"bright-white" CFL's

[UVLaser]

My dad got one of those bright-white CFL's for the kitchen and man are these things white! I am going to replace my desk lamp with a bright white CFL in the near future! Has any one ever heard of n:vision, and what would the color temperature be for these bulbs?(On the back it says 3500k but it doesn't look like 3500K)

I scanned the paper that was in the clam shell for any ones interest.


Thanks for your opinions!

[Lightmeup]

What does it say in the upper right corner by that color thermometer, or whatever it's supposed to be? I can't read it here.

[UVLaser]

Soft White, Bright White, Day Light

[2xTrinity]

I have 9-watt Bright White N:Vision CFL in my desk lamp -- it's probably the nicest CFL I've found yet for working under. Color rendition seems quite good. I like the tint, it does look like 3500k to me. In the same room I have a Sylvania 3000k CFL that appears slightly warmer white by comparison. In a nearby room, I have an old 4100k cool white tube, the Bright White looks like it's right in the middle.

[UVLaser]

Does N:Vision have a web site?

[yuandrew]

Don't really know of a website. N:vision, as far as I know, is Home Depot's new brand for their compact fluorescent bulbs which is replacing their "Commercial Electric" brand name. I think, however, the bulbs themselves are still made by the same Japanese based firm Technical Consumer Products (TCP). My Home Depot has changed to this brand name for a while but there are still some Commercial Electric brand CFLs left on the shelves. The 1-800 number on both bulbs is the same but I didn't see any other contact information.

They do color-code the new N:vision packages so you can easily figure out what "type" of light to expect. Red is the bright white, Green is a more "Warm White" (I think somewhat around 2700K or slightly pinkish) and bulbs in a Blue package are "Daylight" color temp.

[jtice]

hmmmm, strange,
I find bulds rated for that color temp very orange.
I like the "day light" ones I have been getting, they are 5000K, they are VERY white.
I use them for photography.
The 6000K ones I have are alittle too high, they have a slight blue tint in them.
Of course if you are comparing those ones you got to a normal incan bulb, then yes, they are much whiter.

~John

[jtr1962]

Slightly off-topic but has anyone seen the N:vision 6-pack of 14 watts in either bright white or daylight? We like the daylight, but the 14 watt only seems to be sold in 1-packs at the two local Home Depots. The 6-pack is $10, the 1-pack is $5. However, so far the 6-pack is only available in warm white.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by jtr1962

Slightly off-topic but has anyone seen the N:vision 6-pack of 14 watts in either bright white or daylight? We like the daylight, but the 14 watt only seems to be sold in 1-packs at the two local Home Depots. The 6-pack is $10, the 1-pack is $5. However, so far the 6-pack is only available in warm white.

I spent a whole lot of time on the bulb isle at Home Depot searching for a 6 pack of “bright white” CF bulbs to no avail. I have just begun my quest at finding the right bulbs at a good price to replace my incandescent bulbs in my home.



It seems like from what I have read so far that the “bright white” CF bulbs fit the bill. It sounds like they are whiter than “soft white” without the funky blue tint that so many people seem to hate for their home lighting.



It is a crying shame that there is so little information on this site about CFL bulbs, because of how important it is in saving energy and having better light.

[pedalinbob]

I picked up a package of the N:Vision warm whites from Home Depot. Six for $10, which is a pretty good deal.

The color seems decent (2700k), if a bit yellow. The price is definitely right.
I do notice some quiet buzzing from the one in my desk lamp.

I would like to try the Sylvania 3000k, and the N:Vision 3500k, because I noticed last night that the 2700k made my skin appear yellowish...like jaundice. Strange.

[Phaserburn]

By way of comparison, what color temp are the Reveal incan bulbs by GE? I've got a bunch of them around the house, and would like to know if the Bright white bulbs (@3500K) are softer or cooler in temp.

[2xTrinity]

Originally Posted by Phaserburn

By way of comparison, what color temp are the Reveal incan bulbs by GE? I've got a bunch of them around the house, and would like to know if the Bright white bulbs (@3500K) are softer or cooler in temp.

I've been at a home depot that has showcased regular incan, all CFL color temps, and filtered incan in their lamps. The Reveal bulb has essentially the same color temperature as the Bright White CFL.

I would like to try the Sylvania 3000k, and the N:Vision 3500k, because I noticed last night that the 2700k made my skin appear yellowish...like jaundice. Strange.

I've tried all three of these, and like both the Sylvania and the 3500k much better. I think they they have to sacrifice on color rendering in order to make the CFLs "Yellow enough" to look like a standard incan by boosting the output of the red/yellow phosphor. Sylvania's 3000k though is still definitely warm white (similar to a halogen bulb) and in my experience renders colors, especially blue, more accurately than any of the 2700k CFLs I've seen while still preserving a "warm" appearance. I have a whole bunch of those around as the local Lowes has 2-packs for $1.49, I then demoted older 2700k CFLs to outdoor lighting.

[tvman]

Originally Posted by jtr1962

Slightly off-topic but has anyone seen the N:vision 6-pack of 14 watts in either bright white or daylight? We like the daylight, but the 14 watt only seems to be sold in 1-packs at the two local Home Depots. The 6-pack is $10, the 1-pack is $5. However, so far the 6-pack is only available in warm white.

My local HD only has one type 14w 6-pack (warm white) but they have both the daylight and bright white in 4-packs for $8.97.

[shragon]

i've done one bedroom with cf bulbs so far.

one lamp already had a GE soft white 60w equivalant.

for the floorlamp, i put in an n:vision 150w equivalant three-way bulb. the color on the package is "soft white". i found this bulb gave off a pinkish hue.

for the bedroom's bathroom, i put in two n:vision 75w equivalant bulbs. the color on the package is also "soft white". i found this light to be pretty good, though a little yellow. color seems similar to the GE bulb i have listed above.

i prefer the color the 75w equivalant n:vision soft white bulbs project. i'm pretty unsatisfied with the color of the 150w equivalant n:vision bulb.

can anybody suggest a better 150w equivalant bulb? thanks in advance!

[Lighthouse one]

I bought several of the new DAYLIGHT COLOR compact fluor bulbs. They are much better!! A nice white light like the reveal bulbs. Wal-mart had em...They even seem to be closer to the actual stated wattage...like 40 watts really seems like a 40! I don't have the package anymore- but the color temp was 5 or 6000 I think?

[XtreMe_G]

i bought that exact same one.......from walmart, the ge daylight. omg they are awesome. the temp of the lights is 6500k and they have a CRI of 84/85.....cant remember. and they are really white. just a warning the incan wall chasers......this will totally ruin ur experience. that night i installed these lights......my mag85 just didnt seem so white anymore. even my mk ii x look slightly yellow compared to these babies.

[2xTrinity]

Originally Posted by Lighthouse one

I bought several of the new DAYLIGHT COLOR compact fluor bulbs. They are much better!! A nice white light like the reveal bulbs. Wal-mart had em...They even seem to be closer to the actual stated wattage...like 40 watts really seems like a 40! I don't have the package anymore- but the color temp was 5 or 6000 I think?

Well, low-wattage CFLs, such as 25W and 40W equivalents usually exceed advertized specs, 60W is usually about the same, and 75/100W equivalents are generally dimmer than advertized in my experience -- the lumens per watt for CFL is about the same at all power levels, but for incandescent, the higher wattage bulbs are relatively more efficient.

Also, since the brightness of a CFL is determined by the length of the tubes, the 9W CFLs (40 equivalent) are usually the ideal size since they don't need a lot of tubing to get enough brightness. This means it's usually a better fit as well, unlike some CFLs that extrude from the fixtures.

As for 6500K, that's too far toward the blue end of the spectrum to me. 5000k is fine, in fact, of all the linear fluorescents I've seen, the 5000K are by far the best for color rendering. I like 3500K in most places at home though as it still appears warmer, but it a MAJOR improvement compared to incandescent. 4200k would be my preferred color temp if it weren't for the fact that all the 4200K bulbs have horrible color rendering -- it's always seemed odd to me that there can be 87 CRI fluorescents in 3500k, and 94CRI bulbs in 5000k, but right in the middle at 4200k is always 75CRI or under.

[Vikas Sontakke]

I agree with you 6500 is too blueish. I tried those GE from Walmart but even my family was not too thrilled with that color.

I am looking for reasonably priced 5000. Given the availability of warm whites at $0.79, I am reluctant to pay significantly higher prices for 5000K bulbs.

- Vikas

[Minjin]

I love bulbs in the 3500k range. I can't stand the low 2700k and the high 6000k that are all too prevalent. If Home Depot is switching to these, I'm all over them.

One observation I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, is that the color temperatures seem to be exaggerated at low brightnesses. What I mean is that if you have a single 13w, it will seem excessively yellow or excessively blue. But if you have a few of them, the added brightness somehow makes the hue more palatable. Anyone else notice this?

[hank]

Spectra (I don't think Google guesses this one)
the LEDMuseum is the place to check; Craig's link for:
Spectra of "Flourescent" "Lite" "Blubs"
resolves to:
http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/spectra7.htm

[EricB]

What happened with the 3500K's they were calling "daylight"? I think those were the GE's at K-Mart. I thought that was stretching it, as "daylight" has traditionally been a blueish color. So now they're calling this "bright white"? I liked higher temperature than that, so I never got any, and do not even know what it looks like. I would imagine 3500 would be like the original "warm white" when CFL first came out, and they apparently couldn't get it down to 2700 yet. (Remember the Philips "Earth Lights" that were touted by energy companies?)

And "Reveal" is the latest blue tinted bulb, right? They keep coming out with new ones with new names every few years. The first ones were frosted, and the light appeared to have a reddish tint, and otherwise looked like a regular incandescent. Now, it is those powder blue opaque bulbs, right? Basically, they were all hyped up plant bulbs to me.
I guess looking at the light, it never looked that much different from any other incandescent. I wasn't looking at the light reflected from blue objects and stuff like that.

I Wonder why they don't just use whatever color filter is used on stage light gels to make it look just like a mercury; perhaps 6000K or more. Guess that wouldn't work on normal brighness bulbs?

[2xTrinity]

Originally Posted by EricB

What happened with the 3500K's they were calling "daylight"? I think those were the GE's at K-Mart. I thought that was stretching it, as "daylight" has traditionally been a blueish color.

Sylvania is the one that calls their 3500K bulbs "daylight extra". They also don't have 2700K, their warm bulbs are 3000K, and they have a 5000K but I don't remember the name offhand.

In terms of linear fluorescents 3000K is considered "warm", 4200K is considered "cool", 5000K is called "sunlight" and 6500K is considered "daylight". Of those, 5000K almost always looks the best, and also usually produces the most lumens as well.

And "Reveal" is the latest blue tinted bulb, right? They keep comng out with new ones with new years every few years. The first ones were frosted, and the lght appeared to have a reddish tint, and otherwise looked like a regular incandescent.

Reveal bulbs are incandescent with neodymium doped glass, which filters out some of the yellow and red. Those are 3500K.

I Wonder why they don't just use whatever color filter is used on stage light gels to make it look just like a mercury; perhaps 6000K or more. Guess that wouldn't work on normal brighness bulbs?

Well, filtering an incandescent to 6000K would probably eliminate about half of the lumens. Also, putting those gels directly on the bulb woudl cause them to get extremely hot, since they're essentially absortbing all the excess light and converting it to heat. That's why they actually use doped glass to change the tint.

[EricB]

I didn't mean putting the gels themselves on the bulb, but rather using the same color (which is apparently a deep purplish blue) doping on the glass. But I guess it's what both of us said, it would eliminate the lumens, for the color to be deep enough to eliminate enough of the reds and yellows, and be bright enough to look like white and not simply blue.

[yuandrew]

Visited my Lowes today and now Sylvania is also selling 3500K CFLS with "Bright White" on the package. They are colored a light blue vs the dark Red of their "normal" CFLs. There are also some "Daylight" ones that are 6500K in a darker blue package.

You can also get a 5000K bulb labled "Mini Craft Light"