Evolution 25 Watt CF Full Spectrum Fluorescent Bulb

by Aero

Product Description

Full-spectrum 25-watt fluorescent bulb imitates natural sunlight. Incandescent lamps provide light, but they don't provide the same healthy, natural light of the sun. The Evolution 25-Watt CF Full-Spectrum Bulb simulates the full-spectrum natural outdoor

Product Details

• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• ASIN: B000BL6IPE
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,295 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)
  • #57 in Home Improvement > Electrical > Light Bulbs > Specialty Light Bulbs > Full-Spectrum Bulbs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great bulbs, but fragile and poorly documented, March 13, 2007

By 

J. COLBY "CS Ph.D. survivor [with amnesia]" (Santa Cruz, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evolution 25 Watt CF Full Spectrum Fluorescent Bulb (Misc.)

These bulbs produce nice clean full-spectrum light. At first, the difference between the light of the conventional bulbs I replaced with these was strange. But I quickly became accustomed to it; it is much better for doing things in, whether it be brushing your teeth, using a computer or reading. But that wasn't my motivation for purchasing them. I wanted energy efficient bulbs which are long-lived. The bulbs give off much less heat than a regular one. I am able to use the equivalent of a 75 watt conventional bulb in lamps with paper covers. How much more energy efficient and long-lived they are, I do not know yet. They were recommended by Coop America for energy efficient lighting. So for now, I'm taking their word these truly are long-lived, energy efficient bulbs.

Consider this though, as should the distributor if they want to successfully retain customers. The bulb itself is very fragile compared to a conventional bulb. When screwing these ones in, you *must* do it carefully manipulating only the base. Otherwise the bulb will break. I ruined one bulb this way. Also these bulbs are not compatible with dimmer switches. I ruined another using it with a dimmer switch. The distributor sells some that are compatible with dimmer switches.

The main problem, which resulted in the ruin of two expensive bulbs, is these bulbs came arrived with no documentation. This led me to expect they could be handled and used like regular bulbs. As I've mentioned, they can't. As for not being compatible with dimming switches, there was a warning on the bases of the bulbs in lettering so small I didn't notice it until after I had ruined the bulb and looked at it more closely. These bulbs are relatively expensive. Although the seller kindly offered to replace the ruined bulbs with the implicit condition I retract my negative review, I felt ethically bound to refuse their offer. So here is the result. Hopefully the seller will learn from this, so they don't have to offer to replace bulbs.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full Spectrum lights that work ALMOST in any socket, November 15, 2006

By 

Cleve D. LeClair "Cripple Creek Consulting" (Eugene, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evolution 25 Watt CF Full Spectrum Fluorescent Bulb (Misc.)

My Evolution 25 Watt CF Full Spectrum Fluorescent Bulb work just fine, in all my in-door sockets, but my outside motion detector sockets are not a fit. The ad does not say "should not be placed in a recesed socket", but the package does. If this is true I would like the Amazon ad to reflect this as a friend of mine bought nine of them and cannot use them. He did give them to people as gifts. I have two of them here in my radio/computer/reading room/bedroom and they are just fine.

Your customer service was great as out of the four I bought two were broken and they were replaced right then on the phone w/o a return. My friend had one broken out of nine.

Thank you,
Cleve in Oregon

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very different color of light..., March 22, 2008

By 

KV Trout (Centerville, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Evolution 25 Watt CF Full Spectrum Fluorescent Bulb (Misc.)

To me, these are a little blue-er than other incandescent "full spectrum" lights I have used. For years I have been using the incandescent bulbs that claim to be "full spectrum". But then I read that to really get "full spectrum" you need to use the flourescent ones.

So I bought these because they are supposed to be more full spectrum and because they are said to last longer. I am just saying that they give a very different color of light as compared to "normal incandescent" bulbs AND as compared to incandescent "full spectrum" bulbs that I have used before.

Right now I do not know if this is a bad thing or a good thing. I am just stating it so you may be aware of it. To me, these are blue-er than the incandescent full spectrums and they take some "getting used to". Maybe they are closer to sunlight, I don't know. I do not dislike them, nor like them at this point, I just note that they are different.

One thing I do like is that I can use them in a fixture that says "Use 60 watts maximum". This was a problem in our overhead kitchen lamp because 60 watts of incandescent is just not enough. With this we can use the 25watt which is equivalent to I think 100 watts and get much more light.

UPDATE:
I have now been using these bulbs for about a year or so and I really like them. So far we have not had to replace ANY of them and so they are well worth the extra money. We use them in our living room/ kitchen where they are basically on ALL day (about 14 hours a day on most days, maybe an average of 10-12 hours per day).

I have gotten used to the "color" of the light and now really hate "regular" light bulbs. As to the older incandescent types I was using before, the color difference does not bother me at all and I find these to last much longer.

All in all I will continue to buy these Evolution CF Full Spectrum bulbs!

It's now Wednesday, October 19, 2011 and we've not replaced one of these bulbs yet! I really like them and now if I put in a "regular" incandescent bulb, I hate the way it makes me feel. It just doesn't seem "right". We love these bulbs and highly recommend them!

p.s. I went to the local drugstore the other day to buy a cheap incandescent bulb for an area we don't spend a lot of time in and they did not even have many of those. All are fluorescent type like these but not full spectrum, yet cost almost as much as these. These are a MUCH BETTER DEAL!