The horrid Wen Tai starter!
This is very true. I nearly had a fire caused by a horrid (and faulty) Wen Tai starter!
This Osram starter may be faulty. The tube manages to strike sometimes without the starter!
It's probably not the starter.. I have found that 8w tubes are very bad when it comes to self-starting. Better to use S2 type as they react faster.
Osram ST111's seem to bi dimmer than other starters though, I have a couple of them and can't see them glow unless the room is dark.