Years ago there were Door to Door long life light bulb salesmen.."The last light bulb you will ever buy ma'am, you will leave these to your grandchildren"
Heck you used to buy a case of lamps and get a toaster...lol
As far as cathode guards..EVERY flourescent manufacturer worth 2 cents has a CG on their lamps. And while there is some debate as to extending life, it does prevent end darkening from phosphors settleing on the hot electrodes and thus falling out of the cycle, similar to a "getter" on HID lamps.....