Customer Reviews

Sylvania 29573 16-Watt 120-Volt Compact Fluorescent R30 Reflector Lamp with Medium Base, Warm White, 4 Pack # CF16BR304PKCVP

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

While it is far too soon (just 2 months) to determine the usual life of these bulbs, I can definitely say that these bulbs work as advertised.

Here's what I can say: they're light bulbs. If they work right, you never notice them. That's what you get with these babies. Plug 'em in and get bright light without any indication that these bulbs are different than their incandescent counteparts.

The only difference you'll see is that there is a lag in time before the bulbs reach their full brightness when they have been off for more than a few minutes. That lag is about 45 seconds - 1 minute. This lag seems to be consistent with all of the recent CFL bulbs I have owned. If you're ok with the lag; you'll love these bulbs.

There have been no dead bulbs in the two short months I have own these. Highly recommended.

The bulbs seem about 25% brighter than a standard 75 watt reflector flood. The main problem is the failure rate. I purchased 16 bulbs and 2 failed in the first two days of use. If you are replacing 75 watt incandescent bulbs I would suggest a lower output bulb unless you need more light. The compact fluorescent bulbs do run much cooler and that is a big plus. Also, these bulbs don't work with a dimmer.

To quote my wife after swapping the original floods for these "I didn't notice". Once fully lit, we don't notice any difference, other than a lower electric bill, and they don't put out nearly as much heat. Please note the 'once fully lit' - they don't come on at full, it takes about a minute. I've seen this complained about, but I actually like it. When I get up in the morning and hit the hall lights, I don't get blinded. They start out about half-bright, and slowly warm up. I originally got 1 pack to try, and have since replaced all our indoor floods with these.

This CFL has a very nice bright effect, however, it does not dim at all. I am also hearing noise from the dim switch that is not there at all with regular light bulbs or floods. If you really need to be able to dim the lights, then I would not recommend this CFL. Also, I would suggest a lower output, these are almost too bright even though just 16W CFL.

I bought a 4-pack and have them installed in an office area where the brightness is fine and I do not actually need or use the dimmer. I am still on the lookout for a CFL that actually dims and has nice soft light, since there are still 20+ dimmable floods in my kithen etc.

Serputer

Compared to some other CFLs, this one has an unusually long warm up time (i.e., time to reach maximum brightness), which makes this a poor fit for any application where you need to turn on and off more than once per day. Some of the other generics out there have a much shorter warm up period, so I'm making this comparison to other CFLs. Also, as others have noted, the failure rate is pretty high. I've already had to replace 2 of 8, and I've used only 6 months.

provides great light in our kitchen. We have recessed lighting and the reflector lighting is best. The only down side to these particular lights are their warm -up time. it takes about a minute for the lights to become bright.. We have other energy savings lights and they come on full bright right away..I will look for lights that advertise 'instant on' next time I need lights for our house.

The bulb periodically goes into "flashing" mode, lasting a minute or more, then randomly stops. That's pretty annoying when it happens.

These bulbs do not measure up to incandescent lighting. The color temperature is stark--I put two of these into a short hallway, near where some other can lights contain incandescent bulbs. The different in color temperature is quite striking--these put out a very white light--so white I feel that the hallway is in a commercial building.

These bulbs are also extremely dim compared to 65 watt incandescent bulbs. To me, they appear to be about 50% as bright. Not very inspiring.

I have about 30 light fixtures in my house that use floodlights. With incandescent bulbs, these fixtures bring a certain "light quality" to vaulted ceilings, hallways, accents in bay windows, etc.

I ended up putting all of these in the basement lights. For that application, they are OK, but the color temperature is just too white for living areas.

I totally agreed with JBlack about the the failure rate of this particular cfl (Sylvania 16 watt R30) is extremely high. I purchased 9 of these (not from Amazon), in 2 weeks, 3 already went out of commission. In addition there are many other cons, they produce much harsher light than the indecascent flood light it replaced, this create more shadows around the objects under the light. They're not dimmable (I knew that before the purchase). If I turn the light switch to the highest, the light flicker, it must be turned to the lower setting to avoid that, on top of that, all my light switches now have a fairly audible buzz when they're on. While it may save $$ on a long run, but I feel I am getting the short end of the stick buying these bulbs.

Okay, at $2,691.76 for four (or $672.94 each) this bulb is outrageously expensive, but it does light up my house. Not only that, but I save at least $7 in energy and light bulb replacement costs each year relative to incandescent light bulbs that cost $1.25 each. You turn the switch on and these lights come on right away, just like an incandescent bulb, but I feel a lot better knowing that I got shafted to the tune of $670 per bulb to reduce my carbon footprint.

Why not go the extra mile and buy the "SYLVANIA 13-Watt 120-Volt Compact Fluorescent MiniTwist Lamp with Medium Base, Warm White, 12-Pack" combo for an extra $30. Nothing says environmentalist putz better than this bargain.