I hear a lot of people bad mouthing Philips Alto bulbs saying they damage ballasts, and that they don't last long.  To be honest those are the only bulbs they use at my work, and we have never really experienced these problems.   I work as a diesel mechanic in a 24 hour shop, so the lights are always on.  I am not trying to step on anyone's toes here, nor am I trying to stir up a dust storm.  I am just curious.  Can someone clue me in?

When it comes to Philips- I've found issues with early failure with the compact fluorescents which often take out the ballasts in the process, same with the GE compact fluorescents, and have had very bad experience with the Alto F32T12s with them going EOL way too early as well as taking out ballasts too.  It's kind of hit or miss with the F32T12s though.  The earlier generation of F32T12s seemed to do slightly better then the newer 700 series.  Those are the absolute worse!  I DO have praise for Philips HPS lamps as well as incandescent bulbs.  I had a few HPS bulbs in some of the outside fixtures at a couple church buildings go almost 20 years (on photocell) before they killed the ballast as they did their EoL fanatics.  But some just finally died without killing the ballast. 

It may be Altos are less tolerant to abuse, not as much when in use, but even during handling and distribution. I observed the same problem with electronic ballasts here - they are way lighter, so encourage raw handling (by distributors, but even by some electricians) but way more fragile. Consequence are lot of inner breakages (component-PCB joints,...)

Then many T12 fixtures were designed to keep the lamps as cold as possible (sometimes even harvesting the draft from the building air ventilation system). That worked great for T12 operated at lossier magnetic ballast (as these rather tend to loose brightness by overheating), but the Altos run there too cold - at first they are designed to run at the higher surface temperature, but the lower power input and lower ballast losses do not heat up the fixture.

And big part of the reputation may be caused by the unusual failure mode: If "normal" lamp fail, it drop brightness and die completely, so it is "just another boring dead tube", so nobody remember it. As Altos turn pink, it catch everyone's attention...

Then many T12 fixtures were designed to keep the lamps as cold as possible (sometimes even harvesting the draft from the building air ventilation system). That worked great for T12 operated at lossier magnetic ballast (as these rather tend to loose brightness by overheating), but the Altos run there too cold - at first they are designed to run at the higher surface temperature, but the lower power input and lower ballast losses do not heat up the fixture.

Why the ALTOs requires higher surface temperature than the full mercury lamps?

In order to not condensate the mercury there.
The T8 are designed for the same temperature of the STILL ambient air. But as they have less surface, that mean higher surface temperatures. Therefore the lamps should be designed for such higher glass temperature operation. But when there is some air current around the lamp, the lamp temperature drop. And this drop is the same fraction of the difference between the surface and air temperature, in absolute numbers it become larger for the narrower T8.

So if I understand correctly the problems associated with the Altos are on the T8s?

Yes and no.
All T8 would run cooler in some T12 fixtures than designed to, Altos are only more sensitive for the colder operation, the full mercury lamps endure it better.

So Alto;s can be made to behave normally by adding a T12 plastic sleeve on them ?

So Alto;s can be made to behave normally by adding a T12 plastic sleeve on them ?

You have to try...

I think the 34 watt T12 lamps are a problem, not just Phillips Alto lamps but they tend ( all the Altos) to dim out more than other low mercury lamps.

I have some F34T12 alto's, and the filaments of them break too easily.
The light quality is also worse than standard fluorescents.

Ditto on the filiments breaking easier than those of GE and Sylvania on the T-8s. 

I also find on longer lamp 8 footer alto T12 the go mercury starve faster then the 4 foot lamp
those lamp known to rectifi as well killing the the slimline ballast. the 60w econocrap is even worse.

Thank you everyone.