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Our experiences with LED light bulb replacements

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tomos:
I've only one led bulb at home, but have seen a few elsewhere, and I notice that they never seem to be quite as bright as the equivalent brightness in other bulbs. In one friend's we even reinstated the old bulb to compare - I think it was 60W, and the equivalent-to-60W led was noticeably weaker.
Warm white is definitely a much nicer light too.

cranioscopical:
A few years ago I swapped all my bulbs (> 100) to CF and found that they came nowhere near to the lifespan indicated, so I'm a  bit skeptical about the promised life of LEDs.

That said, recently I bought 8 60w-equivalent LED bulbs that look like a regular incandescent bulb that's been run over by a steamroller. They're very light in weight, dimmable, and work extremely well as fan bulbs (nothing to be affected by vibration). They also give a good level of light output and I find them more than acceptable in floor lamps. This time round, I'll wait a bit longer before going the whole hog and replacing everything but, so far, I'm very pleased. I'd like, indeed expect, to see the price come down from the $12 each that's being asked right now.



 :Thmbsup:

barney:
Haven't encountered those.  Looks intriguing.

mouser:
There are a few people on youtube doing really good in-depth reviews and comparisons of LED bulbs -- you'll find some reviews of those flat types.

xtabber:
I have replaced most of the light bulbs in my house with LEDs.  I had been using CFLs whenever possible, but have now gotten rid of nearly all of them because I MUCH prefer the light quality of LEDs. 

LED Prices have come down dramatically in the past year, helped in my area (Massachusetts) by subsidies and rebates from the electric companies: For example, the Philips flat 60W equivalent bulbs Cranioscopical paid $12 for sell for $4.99 at my local Home Depot, as do the Cree 60W bulbs.  Philips A21 100W equivalent bulbs are selling there for $14.99.

3000K is the best color temperature for most LED lighting, IMHO, but it is hard to find in most sizes, 5000K is awful, except for a few situations like workbench lighting.  2700K is the standard for "warm white" incandescents and is fine for most indoor lighting and good for reading.  Most current LED bulbs have a color rendering index (CRI) in the mid 80's, but I have recently found some Feit PAR-20 LED bulbs with a CRI of 93, and the difference in quality is dramatic when they are used to replace LED or halogen bulbs that produce the same nominal light as measured in lumens.  I expect to seem more high CRI bulbs becoming available.

In general, I have found Feit bulbs to be the most reliable and to have the best dimming performance, but I have only seen them in a few sizes, and none above a 75W equivalent.  The Philips A21 75W and 100W equivalents give good light at full setting, but tend to shut themselves down when dimmed.  The 60W flat Philips are very good and I hope that design will find its way into brighter bulbs. I have generally found Cree bulbs to be inconsistent in light output and very poorly constructed.

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