You wanna know where to get this, that, or some other light bulb? Or where to get them for less? You may have come to the right place, but probably only if you are in the USA. Most suppliers mentioned here are in the USA. Light bulbs for residential use are usually designed for 120 volts. The AC line/mains voltage and frequency is not the same in all countries.
Lowest price on Philips light bulbs - Sears and Home Depot.
Lowest price on GE light bulbs - K-Mart, next best is Wal Mart.
Best selection of these - Home Depot with Lowes a close second.
Store brand light bulbs at supermarkets and drug stores are normally decent quality (usually General Electric, sometimes Sylvania) light bulbs, as long as the life expectancy and lumen light output on the package resemble those of name brand ones. (Note that if you compare Soft White with Standard light bulbs, the Soft White ones will be rated for slightly lower light output.)
High prices - Rite Aid, Eckerds, with CVS a little lower.
1. If you don't mind buying ones made in Mexico, you can get decent quality Philips ones for about $2.40 to $2.50 at Sears or Home Depot.
2. You can get USA-made Sylvania ones for around $2.40-2.75 at Drug Emporium and at a similar price at Lowes.
3. K-Mart has USA-made GE ones for about $2.50. The skinnier T6-1/2 ones are about $2.90 at K-Mart. Wal Mart does not charge much more.
4. If the bulb in your refrigerator has nothing plastic within about 2 inches above it, and one of those 40 watt appliance bulbs will fit, use that. Just beware that K-Mart seems to be testing the waters with inflationary pricing of 40 watt appliance bulbs while having better-than-average prices for most other lightbulbs!
5. If an appliance bulb is OK AND nothing will drip on it AND you always close the door gently, use an ordinary 25 or 40 watt light bulb.
6. Cheap tubular bulbs made in China and costing around $2 are available in some hardware stores. They don't look as good to me as Philips, GE, or Sylvania ones do, however. 7. Some hardware stores are not keeping up with most supermarkets and drug stores in inflating the price of General Electric tubular bulbs. But if you see any 60 watt ones, avoid them unless you are sure the much higher heat output is OK. 40 watt and smaller tubular fridge bulbs have a vacuum, 60 watt ones are gas filled and the gas conducts heat from the filament to the bulb surface.
One particular bulb in high demand is the 300 watt tubular "Type J" halogen bulb for those torchiere lamps. Do not use a 500 watt bulb even though in some stores, the 500 is cheaper or the only one there. A torchiere lamp rated for use with no more than a 300 watt bulb is a fire hazard with a 500 watt bulb. The wiring, especially where it connects to things, does not reliably stay cool enough with the higher current. The switch and any dimmer circuitry also do not reliably handle the higher current.
I just got an e-mail from someone that G.E. brand 300 watt bulbs are available at Home Depot for $5.88 for a 2-pack. Compare this against $8 to $13 per bulb at supermarkets and chain drugstores other than Drug Emporium!
As for those little 20 watt bulbs? My favorite is Sylvania, but GE and Philips are at least close. In my experience, the Radio Shack ones are much dimmer and less white in color.
As for halogen bulbs to screw into a regular light socket? My favorite ones are the 100, 75, and 60 watt Sylvania ones. They may say "Capsylite". I don't think the Philips ones nor the odd-wattage Sylvania ones are as good. Neither did Consumer Reports as of October 1992. The Sylvania ones are sometimes available at a good price at Drug Emporium.
Sylvania brand ones, such as the Dulux EL series which is generally a better one for indoors, are available at good prices at Lowes and Drug Emporium. Lowes has those nice attractive white globe 15 and 20 watt ones. You can also get some of these at Ikea.
Philips brand ones, such as the 18 watt one that is good oudoors, are available at good prices at Sears and Home Depot. The selection is better at Home Depot.
General Electric ones are also available at Home Depot.
You will usually find a few to maybe a fair variety of General Electric ones at K-Mart and probably a few at Wal-Mart.
Many people have bad comments on Lights of America. My experience is limited to the extent of possibly being a too-small-sample, but it has not been good. If you want their products, you can find them at K-Mart, Home Depot, and probably in other places.
I have my experiences, test results, and some Consumer Report's test resultshere.
As for who makes these and where to get them? I know of three manufacturers:
Emess Lighting
Energy Federation Inc. in Natick, MA
Good Earth Lighting
As for a source of these? I know of LightSite, http://www.litesite.net. A good point in their site is their catalog page, http://www.lightsite.net/catalog.html.
But what what you really want are the fluorescent type. They work a lot better. The best prices are at Home Depot. Expect to pay around $12 to $16 for a bulb, regardless of wattage and size. A bulb in a fixture will cost more, and you can also get this at Home Depot.
K-Mart and Wal-Mart sell a few fluorescent style blacklights for approx. $22. One is a 22 watt 8-inch circular tube with a ballast-adapter to fit it in a regular light socket. The other is a 2 foot long "stick" fixture with a 20 watt bulb. Both appear to have cheap or even resistor ballasts, so be prepared for power consumption around 36-40 watts, more heat than usual, and a little less UV/light than usual for the bulb's rated wattage. I believe they now also sell a 15 watt fixture with a real ballast.
You can get fluorescent style blacklights at Spencer Gifts, which is in some malls. Check your phone book. Prices will be higher and quality may not be as good as you can get from Home Depot.
Hosfelt Electronics (http://www.hosfelt.com) (800-524-6464, 740-264-6464) sells a 4 watt fluorescent fixture with a blacklight bulb. The catalog number is 10-113 and the listed price was $4.95 (recent price cut) according to their 99B late spring 1999 catalog. A replacement bulb (F4T5BLB) costs $2.49 and has the catalog number 10-114.
Electronic Goldmine is selling these also. (800-445-0697, 602-451-7454, http://www.goldmine-elec.com.) Their catalog number for the whole unit is G9589 with a price of $6.95. Their catalog number for just a bulb is G9598 with a price of $3.49.
I have doubts on the quality of these particular ("Derma Spec") 4 watt units and bulbs.
There is an obnoxious feature of the 4 watt "Derma Spec" fixture - an automatic shutoff after 1 minute. Go here for the hack to defeat this.
You can get blacklights from Edmund Scientific, but prices are higher here.
You can get these from American Light (see below).
High pressure sodium lamps will usually cost $20 to $30 for wattages 150 watts or less, and a little more for higher wattages up to 400 watts.
Metal halide lamps of 50 to 400 watts are available at Home Depot and Lowes and usually cost around $30-35.
Another source - Bulbs.com, http://www.bulbs.com.
American Light, a supplier of specialty lamps including projector lamps, microscope lamps, medium pressure mercury vapor lamps, medical and surgical lamps, graphic arts lamps, aquarium and custom fluorescent lamps, and tubular germicidal lamps. They make custom lamps as well. They also sell PL/twintube sockets and semi-oddball sockets.
Pureland Supply, a supplier
of specialty lamps such as microscope lamps, photographic lamps,
photoflash lamps and large flashtubes, etc. They also supply the usual
mercury, metal halide, and sodium lamps as well as ballasts.
Phone: 800-664-6671, Web: http://www.purelandsupply.com
When nothing else can do, there are some desperation measures: Look in long-established appliance repair shops. Look in thrift shops for these bulbs and room-deodorizing lights with these bulbs. WARNING - be prepared to be disappointed. Be prepared to find some other way to get your ozone or your shortwave UV.
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