full spectrum lighting - any experiences?

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geepondy

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I wish to replace my regular incandescent house hold lights with full spectrum compact florescents. Anybody have an experineces of recommendation of particular brand of full spectrum lights? From what little I've seen of them (my sisters S.A.D. lightbox), I find the light to be pleasing and natural. From a local search of stores such as Walmart and Home Depot among others I can't find any. I have found a few places that sell them on the internet, albeit to the tune of $15 a pop or in some cases even more. If I do spend that much, I want to be sure I'm getting a good product as I don't know if there are differences in the kinds of full spectrum light bulbs.
 

flashfan

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Try topbulb.com. That's where I get my compact fluorescents from. Service could be a little better, but so far, it has been "acceptable" to me.

There are a number of different manufacturers, and at many different prices. On the high end, there are the Ott-Lites, which I've seen for about $35 apiece. I buy the Greenlite "S26" (the brightest I've been able to find thus far...however I haven't searched recently) at $12.50 each (+ s/h). I'm not sure if the S26 is considered a true full spectrum bulb, but the light is very white.

There is also a Spiralux bulb that emits 6700k, which supposedly simulates cool, arctic daylight (whatever that is). I've been meaning to try it, but haven't gotten around to it yet (about $29 each at naturallighting.com).

If ordering from topbulb, be sure to double-check the whiteness of the lights. As you've probably already found out, a lot if not most of the compact fluorescent bulbs out there emit a soft white light similar to an incandescent bulb.

As a suggestion, you might want to try just a couple of bulbs before replacing all the lighting in your home. I put in an S26 in my living room, and somehow that bright white light just didn't cut it. My spouse was not too happy with it either, so it was back to soft white lighting.

The S26 (or S23) is especially great in a closet, for color-matching your clothes. Be aware that compact fluorescents do take some time to reach maximum brightness.
 

lightlover

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I've got a straight-tube flourescent in my place, as a kitchen light. It's practically an internal room, so I need something like that. I'll try to find a link for them: it was a long time ago, this type last forever. It was 3x the price of a "daylight" tube then, though.

It's good enough to be used to help people stuck in hospitals to synthesise Vitamin D.

I have a blueish "daylight incandescent* in the bathroom, no big deal, a craftworker light for colour recognition. Just a nice unusual colour. Those are available in art shops, but check stated bulb life - some types are just 100 hours or so.

If I were to do something like that again, I'd try to position and size the lamps to imitate daylight through the windows, natural shadows etc. It can be strange to see daylight coming from all around.

(Of course, lights to grow plants need a different accentuation of the spectrum.)

Well, geepondy, flashfan, it was nice talking to you, but I think this should really be moved to General light discussion @ http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=15&t=000049

Might get more responses there.

lightlover
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