Originally Posted by gerv
Those bulbs are much cheaper nowadays. I bought them recently at about $10 for box of 5. I think it was at Lowe's. Even at a higher price considering that they use 25% of the electricity, they are a steal. I can notice that it helped decrease my electricity bill.
When I first started using them, I was buying them just for their longevity. I was sick of replacing those round, cheap bulbs every month or so; the curly ones last more than a year (I put one of them as an outdoor more than 2 years ago... it's going strong.)
When you consider all the pluses, you owe it to yourself... they are actually much cheaper than the 4-for-$1 bulbs. [Now... isn't that ironical?]
I was using these light bulbs almost as soon at they broke the $10 price barrier. But I may stop. Its got to take a lot more energy to produce them. And it definitely takes more energy to ship them since they're only made overseas. And they pose a greater environmental problem for disposable. All this would be fine if they lasted 8 years like all the hype indicates. But my experience has been very mixed. Some of them last a reasonable time, but a high percentage seem to "burn" (or whatever it is they do) after only a few weeks. I wonder if there's been any independent testing of the longevity claims?