Customer Reviews

Feit Electric 18-Watt Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb, Daylight, 75-Watt Equivalent, 6-Pack

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I can't say much positive about the cfl bulbs from FEIT. The light quality was what i expected from a cfl... not quite as good as a regular incandescent bulb, but decent. However, these bulbs DO NOT LAST, nor are they going to save you money. These cfl bulbs are supposed to "last 13 times longer than a standard 750 hour bulb." (That's printed right on the box the bulbs came in.) Frankly, I'd call it blatant misrepresentation and false advertising. They will cost you MORE, regardless of any energy savings. I bought two 6-pack boxes and put the 12 bulbs all through my house. As of this day, less than 2 years later, not ONE of the bulbs is still working. NOT ONE! Some of the bulbs (conservatively, i'd say 4 or 5, but i can't remember exactly) quit working within about 3-5 months. Most of them blew out within a year. A few actually lasted about 1 1/2 years. I have regular incandescent bulbs in other lights that have been working for as long as i've owned this house, which is 4 1/2 years. FEIT bulbs do NOT live up to the claims. In fact, FEIT only warrants the bulbs for two years based on 3 hours a day of usage. Doing the math, 13 times 750 is over 9000 hours. Yet they only guarantee the bulb for about 2000 hours??? Hmmm. I tried calling their customer service number 3 separate times, and each time it went directly to "hold" mode (in other words, if you call a company and they put you on hold, you get music and sometimes a voice telling you to continue waiting, along with pitches for the company products.) I never once got a human, or even an automated answering system. Just the music and message saying someone would be with me soon. I continued waiting for 20 minutes all 3 times before i gave up and hung up the phone. Awful bulbs, awful customer "service," awful warranty, and WAY-overblown claims on the packaging. Don't buy FEIT bulbs. I know i never will again.

I have tried these bulb over the years with bad results.Not one of them has lasted more than a year. I also have tried their 4 pin bulbs with the same problems, a very short life. Feit are not reliable bulbs and shouldn't be purchased. Save your money

I liked the daylight coloration (bright white) but these bulbs just do not last. I date cfl's when I put them into a fixture. The one that came out today (8/6/2011) was put in on March 23, 2011. This fixture is generally turned on and used for hours at a time so the bulb was not subjected to a high number of on/off cycles. Two other bulbs are in the fixture -- one of a different brand and higher wattage was put in at the same time while another has been in the fixture much longer. I have been using cfl's for several years and Feit has not been a good source.

Lest readers think I'm picking on Feit, I've had similar experiences with short-lived CFLs from three other manufactures, as well. The laws now on the books to force the extinction of cheap, reliable incandescent bulbs in favor expensive, unreliable CFLs can be seen as evidence that the manufacturers of CFLs can't compete on merit. These bulbs are expensive, they don't last anywhere near as long as advertised, and they contain mercury (albeit a very small quantity -- but billions of these bulbs in landfills after several years will add up to a very large quantity of mercury). Following, for your reading pleasure, is some information from e-mails sent to Feit.


"Subject: Unreliable Bulbs - Feit Daylight 75W CFLs

"The box provided one e-mail address and your customer service voice message provided another; I'm using both since I can't be sure which is correct.

"I purchased six (6) 6-packs (36 bulbs) of your Daylight 75W CFLs on/about 28 Sep 2008. I have the receipt for four (4) of the 6-packs purchased on that date and the other two (2) 6-packs were bought just a day or two prior (I was so pleased with the light output that I immediately returned to buy another four packs to ensure I had plenty of spares). Now, about 19 months later, I am not so pleased. Almost half of the bulbs have already burned out and the balance, which I purchased as spares, are now in the sockets replacing those that burned out. Even at the price paid to purchase these bulbs at Costco, they have proven to be of less value than standard incandescent bulbs with similar output. They do not live up to the claim on the packaging which states, "LASTS 10 TIMES LONGER." Thus far, actual experience indicates that they are lasting less than half as long as standard bulbs -- that's a twenty-fold shorter life than claimed.

"One cannot expect to benefit from the relative efficiency vis-a-vis energy costs if the costs to replace the bulbs more than eats up those energy savings. Moreover, "green" isn't "green" when the product fails at such a high rate and we must recycle an unexpectedly high volume of mercury-containing waste."


I received no answer to the above e-mail and followed up with this:


"Is my earlier e-mail being ignored? In the last three weeks, we have had four more bulbs fail. We are now out of spares and have non-light-producing sockets. At the current pace, I anticipate that all 36 lamps will have failed before the end of the warranty period.

"Please advise on your immediate replacement of these defective lamps that have fallen far short of the warrenteed life."


A Feit representative finally called me and requested a full inventory of the light bulbs, with the part number on each and every bulb. The representative was clearly skeptical (which I perceived as untrusting and clearly suspicious that I was a liar). With some effort to remove and reinstall all active bulbs, I complied with this unreasonalable request. I told the Feit representative that I felt like I had become part of the companies R&D department; but, without compensation for my time and effort. He didn't seem amused (nor was I).

I subsequently received a shipment of replacement bulbs; however, more bulbs had failed while I waited.

Another e-mail to Feit advised them of additional failures. This latest e-mail has gone unanswered and I have given up. I consider Feit customer support to be sub-standard and insulting. I also consider their warranty support to be more of a battle zone than a helping hand.

In summary:

Pros:
1) Great white light
2) Very bright; energy efficient, but only as long as they last

Cons:
1) Short lived
2) NOT cost effective - they cost roughly 10 to 15 times as much as a good standard incandescent bulb with the same lumen output and last about 18 months ON AVERAGE (roughly half as long as good incandescents)
3) They contain highly hazardous mercury
4) Although not required (yet), recycling is important with these bulbs and that adds to the cost in that one should transport these bulbs to a recycling location (Home Depot currently advertises free recycling for CFLs)
5) The Feit warranty process and customer support are insults to common sense

Recommendations:
1) If you're into PC, and don't mind the excessive total life-cycle costs, these bulbs will fit your wants.
2) If you're into budget management and life-cycle costs, RUN!!! These bulbs are NOT going to fit your needs.
3) If you're into the potential to poison the environment after waste bulbs accumulate in landfills for a number of years, these bulbs may do just that. As I understand it, mercury is VERY DIFFICULT to remove from soil and aquifers.
4) If you're into protecting the environment from short-sighted, PC-based laws, RUN!!!

In my experience, these bulbs don't even come close to living up to the claims made by the manufacturers or the various government groups pushing them. Their mandate is a tax on common sense and a drain on my wallet.

I'm sorry to write this, because Feit bulbs are inexpensive to purchase compared to other brands. But what other reviewers are saying here is absolutely true. These bulbs typically fail within a year, and good luck getting Feit to replace the bulbs. I've used approximately 30 bulbs by Feit over the last 5 years and almost all of them fail within 12 months after normal household use.

I had this happen with my last pack of bulbs, and once again today I was at Costco and picked up another 6 pack thinking maybe they've improved the model. Nope, this time 1 of the bulbs didn't work brand new out of the box, and 3 of the bulbs have some kind of "dirt" that rattles around inside the bulb (although they seem to work).

I am done, I will be returning these bulbs and looking for another brand.

Sure you save a little on power while they last which is 6 Months if you are Lucky. But since they cost 10 times what an regular bulb costs you do the math.

I bought these from Costco an year ago and paid $10 for each pack. I am really happy with the bulbs. Light is bright white far better then tube lights. In last 1 year I replaced only 1 bulb and that's out of 24 bulbs. I was bit disappointed but I guess may be a bad unit.

Overall I am very happy with them.

The lights are fantastic. Very low energy for the amount of light created. I use them for my plants during the winter and they are thriving.

These lights were great for the price I payed for them. If you have white walls, it really makes these lights pop; that and all the dirt. We just painted and this brightened up the room alot and made the colors more realistic which is great for a aspiring graphic artist.

My family while they were helping paint said they didnt like them, and were more used to the yellow lights... After a few days they actually liked them and will be getting white lights in the rooms they paint in as well.

The only con I found was that ONE died after a day of use, and another was broken on arrival. Packaging consisted of foam wrapped and then the box was loosly places with other items. A few bulbs for the price was worth it (I bought 2 boxes)

These bulbs are 6500K color temperature and produce a very blue cast, not recommmended for everyday lighting indoors. I was looking for something with a more natural white light, but these are too blue. After researching online I believe I need something in the 5000K range. I will try Earthmate EP2357AE 23-Watt Super Mini-Spiral CFL Full Spectrum Bulb, 6 Pack next.