Selfsufficientish.com

As there are a perplexing number of low energy lightbulbs on the market, at a wide variety of prices, I've been trying different ones out. I thought it'd be a good idea to have a thread reviewing them.

I can't bring myself to call them 'energy saving', despite that being what they are sold as - they don't save energy, they just use less of it. In use, the most noticeable feature about them is that they all have a warm-up time, starting off being quite dim, and then getting brighter during the following half minute or so. Trust me - you get used to this very quickly, and it isn't long before you hardly notice it. I was also surprised at the difference in the quality of light; it is subtly different from a filament bulb, but usually not at all unpleasant - just that things are a slightly different shade of colour. Again, you soon hardly notice this.

Feel free to add your own reviews or comments.

All references are UK based (at the moment).

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MAKE: Philips
MODEL: Genie
WATTAGE: 11 & 18W
CLAIMED EQUIVALENT FILAMENT BRIGHTNESS: 60 & 100W
TOTAL LENGTH: 115 & 130mm
CLAIMED LIFESPAN: 6 years
PRICE: Dunno - given to me
WHERE BOUGHT:
DATE:
COMMENTS: These are probably as good as any of the current bulbs available. They are pretty dim at startup, but with a fairly quick warmup to full brightness (30 seconds-ish). Fairly compact with 3 and 4 fluorescent loops. Not sure I'd say they were quite as bright as they suggest they are.

MAKE: Philips
MODEL: Stick
WATTAGE: 20W
CLAIMED EQUIVALENT FILAMENT BRIGHTNESS:
TOTAL LENGTH: 135mm
CLAIMED LIFESPAN: 12 years
PRICE:
WHERE BOUGHT:
DATE:
COMMENTS: Bulkier than the Philips Genie bulbs, with 3 fairly big fluorescent loops. A bigger and slightly brighter bulb, but otherwise see comments above.

MAKE: Pearl
MODEL:
WATTAGE: 11W
CLAIMED EQUIVALENT FILAMENT BRIGHTNESS: 60W
TOTAL LENGTH: 140mm
CLAIMED LIFESPAN:
PRICE: £1
WHERE BOUGHT: PoundLand
DATE: 10/06
COMMENTS: Horrible, cold quality of light, but most significantly, these have an unacceptable, headache-inducing flicker to them. Really awful. They were only a pound each, but I was robbed.

MAKE: Oasis
MODEL: XM25
WATTAGE: 11W
CLAIMED EQUIVALENT FILAMENT BRIGHTNESS: 60W
TOTAL LENGTH: 140mm
CLAIMED LIFESPAN:
PRICE: 99p special offer
WHERE BOUGHT: Wickes
DATE: 09/06
COMMENTS: Good light to begin with, and half a minute-ish to full brightness. Doesn't seem to be quite as bright as, say, the equivalent Philips Genie, and has two fairly long fluorescent loops.

MAKE: Ring (Focus' own brand)
MODEL:
WATTAGE: 20W
CLAIMED EQUIVALENT FILAMENT BRIGHTNESS: 100W
TOTAL LENGTH: 160mm
CLAIMED LIFESPAN:
PRICE: £1.99
WHERE BOUGHT: Focus
DATE: 11/06
COMMENTS: A long bulb with three fluorescent loops. There is a disconcerting moment's delay between flipping the switch and the bulb lighting up; this seems to result in a fairly good light at startup, but it doesn't seem to get much brighter. Not particularly bright for its wattage - in fact I'd be surprised if it was as bright as a 60W filament bulb, let alone a 100W. Also, it hums; not loudly, but in a bedside lamp, too loudly.

MAKE: Wickes (own brand)
MODEL: Energy Saver
WATTAGE: 12W
CLAIMED EQUIVALENT FILAMENT BRIGHTNESS: 60W
TOTAL LENGTH: 115mm
CLAIMED LIFESPAN: 6,000 hours
PRICE: £1.69 (special offer - half price)
WHERE BOUGHT: Wickes
DATE: 12/06
COMMENTS: This is about the size and shape of a filament bulb, without any of the loops of tube that most of them have. Good quality of light, starts off pretty dim but gets brighter over the next minute or so. Probably as bright as it claims to be. But I can't forgive the meaningless claim on the box "Uses 5 times less electricity". I presume they mean to imply that it uses one fifth of the electricity compared to a similarly bright filament bulb.

Oooh good idea Stew!

I've no real idea about which are the best, although someone suggested that you should treat the warm up time as a kind of sunrise...

I've just bought a biobulb daylight bulb... really VERY bright light and excellent for reading/close work etc.

BioBulb 100w bayonet £14.95
The BioBulb is a full spectrum daylight bulb that uses 75% less energy than a standard light bulb. The BioBulb 100w (using 25w) bulb issues a massive 1750 lumens (a lumen is a way of measuring natural light, and a standard 60w bulb only manages 600 lumens, so that's over three times as much) and closely replicates sunlight, which may improve mood, nighttime sleep and daytime energy. Anyone prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or who simply longs for summer may find that its flicker-free white light helps to restore their natural equilibrium. They are ideal for reading and most pleasing to the eye. Our BioBulb also radiates less heat than a standard bulb and lasts around 10,000 hours, or seven years. Length 100w 13.5cm, 60w 12.5cm. Colour rendering index of 85. Available in Bayonet and Screw fittings.

MAKE: Biobulb
MODEL: Daylight bulb
WATTAGE: 25W
CLAIMED EQUIVALENT FILAMENT BRIGHTNESS: 100W
TOTAL LENGTH: 135mm
CLAIMED LIFESPAN: 10,000 hours or 7 years
PRICE: £14.95 (Mine was cheaper via the Neeps Food Co-op
WHERE BOUGHT: Neeps! Food Co-op
DATE: 12/06
COMMENTS: This IS without doubt an expensive bulb in comparison to many other energy saving bulbs... but, the light is INSTANT, the light is BRIGHT, and I like it.

I got some freebies from a recent green show and we have the warm up time thing, which I don't min d at all. Especially when you are getting the kids out of bed in the dark mornings - it is less of a shock for them when you switch their lights on!

Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of the ones we were given was the type of light. Originally the room was a bedroom, but when my DH moved back in, he converted it into a bedroom-cum-office BUT the light isn't bright enough.

they never do seem bright enough - when they say the are the equiv of a 60W I always things.. really?
we have all sorts of makes here - just kept buying a ne one to replace - some come on straight away, others have to warm up. All of them are not as nice a light as the old style - the light seem stark - but we are putting up with it anyway

...the ones we were given ...

...we have all sorts of makes here...

Err.. I was kinda hoping that people would tell us a few details - you know, make, wattage, etc, so that we have a thread giving others some idea of what to spend their money on. Don't keep it to yourselves, guys.

I think colour is incredibly important -some are horribly "blue", and can be awfully depressing. I've tried many brands, and the best I've found are simply branded "Maxim" . 20 watts, usual triple loop job, take a minute or so for full brightness, but most important to me, have the nicest light of all
- sort of "rosy", as opposed to the Philips, which are harsh and "yellow" in comparison!

I saw a really brilliant (no pun intended) suggestion which I wish I had seen sooner so I could have done it - give a LE lightbulb away with every Christmas present you give. Most people don't use them even though they tell survey researchers they do, but if you gave them away maybe they would.

A totally brilliant idea! - (pun intended!)

Santa has 2 LE bulbs in his stash for my girls stockings, so I will keep the packets and fill this in after Christmas once we have tried them out.

Muddypause wrote:

...we have all sorts of makes here...

Err.. I was kinda hoping that people would tell us a few details - you know, make, wattage, etc, so that we have a thread giving others some idea of what to spend their money on. Don't keep it to yourselves, guys.

I would have to judge each one - and then take them out and try and read the small print on the bulbs... in every room in the house - and no doubt some of them are not available anymore - cos we have had some for years.
the last ones we bought are the philips spiral light - philips website is pants but here it is on amazon although we bought them at the local shop.
The spiral design makes them compact so fit where an old style bulb would fit, and come on instantly. the light is white of course - as they all are.

we have some of the philips one but I have found them really akward to get on with. the warm up time is a bit annoying and they aren't bright enough. I bought a 60w one but was unable to sew or make jewellery by the light. All our bedroom lights have dimmer switches so we can't put them in there either. we do have them in both hallways, both toilets and the kitchen though

we have the low energy bulbs in every room in the house apart from bathroom which has a strang fitting we have yet to deal with.

When sewing or reading etc, I have extra lamps to put on - not necessarily tht low energy - but they are not on that much.

I Can't remember which ones we've got here. They were free either from the council recycling service, or from the fire brigade (they gave us 2 when we had a home-check).

The council ones have a warming up time.
The fire brigde ones are used upstairs and downstairs in our hallway (which is always dark, there's no natural light there) and they do a pretty ood job.

Next time the lights have been off, i'll take the bulbs out and have a look.

MAKE: General Electric
MODEL: Energy Saving Mini Eco
WATTAGE: 9w
CLAIMED EQUIVALENT FILAMENT BRIGHTNESS: 40w
TOTAL LENGTH: typically I didn't measure it before putting it in, but the bulb length is 7cm
CLAIMED LIFESPAN: 6 years @ 2.7h per day
PRICE: can't remember
WHERE BOUGHT: Asda?
DATE: recently
COMMENTS: This is a little bulb which is great for the uplighter lightshades in my bedroom. The 'normal' ones are too long. They take ages to get bright - 5 minutes? - and they aren't as bright as a normal 40w. I could read the writing on the bulb I took out under another (normal) 40w bulb, but not under this. I don't mind though, coz it is in my bedroom and it doesn't need to be bright in there.

Didn't like that they were made in Budapest - don't we make bulbs in the UK?

Also, too much packaging. They were in the normal cardboard carton, but then they had another carton of thicker cardboard around the glass bit.

Dont have any stats to hand, but the ones I have got from IKEA dont seem to last as long as, say Phillips ones, and have a longer warm up time. I did, however find some nice standard globe shape Large screw ones, which look good.