Last night I wrote — and somehow deleted — a review and warning about Philips compact fluorescent light bulbs.
With the original post gone and not feeling like writing it again. I will summarize briefly.
Philips CFBs are shitty. They take forever to warm up and then they can even start buzzing. That is great if your house happens to be a high school gymnasium. Since it probably isn’t, stick with GE bulbs. They’re worth it.
Speaking of being worth it, suck up your pride and go to Wal-Mart to get your GE CFBs. You’ll probably be able to buy 2 or 3 times as many bulbs for the money.
Popular Mechanics reviewed them and concluded your best bang for the buck is the Philips Marathon and the best bulb is the N:Vision Soft White.
It’s a shame they didn’t quantify the warm-up period.