led lightbulbs?

[jp1]

Has anyone bought one (or several)?

I have a floor lamp that sits next to the futon and the light provides room lighting plus it's the lamp I use when I read books. My 25 watt compact flourescent bulb just died after 10 years of regular use. We don't seem to have any more bulbs, so I want to get either another florescent bulb or an led bulb. My concern is getting one that's bright enough for reading but also want to be sure that it doesn't put out harsh light since this is the room I spend a lot of my time in when I'm home.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Has anyone bought one (or several)?

I have a floor lamp that sits next to the futon and the light provides room lighting plus it's the lamp I use when I read books. My 25 watt compact flourescent bulb just died after 10 years of regular use. We don't seem to have any more bulbs, so I want to get either another florescent bulb or an led bulb. My concern is getting one that's bright enough for reading but also want to be sure that it doesn't put out harsh light since this is the room I spend a lot of my time in when I'm home.

Yes although in the winter I tend to trade them out for incandescents (ok throw me in jail now - you can still get them in 3-ways etc.) as I don't mind that they generate extra heat (good, this apartment gets cold!), but in the hotter times of years extra heat is the last thing I want, so I mostly use L.E.D.s. then.

Bright enough: they have numbers on them and they say what they are equivalent to in terms of incandescents (60 watt etc.). They used to only come in the lower "wattage equivalents" but now they come quite bright. Of course the brighter they are (higher wattage equivalent) the more energy they will use (I don't even use very bright one's in summer - keep heat at a minimum). But even at high brightness L.E.D.s are still more efficient than any other light bulbs out there.

Harsh light: like florescents they have color variations and it should say on the package. You probably want to get one that goes toward yellow as that's the warm yellow light most people like (like incadescents), rather than daylight which will be rather blue. Of course someone must like the bluer tinges as they sell them :) (maybe the people who don't think the dress is white and gold :~)). They won't be a harsh light at all compared to fluorescent bulbs. I do think nothing quite equals the light of incadescents though, but it can get close.

[lessisbest]

We have about 90-95% LED bulbs in our home and when the few CFL "die", we'll never purchase those again, and we've used them for over 20-years over incandescent bulbs. We've have about 3 generations of LED bulbs, and they have gotten so much better and brighter, and are about half the price from 8-years ago when we first started buying them. We even installed an LED ceiling fixture in our kitchen (about half the size of the florescent fixture, and better light) and laundry room (both purchased at Lowe's). The florescent fixtures had to be replaced every few years because you can't get parts for them anymore, and it was less expensive to replace the whole fixture if the bulbs burned out. We've also replaced all the can lights with LED bulbs.

As was clearly described by ApatheticNoMore above, just check the labels on the package and you will find the equivalent of the LED to an incandescent bulb. The nice thing is some lamps are rated for low-wattage incandescent bulbs and you shouldn't use a 75-watt if it is only rated for a 60-watt, for instance, due to heat and potential fire hazard. But that's not a problem with LED lights because they put off very little heat. You might actually find someone in a hardware/home center lighting department who can help you choose the right LED light.

[Miss Cellane]

About 5 months ago, I purchased two Cree LED light bulbs at Home Depot. Both 60 watt, one "daylight" and one "soft white." Each one cost just under $10. These were my first LED bulbs, so I was experimenting with the color. Several reviews had mentioned the Cree as having good light for a reasonable cost. If it matters, they look very much like regular light bulbs.

I prefer the soft white, and that's the bulb that's in my bedside lamp--so I think the 60 watt is fine for reading if the lamp is fairly close to you as you sit and read. I used the daylight bulb in a hall light fixture, where the color of the light won't bother me--it does seem a bit harsh. The 60 watt LED bulb seems a bit brighter than the 60 watt equivalent CFL that I used to have in the bedside lamp.

The ones I bought are dimmable, and they also have three-way bulbs, which I'm going to try next.

[ToomuchStuff]

Most of the ceiling fixtures in my house are on dimmers. I need to change them out to regular switches, because fewer led bulbs work with dimmers.
You need to know that led's are rated by color range (2700K to 5xxxk), which is yellow, through white (cold) to blue (daylight) on the spectrum. I tend to like white to blue (prefer daylight), over the warm white of incandensent bulbs. Others are the opposite (and it is harder for me to find lights, as I appear to be opposite of the norm).
Also, pay attention to the disclaimers. So far, I have seen a lot of led's that say not for use in an enclosed fixture (so no dome style lights, etc). Makes it hard to use when you can't find what you need, and incandencents still work and can be found. Other then florescent tube lights (workshop, kitchen), I have never been a fan of CFL's. I am slowly switching to led's as I find them that will work.

[kib]

We have one in each of our reading lamps - warm white - and they do a good job, I am happy with ours and if I didn't know, I probably wouldn't notice that they're not incandescents. These are lamps that look something like streetlamps and illuminate over the shoulder, I don't know how well they'd do if covered by shades.

[ApatheticNoMore]

So far, I have seen a lot of led's that say not for use in an enclosed fixture (so no dome style lights, etc).


Yea I use them in enclosed fixtures as well. Because I think the danger is just that they will burn out sooner (out some money I guess) if in an enclosed fixture and not that they will burn down the house. They haven't in a year or two of use anyway :laff: They haven't burned out either. If I had any information it was actually dangerous maybe I'd stop competing for these here Darwin awards :)

[Stella]

We have been slowly replacing our lightbulbs with LEDs. We have been happy with them so far.

[JaneV2.0]

I just bought a nifty LED flashlight:
http://smile.amazon.com/Stanley-95-155-Tripod-LED-Flashlight/dp/B001DV7PBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425326113&sr=8-1&keywords=stanley+3+way+flashlight

I'm very impressed with its brightness; It outshines my other flashlight (MagLite) by far, and only requires AA batteries.

[razz]

I have LED lights in my overhead fans in the bedrooms and even an LED in my dusk-til-dawn light outside shining on my patio tolerating the very cold temps that we have been having with a nice light.

[jp1]

LED flashlights are great. The batteries last a long time compared to old school incandesent flashlights, and much brighter. We've got several scattered around the house so we'll always be ready if the power goes out.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I definitely plan to pursue this at some point. However, I was down in our basement storage room getting cat food and kleenex and while looking for the kleenex I found a box with 3 more CFLs. I'd thought we had more but just couldn't find them yesterday... So unless this one wears out quicker than the one that just died I guess it'll be 10 years before I'm ready to make the switch.

[ToomuchStuff]

Yea I use them in enclosed fixtures as well. Because I think the danger is just that they will burn out sooner (out some money I guess) if in an enclosed fixture and not that they will burn down the house. They haven't in a year or two of use anyway :laff: They haven't burned out either. If I had any information it was actually dangerous maybe I'd stop competing for these here Darwin awards :)


I tried to get information from the manufacturer, but they never replied to the emails.
Pretty sad that they provide partial information and won't provide full data at least on their website, IMHO.

[SteveinMN]

One thing I haven't seen people mention is CRI: Color Rendering Index. That's a measure of how accurately the bulb illuminates colors. Incandescents have the best CRI, typically very close to 100. But many CFLs and cheaper LCDs hit the low 80s or even lower. Like those awful sodium lights on streets, that makes colors look really off. May not matter so much in a basement or on the garage, but it might not be what you want in a dining room or dressing area.

[jp1]

After looking at the dreadful black and blue dress (or was it white and gold...) I have to ask, does color rendering really matter? :-) But seriously, I get dressed in the dark, so it truly doesn't matter. At least to me. I wear my dress shirts in a rotation and the same pair of dress slacks for a week at a time. The shirts are all blue themed and the pants all gray or brown, so everything matches everything. Black shoes and black leather belt and I'm ready to head out into the world for the day. It keeps my morning routine very simple.

[maryellen]

In purchasing bulbs, look for a color temperature rating on the package. If it's not listed, keep looking for other options. The light bulb that come closest to replicating incandescent sources will have a color temperature of 2700º kelvin. "Daylight" bulbs have a much higher color temperature. The older cool white fluorescent tubes were 6000º. "Warm white" or "soft white"may be close to incandescent, but there is no way to know without a color temperature rating.

I am shopping to find led replacements for all of my current cfl's for the day they die.