It will hit 3 years of dusk - dawn use on 2nd July 2026 and shows little signs of wearing up!

@Danny How many years (or an approximate number of hours) has it done?

I best be patient with the 55w osram from 1996 that I have on test then lol

I agree all were excellent, but my impression is that they seemed to get even better every year right up to the end.  Whereas other factories began to focus on cost-saving with consequent cost reductions, Osram shut down its production before the others were dragged into that downward spiral.

@suzukir122, I often rely on part numbers myself such as “FC8T9/CW” when I want a halophosphate 22W T9 circline fluorescent lamp.

Yes, the "suggested" lamps are there because the sellers paid to boost the listings.

As for insane prices, tell me: how much does a carbon filament lamp cost? They haven't been produced since the '40s or '50s and they have been banned for a couple years now.

It comes down to simple economics, my friend: supply is low, but demand is also low, the price will remain low. The price would only skyrocket if everyone suddenly decided they
wanted to transition back to MV and such, in which case they would probably start producing them again.

Ah that makes sense, are these the same ballasts that sometimes actually break the ends on lamps at EOL?

That's good, I'm pretty sure manual start can be softer on the cathodes too compared to starters!

I’d say every one since inception 😎, I don’t think any bad lamps came out of Duke Mill👍

I have two F15T8 lamps that are Hungarian GE, made in about 2009 or 2010 and have had roughly a couple of hours every morning plus roughly dusk to midnight service since early 2011. Both are on choke ballasts with FS-2 starters. There is noticeable end bands, but they are still going strong. The package also indicated about 7500 hours at 3h/cycle. You should be good for lots of years.