CFL

CFLs save power consumption and carbon emissions.
Cost saved is many times their purchase cost (and this is after taking into account value of the heating effect of filament lamps).
CFLs vary in quality, from excellent to awful.

Power Equivalence

Packet quoted power equivalents are wrong if compared to standard GLS filament bulbs. CFLs are at best 4x as energy efficient, so 1/4 the filament wattage is the best first choice. 100w: 25w 60w: 15w 40w:9w or 11w 25w: 5w 15w: 3w

The ratio changes for lowest power lamps because 240v filament lamps fall off in efficacy at low powers.

Tips

Bulb Choice

Available lamp models keep changing, so try a few different ones to see which give best results.

Put 2 bulbs side by side, filament bulb and the cfl, to see if they give the same light colour.

Outdoor Use

Most CFLs will take a while to warm up in winter outdoors. Outdoor rated bulbs are available. These often have glass or polycarbonate outer covers.

R80

For R80 fittings where the bulb is not visible, ie is wrapped around by the fitting cowl, try using miniature non-R80 bulbs. R80s are either steeply priced (Genura at around £20 each) or not as attractive as filament R80s.

User Reviews

===Osram=== 10/10

Light quality excellent
bulbs reliable
recommended

===Specialist=== 8/10

Light quality good
Candle bulb glass covers break easily

===Pro-lite=== 7/10

Light quality so-so
bulbs reliable

===Philips=== 5/10

bulb life poor

===Poundland=== 1/10

Light quality horrendous
Light output starts low, and declines badly

===Screwfix R80s=== 4/10

Lower light output
Slightly longer bulb looks bad in fittings where the bulb is visible.

Suppliers

For a full long list of suppliers, see Suppliers Article.

Osram

Dyas

Pro-lite

Toolstation

Specialist

Screwfix

Philiips

Tesco

CFL

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