startup time is another good column. A CFL that takes 4 seconds to fire up isn't a good candidate for a motion-detector light. A metal halide pendant that takes 30-60 seconds to full-brightness would be absurd in a garage door opener, or as a refrigerator light (just to pick obvious failures). In an office or workshop, it might not be a problem to wait a minute until you get full-intensity, and MH lighting can be had in very pleasing CRI (color rendering index?) values.
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