Feit Electric ESL40TN/D 42-Watt Compact Fluorescent High-Wattage Bulb, Daylight
This bulb was very disappointing. It is most definitely not a suitable replacement for a 200 Watt incandescent. I have an area in the basement that has a single fixture and a 200 watt incandescent provides more than adequate light for that area. I put this bulb in and it would be suitable for accent lighting but hardly adequate for normal tasks. It was like twilight in the early evening. I have no objection to a bluish light but this provided far less light than a 100 watt incandescent let alone the 200 watt. My hopes of using less energy were thwarted.
Watts, or the wattage of light, is the power that is used to operate the light source. Lumens refer to the brightness of that source. Specifically Lumens are the measurement units of "luminous flux." This is the total number of packets of light that is created by a source of light.
I erroneously looked at the advertisement for this bulb which stated it was a 200 watt equivalent light using only 42 watts. Haa! I thought, I can get the same light for less money. Wrong!
My mistake was not checking the lumens on the 200 watt incandescent which is rated at 3190 lumens compared to the light output of 2800 on this bulb. If you are hoping to do a direct replacement of a 200 watt incandescent with the same lumens this is not the bulb to buy.
You must look at the lumens that the compact fluorescent is rated for and compare that to the bulb you are replacing. I guess a $11.57 lesson (cost of the bulb) is that you must know what you are comparing before you buy, compare lumens not watts.
Take note, there is nothing wrong with this bulb, it just isn't really a direct replacement lighting wise for a 200 watt incandescent that is outputting 3190 lumens.
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