GE 26 Watt Energy Smart CFL - 6 Pack - 100 Watt Replacement Review

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List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $15.50
Today's Bonus: 22% Off

The seller was great but the bulbs left something to be desired.

I got them around September 4th 2009 and here it is November 4th 2009 and half of the bulbs are dead.

The package says they are 5 year bulb's well if so that 5 years just blew by.

I contacted GE about this but don't expect to hear anything back from them.

I would say stay away from these GE CF bulbs.

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The bulb was great when I first installed it. But then 3-4 months later, it's dead. This is a bulb that should last 4-5 years with normal usage.

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Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL bulbs) do use significantly less energy than incandescent bulbs (IC bulbs), so if you eventually replace all your burned out IC bulbs with CFL bulbs, you will see a decrease in your electric bill.

CFL bulbs also put out much less heat than IC bulbs reducing the heat load in a home in summer. High wattage IC bulbs can actually burn you if touched or cause a fire if they stay in contact with lightweight flammable material.

However, CFL bulbs are more expensive, so it will take a while to recover the few dollars more that you pay for a multipack with your savings in electricity (and then start saving real money).

And there are some other considerations:

1. These GE CFL bulbs do NOT last five years in normal use like GE claims, so their long-term cost advantage over IC bulbs is not as great as advertised, especially if you already have a supply of spare IC bulbs. The five years is a dubious GE advertising claim which is apparently based on continuous usage, that is, never turning the light off. I have bought a few packages of spiral GE CFL bulbs over the last few years, and at least half of them have burned out well before the five year claim.

2. CFL bulbs need to warm up. When you first turn the bulb on there is a very slight delay before any light is produced (less than one second). Also, there is a short time before it comes up to full light output, although this has improved in the latest bulbs. However, if you are using them outside or in a garage, this warm up period can be a few minutes if it is cold.

3. If you break the bulbs, they release a small amount of mercury vapor into the surrounding area. The federal and state governments and GE say it is a tiny amount, so you shouldn't be worried. But they also say that the burnt out bulbs are considered unsafe to put in landfills. According to government and recycling Web sites, you are supposed to double bag all broken CFL bulbs, store them away from children, and take them somewhere that can "dispose of them properly." So I guess they are not a health problem according to the government, but then again, they are.

There is only one store in my area that takes burnt-out bulbs, and they don't take broken ones. If you have a local recycling center, you can call them or check their Web site for guidance on what to do with broken ones. Obviously, you may just have to double bag them and throw them away in the regular trash if there is no alternative in your area.

Because of all this, an inexpensive regular IC bulb or rough-service IC bulb is better than a CFL bulb for use in applications where the bulb could often break, like in a "trouble light" (a portable work light with a cord).

4. The electronic parts in a CFL bulb can get hot and fail prematurely in some applications. Inside the base of the CFL bulb are some electronic parts. If you mount the bulb with the base up inside a recessed lighting fixture or in any fully enclosed fixture with no ventilation, these electronic parts will get hotter than usual, and the bulb won't last as long.

5. The light from CFLs has a slightly different hue than the light from IC bulbs. Some people say the light does not look as pleasing, particularly when compared to the special IC bulbs from GE and Sylvania that are advertised to produce natural-looking light. While older CFL bulbs looked noticeably blue, the light has improved significantly in the newest GE bulbs, so that I see little difference from standard IC bulbs.

6. In any case, politicians are going to force you to buy these bulbs whether you like them or not. The U.S. Congress passed legislation that will soon effectively outlaw IC bulbs, except for certain high and low wattage bulbs, and some other specialty IC bulbs.

IMPORTANT SIZE NOTE: Because of the plastic base which houses the electronic parts, these 26 Watt GE CFL bulbs are about one inch longer than the 100 Watt IC bulbs that they are supposed to replace (with about the same amount of light output). So if you are putting them in a small lamp or small light fixture, they may stick out too far and look odd. GE also makes smaller 13 Watt CFL bulbs (to replace 60 Watt IC bulbs) are about 3/4" longer than IC bulbs, so they would work better in small lamps or fixtures.

Honest reviews on GE 26 Watt Energy Smart CFL - 6 Pack - 100 Watt Replacement

The good: These bulbs are very bright, Seemed brighter than 100 Watt output. All six in my bathroom lit up every single corner.

The bad: These bulbs lasted two weeks! I had read the reviews and figured people had received defective bulbs and that mine would be fine, they were not. I have other CF bulbs around the house and they have been fine for the past 7 months, but these bulbs died too quickly and were a waste of money. I am going to contact amazon to see if I can get some kind of return. There really is no explanation. I thought maybe the dimmer switch in my bathroom was the problem, but my bedroom lamp is also a CF bulb with a dimmer switch and I've had no problems with it. Don't buy these, they are bright, but won't last long.

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They work fine, but we noticed right away that these aren't as bright as the GE Reveal Incandescent 100 watt bulbs that we replaced. We put them in our bathroom over the vanities, and it is now noticeably dimmer in there when we're using the mirrors, getting dressed, etc. Now we're shopping for more powerful CFL's. We'll probably try to find some 125 or 150 watt equivalent CFL bulbs so that they'll be as bright as the 100 watt incandescent bulbs they're replacing.