Current CFLs have decent life. Older CFLs - the ones that lit up a second after the switch is flipped - had shorter-than-advertised life and I definitely lost money on these. I calculate my break-even point for current ~67-cent-CFLs to be just a few months so conversion's definitely worth it now. For the folks returning to incandescents, heard a news story that CA has or will ban their sale because of their higher watts/lumen and a guy who's planning to save enough for his lifetime use. Where CA goes, the nation may follow.