Who Makes The Best Compact Fluorescent?

Who makes the best compact fluorescent light bulb? A very common and interesting question. There are so many different brands to choose from. Do you go with a name brand product because of name recognition, or do you go with an inexpensive import? Which product is best? This article may help….

The compact fluorescent light bulb revolution nearly occurred back in the early 1990s. When CFLs first hit the market in force, consumers bought them in large numbers — but they hated them. The bulbs were too big for many fixtures, expensive (up to $25 each) and they threw a dim, antiseptic light that paled next to the warmth of good old-fashioned incandescent bulbs.
Now, a new CFL revolution is at hand. Retail giants are pushing hard for the bulbs — Wal-Mart hopes to sell 100 million CFLs by the end of the year. In California, a legislator recently proposed banning the sale of incandescent light bulbs in the state by 2012. All the old benefits of CFLs are still significant — more so, in fact. They can use less than one-third the electricity of incandescent bulbs of equivalent brightness and last up to nine years. The new bulbs are smaller and far cheaper (about $5 each) than their predecessors, and more powerful than ever. Top-end 24-watt bulbs promise brightness equivalent to that of a 150-watt incandescent.

Still, when it comes to illuminating your home, brightness isn’t everything. Can CFLs match the light quality of the energy-wasting incandescents we know and love?

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Earlier in my career I was a field technician in the lighting and electrical industry. My day-to-day job involved replacing light bulbs and ballasts at various retail accounts. Over about a 7 year period you can imagine how many light bulbs and ballasts I have seen fail or succeed.

When purchasing compact fluorescent light bulbs a general rule of thumb was to stick with name brand products. At that time (about 8-10 years ago) the CFL screw-in (compact fluorescent) technology was fairly new. So using a GE, Sylvania, or Philips product made sense. Then came the import invasion!! It seemed as if everyone and their mother are making compact fluorescent light bulbs.You can buy CFL bulbs at the grocery store, dollar stores, discount warehouses, home and garden centers, departments stores, on the world-wide-web……you get the point. 

 Again the question arises which brand is best? My opinion is to stick with companies that have a history of making reliable products or a company that is known for specializing  in manufacturing a certain product.

Example: TCP (known as Technical Consumer Products) started out only making compact fluorescent bulbs. Today,TCP also manufactures other lighting products such as linear fluorescents and metal halide light bulbs. The point is that TCP compact fluorescent bulbs are widely used throughout the hotel and retail industries. TCP being a fairly new company in the lighting industry, has made a respected name for themselves because they make a superior product.Keep in mind I have no affiliation with any specific manufacturer, but  here are the top four “best bet” companies that I feel comfortable endorsing: GE, Philips, Sylvania, and TCP (no specific order or ranking system).

If you would like to independantly do some research on your own, here are a few tips that you might find useful:

A) Compare “life hours” between brands.

B) Consider the manufacturers warranty.

C) “Commercial grade” and “Retail grade” products are significantly different when it comes to quality.

D) Finally  “Test it” buy a “name brand and a generic brand” and see which one performs the best.

Hopefully, my input has made your decision a little easier. Remember that all compact fluorescent light bulbs are not made equal….

All for Now.

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