Frustrated with light bulbs - help please

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Could somebody explain to me why exactly the hell it is so hard to find REAL light bulbs?

Meaning, light bulbs that are REGULAR and not that stupid fucking SOFT WHITE? All you ever see is soft white this, soft white that. What the hell happened to the standard ones?

And I'm not talking about CFLs. I mean regular incandescent bulbs.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I don't know about America but selling regular incandescent bulbs is now banned in Australia.

Edited to add - we can however buy energy-saving halogen light bulbs that look like traditional incandescent bulbs. These do not give off softwhite light but a light that is similar to regular incandescent bulbs.

 

[Neutral Zone]

I don't know about America but selling regular incandescent bulbs is now banned in Australia.

It is heading that way here in the UK, how do you go for coloured bulbs?

 

[backstept]

it sucks . . .
I'd rather use more electricity than use wierd fluorescent lights that are 'supposed' to replicated the nice orange glow of incandescent light
they just end up being purple, or blue if you get the regular kind
drives my eyes nuts

 

[Miss Chicken]

These are the halogen light bulbs I mentioned.

Edited to add the photo that is in the link.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Like I said, though, I'm not even talking about CFLs. They are irrelevant to me, since I won't use them. I'm only concerned with incandescents.

What I don't understand is why there are no *regular* incandescent bulbs left, only "soft" incandescents.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Like I said, though, I'm not even talking about CFLs. They are irrelevant to me, since I won't use them. I'm only concerned with incandescents.

What I don't understand is why there are no *regular* incandescent bulbs left, only "soft" incandescents.

Halogen light bulbs are incandescents.

Maybe because there is no noticeable difference in light coming from a regular incandescent bulb and from a halogen incandescent light bulb. There is a difference in price so maybe manafacturers would rather sell the more expensive halogen light bulbs (which is said to last longer than an regular incandescent bulb).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I wasn't talking about halogen bulbs either. Halogen != soft white.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I wasn't talking about halogen bulbs either. Halogen != soft white.

I am not sure what you mean by soft light. The halogen bulbs I buy give off the same sort of light as the incandescent bulbs that I we used for the first 50 years of my light.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I am not sure what you mean by soft light.

It says so on the packaging ("Soft White"). I actually don't know what that means, but I know it's not halogen.

 

[David cgc]

I believe "Soft White" refers to the fact that the bulb has a semiopaque coating, and isn't perfectly transparent. It, well, softens the light, compared to a transparent bulb where you can see the filament through the bulb. You'd use a transparent bulb behind a lampshade or something, and a soft white where the bulb is exposed in the open.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I believe "Soft White" refers to the fact that the bulb has a semiopaque coating, and isn't perfectly transparent. It, well, softens the light, compared to a transparent bulb where you can see the filament through the bulb. You'd use a transparent bulb behind a lampshade or something, and a soft white where the bulb is exposed in the open.

If that is what soft white means than the halogen light bulbs I buy are not soft white. The are perfectly transparent as the photo I posted shows.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I am not sure what you mean by soft light.

It says so on the packaging ("Soft White"). I actually don't know what that means, but I know it's not halogen.

It's an informal product name for "warm white," which is a measure of what's called the color temperature of a bulb. It's represented by Kelvins and is based on the temperature required to heat a black metal body to produce a given light.

Traditional warm white (soft white bulbs) is 2700k (a yellowish tint) and produces a comforting ambience for living spaces, cool white is 4200k (slightly off-white) and is better for reading and performing tasks, and daylight ranges from 5000k to 6500k, beyond which it starts to tint blue.

What you want to ask for are cool white bulbs. They're not actually brighter, they just produce a whiter, crisper light, and as such are typically used in bathrooms, work lamps, reading lights, desks and so forth. You should be able to find them at any hardware, home, or large department store. You just need to know what to look (or ask) for.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I believe "Soft White" refers to the fact that the bulb has a semiopaque coating, and isn't perfectly transparent.

The bulbs I currently use are all 'regular' (i.e. not soft) and they also have that coating.

 

[M'Sharak]

What I don't understand is why there are no *regular* incandescent bulbs left, only "soft" incandescents.

Where are you looking for them? Have you tried Ace Hardware or anything comparable? A business which specializes in lighting or electrical? Any place with more of a selection than your local supermarket carries?

 

[John Picard]

Like I said, though, I'm not even talking about CFLs. They are irrelevant to me, since I won't use them. I'm only concerned with incandescents.

What I don't understand is why there are no *regular* incandescent bulbs left, only "soft" incandescents.

Try Lowes, Home Depot, or even Wal Mart. I do know Lowes still has them.

 

[trekkiedane]

"soft" is the word makers of lamps (=lightbulps) usualy prefer to call warm light. (as Nocturnus of Bored already mentioned):

Why not make the switch to LED, then? -they come in both warm and cool nuances; I use a 1,1 W - 2700 K (18 diodes) lamp over my keyboard -very nice light

 

[Colonel Green]

Like I said, though, I'm not even talking about CFLs. They are irrelevant to me, since I won't use them.

Why? Are you opposed to energy conservation?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Like I said, though, I'm not even talking about CFLs. They are irrelevant to me, since I won't use them.

Why? Are you opposed to energy conservation?

No, I'm mainly opposed to CFLs not being suitable for use in recessed fixtures, which I have a lot of in my basement.

Besides, CFLs require quite a bit more work to clean up if they break (because of the whole mercury thing).

 

[Colonel Green]

The mercury content of CFL bulbs is far too low to bother worrying about, the batteries in your TV remote are far more dangerous to your health. Even IF you can't find CFLs that are suitable for your recessed fixtures, LEDs are a better choice than incandescent bulbs.

That said, you should probably go back to whale oil lamps just to be on the safe side