New GE CFLs at Target

[JohnR66]

I saw a couple CFLs I've not seen before when I visited Target yesterday.

First is the GE CFL that looks like they shoehorned into an ordinary A type incandescent bulb. The ballast is in the narrow neck of the bulb. I guess it is to wean the fickle consumer over to CFL by making it look as much as like the incan bulbs as possible.

Second is the "Reveal" CFLs. These look like ordinary spiral CFLs, but the top cover of the ballast is a sky blue color. I assume the color rendering is like that of incan Reveal bulbs. Could someone provide feed back on this one?

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I believe the new design is also to *help* the CFLs fit into regular sockets as may CFLs won't go in deep sockets as the neck is too fat.

 

[UnknownVT]

Second is the "Reveal" CFLs. These look like ordinary spiral CFLs, but the top cover of the ballast is a sky blue color. I assume the color rendering is like that of incan Reveal bulbs. Could someone provide feed back on this one?

I had only just noticed those too -
thanks for the heads-up on the Target availability -

there is an Amazon review that describes it as between daylight and soft white.

GE's own blurb describes it as being like their Reveal incandescent.

 

[blasterman]

Neodymium absorbs green-yellow.

Great material for bring up the kelvin value of incan / halogen.

I have no idea why you'd use it with a fluorescent because you can reduce the green-yellow in the phosphor mix.

Hate to be skeptical, but it sounds like a marketing thing to fix a production thing.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I'm a little skeptical also. Why do you need neodymium glass to "filter out yellow" when y8ou can just start with a cooler white phosphor blend, the kind that's been in existence for decades? :thinking:

We need a spectrographic comparison of one of these lamps to a cool white "daylight" CFL.

 

[jtr1962]

I'll hazard a guess that it's just a plain triphosphor fluorescent with the phosphors balanced to produce something around 3100K to 3200K (about what the Reveal lamps look like to my eyes). The reviewer on Amazon even said it's in between soft white(2700K) and natural white (3500K). This gives further weight to my theory. It would make no sense at all using neodynium glass in a CFL.

And yes, it sounds like another marketing thing.

 

[StarHalo]

That sounds promising, I always liked the color temp of the Reveal bulbs, I may have to try one out.

GE has the CFL reliability reward from me; I had one of their CFLs mounted as improperly as possible - outdoors, upside down, no cover, directly exposed to rain, temperatures ranging from 32-115 degrees, etc, for about two years and it never failed. It outlasted my tenure in the house, as I moved out of it a year ago. I wouldn't be surprised if it's still lighting up that backyard..

 

[JohnR66]

No Neodymium glass on the Reveal CFL, just a light blue plastic top cap on ballast. Whatever their doing is done with phosphors.

Glad to hear the GE CFLs are reliable. Their incans were not. I tried the reveal incans once and liked the color. It is kind of like the color saturation is turned up (kinda like the way some aquarium fluorescent tubs make colors pop). But life was always around 400 hours. The bulbs would always blow around the same time after installing a group simultaneously. Not a voltage or vibration issue as other brands would last the normal time.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

...The bulbs would always blow around the same time after installing a group simultaneously. Not a voltage or vibration issue as other brands would last the normal time.

Do you mean other brands of neodymium glass bulbs? The blue glass creates a thermal management issue as those longer wavelengths get absorbed by the glass and turned into heat. Have other manufacturers solved this?

A long time ago G-E used to make a 250w incandescent blacklight bulb. I think the bulb life was rated around 50 hours and it was only rated for intermittent use because the bulb got so hot from absorbing all of the visible wavelengths.

 

[JohnR66]

I've only used the GE 60 Reveal bulbs.

I would think part of the reason for the short life of the blacklight bulb is overdriving the filament for more of the black light effect. Those blacklight bulbs do get hot though.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I've just picked up a couple of the 100w equivalent lamps. I haven't tried them yet however I'll post my impressions once I have.

 

[blasterman]

Given the number of people here that are fooled into thinking that a 'Reveal CFL' will look the same as a 'Reveal Incandescent' I guess you can give a +1 to GE's marketing department.

A plus +90 CRI CFL at about 4100k and a legit 8000 hours would be worth $10 - easy. However, I cant see these bulbs as being any different than any other CFL for that matter.

 

[blasterman]

The blue glass creates a thermal management issue as those longer wavelengths get absorbed by the glass and turned into heat. Have other manufacturers solved this?

Kind of. Rather than coat the outside jacket of the bulb with neodynium creating the heat issue you refer to, Solux puts the coating on the outside reflector of their halogen MR-16 bulbs. The result is 3500-4000k color temp with the pefect CRI of halogen/incandescent and no heat issue.

Why other halogen manufacturers haven't tried this with standard PAR halogens has always baffled me. Hell, just sell the neodynium reflectors and allow them to be used with bi-pin halogen plug-ins.

 

[purduephotog]

I'm a little skeptical also. Why do you need neodymium glass to "filter out yellow" when y8ou can just start with a cooler white phosphor blend, the kind that's been in existence for decades? :thinking:

We need a spectrographic comparison of one of these lamps to a cool white "daylight" CFL.

Can do- but I don't feel like dropping the $$s on it. I'll ask around at work and see if anyone has the urge to buy some.

 

[Random Guy]

I'll bet that these GE Reveal CFLs are just standard 3500k 80+ CRI lamps. Not that that is a bad thing, though. It may get the public into liking something a bit cooler than 2700K.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Ok, I've just fired one up of these next to an equivalent wattage regular 2700k warm white CFL and I have to say that I'm a bit underwhelmed. The Reveal CFL appears to be slightly dimmer and a little greenish compared to the other bulb. I was expecting a brighter, more bluish-white light.

The slightly greenish tint is reminiscent of some of the earlier greenish Luxeons.

I purchased two of these bulbs. I guess I'll keep them around for emergency replacements, but I doubt that I'll be buying any more of them. :shrug:

 

[UnknownVT]

The Reveal CFL appears to be slightly dimmer and a little greenish compared to the other bulb.

Uggh! how nasty - thanks for letting us know - I can now avoid this Reveal CFL - until they improve it.

I guess I may be better off using the "daylight" CFL at 6500 degK CCT combine with a soft white CFL at 2700 degK?

Be nice if GE would produce a "sunshine" 5000 degK CFL similar to their GE Sunshine T12.

Couldn't they produce almost any CCT by balancing the phosphors?

 

[blasterman]

Be nice if GE would produce a "sunshine" 5000 degK CFL similar to their GE sunshine T12.

There are quite a few high CRI CFLs on the market that match or exceed the specs of the T12 you linked. Just google 'BlueMax full spectrum' and you should find them. Problem is they only come in 5000k+ color temps. I want a high CRI CFL at 3500-4100k.....

Couldn't they produce almost any CCT by balancing the phosphors?

They do. I'm actually seeing some big box stores start to display CFLs of various color temps for consumers to choose from.

 

[StarHalo]

The Reveal CFL appears to be slightly dimmer and a little greenish compared to the other bulb. I was expecting a brighter, more bluish-white light.

Did you give it a few minutes to warm up? Some of these non-standard color-temp CFLs take a few minutes to reach their proper tint.

I want a high CRI CFL at 3500-4100k....

The best color-rendering CFL I've seen thus far is the Sylvania 3500K; I'm sure it's only ~80ish CRI, but these are far more impressive at rendering color than any common incan bulb I've seen, including the Reveal.

 

[UnknownVT]

FWIW -
Popular Mechanics did a comparison of CFL's -
or this summary in pdf form -
CFL Comparison Study - ee-solutions.com

I found this via this page -
LED Light Bulb and CFL Reviews | Tongfamily Website