LED Lightbulbs

[Kremerica]

Wondering about LED lightbulbs?

They are the newest type of light bulb.
They cost way more than CFLs and incandescents.
They use less wattage that incandescents and a little less than CFLs.
They seem to only be directional light with the current bulbs. (according to the reviews I have read online)

I am going to buy a couple and try them out for my porch lights and see how they do.

I am looking for more info on them from people who have actually used/bought them.

I posted the other light bulbs thread but wanted to start a new topic about just LED bulbs.

 

[Itchrelief]

What little I've heard about them, they seem to dim with usage. Like after a year you may notice they are dimmer than when they were new, even without having a brand new one next to it to compare to.

I'm not that well versed on these things, but I think as the wattage increases on LEDs, their efficiency advantages are not as pronounced, so for household usage, the CFLs in the 20-40W range may actually work out better, at least in a bang for the buck sense. They may work out well for low wattage applications, but may be somewhat sensitive to spikes in your mains if the circuitry in the unit sucks. Of course, all this depends on the quality of the unit. There may be some good ones out there that beat the pants off CFLs and are reliable and maintain their brightness, to boot.

Most of that was out of my rear, but +1 post count for me. Good luck in your search.

 

[fh99]

Where did you see them for sale?

 

[Pepsi90919]

you mean 'incandescents' as a plural for one incandescent light bulb which emits incandescence.

 

[jonmcc33]

Originally posted by: Itchrelief
What little I've heard about them, they seem to dim with usage.

100% true! They do dim the more you have them on.

 

[mugs]

Aren't they like $25 apiece?

 

[ballmode]

I don't think they are worth the price, maybe if they went down.

 

[Canai]

Yeah they are too expensive and dim right now. Give them a bit, and stick with the daylight CFLs for now

 

[Capt Caveman]

White LED lights are still not prime time for residential housing uses. CFLs are still your best bet for now.

 

[0roo0roo]

led continnues to improve rapidly. but as far as i know they aren't really viable for home lighting yet. too expensive. also compare lumens per watt...cf is hard to compete with. where led wins is in flashlights. super brightness candlepowerforums has info. many of the led lights in stores are based on last generation led tech though, so don't judge based on those.

 

[Kremerica]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
you mean 'incandescents' as a plural for one incandescent light bulb which emits incandescence.

Your right, sounded good as I was typing it and saying it to myself. fixed that

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
led continnues to improve rapidly. but as far as i know they aren't really viable for home lighting yet. too expensive. also compare lumens per watt...cf is hard to compete with. where led wins is in flashlights. super brightness candlepowerforums has info. many of the led lights in stores are based on last generation led tech though, so don't judge based on those.

I will check out the candlepower forums...



seems like right now, the consensus is that these are not good for interior lighting, I am still going to buy a couple for my porch to try them out, but I'm also going to go buy some CFLs for inside.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: mugs
Aren't they like $25 apiece?

I guess I'll stick with CFL's. Just bought a 6 pack for $13 at CostCo yesterday.

Damn I just realized I forgot to buy toilet paper. Damn!

 

[imported_Baloo]

LED don't hold a candle yet to the efficiency of CFL's. Not sure what you been reading saying they're more efficient then CFL's, but somebody has been smoking something to come up with that. LED would be best used in automotive, and accent lighting. Maybe down the road that will change, but for now, CFL's are the best choice for interior lighting, well, exterior too.

Edit: you did not say they were more efficient, you said they were less wattage. That would be an accurate statement. But lets make it clearer, less watts and less light per watt.

 

[mfs378]

Originally posted by: Baloo
LED don't hold a candle yet to the efficiency of CFL's. Not sure what you been reading saying they're more efficient then CFL's, but somebody has been smoking something to come up with that. LED would be best used in automotive, and accent lighting. Maybe down the road that will change, but for now, CFL's are the best choice for interior lighting, well, exterior too.

Edit: you did not say they were more efficient, you said they were less wattage. That would be an accurate statement. But lets make it clearer, less watts and less light per watt.

Text

LEDs more efficient than CFLs already exist. What have you been reading?

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: mfs378

Originally posted by: Baloo
LED don't hold a candle yet to the efficiency of CFL's. Not sure what you been reading saying they're more efficient then CFL's, but somebody has been smoking something to come up with that. LED would be best used in automotive, and accent lighting. Maybe down the road that will change, but for now, CFL's are the best choice for interior lighting, well, exterior too.

Edit: you did not say they were more efficient, you said they were less wattage. That would be an accurate statement. But lets make it clearer, less watts and less light per watt.

Text

LEDs more efficient than CFLs already exist. What have you been reading?

well that is the point..they "exist", they can't be readily bought at reasonable prices in screw in solutions.

 

[Mark R]

Not only are mass-market LEDs not as efficient as CFLs, but the light quality is much worse too.

White LEDs have a very high color temperature (about 10000K, which is extremely blue, and not a particularly homely color), their color rendering is also very poor (colored objects appear with distorted colors, in particular reds and pinks are desaturated, giving a corpse-like appearance to the skin and making food look unappetizing).

There some very expensive, very new 'warm white' LEDs from some manufacturers which are better on both accounts but they're not yet in domestic products, and you pay a high price in efficiency for the better color. Indeed, the efficiency of state-of-the-art 'warm white' LEDs is about half that of CFL.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: mugs
Aren't they like $25 apiece?

I guess I'll stick with CFL's. Just bought a 6 pack for $13 at CostCo yesterday.

Damn I just realized I forgot to buy toilet paper. Damn!

Not to worry. I'm heading there after work. I gotcha covered. You want the Kirkland stuff, the premium Kirkland stuff, or the Charmin?

BTW, those CFLs that you bought yesterday are like a 6 to 10 year commitment.

 

[RossMAN]

Jerboy