OK, who has an opinion on these things? Fluorescent lights

Issue 1: Those darn office lights. They flicker, annoy me, give me headaches.

Issue 2: Not suitable for stage lighting. They just aren't there. Needs a constant element to work for that environment, not exciting a tube of gas with an electrical current.

Issue 3: Seems to take too long to come on. I don't like waiting. I tend to move quickly. Don't like that "flickering to come on. Either snap right on or stay off.

Yeah yeah, they are trying to kill off incandescent bulbs. But the first thing I did when I moved into the house I am in now is to remove all the screw-in fluorescent bulbs with incandescent bulbs. The other lights that I could not remove are these stupid other connectors which are a pain to remove and are not screw-ins. I hate them.

Sure, energy savings is nice. Longer life is debatable, they don't seem to last longer to me. But with less light, don't come on right away, I say to hell with them.

LOL. i agree. not too fond of them and definetly not a use for lighting for stages or anything.

I gave those compact fluorescents a shot, and I was extremely disappointed for the same reasons you listed above.

The light is also very, very 'sterile' and lacks warmth. They can buzz in addition to the inherently-perceptible flicker.

Perhaps these things will improve with time, but I cannot foresee them ever being used in the bulk of stage lighting. Maybe for some interesting effects ideas, who knows. They cannot be effectively dimmed without destroying them, so their potential at the moment is even more limited.

In the mean time, I just cannot use them, as they produce too much discomfort for me.

Ah yes, that annoying buzz. Thank you for reminding me of that.

But leaving stage and event lighting out of it, man, I am just not a fan of those florescent bulbs.

Yup, not pleasant for me to be around those. Hurts my eyes. Today, I had to work on three aquariums(my little 30 gallon, my wife's 160-gallon koi tank, and my mother in laws 150-gallon "monster fish tank") and my eyes are just hating life right now. All the tanks have florescent bulbs. The location where my mother in law's tank is is a business so it's got all florescent lighting. Got stuck for an hour at my father in law's shop(I do not maintain his saltwater aquarium) and yup, florescents...

Sort of glad my day job(and night job) is being self employed! Of course, sometimes my boss is a jerk....