To save energy and save some money on the electric bill, we completely replaced the normal light bulbs in our house with compact florescent bulbs. We used mostly Sylvania compact florescent bulbs. To date, over twenty five of them have blown out already. On the packaging Sylvania claimed that the bulbs would last for five years, but we have averaged less than six months per bulb before the blubs blew out and needed to be replaced. We contacted the company, and they said they were surprised that the bulbs did not last longer and sent us five more bulbs (all of which have since burned out). They were pollite, but since these bulbs are much more than regular light bulbs we certainly expected that they would last longer than a regular bulb. We really like the idea of saving energy and money, so we are not giving up on all compact florescent bulbs, just those from sylvania and their other brand, bright effects. We have switched to Costco's compact florescent bulbs and have not had any problems with them so far.

jkellogg

Indianapolis, IN

Here is another product that i had never given any thought to, but as the economy is down our light bill remains the same. I purchased Sylvania Soft White Fluorescent Bulbs to replace my incandescent bulbs. I was skeptical at first but was quite surprised to find that they give out good lighting . This 14 watt bulb replaces my 60 watt bulbs and works the same way. They are not fancy by any means and they do have their drawbacks. For example: you can not use them for dimmers, timers and motions sensors, for me this is not a problem because I do not have any of these gadgets. There has been an improvement in our light bill, it is a slight bit lower, although we are trying in other ways to conserve energy. At this time the Sylvania Fluorescent Light Bulbs cost a little more than the regular bulbs, but in the long run it works out in your favor because they last longer. They have been given the Energy Star rating and that is fine with me. Even if the economy improves in the future, i will keep buying the Sylvania Soft White Fluorescent Light Bulbs.

nlinamarie

Chicago, IL

Purchased ~30 Sylvania bulbs for the entire home. Didn't swap everything out- just decided to mix 'em in since the CFL lighting casts this annoying, sharp, pink ??? hue and the incandescents mixed in can mask that fairly well. Got some candle-type bulbs for outdoor house lights, got some 60W, 75W, 100W, the floods... the whole gamut. Most of these bulbs claimed anywhere from a 7-yr life to a 11-yr life, based on 3 hrs/day 7 days/wk. I am here to confidently say that these bulbs will not live up to normal expectations. Save your receipts, put them in the containers, mark the date on the bulb when you install them, and you will see the life expectancy is grossly overstated. Keep in mind I live in WI- this is what I've found so far: 200W garage door light- tried 3 or 4 of them and NONE of them lasted over a month. Quite possibly the vibration of garage door motor? Lame. 60W entryway hallway between garage & kitchen (indoors)- consistently burning out in just under 2 years. 75W/100W lights in basement- 1 or 2 have burnt out just after 2 years. flood lights, candlelight, and remaining bulbs still working after 2 years. Conclusion: I'm in year #3 or #4 of a 7-11yr trial. 25% of the bulbs have failed in the same amount of time an incandescent fails. Unacceptable. I have switched to, amazingly enough, a cheaper brand Walmart/Ecosave (something like that) and they have been working fine after a year or 2. I will continue bringing my dead CFL's back to the store for a refund using the receipt from the replacements I just purchased. Too bad I have to give out even a single star rating.

angryllama

New Richmond, WI

I've never understood people who complain about flourescent lighting. I like a strong, bright light. Incandescent were always too dull for my taste. And I agree that people exaggerate the risk of mercury in the bulbs. I keep hearing that these bulbs last longer than incandescent. That hasn't been true. It may not just be this particular brand & model, either. I've been gradually switching my basement over to flourescent. The incadescents seemto be lasting a lot longer. I've tossed out a lot of flourescents. Have brought them in to a recycling cent. But I suspect a lot of other people won't be so patient & will just dump them in the normal garbage. I wonder what will happen when all that mercury gathers up at the local landfill. A little bit is probably fine, but if people start using these bulbs, this could be trouble. I think I'm done with flourescent. I've since found some reasonably price halogens & they seem to last much longer. Maybe they're less efficient, I don't know. I'm just waiting for an affordable LED.

SteveOrama

Minneapolis, MN

I've had poor experiences with CFL lamps since they were first available.  The long warmup time and harsh light after warmup have been the biggest drawbacks for me.  The high inrush current and inductive power factor issues are things I let the utilities struggle with.  I just saw the Sylvania Super Saver CFL lamps in K-Mart when I needed replacement lamps and, since they advertised "Instant-On" on the package, I decided to give them another try.  Sylvania has been around for decades, so I reasoned that they wouldn't want to spoil their reputation with false claims.  I was wrong.  I was so horribly wrong to buy these awful lamps.  This is false advertising if ever I've seen it.  They come on very dimly at first.  After about 5 minutes, they reach full intensity.  Instead of the harsh light I'm accustomed to seeing from CFL's, these have an output best described as "industrial."  An outdoor mercury vapor lamp would be comparable to these abominations.  Now, I'm hoping K-Mart is more reputable that Sylvania and will let me exchange them for 8 packages of light bulbs that would be about the same cost.  I can't wait for the Light Emitting Diode (LED) folks to get their diffusers worked out so I can use a replacement technology that isn't highly toxic like CFL's and actually works the way people want them to.

MrTech

Moorestown, NJ

Sylvania compact floresent light bulbs are environmentally friendly but somewhat on the expensive side. Floresent lighting has always been cheaper to use in terms of electricity but more expensive in terms of lighting bulbs and fixtures. We had an old fastion floresent light in our bathroom when I was a kid and my dad always made us leave the light on. He said it was cheaper to leave it on than to pay for a new starter for the light bulb. I wonder if the Sylvania compact floresent light bulbs that don't last a long time are having the same problem because when the starter goes you get no light. I have used Sylvania compact floresent light bulb since they came on the market. At first I was having trouble with them burning out and being very expensive. I believe the price has gone down on them and they may have fixed the problem of not lasting a long time because my most recent ones (from a year ago in a room that I use all the time) are still burning. The incandescent bulbs in that same room bit the dust shortly after I put them in. The only problem with the floresent bulbs is they take a little time to warm up and give a good light.

Mopsa

Cabot, PA

Not only do I blog about "green" and doing better for the environment through reducing, reusing and recycling but I have found that in many cases going "green" actually saves me money except in the case of using **Sylvania compact florescent light bulbs. ** **What I like about Sylvania compact florescent light bulbs: ** - energy star rating - long lasting  - good for the environment  - eco friendly  - savings in the long run  - and most importantly I don't have to keep changing light bulbs in my home or nagging my husband to do it!  What I don't like about **Sylvania compact florescent light bulbs: ** - they cost more money upfront  - they don't always fit in my light socket - it depends  My going green efforts started with simply recycling and continued from there. As I can and learn more about doing better for the environment I do more and make more environmentally sounds decisions. Most of the time it saves me money and that's great. In this case I may pay more for the **Sylvania compact florescent light bulbs** upfront but it is nice to save a little money each year on the energy bill. Sure it may only be about 9.00 but every little bit helps.  I like that I can easily find these light bulbs and that the light is warm and easy to read by.  I am sure that my husband likes that I am not constantly nagging him to replace one light bulb or another throughout the house because once you use the **Sylvania compact florescent light bulbs** they are even better than the Energizer bunny, because they keep going and going and going. 

LisaCarey

Houston, TX