We have a chandelier of very similar design from a different brand. It's very good looking. The glass absorbs a fair amount of the light which a) casts a nice glow in the room, but b) reduces the usable lumens.

In our case the glass has a sort of découpage on it creating the "golden" effect. I know this because one day my wife asked me to take the glass down and clean it. Turns out the découpage is water-soluble.... They're not ruined, per se, but they look completely different now -- no more "golden" effect. YMMV.

I think this is the first I've heard of the new GU24 light fixture socket for CFLs, does anyone know how widely available these bulbs are? It looks like they're $4-$10 a bulb online, but I don't think I've seen any in person (possibly due to the fact I didn't know I should be looking.)

The only good reason to buy a fixture with a GU24 socket is if you are a landlord who provides electricity and wants to make sure that the tennants use energy saving bulbs.

I almost got suckered into this. No wonder these are on sale - who want to buy a light fixture that requires a special "plug-in" 4-pin light bulb instead of the standard screw-in light bulb.
If I bought this, I would have to revise all my jokes about "how many (category) does it take to screw in a light bulb?" Some of them won't even make sense any more, viz., "How many flies does it take to plug in a light bulb?" What a stupid product.

moserk wrote:I almost got suckered into this. No wonder these are on sale - who want to buy a light fixture that requires a special "plug-in" 4-pin light bulb instead of the standard screw-in light bulb.
If I bought this, I would have to revise all my jokes about "how many (category) does it take to screw in a light bulb?" Some of them won't even make sense any more, viz., "How many flies does it take to plug in a light bulb?" What a stupid product.

The primary purpose of the GU24, as I understand it, is to preclude the use of incandescent bulbs in the fixture. This may not make much difference for your typical chandelier, but for a "mushroom" type light, this allows the manufacturer to skip a lot of the heat shielding they'd normally need to include, and to produce a slimmer-profile design.

I have a large number of GU24-socketed fixtures in my house. Though I've never had to replace a bulb (these also fit LED bulbs, and I use a mixture of both), I have a 4-pack of CFLs that I bought at Home Depot sitting in my closet. I believe they were about $2.50 apiece. They're just on the shelf; no need to special order or anything.

Oh, and lastly: your joke still makes sense, as it's not a simple plug. The GU24 is a "twist-and-lock" mechanism; the male end of the bulb mates into the female end of the socket without any metal-on-metal contact, and then you twist it into place. See http://tinyurl.com/cxoy5hx .

Will this work on a dimmer, considering the type of bulb?

How many woot monkeys can you hang from a chandelier ?

I have mine on a dimmer, works great. It comes with bulbs that are already dimmable.