Personally, I find T10 tubes to be an interesting size, but they're not very common at all, and I've only seen them in F40 length. What is the purpose of them. I've never seen any gear specifically rated for them. Do they work  properly with T8 or T12 gear? I have a nice westinghouse black ended F40T10CW and I'm curious what gear it should use.

The T10 lamps supposedly have MUCH higher life than the T12.  Use on rapid start for best life though it will work on PreHeat / SwitchStart. 


Powell

I got one T10 4 foot, and will try it on the RS fitting when the next old tube dies. Good Harper ballast on that tube, it has actually outlived 2 sets of lamps. First set did 12 years plus. Second set were used tubes, and I have a few left to kill. Got 3 NOS tubes for it as well.

I have few 40W T10's made in the early 2000s by cheap low quality manufacturers like Yizheng. The lamps seem to be rated exactly the same as T12s, come in packaging intended for T12s (loose in the box), and way shorter life than the T12's of the same manufacturers (most of which did not last long either)

At least in this case, probably attempts to cut down costs while still keeping compatibility with 40W gear

Yeah, my westinghouse says extended service. So they are designed for T12 gear?

Personally, I find T10 tubes to be an interesting size, but they're not very common at all, and I've only seen them in F40 length. What is the purpose of them. I've never seen any gear specifically rated for them. Do they work  properly with T8 or T12 gear? I have a nice westinghouse black ended F40T10CW and I'm curious what gear it should use.

i did have a magnetek watt reducer ballast from the 90's that had F40T10 listed as one of the lamps.

I also have some newer Advance Mk III ballasts that also list the T10 lamps on the label.

I haven't checked but maybe T-10's have more efficacy than T12. I've also seen Duro-Test market T-10's. Far as I know, they are fine for RS Ballast as I've seen them listed on ballast labels as well.

The cheap T10s i encountered have the same light output and power as the T12s from the same manufacturer

i have some of the cheapies.
f40t10/wld or such.
i have one with the lead busted at the the stem press dangling inside.other end ok and shield is there.missing on the bad end.lack of qc.

I have few 40W T10's made in the early 2000s by cheap low quality manufacturers like Yizheng. The lamps seem to be rated exactly the same as T12s, come in packaging intended for T12s (loose in the box), and way shorter life than the T12's of the same manufacturers (most of which did not last long either)

At least in this case, probably attempts to cut down costs while still keeping compatibility with 40W gear

The lighting compnay I use to work for was big into a lamp made by Philips back in the late 80's to early-mid 90's called a F40T10/TRITEN50. It was a 5000k direct replacement for any F40T12 lamp and was about twice the life and CRI of around 90, this lamp was made in the USA. Philips switched production to mexico around 1994 and it was amazing how bad the lamps got! The color variations from lamp to lamp were horrible and the lamps were actually about 3/16 inch longer! which made getting them into tight troffers an impossible feat! Another anoying "quality" of the mex tritens was the end caps and pin alignment were not always right on...I still have a case of the good ol' USA Tritens that I cherrish..

Also, GE once upon a time, made a VHO lamp (1500 ma) T10 in various length's up to 96"..

I had a pair of these T10 Triten 50s that made 7 or more years with lots of use. I finally retired them and gave them to someone as they had dimmed down a bit. Likely in the 40,000+++ hours the way I used them. I now have some Triten 50's but they are T12 ones.  The F96T12 Triton 50s will burn out your eyeballs! 

The Triten50 (USA MADE) was an impressive lamp.. I have three banks of single lamp open strip (with wire guards) F40T12's in my shop and I converted to the USA made Triten50's back in 1997. I LOVED the high lumen output and CRI but I went back to old school F40T12/D daylights soon after.. I just love the look of a classic T12 lamp on a magnetic ballast.. not the baddest or brightest but those F40T12/D lamps looks GREAT behind the wire guards...and my Advance RS2S40-TP MAGNETIC ballasts will outlive me.....

no more CHINKA-TRONIC crap for me ......"I learned my lesson about those inferior imports long before class was dismissed"  

A while back, I bought two cases of Daymar 6500K F40T10s and they have been good tubes, in daily use in my shop, on vintage preheat/switchstart fixtures.
http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-44890

I also have various other "Extended service" by Philips and Westinghouse and these very nice ones here:
http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-46232

And I reckon this tube answers that question...It says Rapid Start/Preheat:
http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-42845

I have some T10 F20s and at least one F30T10 also.  All seem to work fine on magnetic rapid start or preheat/switchstart.
This one came in a preheat/switchstart aquarium fitting:
http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-46365

I'm not sure, but almost all the 1198mm/48" JIS(Japan) lamps are T10.