Light Up Your Life, Sustainably! 🌍
The PureSpectrum 20W Fully Dimmable Spiral CFL is a pack of 6 energy-efficient bulbs that provide instant illumination equivalent to a 75W incandescent bulb while consuming 75% less electricity. With a lifespan of 6000 hours and a high power factor, these bulbs are designed for both performance and sustainability.
S**S
NOT truly dimmable despite label
October 9, 2013 update:Since these were not dimmable, I ended up putting them in the ceiling fixture of my kitchen - it took three of these. The lower wattage helped keep me from tripping the circuit when the microwave runs. The light quality was ok. The lights take awhile (10 min??) to come to full brightness. The are 'instant on' but not instantly fully bright. I got used to it.Now, just over two years later, two of the three have gone out. So, they lasted just over two years. So, I don't think these last the 6,000 hours advertized. Even if I left my kitchen light on for 4 hours a day (I don't - not even close), then they should have lasted 4 years. I have incandescents I put in my master bathroom fixture around the same time and they are still working. So, really, these aren't lasting any longer.FYI - I also found 2 bulbs broken in the packaging. This has happened to me before with CFLs purchased at the store (different brand) - so I don't think it was amazon shipping.__________________________Original Post from 2011:These light bulbs are NOT truly dimmable despite the label - at least not in my fixture. My dinning room light fixture fits three regular 60-100 watt bulbs. I replaced one of them with one of these - leaving my two regular 100 watt incandescent in place for comparison.Pros:-The new bulb did seem to come on instantly - or as close to it as I've seen with CFLs-Light quality was similar to incandescent next to it - much better than many CFLs I've usedCons:-Only dimmed a little. Incandescents next to it dimmed down to 5-10 watt brightness. The CFL one dims down to about what a 40 or 60 watt incandescent would put out.-The new bulb flickered as I adjusted the dimmer - the incandescents did not. Once I stopped adjusting the light stopped flickering - so more of an annoyance than a defect. (That is, as long as I'm not currently messing with the control, the light is steady at any brightness setting.)-The new bulb did hum - pretty quiet - but noticeable - I imagine if I had three in the fixture, it might get annoying.-A little bulky. This CFL bulb definitely takes up more space than an incandescent - not an issue in this fixture but I have others that this wouldn't fit in.Not sure:-The packaging seemed flimsy but the one bulb I've tried so far did work.My take:-These might be an improvement over a regular CFLs but they still have a ways to go before they can call these *fully dimmable.*
C**W
Good product, if a tad larger than standard
There are really not a lot of options out there for dimmable CFL bulbs. I really wanted these to put into my dining room chandelier that I had just installed. However, I did not look at the specs enough before I purchased them - while them dimmed great, they were too large for my more shallow chandelier globes. So, I had 6 bulbs that I had no use for.However, we also just installed a foyer chandelier 15 feet in the air. I had not originally planned to put dimmers on that light, but, with these bulbs in hand, I did just that.So I have 4 of these bulbs in a Sea Gull Sfera 4 light chandelier. The globes on this are like tinted a bit, to look like off-white candles, and are tall. So these bulbs fit well in them, and can't be seen unless you are at the top of the stairs looking down at it. Looks great! And because they are CFLs, they should last a long time, as replacing them without a really tall ladder would be a pain...These bulbs are bright! We have them at about half intensity, and they provide plenty of light. The light looks warm, too, but it's hard to tell since I have colored sconces to give me the effect I desire.The bulbs dim in increments with the Lutron MACL-153M-WH Maestro 150-Watt Multi-Location CFL/LED Digital Dimmer I have installed (two, one at top and bottom of the stairs).Some people mentioned a hum, but I have not noticed anything. That could be because the lights are 15 feet in the air...but I don't think so.I certainly recommend this for folks who want dimmable lights and energy savings. Just be sure you get a light fixture and dimmer switches that can handle CFLs.
M**C
Better than many but not good enough
Reviewed April 2011 .. date included since technology changes fairly rapidly so this may or may not be relevant when you read this. About a year ago I bought a box of dimmable CFLs (NOT this brand) at Costco, that kind of worked. I put them in 4 sockets controlled by a single dimmer switch. They did not dim evenly. When one dimmed, another would flicker and the state was unstable. So if you got it just dim enough, a half hour later it might go bright, or it might start flickering.A few weeks ago I was in a local home improvement store and saw what was billed as a "truly dimmable" CFL for about 10 bucks. So I tried again. These were pretty worthless, but when I read the directions they said you needed to make sure you had a dimmer made after 1994, which I think mine was but it was fairly old. So I bought a new dimmer that billed itself as specifically tested for dimmable CFL. Long story short, nice dimmer, but no difference in performance.Then I saw the reviews for the Spectrum and decided to give them a try. It was half the price of the other dimmable CFLs I tried and clearly performed better, but at its dimmest it still wasn't much less than 1/2 brightness and did have a small but noticeable flicker and a small but noticeeable buzz.Then just yesterday I found a dimmable "UtilPro" LED locally for 10 bucks (on sale) that I couldn't resist trying. This one really worked. The light is pleasant and bright, it dimmed considerably, not quite as much as an incandescent, but pretty far down and didn't show any flicker or buzz.Conclusion: As far as I can tell the dimmable CFL technology has improved but just doesn't quite deliver yet. On the other hand, the dimmable LED technology absolutely works if you can find it an an affordable price. The 10 buck sale price I paid is by far the best price I've seen but I suspect that will become more common before long. For now if you need an energy efficient dimmable light, go for an LED.
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