Saturday, December 27, 2008

Review: Philips Dimmable CF floodlight

Back in April I got the Philips Marathon Classic 65 Energy Saving Dimmapble Reflector Flood BR30, A compact flourescent bulb in a reflector floodlight package that can be used in recessed lights or track lights. I got it because it says that it is dimmable and I have a set of 7 recessed lights on a dimmer that I use all the time.

The bulb is rated at 8000 hours (thats 333 continuous days or about 5 and a half years at 4 hours a day) . It uses 16 watts and produces 630 lumens, roughly equivalant to a 65 watt incandesent bulb. It is more expensive than most CF bulbs at around $12, but that is the price you pay for the form factor and dimmableness.

Even though I needed seven, I only bought one because I wanted to see how well it worked first. It does, as advertised, work with a dimmer and dims correctly, however, there are a number of downsides. It doesn't dim as low as regular incandescents, if you dim it too far it just cuts out. It also takes 30 seconds or a minute to warm up. When you first turn it on, it will come one dim with a pinkish cast to the light. As it warms up, it brightens.

As you might guess, I wasn't thrilled with it, but the energy savings were considerable so I wanted to see if I would grow on me. I bought a second one a week or two later and installed it next to the first. Almost 9 months later, I can say that I got used to it, but never grew to like it. A couple of days ago, one of the bulbs stopped working, this is very dissapointing. It comes with limited warranty, most of the times these are useless since they require the receipt and proof of purchase, but, since I was uncertain about this bulb, I did save both so I am going to try returning it and see how that goes.

The verdict: Finicky dimming, takes a while to warm up, one of my two bulbs died really early. I'm not going to buy more and will probably wait a couple more years before trying them again to let the technology improve a bit.

UPC: 0 4667 15041 9

1 comment:

  1. Same story here, I bought the Feit lighting brand from Costco for my recessed lighting (I have six on the lutron dimmer) in my kitchen. I found the dimming to be finicky, 5 might dim properly and one or two would go out completely or they would flash off and on. They only dim moderately before they go out. I too have saved the receipt and plan to return them and replace my old incandescents until the technology improves.

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