Reviews of Ecosmart 4 Pk 14 Watt (60 W) Soft White CFL Bulbs

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I have order these bulbs 4 times now since I kept finding places where I could use them. I replaced 60W clear standard light bulbs with these. They come on instantly with light that is only slightly brighter than the ones I replaced. These bulbs are a great color match to the ones I am replacing. Originally I bought the same brand daylight bulbs (5000k daylight) thinking that I needed them to reproduce the light of the clear standard bulbs. But the daylight bulbs made my yellowish light fixures white since they are really "daylight" bright. The daylight bulbs are great in some areas since they are so bright (also instant on). Another reason I trust these bulbs is since they were rated highly in CR a while back and I used to get them at HmDepot before I found them here. Great product!!!

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The n:vision compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, now sold under the EcoSmart brand name, are simply the best CFLs on the market today. The economic and environmental advantage of CFLs over incandescent, even taking into account the presence of mercury in the former, has been discussed many times over. As CFL prices have fallen significantly, aesthetics have remained the most common barrier to adoption. But the n:vision/EcoSmart Soft White CFL bulbs cast a warm, steady golden light, almost indistinguishable from that of an incandescent bulb. The color, brightness, silent operation, and lack of flickering make this bulb a true standout among CFLs. Note that the 14-Watt EcoSmart bulbs, while less bright than their 19-Watt big brothers (the two being equivalent to 60 and 75-Watt incandescents, respectively), brighten almost instantly; it is difficult to live with slow-to-warm bulbs after using the 60-Watt-equivalent EcoSmarts. I probably sound like I've been paid to write all this gushing, but I'm honestly wild about these bulbs. The only thing to keep these bulbs from being perfect, in my opinion, is that they do not dim; if you are looking for a great dimmable CFL, I highly recommend the PureSpectrum Fully Dimmable Spiral CFL bulbs.

To compare with a well-known competitor, I'd say the EcoSmarts are neither more nor less bright than the GE CFLs at full brightness. That said, they warm up much, much more quickly. The GE bulbs take 1 2 minutes to reach full brightness, and initially cast light equivalent to an incandescent dimmed almost all the way down. The EcoSmart 19-Watt comes on with an initial luminosity that I'd say is somewhat (about 20%) dimmer than the peak luminosity of the EcoSmart 14-Watt. It soon becomes brighter to the extent that one might expect. And this bulb, the 14-watt, seems to be instant-on.

In other words, I feel that the GE CFLs have nothing over the EcoSmarts. The only real question here is whether to go with this bulb, or its larger cousin, the EcoSmart/n:Vision 19-Watt CFL. The latter has a higher peak brightness, of course, but is larger, and brightens more slowly quicker than its smaller counterpart,.

Anyway, both bulbs have limitations. First and foremost, they are not dimmable, and if you try to use them in conjunction with a dimmer, you will likely damage the bulb.

Of course, if you dislike the helical bulb design, and want a CFL disguised as a traditional incandescent, EcoSmart sells A19" versions of these same bulbs, which are covered bulbs. I have yet to try these.

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I think my email to them summs it up...

I purchased your ECOSMART 4-pack of soft white 14 watt CFL bulbs, for my bathroom, on Nov. 4, 2012. We had a new 4 bulb fixturne installed 3 years ago, so when 2 of the 60 watt bulbs burned out in a week I figured the other 2 would go soon and ordered yours from Amazon. Within a month all 4 of your bulbs were in. This week 2 went out, I am disabled and cannot speak to call the 1-800, can you email me what to do for the warranty? Thank you, dale

And today, a week later, a 3rd died.

Almost 4 months and 3 dead, the regular bulbs lasted 3 years! Since I am disabled it takes me a long time in the bathroom so they are not being flipped off and on all the time...

Honest reviews on Ecosmart 4 Pk 14 Watt (60 W) Soft White CFL Bulbs

We just recently started using these in our home about a year ago. I was slow to adapt because of the fact that these light bulbs contain mercury and in the early days there was no real set up locally to dispose of the bulbs. (There is still not a convenient one to date) Those that we have installed have worked perfectly for a little over a year without failure. The light coming out of the bulb is so close to that of a 60 watt soft white bulb as to be almost impossible to tell the difference.

These light bulbs are rated at 14 watts and the lumen output is rated at 900 lumens which is equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent light bulb. Each of these new bulbs will use only $1.69 of electricity per year if left on 3 hours a day. Using the bulbs 3 hours per day, like on a timer, the bulbs are rated to have a life of 11 years. They actually have a guarantee of a 9 year warranty. This is about 12 times the life cycle we have been experiencing with incandescent light bulbs. Not only are you saving money not buying electricity but you are also saving money on buying more light bulbs.

We actually just recently picked up more of these bulbs for under two dollars for the pack of four. A local store was running a special sale to introduce people to using the CFL lights. This is a good quality CFL bulb and we have had good success using them. I recommend them to you.

One issue that I don't like is still the recycling of the bulbs because of the mercury in them. At the present time we would have to drive 30 miles round trip to the only solid waste recycler in our county to drop off the light bulbs. At the price of gasoline and the pollution it creates it seems a little counterproductive to the whole energy saving issue an environmental issue. I just wish there was a better plan to recycle these bulbs if we are being forced to use them because of the phase out of incandescent bulbs. It seems like a typical government mandated policy where there is not a complete solution in place for the issues they have created. I just wonder how many millions or billions of these will wind up in landfills and into our water tables?

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These compact energy saver bulbs are a far cry from the ones that first came out, which were horrible. Looks like most of the problems have been fixed. These put out a very acceptable bright light and though they cost a little more than regular bulbs, I have seen the savings in my electric bill already. I recommend these.