They are shite!!!! It's like going back to the dark ages. The only people who will benefit from these things are Opticians!!

Mine keep popping as well

Still wondering if there are all that energy saving as you have to leave the things on to see where you are going. How often do you put the light on and then off before the damn things warm up

try the megaman ones, been using them in the pub for over a year 12 hrs a day. Just started to replace them now, the look and light is more pleasant than most.

There is a new led based light coming on the market. Looks like a conventional bulb, with a glass dome, it comes on instantly and is dimmable. It uses four white and two red led's, to give a nice warm light. Not cheap, at around thirty quid, but should last for yonks. Sorry, can't give a link, I read a newspaper article about them a couple of weeks ago; a quick google ought to do the trick.

my outsie light which cost about 5 times as much as a filament bulb lasted 8 months and certainly did not get turned on every night, bleedin rippoff.

Still wondering if there are all that energy saving as you have to leave the things on to see where you are going. How often do you put the light on and then off before the damn things warm up

thats what ive always thought!

Turning them on is always such a, umm, disappointment!

Still wondering if there are all that energy saving as you have to leave the things on to see where you are going.

I still have some old non-energy saving bulbs and I they also have to be left on for me to see 😉

I can only honestly say waiting 5 seconds for the light to warm up doesn't bother me in the slightest. I've been using energy saving bulbs everywhere in my house since i bought it 8 years ago.

It's not only the waiting for them to warm up. They just don't give as much light off as a conventional bulb of the equivalent wattage.

can't say i can tell the difference in that either. had one of each in my cellar briefly last week when i broke the energy saving one with a tyre and didn't notice any difference.

I can tell the difference. The energy saving ones are dingy, flicker, humm and give you migraines. They also don't last a quarter of the time they claim and cost a fortune. Might as well go back to using to whale oil lamps.

>and cost a fortune

10p each when I last looked.

they don't give me migraines. which is a relief, as I get enough of those in daylight as it is

ours take atleast 5 minutes to warm up and give full light

I also don't see the problem with them. Been using the same ones for 2 years now, paid 50p each for them, and they take around 5 seconds to lighten right up, not 5 minutes! I like knowing I'm only using 11 watts instead of 60 too.

Are some of you using cheap sh*te from Ikea?

Good energy saving bulbs warm up within 5 secs and should last much, much longer, and give a reasonable light.

I just acquired a full case of 100w old style [incandescent] lamps
Should keep me going a while?

I really don't like the light from the energy saving ones

I just acquired a full case of 100w old style [incandescent] lamps

Shh…… if I had a case of the good stuff hidden away, I wouldn't go boasting about it on the internet. 'They' know where you live.

Shh…… if I had a case of the good stuff hidden away, I wouldn't go boasting about it on the internet. 'They' know where you live.

they're for 'commercial' use 😉

It's not only the cheap bulbs that take ages to warm up. We've only got cheap ones in our house, but my parents bought some quite expensive 'incandescent bulb' looking ones & they take minutes to get to full brightness.

I reckon that we have changed 4 of ours in the last year & we've not been using them that long. So, I think the claims that they last years and years that were originally banded about are a bit dubious.

My 'issue' with them is that I have heard they use a 'lot' of energy turning them on. I have been unable to find what a 'lot' is. But i wonder if in areas of the house where you might pop in & out and only use the light momentarily, you use more enrgy than you would do with a normal bulb.

Also, they are loaded with dodgy chemicals and can't just be chucked in the bin so I am not convinced they are terribly eco-friendly.

I reckon they will be the minidisc of the bulb world and LEDs will take over in 5-10yrs.

LEDs are becoming more popular….. so in a few years you be able to rob your house bulbs for a nightride.

cost a fortune

Yeah I was shocked cost me £1 for 10 the other month, scandalous.

There is a new led based light coming on the market. Looks like a conventional bulb, with a glass dome, it comes on instantly and is dimmable. It uses four white and two red led's, to give a nice warm light. Not cheap, at around thirty quid, but should last for yonks. Sorry, can't give a link, I read a newspaper article about them a couple of weeks ago; a quick google ought to do the trick.

Might be the solution:
http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/1/28/215243/977

Don't forget to turn up your central heating now you're not getting all that lovely heat from your bulbs.

Just back from Hong Kong Lighting show.

Guess what the latest new product is now 100 watt carbon filament lamps are banned?

Yep you guessed it 99 watt Carbon Filament lamps 😯

will1 – do you want me to bring you some 100w bulbs up this weekend?

Yes please

I have an low energy bulb in my porch light – 18 years old – still works.

The latest low energy lamps have a much nicer colour of light than the earlier ones. They are cheap too.

In my kitchen, to get round the warm up issue, I have two low energy and a traditional filament. It costs me a bit extra to have the filament lamp, but not a great deal. Worth it for the istant light you get from these.

LED's are the future however. Warm white variants look a similar colour to tungsten. There are some lamps available now, but they aren't yet priced at a point that is economic. I'd give it 2 years before they are flying off the shelves at real world prices.

Here you go: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/278-9024886-0279349?redirect=true&tag=ladder-21&linkCode=as2&a=B001JITHH4&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B001JITHH4

Whinge whinge…

Pretty much all my bulbs at home are lower energy. I don't have a problem with the light, or with the short wait while they warm up, they don't cost a lot and my electricity bill is sod all. I fact a few months back I received a £400 payment from the electricity company as I have been paying a standard monthly cost. Not a single bulb has failed in four years, and when they do fail I'll recycle them.

The price of electricity will rise significantly over the next 10 – 20 years. If you wish to use more and pay a lot more then feel free. I won't go into the environmental issues associated with energy use as it sounds like most of the posters here really don't give a s#it.

At some point LEDs will be in common use but I'm sure you'll find something to write to the Daily Mail about them 😉

IMHO!

Pretty much all my bulbs at home are lower energy. I don't have a problem with the light, or with the short wait while they warm up, they don't cost a lot and my electricity bill is sod all. I
+1. what a bunch of whingers

+2

I've been using them for donkey's years, and have replaced at most 2 bulbs in all that time. I buy good brands (e.g. Philips) in "warm white". The colour temperature is spot on, and they are at full brightness within a few seconds.

If that's something to complain about, you must have very little going on in your lives.

I have an low energy bulb in my porch light – 18 years old – still works.

Doh, you beat me by miles…… my outside light bulb is a real youngster at 8 years old, it's in a dusk 'til dawn light that runs all night every night 🙂

Moving all our lights over to energy saving bulbs but still need a realistic alternative to the 40 12v downlights we've got 🙁

My 'issue' with them is that I have heard they use a 'lot' of energy turning them on. I have been unable to find what a 'lot' is. But i wonder if in areas of the house where you might pop in & out and only use the light momentarily, you use more enrgy than you would do with a normal bulb.

thats because its a fallacy, they require a high startup voltage to generate the initial spark, so yes, it probably has quite a high power consumption for the time it takes to send a spark form one end of the tube to the other. Incidentaly, Incandessent bulbs need a high startup power too in order to warm up the fillament.

The house we just bought didn't have any low energy bulbs (apart from one in the cupboard where the boiler lives). As I was going to be buying a house-load, I got decent ones from B&Q rather than cheap supermarket ones that can be a bit hit and miss on warm-up times.

They're great. Cost me £70 for a house-load, but well worth it.

Replaced 3 60W spotlight bulbs in the kitchen with 3 15W (80W equivalent) so getting more light for less power use than one of the old bulbs.

In theory, I won't have to buy a lightbulb for a decade.

Moving all our lights over to energy saving bulbs but still need a realistic alternative to the 40 12v downlights we've got

I've replaced some of mine with LEDs. I've kept some of the halogens as they are a bit brighter.

You could also try Philips Masterline halogen bulbs – apparently 20W is equivalent output to 35W for a normal bulb, so it's a decent saving.

my outside light bulb is a real youngster at 8 years old, it's in a dusk 'til dawn light that runs all night every night

Good on you trying to save the planet….err 🙄

Opticians should develop a new pair of spectacles that have an LED light attached to the top of them so people who think that low energy bulbs are crap can see where they're going. I'm presuming these are the same group of people who can't see in dusk/dawn and so we could take advantage of this implementation to ban then from the roads during these times.