Article on CFL vs Incandescent

[NC5P]

I only have a few incandescent lamps left. Major complaints with CFL are slow turn on time and poor quality control. Seems many of them will last years, while others last less than the tungsten lamps they replaced. The suspect there is the built in ballast. I think many are just capacitors of some sort. The better ones use active electronics. I just installed a new troffer fixture in the kitchen. It uses 4 ft. T-8 lamps and I'm very happy with it. More light for less power and the electronic ballast starts instantly to full output. Much better than the CFL can lights over the next room.

If you want to stick to incandescent lamps try the halogen conversion bulbs. They put out more light for the same power and last about three times longer. I have a halogen can fixture over the sink. It's a pretty nice setup with 50 watts. A tiny little bulb and reflector puts out a lot of light.

[K7ELP]

I for one still like the illumination of the the incandescant bulb. About 10 years ago I found some RV light fixtures that use 12V bulbs. Since I had some solar panels to charge batteries that run my radios, and I had extra energy in the batteries I chose to use the RV fixtures for reading lights.
I developed a circuit that eliminated the turn on surge current. I replaced my first defective bulb after about 10 years. The attachment is a picture of the fixture. An additional benefit is that the on/off switch lasts longer also.

[W4HAY]

Regarding the sealed enclosures, about 3 years ago we began replacing the incandescent bulbs in the stable with CFLs. Most fixtures are Vapor Tight units meant for wet locations, and out of 18 bulbs, we've had 3 fail so far.

The bulbs above the aisle (20+', a PITA to change) are PAR types in unenclosed ceramic sockets mounted on 4"X4" boxes, and out of 22 bulbs, we've had 3 failures.

The bulbs are typically switched on and off several times during the day. The stalls have large windows, but trees surround the barn, so natural illumination is subdued.

The conventional CLFs take a couple of minutes to reach full brilliance, and the reflector models about 5 minutes. But we have useable illumination within a second of the switch being thrown.

Changing bulbs used to be a constant chore. Now it's been several months since I was up on a ladder.

We haven't noticed any difference in the electric bill that we can attribute to the CFLs, but we run fans in the stalls during the summer and heated water buckets during the winter. Yeah, the horses are spoiled!