Local second-hand listings are your friends then! Got an enormous amount of interesting lamps and ballasts from second-hand sites. Some truly unique. How about a NOS pure gallium-filled 400W violet metal halide lamp for just a few bucks? Or a blue 1kW one?



 

The Oregon ban started right as I started collecting fluorescent lamps, and light bulbs in general. That actually kickstarted my interest in them. The Oregon law prevents stores from stocking up on new fluorescent tubes, and they have until Jan. 1st of 2025 to sell the remaining stock of pin-base fluorescent lamps (CFLs were banned in 2024). The Home Depot near me has some pretty slim pickings, but other stores like the Ace Hardware in Progress Ridge still has a fairly good supply.

The bans don't really affect me that much because I can always drive to Washington or get the lamp shipped to me if I really need to buy a new one. Most times I can find one in a thrift store or on Craigslist for cheap, though.

I am wondering if there's any good stores in Albuquerque, NM since they're ban-free. It's a 5 hourish drive but if there are any stores stocking good tubes and fixtures it'll be worth it. Down in time for lunch and a bit for shopping, back in time for late dinner.

Yeah, that's what blows about the LED tubes.

One interesting thing I noticed last time I was in the local Home Depot & made a point to walk through the light aisle & look at tubes, it was mostly still LED, but at some point they brought back a limited selection of fluorescents (stuff like F32's)

I wonder if any of you in Colorado had problems with purchasing high CRI F40 tubes online.

I haven't tried (have no need for any more F40's), but as long as you can find them should be no issues until after the end of the year.

Local second-hand listings are your friends then!

And technically banned in CO (even if given away free, since that's still a "transfer") starting next year, though it'd be hard for them to control such...

I am wondering if there's any good stores in Albuquerque, NM since they're ban-free. It's a 5 hourish drive ...

I wonder the same about Wyoming (closest cities would be a 3+ hour drive... way too far for me, but wouldn't be surprised if there's still some good stuff there)

Another thing I've wondered about is out on the eastern plains of CO, there's all those small towns that might have little old hardware stores full of interesting stuff. If I ever go stormchasing out there, I'd be tempted to stop in one. .lol.

Well a bit of a bump, but the dark times have fallen in Colorado.

99% of stores have pulled fluorescents off the shelves in Colorado Springs. Except one chain: Ace.
Seems they didn't get the memo, and neither did the employees since nobody knows when they'll pull fluorescents off the shelves.

Nonetheless, took advantage last-minute and nabbed a few Philips tubes off the shelves, including some F14T12 tubes, but sadly busted one...
Will try to go to the rest of the Ace in town to see if they have any warm-white Philips F20T12's. They have an abundance of F15T12's though.

@Foxtronix

99% of stores have pulled fluorescents off the shelves in Colorado Springs. Except one chain: Ace.

Same in my area, all the big stores cleared out their fluorescents by the end of the year.
Ace had a few sizes of fluorescents in late Dec when I went in to look at Christmas light markdowns.. no clearances or notices that fluorescent would be going way, I bet that stuff is still on the shelves.

I stopped by my local Home Depot two nights ago... every type of fluorescent was in stock... Polish F32T8s, Polish F96T12s, Indian F20T12s, Chinese Circlines, Polish F40s, etc... the only lamp types I didn't see were F14 and F15T12s. Ballasts are also readily available.

Surprisingly, it appears to be that these lamps are still in demand around here. There was a full box of Daylight F15T8s when I came by three months ago, and when I visited a few days ago there were only two left.

Even on the HD website, people are still writing reviews on lamps such as F96s... I guess PA folk (homeowners in particular) are cheapskates? 

I haven't checked the reviews here, but all those lamp types were still available at the ones near me until the ban. Seems a lot of people are/were using fluorescent lights around my area.

For now, it seems like for us Californians now dealing with a fluorescent ban, we may have to ask some out of state collectors to assist us with getting any new fluorescent lamps shipped to us if eBay sellers are unable to ship fluorescent lamps to us.

In ebay's case, I'm more worried about the seller not packing the tubes right and postal service breaking them than ebay stopping you from buying them.
Heck, I'm going to buy a daylight deluxe circline for that "circline as a ringlight" thing.

Same in my area, all the big stores cleared out their fluorescents by the end of the year.
Ace had a few sizes of fluorescents in late Dec when I went in to look at Christmas light markdowns.. no clearances or notices that fluorescent would be going way, I bet that stuff is still on the shelves.

Any F20T12's? I have 4 GE F20T12 Bright white's but at 3500k they're not "warm" enough.

Also, looks like the big-chain retailers, such as Lowes, now block purchasing online within a "ban state." This blows.