GE 13-Watt Energy SmartTM - 8 Pack - 60 watt ouput

Comment: I bought two 8-packs at my shopping club a couple of years ago. I needed them to replace 8 incandescent bulbs in the basement where, with the exception of the area where my home office is located, I didn't need very bright lights. The second carton was bought for 'spares' and because they were on sale at the time I made the purchase. Two years later, the spares carton has 3 bulbs left, indicating that 5 out of 8 have burned out. This tells me that the 5-years/8000 hours life expectancy claim is wildly optimistic, to use a mild term.

My personal experience with these bulbs is as follows:

- the light they produce - yellow, not very bright is more or less on par with what you get of a 60W incandescent, maybe a little less than a traditional 60W.
- they do save energy for as long as they last - given their short lifespan in my basement, not sure if they pay for themselves
- quality seems to be an issue - 5 out of 8 burned out before 2 years - all 8 subjected to about the same conditions (they all go on/off at the same time
- the claim of 8000 hours or 5 years life expectancy is clearly way off-base - perhaps GE should make their test data available
- the Amazon price at the time I am writing this review is competitive with what I saw at my shopping club.

This may come close to comparing apples to oranges but I must say that I am very happy with the Feit Electric ESL40TN/D 42-Watt Compact Fluorescent High-Wattage Bulb, Daylight of which I am using 2 in the same basement, in my 'office' area and I bought 2 more a few months ago for the study. I paid a premium for them and I've only used them for a little less than one year at the time I write this (Feb. 2010) so the fact that none has burned out yet is not 'proof' but... time with tell.

I hesitate between 2 and 3 stars - 2 Amazon stars means 'I don't like it' vs. 3 stars meaning 'it's okay'. My generous nature wins this time and it's 3 stars but GE needs to seriously look into the 'quality' thing or these CFL may discourage some people from adopting replacing their incandescent bulbs with the more efficient fluorescents.

Comment: Order was easy, shipping was fast and the product is great! No complaints! As usual, Amazon rocks!

Comment: My first fluorescent lights were bought in a local grocery store and I was very disappointed with the color tone (they were white like paper).

So I did my research and found out that these bulbs are just your basic CFLs, at the 2700 kelvin temperature range. That means they're about the same shade as your basic ordinary 60W incandescent bulb. A pale yellow white, not pure white (5100 Kelvin), or daylight (around 6300 Kelvin).

Changed all old bulbs in my studio apartment and the electric bill went down by ~$8.

Comment: I replaced almost every bulb in my house with these compact fluorescent bulbs. While they are quite pricey, I thought it would even out in the long run since they were supposed to last so much longer than conventional bulbs and also lower my electric bill. I did notice a slight difference in the electric bill, but these bulbs certainly don't last any longer than the conventional bulbs. In fact, half of them have burned out in less than a year! They weren't on dimmer switches either, just regular light fixtures. I also don't like that they take so long to go to full brightness. I have no window in my bathroom and with these bulbs, it was like having only a night-light on for several minutes until they warmed up. Just did not like them at all.

Comment: Have used these for quite some time. Found the best price here compared to local stores. If the savings are as good as advertised I will be very happy. I would say that they are a great value for the money... BUY THEM, its worth it...