Since I am a big believer in the Law of Economy I have been a user of CFL lights
since they first came out. The small amount of mercury used doesn’t concern me
at all as I also rarely use seat belts.
The first few years I used them about one out of five seemed to have some flaw
and didn’t last long. The four out of five worked as advertised though.
In the past 4 or 5 years though the quality seems to have gone up and I rarely
have a bad one and they all seem to be working as advertised.
However, for indoor use it is important that you check the temperature factor.
This will usually be in fairly small print on the package or sometimes on the
light itself. To find it look for the letter “K” followed by a number. Do not
buy anything with a K less than 2700. For indoor use do not use anything less
than K5000. K6500 is the best and closely simulates sunlight.
Critics claim that CFL light is inferior to incandescent light, but most are
referring to K2700 light or less. The K6500 light is better than incandescent
light.
The K5000- K6500 costs more but the extra price is worth it and figuring the
energy savings and extra life they are a lot cheaper than incandescent lights.
We use the cheaper 2700K lights for outdoor lights and indoor places where we do
no do spend much time. In our office where I spend the most time I use the best
quality CFL lights I can buy.