead of 2x 150 incans, I use 2x(2x 72 watt halogen replacements in a splitter). Doesn't save that much money, but it has full output instantly.