Lighting – Why did the bulbs in the recessed lights burn out

As I don't know the interns of this dimmer it might switch when the alternating voltage (and therefore the current with resistive loads) crosses zero. To detect the phase (crossing 0V will occur at 0° 180° and 360° which is again 0° - you might want to look it up here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_(waves) ) and the type of load (e.g. inductive loads delay the flow of current depending on their inductance and the frequency in relation to the voltage. I could not find a text on wikipedia describing that so here's a plain image: http://people.sinclair.edu/nickreeder/eet155/PageArt/phaseInductor.gif

To detect the type of load it has to observe the mains line for a short period of time without regulating it.

The issue does not occur on light loads because most dimmers can handle inductive, capacitive and resistive loads quite well on low power levels.

By letting the dimmer "cool down" you may erase its short term memory so it has to resynchronize every time you switch it on.

Again: As the internals of this dimmer (or better: the two) are not known I can't provide a better answer. A newer hardware revision usually improves the product. Also chinese manufacturers tend to produce lower quality products as seen here: http://hackaday.com/2012/08/15/buying-cheaper-electronics-and-not-saving-money/

I wonder if the bulb is not seating properly in the fixture, possible because of its shape. Are your new 130-volt bulbs wider or shallower than the originals? I've had that problem with some CFL bulbs, where they wouldn't screw in far enough to make electrical contact.

If this is the issue, you might be able to see slight scratching on the sides of the new bulbs where they are rubbing against the edge of the fixture.