Low Quality  Compact Fluorescent Bulbs: FEIT Electric

Bottom Line: POS CFL bulb lasts about 25% of the expected life.  Boy that paid for itself in energy savings!

FEIT Electric company produces shitty CFL lights. Several lights failed early by my estimation, so I figured I would start writing the installation dates on the lights so I could track how many days they last. My first documented failure just occurred. The installation date was 10/31/2010. The failure date was 3/5/2012. That means they were installed 491 days. At an estimate of 5 hours of use per day, that’s 2455 hours. Hmmm, they are supposed to last “up to 10,000 hours”. Give me a break. These lights suck. I would have to leave them on 20 hours per day to hit 10,000 hours in 491 days! Furthermore I have to go recycle them at Home Depot so I don’t pollute the environment. And, I wonder how much pollution is created and energy is wasted in the manufacturing process. They are way more complicated than a standard incandescent light bulb. Remember the pay back or financial justification published on the box is based upon a 10,000 hour life. Hmmm, my first documented POS almost made it 25% of the expected life. 

In all fairness, MAYBE they all don’t suck, but this FEIT brand from Costco sucks. I have had many fail in less than two years, this is just the first one with dates documented on the bulb. I have switched to a Home Depot product, but I will continue to monitor these closely too.

After several had failed, I contacted FEIT, and they were to send me a replacement, it never came. After the next one failed, I sent them the following email with no response.

Maria,

1) I never received the first replacement CFL for the first low quality bulb.

2) I am beginning to wonder just how "Green" the CFL lights you produce really are.

Let's do some basic math. The lights are supposed to last "up to 10,000 hours". Ok, the lights in my kitchen are maybe on an average of 5 hours per day. So, 10,000 hours of usage equates to 2,000 days. 2,000 days equates to 5.47 years. I started to replace my incandescent bulbs with CFLs maybe 2 years ago. So, why did another just fail in the kitchen?

So, here's what I'm going to do. From now on, I will write the installation date on the CFL when it is installed and start tracking the substandard life performance.

Also, why is the warranty only good for 2*365*3=2190 hours when the advertising hype claims up to 10,000 hours. I would think your company would be confident that the light should clearly last up to 5,000 hours.

I am beginning to believe your manufacturing plant in China is producing parts with low quality. I am also wondering how much I am reducing greenhouse gases since these bulbs aren't lasting very long, and require a lot more energy and resources to make versus a simple incandescent bulb. 

By my estimation I'm seeing some bulbs last about the same length of time as a regular incandescent , and costing a lot more.

Unsatisfied customer with three failed CFLs that I need to properly recycle.


UPDATE:


Interesting Link

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/why-efficient-light-bulbs-fail-to-thrive/

19th post from the link above

The most erratic ones I bought were the Feit vanity bulbs from Costco. I bought 12 using six in two bath rooms. Of the 12 two failed within a couple of months, and one was so slow in warming up that it was a failure – and particularly after I dropped it. I took the best six and placed them in one bathroom where they work nicely, and the remaining three are in the other with the ordinary vanity bulbs. These bulbs take one minute to warm up, but afterwards have about 50 watt equivalent light so they are slightly brighter than the ordinary vanity bulb. This has to be a quality control issue, and I still intend to talk to Costco about this.