[RFI] Bulb rumors.

[Andy]

My experience with CFLs is quite different from yours.  (I have no
experience with LED replacements.)

> Noisey, electrically

Not here, so far.

> and mechanically,

Not that I've seen.
(Yes, I can detect a very slight hum from CFLs, and from many
incandescents too.)

> degrade rapidly over
> time,

Not here.

> have to have special housings or mounting postitions to prevent the
> POS power supplies from cooking,

No special housings here.

I've read about CFLs that cooked, but I haven't had any do that yet.
Ours are barely above room temp.

I think this issue may be a quality control problem, or perhaps lousy
circuit designs, not a fault of CFLs per se.

> won't run when cold,

The ones I stuck outside (NOT made for cold weather) work fine winter
and summer, aside from needing a few seconds to reach normal
brightness in the winter.

> take tens of seconds
> to several minutes to come up to brightness,

The earliest CFLs I bought, about 20? years ago, do that; but the rest
of them do not, except for the ones I put outdoors.  Those start up
right away but take about 15 seconds to come up to brightness on cold
winter nights.

> they cost 32 times what they intended to replace,

They are fairly cheap here.  But I haven't bought any in years ...
haven't needed to!

> can't be disposed of as they are considered toxic waste,

That one is the Really Big Problem.

> The Govt. is now creating another industry (CFL disposal)

And their actions drove the remaining American incandescent bulb
makers to close down.

My location is not free of RFI; but none (ore very little) of it seems
to be coming from CFLs, and not from those in my home.

Regards,
Andy