Reply #18: The problem is that the manufacturers aren't putting out the quality bulbs.

[Xithras]

It IS possible to manufacture a CFL that can match the color temperature and quality of a traditional natual-light incandescent, but few companies make them and they aren't sold via normal retail channels. Instead, we get stuck with flickery lower-quality CFL's that can be sold in bulk for a buck-fifty each. I WOULD pay $5 a bulb for an incandescent quality CFL that fit into a normal lamp, but they won't sell them to me.

I run the N:Vision bulbs through most of my home, which are widely considered to have some of the best light quality available from a mass-market CFL, and it's still easy to detect a HUGE difference in quality when walking into my family room, the only room in my home still primarily lit by incandescents. The light is simply warmer and more natural. Give me that, in a CFL, and I'll switch tomorrow.

Manufacturers don't want to mass market the bulbs because they're more expensive to produce and have smaller profit margins.