I have three helicals that are like that. It takes about 1-2 seconds to light the lamp. i noticed they have a very faint buzz to them. Normally the buzzing of a ballast doesn't bother me, but it was a high pitched scream-like buzz. It was extremely faint, but it was enough to drive me insane when i was doing my Algebra. So now i use LED. Saves money and frustration. i like to open up dead CFLs though. I don't know how to fix them.
Yeah. I like the PL shapes tubes better in the CFLs. If CFLs have been around for a pretty long time, how come in the past 5 years everyone is making such a big deal about buying them? I honestly think LED has a better shot than CFL at becoming the leading source of residential lighting. I don't want LED to replace linier fluorescent lighting or HID lighting though. CFLs have too many quality problems and just look plain funky.
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So now i use LED. 
Saves money and frustration. i like to open up dead CFLs though. I don't know how to fix them. 