I've had a terrible time with CFL's.
4 years ago I put one of those large, 3-bulb yard fixtures outside and put outdoor type CFL's in them. About 2 years ago we bought 15 CFL's from Sam's club to replace almost all of our incandescents in our house.
They were GE's and after 9 months
only 4 were still working.
I thought we had a bad bunch so spent another fortune and replaced the burned out ones with various MFG's we got from Home Depot. Among them were 4 low output, outdoor rated floods, and 1 high output outdoor rated flood for our flagpole.
All the floods
burned out within 3 months, and I replaced the flagpole with another high power, which
burned out in 2 months.
So I purchased/replaced all the outdoor CFL's with incandescent types, and tossed the burned-out CFL carcases
in the trash.
Most of the 2nd batch of CFL's we got from Home Depot had burned out after a couple months so we bought a case of 60W bulbs and have replaced as the CFL's continue to fry. I think I paid about $0.30 per 60w bulb. (Frying is an accurate term: They emit an actual frying sound)
Out of approx 35 CFL's we bought, only 7 are still working- including the 3 in the yard light. I have no idea why those oldest 3 are still working-they go on every night with a photocell.
Power spikes are a possibility but no other electronic devices are effected in our home. We've tossed out so much money on those things and obviously created a sore spot. Sure they come with warranty but with the burn out rate don't want the hassle.
If I were living in California and they mandated those things I'd have to box up all the fried-out ones and mail them to my congress person.
-Steve