Bright Effects Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Our new house has a ton of light fixtures many of which are ceiling fixtures that turn on several lights at a time. We decided in an effort to save some money, we were going to use compact florescent bulbs in as many fixtures as we could. Fortunately for us, Lowe's ran a special on them right when we were moving into our new home so we stocked up.

The Bright Effects soft white 13W bulbs we purchased came in a pack of 6 and are substitutes for regular 60 watt light bulbs. According to the package, they are Energy Star rated and each bulb is supposed to save you approximately $45.00 per year in energy costs over a regular bulb. Is that true? Well, I personally can not say for sure but our new house has twice as many lights that are used daily than our old house did and our energy bills have stayed about the same as what they were in the old house.

The bulbs screw into a standard socket but you will not be able to use them with 3 way lamps or dimmers. They give off a good amount of light for general lighting but if you need task lighting for reading or crafts, you really want to go for a larger watt bulb. I personally find them to cast a slight yellow glow but that could just be my eyes since no one else in my house seems to notice.

At the price we paid for the bulbs, each bulb averages out to be about $1.49 which is more than the cost of a standard light bulb which I normally purchase in a pack of 4 for about $1.00. These bulbs though are supposed to last for 8000 hours though so when you combine that with the energy savings, we are hopefully saving money by using them.

I have read some complaints about these bulbs online claiming that they are defective and they burn out quickly but so far we have not had to replace a single one and we have been using them now for over 10 months. The reports also claimed that there were dead bulbs in the packages but I have notencountered that either. If you are thinking about switching over to compact florescent light bulbs, these bulbs are a good value for the money.

Update On Jul 23, 2010: I just got a Lowe's ad that shows these Bright Effects CFL 60-Watt equivalent Light bulbs Soft White CFL light bulbs as a Special Value for only $6.00 a 6 pack. That's a dollar a bulb which may seem higher than a regular bulb but because compact florescent bulbs use less energy and last longer than regular bulbs, you will make the savings up in no time.