do coil bulbs work?

Question
iv heard alot of bad hype about uv coil bulbs like they burn out in a month and almost never provied suficiant uvb, but r they really that bad? i mean wen ever i get instruction on uv they say to use those repti sun 10.0 tube bulbs. the onley thing is they cost alot compared to those coil bulbs. well i geuse ther must be a reson for that, right?

Answer
Hi Nick,
There are problems with them....and its not their burning out..but their lack of proper uvb for the reptiles and causing some other health problems.  Here is a brief paragraph I wrote on proper lighting for many reptiles...  please be sure to read the links I've provided which will take you to good info on the coils and many other types and brands of uvb.
LIGHTING:
There are tubes and bulbs that say ''full spectrum'' but they do not produce any uvb.
Supplying uvb can be done in a few ways. By special lights
that come in fluorescent tubes or special screw in bulbs
(mercury vapor)that are designed to produce uvb and heat.
The tubes do not produce heat. UVB is needed by the reptile
to be able to absorb the calcium in the foods they eat.
With out the uvb, they will develop metabolic bone disease.
With the tubes, they must say that they produce BOTH uvb and
uva. The uvb needs to be 5% or higher. Repti Sun 10.0 (not compact) and the Repti Glo 8.0's are a great source for uvb. The old "favorites" are the repti sun 5.0 or the Iguana light..which are the same tube, just different package.
These need to be positioned 6-8 inches over the reptile for the 5% and 8% and 8-10 inches for the 10% so that they get the uvb that is needed. The tubes need to be replaced every 6-9
months as that they stop producing UVB long before they stop producing light.
******There has been new studies that have proven that compact uvb lights, both the spiral/coil type and the ones that look like long "U's" laying on their side and a few other brands are causing what basically amounts to snow blindness in reptiles.  To read more on this, you can go to
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm ********
On the mercury vapor , they also produce heat. They also
produce the uvb and uva. The best on the market now are the
Mega Rays.(http://www.megaray.com) The distance from these are greater
than the uvb tubes and the directions must be followed that
are listed for the light. When using the mercury vapor
lights, you don't need to have one light for uvb and one for
heat. The Mercury vapor lights provide both. Small tanks generally are not suitable for the mercury vapor lights due to distance.
Also, tons of valuable info on uvb can be found at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UVB_Meter_Owners/
Hope this all has helped you out~!!!!