I have a bunch of them in the house and here's a few things I found by personal observation:

1. If you want to dim them, you have to buy the ones designed to dim. But, the lamps "sing" when dimmed.

2. All CF lamps take about a minute to come to full intensity. In closets and places where you'll just have it on for a few seconds to see whatever it is you are working with, stick with an incandescent.

3. For outdoor "spot" fixtures, they make PAR style CF lamps. Ironically, none of them fit ANY fixture due to the size of the transformer assembly...

4. For timers, most are not rated for ballasts or CF lamps. Intermatic ST01C is the only one I've found so far that works. The SS7C is rated for flourescents but the one I had crapped out soon after I installed it - $29 down the drain... It uses a AAA battery to power the switch mechanism which is not that great IMHO.

5. CF's are not great in motion triggered lamps. Again, because they take a while to come to full intensity and also, the pulsating light tends to simulate motion leading to self triggering.

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250