Guess I got lucky. I bought 3 of the 10W 24" T8/T12 replacements from Wally (IHB) last summer, and put them into a desk with ballasts that are probably 15-20 years old. They've worked like a champ. "Great Value" brand. About the same hum as I had w/ fluorescents in.

I've also replaced some of the standard, incandescent bulbs w/ LED bulbs from Wally (Great Value again). They work fine too. They were advertised as dimmable, but they hum like mf'ers if you even dim them a fraction below 100%. Brand name LED bulbs (GE/Philips) did not.

There could very well be quality-control issues with the cheap Chinese pop-outs.