Guys, guys ,guys.
Take a deep breath and slow down.
I actually worked for several years for an electronic ballast manufacturer. Universal Lightning Technologies, if you ask. I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.
Very high startup voltages are only found in instant start ballasts. For a long, 75 watt, 8 feet tube, the starting voltage was at its highest 800 volts.
For preheat tubes, and specifically, for short length tubes, the startup voltage is far lower.
For a preheat, 4 feet, T12 tube the open circuit voltage was around 250 volts.
We were in the process of starting to build CFLs when I left the company so I did not have much experience with them, but they were always preheat. I have opened up many CFLs during these last years, and with the exception of some piss-poor Chinese ones, all the CFLs I have seen are not instant start but preheat ones.
What you are correct though, is that you have to use good probes which are rated for the correct voltage.