yeah i bought four of these yesterday rated for 2900 lumens. I was debating whether to buy the Sylvania Design 50 lamps or these and i chose these because they were rated for more lumens. They are a nice color but I really bought them because I thought they were 90 CRI. I wanted to see what the big hype about the 90 CRI lamps was...

I hate the new GE packaging. The lamp life is rated in years, not hours. and the CRI isn't even LISTED!

I would think life in hours and ESPECIALLY CRI would be mandatory nowadays but I guess not.
I really like the GE Chroma 50 (90CRI deluxe halophosphate) lamps and the Sylvania Design 50s...the 90s Design 50 I have is more blue-green while the Chroma 50s are kinda purplish-pinkish-bluish. (I have all three in a 3-lamp fixture, on full-power rapid start ballasts). I know the new Sylvania "Daylight Full Spectrum" lamps look kinda blue-green so I assume they use the same phosphor. I don't have one to compare with a Design 50 and Chroma 50 though. I'll have to look for these, though. Do they seem really "flickery" on magnetic ballasts like the Chroma 50s are?
And what is the Philips "Colortone 50" and "C50 Supreme" like?

Yeah my four lamps liek this are a little flickery in my rapid start 1973 shoplite. So are my new Design 50 lamps that i bought (yep i blew 40 bucks worth of giftcards at lowe's on a case of 10 lamps lol)

Well that's five preheaters' worth of lamps, so...and knowing you you put vintage fixtures in use with vintage ballasts but modern, nothing-special "just a bulb" lamps.
The 5000K lamps might work really well in the utility and laundry room actually...but cool white works fine for a place like that. From now on though I only plan to buy high-CRI 5000K lamps (Sylvania "Daylight Full Spectrum", GE "Closet&Laundry", and Philips "C50 supreme" though. But I'm already set for life on 52-CRI warm whites...

It's actually seven fixtures if they're two-lampers. I'd probably only use a couple at a time though so i don't eat through my lamps. I'll probably end up getting a couple cases of cool white (whatever type is out by then) lamps when i get my own place to keep my lights going.

I want to keep the lamps that i have in service now in the fixtures so that i only put the hours on those lamps and not my other new lamps. the lamps i have in my fixtures now will probably still work ten years from now at the rate they're used.

Yeah you said you really like cool white...I like these though so I'd buy a case of something like this or whatever the 6500K daylight is at that point to keep my few fixtures going...

I love the 5000K color but not the price! I'd be afraid to use them up at four bucks a lamp! My favorite colors are 5000K and 3500K but cool white are nice to have handy because they're the "universal" color temp that will work in almost any application. I haven't specifically looked for a case of 3500K lamps though so i don't know how the fall price wise with 4100k and 5000K. i'd guess somewhere between the two... Daylight is just too blue for me though in most cases and warm white is rather icky though it's good for indirect lighting. When i get my own house I'll probably use four warm white F20T12 Slyvania GTEs from my case of 30 in my 4X F20T12 trigger start "puff/cloud" fixture. I'll install the fixture somewhere in my house like the kitchen or a hallway or someplace that's finished off and is living space, since i think a fixture like that would look good in the "living space" of my future house.

Interesting, I haven't seen these around here yet. Might grab a pair if I see them since I think some rooms look better in higher colour temps.

Yeah, 4100K and above look weird for rooms with lots of wood...

your right. and warm white looks weird in unfinished rooms. 3500K is alright though IMO. 3500K definetly makes you feel warmer when you're in the basement in your pajamas in the dead of winter...

I feel the opposite , if the room has wood panelling, lower colour temps would look better especially if the wood paneling is dark.

actually you agree with us Joe. warmer color temps look better with wood paneling.

I guess so. Rooms with light coloured wood paneling can look ok with higher colour temps though. I have a room with a lot of blue which looks bad with any light source below 4100K.

Yeah rooms with off-white colored rooms look best when fluorescent lights of the same color are used (baby blue walls --> 5000K or 6500K; red/tan walls --> warm white or 3500K) but with off-white walls 4100K is sort of universal.

Yeah and depending on the climate...in triple-digit temps in CA in the summer I bought my first 5000K CFL (a 13w GE I still have) and it felt much nicer inside on a hot day (The A/C in my late mother's house didn't work).

yeah the cooler temps are nice in the hot weather.

when the weather warms up i change the lamps in my room on my dimmable wrap from F32T8/827 to F32T8/880(skywhite 8000K) makes it a lot cooler

8000K! That's basically blue!

looks like light blue compared to a "Blue" lamp

ahh. i bet 6500K lamps almost appear cool white when mixes with 8000K lamps lol.