I started the conversion to CFL when they first started to come out... I bought a phillips CFL for $28 back when they first came out (1999/2000 ish?). Longest lasting bulb I have owned to date, ran 24-7 in a hallway fixture for about 4-5 years till it started to "flicker" and was retired to the washroom, finally gave up about a year or so ago. I made the "full" conversion to CFL about 3-4 years ago. All the rest of my bulbs are the "4-pack for $8 at your local home improvement store" CFLs.... I've burned up 3 or 4 of them over the last few years.
What I have learned:
cheap CFLs don't last long
cheap CFL + 24-7 = fast death
cheap CFL + 24-7 + verticle (pointing up) fixture = faster death
cheap CFL + heat (or lack of air flow?) = fastest death.
What I discovered is that using the cheap CFL inside a fixture with a globe kills a CFL in a few months. I on a hunch, did an experiment... after killing 3 cheap CFLs in my hallway fixture (has a globe), instead of completely installing the globe (yes I know I can omit the globe, I chose "fashion" over "form"), I screwed the globe fixing screws in and instead of securing the globe the globe now "sits" on the screws.... its been two years and the CFL hasn't popped yet.
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