What are good current production LED Bulbs

[David Weaver]

Since we have gone through several iterations with the CFLs, what I really want to know is what LED bulbs to get and where.

So far, I haven't found a good local source for very many bulbs, and the only LED I have is in the fridge.

What I see looking around is that an 8 watt LED is somewhere in the range of 450-500 lumens, and a 13-watt CFL is 1.5 to 2 times that.

I sort of expected to see a difference in efficiency, but if I can replace a 13 watt cfl in a light that runs constantly (like our street light) then I would still do that.

My street light is covered and stays dry, but it is exposed to outside temperatures, which can range here from -10 degrees F in the winter to usually no more than 95 in the summer. Can the LED bulbs tolerate that? I've replaced a CFL in that light about once every year and a half, and it literally runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For the manufacturer ratings, it's probably an ideal situation - it would appear that I am getting about 12k hours per bulb out there.

What have you used and what do you like? I'd like to try a few of them.

[David Weaver]

OK, I'll take that to mean that nobody is using them.

[Steve Meliza]

We switched to LED Christmas lights this year (purchased from HD), does that count?

[Shawn Russell]

I have tried a number of LED bulbs from GE, Phillips, and no name ones from Sams and the Depot. I have not been happy with any of them. The energy usage is great, but the light output is poor. The Sams bulbs I did not like at all due to the housing running really hot; too hot to the touch. I do enjoy that I do not hear any buzz like I would with a CFL.

Like you, I use them in my fridge and also in the sockets that are 2 stories up so I do not have to replace them for a very long time. I also use them in ceiling fan to reduce heat and my wife is not too happy with the glare from CFL.

I would use them in undermount lighting, areas you want low heat, and ones that are hard to get to.

I have not found bulbs designed in a round shape. The price is still fairly high. And, I honestly think with a dimmable CFL and dimmer you can achieve about the same life expectancy equal to the number of lumens being put out by a LED.

[David Weaver]

After looking around, and seeing that the energy efficiency per lumen isn't any better than cheap CFLs, I'm thinking that I'll hold off for a while, too.

The 13 watt CFLs can be bought here from time to time for 20 cents each. I don't know why they price them like that (maybe they're subsidized) but the last time I bought from sams, I think they were $1.60 for 8 while the 26 watt bulbs were $9 for 8. I don't know how such a big difference could be justified, or if there was a mistake, but the receipt showed the same price as the wall tag.

[Ben Hatcher]

I just bought a Philips 75 watt LED lamp for a table lamp in my family room. It is incredible! The light color is spot on to that of an incandescent and it dims to about 10%. The only difference is that it dims with the same color whereas an incandescent would get more yellow/orange as it gets dimmer. I got it at the BORG for ~$40 IIRC.

http://www.ecat.lighting.philips.com/l/lamps/led-lamps-and-systems/led-lamps/master-ledbulb/929000215502_eu/

[David Weaver]

That is the one that I saw that got universally good ratings for the light quality and the fact that it broadcasts light in every direction.

I also saw that there is a newer generation coming out after that one that has a better watt per lumen rating. HD claims on their site that the 7 or 8 watt version of that bulb is discontinued.

I don't know if that means philips will be making that particular type like that, though. Everything inexpensive that I've seen (relative terms) has negative reviews or has physical aspects that would make it no good for a table lamp.

[Justin Freund]

I use the Commercial Electric/EcoLight brand available at Home Depot here in almost all fixtures. As the filament bulbs go out I replace the ones I can with LED's. They all use Cree LED's AFAIK. I can't really tell a difference between these and regular bulbs as far as lumens go. Some are more white than the incandescent bulbs, but not obnoxiously so. I'm especially pleased with the 6" and 4" recessed retrofits. Bulb and nice looking trim and one.

[Brian Elfert]

I don't have any good LED light bulbs to recommend because the only ones I tried from Home Depot went right back because of the way they project light.

I installed an LED light fixture in my RV this past summer and it casts a pretty horrid bright white light. I would not buy another one unless they change the color of the LEDs.

[Terry Barnhill]

I installed an LED light fixture in my RV this past summer and it casts a pretty horrid bright white light. I would not buy another one unless they change the color of the LEDs.

Quality LED fixtures will tell you the color spectrum in K. Lower = more yellow/red higher more blue. 2800 - 3200K is similar to regular incandescent, 3500 - 4000 halogen, 5500 is noonday sun (not the color of the sun, but rather the light it projects), and I wouldn't go any higher though I think some make in the 6k range, which would be pretty harsh for a home setting. Stick with quality name brands; I install Juno recess cans and the 3500k LEDs look great.

As for screw in lamps, I would only recommend Sylvania, but really don't sell any led lamps. I've had several different salesmen show me their wares, but I know that Sylvania really has the heat sink down pat as well as the lumen lifetime. Three years ago it was 50,000 hours before the lumen output dropped.

Important things to look at: color temp and lumen life. Brand x can tell you 50,000 hours bulb life, when in reality the lumen output and color may start fading at much less.

As for comparing cfl to led and saying the efficiency per lumen may be the same: you need to take into consideration where the lamps will be used. Bathrooms get a lot of on-off traffic, which will shorten the life of cfl's, so it's not always an apples to apples view.

[Dan Hintz]

I know that Sylvania really has the heat sink down pat as well as the lumen lifetime. Three years ago it was 50,000 hours before the lumen output dropped.

Important things to look at: color temp and lumen life. Brand x can tell you 50,000 hours bulb life, when in reality the lumen output and color may start fading at much less.

Just so there's no confusion... the rated hours is the time at which lumen output has dropped to 70% of original. Like a car losing value the moment you drive it off of the lot, lumen output starts dropping the moment you turn it on (luckily, it's gradual). People get the impression at 50k hours bulbs begin to fail, like incandescents suddenly turning off, but those LEDs will likely continue to put out light for 500k hours and more (they'll just be pretty dim at that point).

[Phil Thien]

I just recently purchased eight of these for work:

http://www.menards.com/main/lighting-fans/light-bulbs/led/g16-5-2w-led-bulb/p-1729466-c-6341.htm

They're in fixtures in the restroom at the office. The old globe bulbs w/ candelabra bases were lasting, on average, I'd say a couple of months. So I went with the LED bulbs because they have very positive reviews on Amazon.

They're bright.

But they're weird. The array of nine LED's just looks weird.

I wish they had used a frosted globe so they didn't look so odd (I know that would have reduced output). And I'd have preferred glass instead of plastic globes.

Part of my problem is limited options for bulbs with candelabra bases.

[Brian Elfert]

Quality LED fixtures will tell you the color spectrum in K. Lower = more yellow/red higher more blue. 2800 - 3200K is similar to regular incandescent, 3500 - 4000 halogen, 5500 is noonday sun (not the color of the sun, but rather the light it projects), and I wouldn't go any higher though I think some make in the 6k range, which would be pretty harsh for a home setting. Stick with quality name brands; I install Juno recess cans and the 3500k LEDs look great.


Remember, this LED light fixture is for an RV so there really are no brand names in that market. The light fixture uses 12 to 24 volts DC. At the time I bought the fixture I couldn't find the color spectrum rating for the fixture, but I see now they have it listed at about 4500. No wonder the light quality is so bad. I probably won't buy any more of them even thought the price is reasonable ($24). Others are twice the money.

I would like to buy LED light bulbs for home, but I haven't found any worth the cost yet.