I chuckle when it comes to lamp life, but first I have been extremely dissapointed in the color renditioning of the TCP brand CFL (I would rate it just better than an HPS - High pressure sodium) where as the GE and Sylvania styles I have are very acceptable.
The light output initially and over time as judged by the human eye (mine) is less than advertised. If I want the equivilent of 60W incandescent, I must go for the more expensive 18W CFL not the 13W.
Getting back to life, I have replaced over the past several years (in my home) every TCP brand CFL due to burn out (at least I think I have, and it was a total of 8 minimum, average age at death 12 months maximum, the paragraph below explains why three lasted about 6 months), and 2 of the 6 GE CFL (bought about 2 years ago). During the entire time I have replaced only 4 incandescents of which the majority of the house is and most are the original lamps in the fixtures at 14 years old.
That being said, I have one of the GE's in a fixture that blew incandescents, one per every 9 months, without problem. And I have one Sylvania CFL that I receieved 15 years ago when I first became aware of them, that is still going. From my experience it appears that heat takes these things out quite nicely and that the more open a fixture is, the longer they last (you should never mix these with incandescents in an enclosed fixture (duh! so I learned form my effort of trying to keep the light level up and improve color renditioning in 3 fixtures)).
My wifes biggest complaint with the GE 13W CFL's is the amount of light is down. After a couple of minute of warmup they come close, and she is getting used to them, but not in the bathroom thus the higher wattage. Again that old Sylvania is right there at full light within a few seconds, gotta love that blinking at turn on due to the built-in ballast type.
My favorite use for the CFL's... My drop light. For those who may be unfamiliar with they term, a drop light is a portable hand held lamp and guard used for working in tight places like on your car.
