LED bulbs ready for prime time?

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BoatDrinksQ5
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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by BoatDrinksQ5 » November 3rd, 2014, 10:52 am

at just over 5$ a bulb that isn't to shabby! Good lumens per watt...

The non-dimmable might be a concern in some locations - but not in others (bathroom, garage, outside, etc)

The 3000k color is a little 'whiter' then some people might like - but closer to a halogen bulb color.

No apparent warranty doesn't give me much for a warm fuzzy feeling...

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by Alan » November 3rd, 2014, 11:06 am

Understood guys...just passing on the info.

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BoatDrinksQ5
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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by BoatDrinksQ5 » November 4th, 2014, 1:05 pm

FYI - the original style (BR30 flood, and A19 regular) cree bulbs are on sale in my area at HD. 25-30% off

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Electrical-L ... vZbm79Zbol

6.97$ - not a bad price!

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by mattya » November 4th, 2014, 1:40 pm

Picked up 3 more Cree A19's for $4.97 in preparation of the two bedrooms and 1 bathroom addition being finished upstairs. Seems like the normal price at my local HD.

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BoatDrinksQ5
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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by BoatDrinksQ5 » November 4th, 2014, 2:25 pm

yeah i had that 4.97 price for a month or so....then they put it back up for a few months now.


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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by Tony alony » November 4th, 2014, 3:49 pm

Unbelievable Price! You guys are lucky. Here's what HD is selling them for, at a store near me, not my regular store, so maybe I need to see the unadvertised price.
http://t.homedepot.com/b/Electrical-Lig ... vZbm79Zbol
I hope the link works.

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by McLovin » November 5th, 2014, 1:33 pm

I wonder why the sale is not nationwide.

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by SW315 » November 5th, 2014, 1:39 pm

Probably subsidized by local utility company


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McLovin
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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by McLovin » November 5th, 2014, 3:16 pm

Yeah, that makes some sense... I found something that listed about a dozen states where the sale would be.

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by HanLawn » November 11th, 2014, 6:07 pm

Here is a teardown of the new cheap Cree bulb for those interested.....at only $2 a bulb cheaper than their proven original version,they wont seem like a good buy to me? http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... ost4542314

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by MattPete » November 16th, 2014, 11:18 pm

I know that a lot of people like CREE, but I think that their consumer-grade lamps (bulbs) and luminaires are overrated (I'm sure the actually LEDS are just fine). I tried their 60watt bulb and was underwhelmed (heavy, a lot of flicker, dead spot at the top) and their CR6 (too pink, not very bright, despite the "OMG, their so bright" hype -- ultimately, they wouldn't fit my Lightolier recessed housings).

What have I had good luck with? Philips BR30s (no strobing, less flicker than an incandescent), Ecosmart (Lighting Science), and Feit/Utlitech (I know Feit gets bagged on a lot, but they seem to have solid stuff, and like [some] Phillips, they have zero flicker).

Most of my lights are downlights are lamped for BR40s or BR30s. I'm changing the high-use areas first (e.g. kitchen) and waiting on the less used areas (I've found that the CRI of current LED bulbs is not acceptable in dressing areas - SORAA some day?). Our kitchen lights are on around 10 hours a day, so I'm sure the LED bulbs have already paid for themselves. Not to mention the huge drop in ambient temperature since we switched some rooms to LED.


BTW: this sight runs LED lights through their paces:

http://www.ledbenchmark.com/

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by LoneRanger » January 25th, 2015, 5:09 am

I bought 88 Utilitech 40 bulbs for ~$250(pricing mistake), in June of 2013. I like their color and pattern.

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » February 15th, 2015, 4:32 pm

I just did a quick search of this topic for IKEA and didn't find anything, so I'll pipe back in. I recently bought about 40 LEDs from IKEA for an average of $4. They are 60-watt equiv and 40-watt eq. I believe the 60-eq was $4 and change while the 40s were 2 for $6. The color is listed as 2700K. When I look at the 2700K CFL it looks yellow-green compared to the IKEA LED.

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by crabgrass » February 15th, 2015, 4:49 pm

What's the general track record? Any folks with failures?

I have had their Crees fail in under a year: 1 partial, 2 complete. No dimming - straight light fixtures w/ on/off switch.

Not so pleased given the $8/bulb I paid back then...

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by jglongisland » February 15th, 2015, 4:52 pm

I switched my entire 4400 sq. ft. house over about 2 winters ago.

I'd say I've had 2 or 3 of the Cree's fail (I have at least 30 in the house), and an entire set of frosted flame tip ones, but the manufacturer gave me full credit and the replacements are well beyond a year. I'm saving close to $50/month over the previous setup (mostly CFL's with incandescents where I couldn't get a good dimming bulb or in chandeliers). Compared to pre CFL times I've got to be saving at least $125/month.

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by Mightyquinn » February 15th, 2015, 4:56 pm

I'm still waiting on the prices to come down a little bit more as I can't really justify the cost of LED over CFL. My whole house is CFL except for the security lights outside which are still Halogen. Technology is getting better with the LED's so hopefully the prices will start coming down more as well as the quality.

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by SW315 » February 15th, 2015, 4:59 pm

I have 3 Cree screw in bulbs in a dining room fixture and 3 of their recessed fixtures. I've had all 6 for over a year no issues.


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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by jglongisland » February 15th, 2015, 5:01 pm

The CFL's really start to fade after a few years, so that's when I would switch. The energy usage is comparable to an LED.

The real payoff is in dimming and decorative locations.

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by BuckeyeChuck » February 5th, 2016, 9:50 am

Might have seen the news.. GE to stop selling cfls and going with leds next year. We must have crossed the threshold.

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Re: LED bulbs ready for prime time?

Post by andy10917 » February 5th, 2016, 10:15 am

I love looking back at this thread. Arguments about whether it was even possible for LED's to ever make 150 lumens per watt. Now, 300 lumens per watt was achieved in the lab in 2014.

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