I recently switched my bedroom/office overhead lights to CFL from 40 watt GE Reveal (which I learned about from this BBS; thanks guys!!). Trying to replicate the full spectrum brightness of the Reveals, I chose with a 5500K "bright white". Seriously, I hate the yellow glow from ordinary lights, so I had to compensate.
Um, but I compensated a bit too much. 5500K CFL's, even at 9 watt / 40 watt equivalent, are DAMN white. In fact, they're so bright, they're dark. The corners of my room, ~12 feet away from the light source itself, seem horribly dark. The CFL's are exposed; there is no cover over the light (because it makes them look yellow and dim. Maybe that's the problem.
I'm not too familiar with the Reveals other than seeing them on the shelves with their odd blue tint, but it sounds to me like full spectrum is a marketing ploy anyway since the whole visible spectrum (and a lot of invisible is already present in even the cheapest bulb). Like others have suggested, you just need to try a different color temperature of CFL that more closely matches the 'color' of the white light from your Reveals. Maybe you'd like one of
these.As for the cover, I assume you mean something to diffuse the light more? The Reveals you like have no diffusion but CFLs are diffuse by design due to their phosphor coating on the glass, but GE does supposedly make some
CFLs inside a frosted incandescent shell. Maybe that would work?
Stu
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