[Bob in St. Louis]

Good information, thank you.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Hey fellas, I'm about to pull the trigger on a dozen (or so) LED bulbs. As I search the isles of Amazon, I being to wonder if there are brands to looks for, or stay away from. The brands I've been finding aren't the typical brands I've associated with household electrical before. In fact, I've never heard of the vast majority of the brands I'm seeing.

It seemed like a better idea to ask here, as opposed to starting a new thread. Hope nobody minds if I ride the coat-tails of this thread.

Bob

[NIGHTFALL1970]

I recently replaced all the CFls in my house with LEDs and I love them. I recommend Cree 40w 60w and 65w. For 100w I like the Philips.  For outside I got 90w Philips.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I just spent $125 on Amazon for 13 bulbs.
Looking forward to checking them out. 

[rajacat]

CFLs' make excellent work lights. They're a lot more shock resistant than incandescents. Even heavy duty incandescents don't seem to handle shock as well as CFLs. I don't know about the durability of LEDs.

[NIGHTFALL1970]

CFLs have Mercury in them.  don't subject them to shock.
The LED tube replacement I got has a hard plastic and is shock resistant. Nice bright light. Recommend.

[SteveRB]

Wow. This is a topic I am actually fairly expert in.

Feel free to send a PM if you want me to look at any product you are thinking of buying. There is some good stuff out there but a ton of garbage too...

[Bob in St. Louis]

There is some good stuff out there but a ton of garbage too...

My $125 package arrives today. I hope I chose well.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Mr. Viggen, thank you for letting me butt into your thread.

The 13 new bulbs have been unboxed and installed.  Due to the insane, mind numbing amount of sizes, shapes, styles, temp ratings, etc..etc..etc... while shopping online, I ended up buying five CFL bulbs. 
I installed those in the basement hallway leading into my HT room. As pissed as I am that I got CFL, I'd have to admit that they look great, so I'll keep them.

The LEDs in the kitchen look good. The type of lighting in areas like the kitchen island and main eating tables is just a bit different that it'll warrant some time before a final verdict is made on whether or not we like them as much as the conventional bulbs we've spent decades with. My migraine prone wife seems to think she can deal with the seven new bulbs in her most used space in the house.   

Thanks to all who gave helpful information in this thread. 

Bob

[thunderbrick]

Due to the insane, mind numbing amount of sizes, shapes, styles, temp ratings, etc..etc..etc... while shopping online, I ended up buying five CFL bulbs. 

Bob

Next time you order or download music, Bob, be sure to get some on Elcaset.  I'm told they sound great. 

[thunderbrick]

Ooops!   

[mcgsxr]

I am looking forward to hearing how your wife makes out with the LED lights Bob.

My wife despises CFL's, so as a result they are not used widely in the house.  They are presently in the utility room, and my pool table (where I find the warm white ones excellent).

We have 30 pot lights in the house (9 in the kitchen, and 21 in the recently finished basement), all on dimmers that are LED capable.  They are Par 20 bulbs.  I laughed out loud today in a grocery store when I saw 1 for $35!

My sparky can pick them up for $15 each, but that is still a lot of dough to drop on bulbs I figure.

The kitchen ones are the only ones that see a lot of time on full, the basement ones are usually dimmed, or off.

[Bob in St. Louis]

This morning I flipped on the basement light, and it took those five CFL's about 15 seconds to light up. 
They're getting boxed up tonight and sent back ASAP and I'll get the LED's I meant to get in the first place.
I know CFL's don't like cool temperatures, but my basement runs around 66-68 degrees.

When I get home tonight, I'll ask wifey what she thought of the seven LED's in the kitchen.

[SteveRB]

we've been liking the Osram LED PAR replacements at our office (Lighting Design office...). They use a single LED source so they don't look like a shower-head. They give a fairly natural colour and the dimming is decent. Unfortunately, with the LED replacements you do need to pay more for the better ones.

The biggest issue will always be heat. Always check to make sure they have proper metal heatsinks and the heat is dissipated properly for the type fixture you are screwing it into -- no sense putting a light that evacuates heat out the back in a fixture that's sealed...

[pslate]

Keep an eye out for warm dimming LED. Sylvania Osram will be coming out with a BR30 that would be great for residential cans. Saw prototype and other products from our rep. The Cree A lamps and BR30s are a good way to go to. Cree is pushing out the A lamps through Home Depot near cost. The BR30s will run more. The warm dim is super cool and previously only available on specification grade brands like USAI. Juno has something cool, but I have not reviewed the fixture yet http://www.junolightinggroup.com/splash_juno_warmdim_LED.asp I work more on and might not since I work more with commercial. The Juno is a full retrofit. FYI heat will kill LEDs, if your application is running hot you may not get the advertised life expediency from LED lamps. Don't know if I will buy the Cree or Sylvania Osram, but hopefully I'll get my hands on both in a bit. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

I am looking forward to hearing how your wife makes out with the LED lights Bob.

Ok then. Here's the official review of the bulbs we bought.

>>HitLights 5W Warm White (2700K) GU10 Dimmable LED light Bulb, GU10 Base, Equivalent to 45W<<.... There are four of them hovering above the kitchen island.
We use to have four 50 watt Halogen bulbs here. I can't believe that a mere reduction of 20 watts (5 watts each, for four bulbs) made this much difference.
But being the main kitchen prep area, this kinda sucks. They are WAY dimmer than their halogen "equivalent". I do not like it, and foresee myself bitching about these for all of eternity.
She prepares twenty meals a day here, I make one in a week, two at best. 
She likes them. I do not. This means they'll stay. 


>>HitLights Warm White (2700K) A19 6W LED Light Bulb,  Equivalent to 40W Incandescent<<.... There are three of them hovering above the main kitchen eating table, and one at the top of the basement hallway from downstairs.
These are pretty reasonable. It seem these are just slightly dimmer than their equivalent incandescent counterpart, but I can't say that with certainty. Maybe it's just the difference in color that's alerting my brain to a change having been made. In a month, I doubt I'll even be aware of these. I can see these staying. We both like them.


>>GE 47477 11-Watt (45-Watt Replacement) Energy Smart Floodlight CFL, 9 Year Life, R20<<  These are CFL, not LED. This was an accident due to the mind numbing array of choices on Amazon. I missed the CFL designation.
But since they're here, I installed them anyway.
These are suitable as aircraft landing lights. I have five of these in the hallway leading from the garage into the basement hallway. This hallway feeds a bathroom, my workshop, my HT room, but lights the main path folks take to go upstairs to the main floor. These are bright enough to be used in an operating room. The temperature of the basement at this very moment is 68 degrees (at waist high level on my desk where the temp gauge is), so I'd imagine it's a few degrees warmer in the pot lights in the ceiling. Even still they take an eternity to come to full glow. They take a few seconds of warming up to provide enough light to navigate the dark basement hallway. Long enough that you have to pause and wait to continue your journey until you're confident there's no trip hazards. Have I mentioned how bright they are? They are so bright, that I had to unscrew the closest one to the HT room, as it was like a laser beam in the corner of my eye while I sit at the PC (the one I'm typing on right now) in the back of the HT room. They are not suitable for cool areas (like Canada...haha), and are not suitable for any areas where you don't need the power of the sun to illuminate ("eventually", once they warm up) an entire football field. They are painful to walk under. You have to squint. Yes, they suck in this location.
These will be removed tonight, returned to Amazon, and replaced with (more than likely) >> THESE <<.


So....If I had to grade myself on choosing LED's for 13 fixtures, in 4 locations, I'd have to give myself a C- 

[JerryM]

A 'C' is average, right? For a first time purchase, that seems pretty good. 

I'm most curious to know what happens with your power bill. Can you make a fair comparison month to month with the way the weather's been?

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks Jerry, but a "C-" score for $125 spent, I expect better results.   

I certainly hope I see a difference, but I've replaced much larger items and appliances in my lifetime that promised huge reductions in power usage and never noticed a difference.
Since they're slowly weeding out incandescent bulbs, I figure I can either "join them", or be like my Mom and start stockpiling 100 watt incandescents. 
But like you said, with a few days this month of temps lower than they've been since the 90's, I doubt I'll see a change. I just need to blindly "know" that I'm making a change for the better.

Bob

[NIGHTFALL1970]

Bob,
The LED that you linked to (and I am no expert) looks like POS quality.  I would try Philips instead.  I have quite a few Philips LEDs and they are very solid feeling.

P.S. THe brands that I have and think are good quality are: Philips, Cree, and Utilitech.  A little less quality (but still good) are Sylvania and Feit.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Well that sucks. 
I linked to a few different LEDs though. Any one in particular, or are you talking about all of them I bought?