bulbs dob't last without planting in a good compost . lamps are another matter. seriously.put them on a rotarydung heap, sorry,dimmer, they will last a lot longer.
 
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philips, GE, Osram, all good makes. buy from elec. wholesaler. by using a rotary dimmer, you are switching the lamps on low power so less likely to pop. remember that the peak value of a sine wave is √3 x RMS, so if hit by the peak , a momentary 400v.
 
Have a look on ebay and there are some very reasonable looking GU10 LED lamps at pretty good prices...I've ordered some 48 led 3w jobbies for the landing downlights....about 18 quid for 6....I'll report back on whether they are any good!..........(But yes....cheap halogen GU10's are hopeless)......also check there is plenty of airspace,not covered with insulation etc...overheating will reduce the life of even the best lamps.
 
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we have a GU10 fitting in our kitchen, buy Osram and Phillips lamps and have it on a dimmer set to 50%.

It still blows a lamp a fortnight!
blame the cooking fat. ( this can have a spoonerism applied without causing offence)
 
If you decide to add a dimmer make sure the manufacturers say it will work with halogen lamps. Halogen lamps can very often blow dimmers when they themselves blow. I think Varilight dimmers state that they will work with halogens. Alternatively fit an in line fuse.
 
blame the cooking fat. ( this can have a spoonerism applied without causing offence)
Halogens run very hot and are prone to early failure caused by grease. It's also a good idea to install them using a tissue or napkin to stop the grease from your fingers getting on them.

They're also very susceptible to failure from voltage instabilities and spikes. Have you tried the LED equivalents? They should give much better service life.
 
Have you got insulation over the fittings? Heat will be a contibuting factor.

Get LEDs or even the compact CFL ones.

EDIT: marvellously echoing what Marvo said an hour ago!
 
It is a minefield for the poor end user who doesn't know a lamp from a bulb. Here goes;

GU10 lamps often come in 1000, 2000 and 5000 hour variations, you think you are getting a good deal buying from the supermarket or DIY shop but that is rarely the case, they are almost always the cheaper variants.

As someone has already said search out your local electrical wholesaler, ask him for some 5000 hour GU10 lamps. They will cost more but you will likely get the life out of them, however;

It also depends on what they are in and the ambient temperature the usually work in, also the amount of time you have them on. if they are in a Fire rated Down light they will have a higher 'ambient' temperature and will last a lot less time than in an open backed fitting.

Again as someone has mentioned, there are options. LED lamps are leading the way forward some of the bigger ones are 'almost' as good as GU10 Philips do a 7W 'master LED' (Sorry no link, the Philips website is a mare), Aurora do a 8.5W LEDzworld (link Aurora - 'Passionate about Lighting' ). They are others, most claim about 30-50 hours life but they do cost quite a bit at the moment, the up side is that over their life span they will pay you back in electricity bill costs.

10 Gu10 50W lamps burning 351 days a year (counting for a few holidays) for an average 4 hours a day costing 8.5p per Kw/h will cost approx 59.67 a year to run .
the same in 8.5W LED lamps is only 10.14 !! (But the lamps cost a whole bunch more).

Think it through!
Enjoy.
 

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Gu10 Bulbs Blowing Too Often
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