Brighter Compact Florescent Bulbs, Plz?

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Anyone know where I could locally find compact florescent light bulbs with a watt equivalent of 200 or higher? Tags doesn't have them. Gone are the days of my beloved 300w incandescents; must convert fully, but the 75w equivalent florescents are like a tiny nightlight to me (I have wicked night blindness). I know I can buy these online, but if I can save shipping and support local business, I'd like to. Thanks!

Comments

[paulpinecone.livejournal.com]

The low "wattage" of available florescents is definitely an annoyance.

Unfortunately, there's little to be done about it. The amount light you get from the bulb is proportional to the length of the tubing used. That's why you see spirals and such.

By now, they've packed as much tubing as they can into a small space. In the space of a regular bulb, you can't fit more than 75 "watts" of tubing. If your fixture can take a larger or longer bulb, I've seen florescents up to 150 watt-equivalent.

The next thing up is LED lights. They currently require about 4 LED's per "watt" and 150 of them is about as many as you can fit in a standard bulb, making them top out at about 60 "watts". And these are expensive-- $50-100 per bulb.

What's coming next is the use of much smaller LED's or newer superbright ones. Unfortunately it will be a while before they are down to a reasonable price.

[squirrelitude]

There are now 110VAC white LEDs on the market. These are individually equivalent to (I think) maybe a 15 W incandescent. Stick a few of those in a bulb and you might get a pretty decent light source!

(Deleted and reposted to fix link.)

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I could justify paying $50 for a bright enough bulb if it would fit in my fixtures. Yesterday at Tags I settled for a 150w-equivalent compact florescent, but it just barely fit in the fixture, and the light it emits is lame.

I have one halogen lamp on a dimmer that is actually bright enough to meet my needs for short stretches, but used at max brightness, after about 15 minutes it overheats and shuts down.

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

Depending on the size of your fixture, you might be able to use a "circlite." These aren't compact fluorescents, but rather fluorescent rings attached to a standard light bulb base, and you can get more light out of them. You can get them at Tag's.

[antimony.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't really call the Assembly Square Home Depot very local, but I do think I've seen them there. And poking at their site confirms it -- 68W (300W equivalent) compacts, available there.

[paulpinecone.livejournal.com]

If I'm looking at the same thing, they look to be about twice the size or ordinary bulbs, they cost $20 each and you have to buy them in packs of 12.

[davelew.livejournal.com]

I've bought the 65W/3900lumen CFLs individually in Home Depot. Actually I bought 3 of them, but they were three individual packages.

[antimony.livejournal.com]

The ones I saw were in individual packages, though I don't remember how big they were. We were just surprised to see ones that bright, so it was memorable.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I think Tags will special-order these for you.