yeah they're probably brighter than those older purplish Sylvania CWX 60W SuperSavers though lol.
same here, i wouldn't buy them at full price. Actually, since i don't have an 8ft fixture i wouldn't buy any F96 lamps...
The only time a buy any energy saving lamp is when it's either vintage or cool looking (those Philips 1997 Econ-o-watt lamps i grabbed have my favorite etch and the red etched 34W GEs are vintage so i got them).
I saw a F34T12 black-etched Watt Miser GE with the meatball logo at the restore but i didn't grab it since it wasn't anything interesting and i have enough of those 34W lamps as it is (only 5 but that's too many lol) And I'll have six 34W lamps when/if i get those preheaters from my cousins' grandma's basement and garage. I'll go for the ones in the garage first since they're simply suspended and the new fixtures and lamps are out there plus there are windows out there so i can take them down without setting up any work lights. So basically an infant could replace them (well not really; you know what I mean though). The ones in the basement are drilled right into the subfloor (since the ceiling is low down there i guess he didn't want to mount them to the joists or suspend them).
So since they're flush-mounted I'll need another person to help me remove them. Also one of the lights relies on its pull chain as the only switch so i'd need to shut off the breaker for the lights (which could kill power to the whole basement since older houses tend to have the breakers wired by room, not separete breakers for outlets and lights, which is required new electrical work since if you overload your outlets, having the lights in that room isn't going to help you in anyway. In my house my room and my brother's room share a breaker for the outlets and lights and my parents have their own. the downstairs lights have their own, the downstairs outlets have their own, the basement itself has its own subpanel in the utility room (main breaker is in the garage)
so getting the downstairs lights will come after the garage. When I get the ones in the garage I'll get my investment back too (the Sylvania CWP 70CRI lamps and the new starters). So in a way those lamps are just in "storage" in the fixtures since my uncle only uses the lights for a couple hours a month in the summer when he cuts the grass (the ride-on mower is in there). He doesn't cut the grass too often. Maybe once or twice a month... we cut ours once a week in the summer then we do it every other week to every two weeks when it gets cooler out since it doesn't grow as fast.
their ride-on doesn't like to always work so when he actually has the time to cut the grass between jobs it doesn't always cooperate. But anyway, so yeah the CWP lamps i installed probably still look like new. I wrote the installation date on them (my brother's birthday, 10/14/12) but that will rub off with hot water and a sponge since sharpie isn't permanent on glass.