We've heard it said that an inkjet printer is a trojan horse for inkjet cartridges - the printer is sold cheap because the manufacturer makes the most money on the sale of inkjet cartridges. After all, if you use them to print stuff, you can expect to pay for the ink. Applying the same sense to home lighting hasn't worked for us.
From today we expect to save a lot of money on light bulbs. Our last Micromark GU10 Mains Halogen lamp expired in a pop today and we rejoiced. At nearly £10 each these bright and allegedly good value bulbs allow you to use halogen spot lamps wherever a transformer would be out of place. Often called simply 'mains halogen', and more succintly in this house 'a disappointment' they enable us to use some awesome hi-tech light fittings. The running cost however is another matter. In the space of a year a four-lamp fitting costing £90 has cost as much again in replacement bulbs. But now, by simply removing a few screws, the Micromark spotlight track can be dumped in the attic. This technology may one day find its moment, but just now we'll keep the fitting as a reminder. Micromark are at www.micromark.co.uk but there's no advice here. If you are similarly afflicted, cheaper replacement GU10 bulbs can be found at Argos and Ikea.
