I find 58  watt fluorescent chokes will work very well on 240 volts in the US .

@Ace100w120v, the only reason why I remember Factory-2-U was because of that cheapo CFL. Otherwise, I might've forgotten about that store as well. lol
Looking back, I remember that store had carts that had very long metal pipes attached to them for some reason. No idea why though.
I also remember that store being lit with 8 footer T8 strip fixtures. Interesting store, with their own brand of lighting for sale...
so they had other CFL's as well but for some reason I never looked at them in detail. I wish I did.

After reading through one of Iwasaki Lighting’s Japanese catalogs, I have found some possible evidence of there being 415V, 440V, and 460V AC voltages being present in the country after looking at some ballasts being designed for their 2000W metal halide lamps such as the M20BCC415A02 ballast being rated for 415V supplies, the M20BCC44B02 ballast being rated for 440V supplies, and the M20BCC46B02 ballast being rated for 460V supplies. It seems probable that those high AC voltages may have been present to allow for the most efficient operation of metal halide lamps for stadium lighting.

I once got two electronic ballasts from outside. One exploded due to a short and on one I experimented connecting one end of one tube and one end of another tube. Both tubes glowed until a pop happened.

You guys pronounce "aluminum" as "al-oo-min-eeyum." Since when was there another "i?" The periodic table doesn't say so.

I've had a few of those little 14/15/20w preheat chokes get smoked
A 2xF40 RS went up in smoke in my bedroom (it had been thermal-cycling for months before that, but I thought nothing of it since I'd seen lights in school do the same)
Had a few of the little ballast/choke things in those LOA F40 shoplights go up in smoke.
A 2xF32 electronic RS ballast in a fishtank light was probably the most recent smoker..
(most electronic's I've found "just die" which is far better)

Those sketchy LOA capacitive sidac things sure did tend to release the magic smoke. Forgot about them and the normal-power-factor rapid start ballasts that would thermally cycle with 34 watt 'energy saver' lamps.

The discussion about power factor and the 'capacitive' load of LEDs brings up a point. Many years ago, I recall it being speculated on here that the proliferation of CFLs and their less-than-high power factor would cause a noticeable strain on the grid. Has this been absolved in the age of LED?

Not sure of the CRI, but I did use Halophosphate Warm White T12's for my room for a bit there before I moved out of that particular apartment.
https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=1854&pos=7&pid=217634. (I still have those 25w energy saver lamps.)
This was while I was getting ready to move... I used them for several weeks. Although I don't prefer it as general room lighting, I definitely
don't hate it. I usually personally like Halophosphate better than Triphosphate, in most cases.
The worst Halophosphate Warm White that I've ever seen, was -- believe it or not -- from a CFL! A triple U-tube 15w CFL, made by the company
"Factory 2-U," which I had bought from one of their stores as a kid. Very rare scenario seeing that form of CFL with that kind of Phosphor,
but it was by far the worst Halophosphate WW I had ever seen. I confirmed it was Halophosphate when I flipped my eyes up and down while switching
the lamp off/on constantly. The afterglow was very bright orange, almost yellow. My skin appeared very, very pale... and the lamp lumens seemed
extremely lower than the average CFL, etc. Definitely dim. Might've also been underpowered. Cheapo construction as well.

I forgot about those stores 20 years ago!

While I have been looking through American HID ballast catalogs that were printed before the mercury vapor ballast ban from 2008, I seem to notice that they make no listings for 1000W H34 mercury vapor ballasts even though they mention mercury vapor ballasts designed for the other wattages. Because of this, I am interested in finding out when 1000W H34 mercury vapor ballasts were discontinued for the USA market. I have been under the suspicion that those ballasts may likely have been discontinued sometime long before the 2008 mercury vapor ballast ban took place.

As a child, my bedroom had a 3x60w 'cluster' fixture. At one time, my parents put in yellow bug bulbs (GE green box Era to date me) and later transparent red, blue, and green party bulbs. Had lots of GE or Sylvania party bulbs as a kid.

The first CFL we ever had was in a "banker" type lamp in my bedroom.