I buy CFL bulbs because I'm forced to- like everyone else. The real killer for me is the failure rate; it's got to be about 20%-30%. I find returning them 4 months later on a bulb that is supposed to last 7 years very difficult. I'm not going to save the receipt and packaging that long. Now I'm stuck with orders of magnitude initial higher costs and a failure rate which pushes the cost even higher- and no place to dispose of the bulbs. They are supposed to be better for the planet; but you can't throw them in the trash. How many people do throw them in the trash? My overall costs vs incandescent bulbs is much higher and worse for the planet. Anyone else come to the same conclusion? Is there a solution I don't know about?

Don't forget to buy a HazMat suit and clean-up kit so you can properly clean up should one break, thus adding to the overall cost.

I would bet the majority just throw them out. Our town transfer station has a recycle bin for them, I think HD and Lowe's do as well. My experience hasn't been much different than your own.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I agree.

The claimed life of the CFL is much longer than the actual life.

If they last 3000 hours, they're doing fantastic.

Why do you say you are forced to buy CFL?

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

I stay away from the cheaper multi packs you see in the big box stores.
I agree with you about the failure rate of those. The color also sucks with the dull yellowish light. 2700K is what they are.

I started spending a bit more for them online and getting a more whitish color in the 4400K to 5000K range. Haven't had any failures. And the color is better. I'm not saving any money though at $8-$10 each.

If you buy cheap, you get cheap. We've gotten great deals at Costco in the past. When we first bought this house, Costco had a deal going on for CFL bulbs...60 and 100 watts for about $4 apiece, when bought in bulk. I picked up 30 of each, and stored them away, after filling every light fixture with them. I've only replaced 2 of them in the past year and a half. Both were because of a faulty fixture.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Didn't our Congress pass a law a few years back that either halted ot severely curtailed manufacture of incandescent bulbs?

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Go to your nearest Dollar Tree Store. Tons of incandescents and they last a long time.

Make last long time...one dollar!

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85' 300D No inspection, No registration fees, Cheap insurance
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious %$&^."

100 watt bulbs were the first to go. Better stock up if you don't want to change over. Good info in this wiki article.

Phase-out of incandescent light bulbs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not a fan of the CFL, and I believe (hopefully) that I have purchased my last one. (still have a dozen or more on the shelf)
I am trying LED, and so far (only a couple bulbs) I am fairly impressed.
I have been seeing LED lamps and fixtures in the entertainment field for some time now, and anyone who sees the difference in the size cable being used to power them (compared to incandescent PAR lamps) will have no problem understanding how much less juice they require.
So, the technology is there, but unfortunately so is the price.
Having legislation forcing a change is not good for the consumers bottom line... But I do like the light, and at the current prices, I am keeping a log with all receipts and locations of the bulbs. I will be getting my advertised lifespan out of them, or I will be getting a refund.
Bringing back a $2 CFL is a nuisance, but a $10~$20 LED... that I will do.

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Maybe I am just lucky, but most of the CFLs I have have been going strong for about 5 years. The only ones I can think of that failed were in my car drop light ( no surprise there). I don't think I paid more than a buck ( maybe $2 for the 23 watt ones) for any of them. When we are watching telly at night, we have one on that basically lights most of the house.

I know my air con is happy not having to cool all that waste heat generated by incandesents.

I'm going to have to think ahead for the Lava lamp, though...

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Good to know. Thought I still saw them so didn't think much of it. My CFLs have been doing ok where I use them so far.

As far as disposal goes, trash can works just as well as anything. Nobody checks it.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Mine last longer than the incandescent bulbs, but not nearly as long as claimed. I don't like the heat that transformer or whatever it is at the base of the bulb generates. I've had to replace two in-ceiling can fixtures that literally melted and warped from the heat of 45W CFL floods. You could smell burning plastic. I've stocked up on incandescent floods for those until LEDs become affordable.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

Not just CFL's - but it seems that for the past decade or two, that any "green" idea that has to be legislated into being, increasingly means that the only thing "green" about it is the amount of money going into someone's pocket - and coming out of ours.

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

Let's bring back leaded gas and higher CAFE standards, too!