I have tried several brands of LED bulbs in the last 6 months in various fixtures around my home. I have used several brands, some brands were better than others. Phillips is my favorite now for interior flood lights. But there is something new on the horizon. It new caught my eye on Saturday while walking through Home Depot. Cree is a major producer of the new LED light bulbs, and they certainly make a great product. But now they have a really new bulb as well:
http://www.cree.com/news-and-events/cree-news/press-releases/2014/october/new-cree-led-bulb
It is the closest clone to a conventional light bulb that I have seen. Called 4FLOW it was not only very conventional "incandescent light bulb" looking, it also was priced less than the normal Cree 60 watt bulb. A double victory for the consumer.
A warm 2700 K, it uses 82% less electricity and is all-around light source "just like an incandescent bulb". It is also dimmable. But I have noticed that LED's don't always dim to the super low light of incandescent bulbs. The new bulb has 815 lumens of brightness - which is 15 more than some 60 w equivalents.
Now the big news, price. $7.97, which was less than the Cree regular 60 w equivalent. While not the cheapest around, this bulb could be the best value if you like "conventional light" from a 22 year life bulb that uses only a tiny fraction of the electricity of an incandescent.
If you read my blog regularly you know that I find LED bulbs super useful for hard-to-re-lamp locations, and that continued this past week. I had to replaced a 75 watt incandescent bulb in a bathroom fan-light fixture that is a "bear" to change. I put in a 75 watt Cree, and now have beautiful light and far less heat (a problem in that crammed up fixture). The wave length of light bulb is just about perfect. It will last my change for that fixture in my lifetime. No more ladder climbing and upside down contortions to unscrew the metal grill to replace that bulb.
As a long time fighter of the new light revolution, I am becoming a convert. The bulbs are now better, a bit cheaper, and the power savings are great. I am a convert. I can tell a difference in power bills now that I have started the slow conversion. I have 72 incandescent bulbs in my home. Counting them up just now surprised me. In addition I have 4 flouresent tube fixtures. I was surprised there were so many, but with corner lights, back yard lights, and so on, it adds up. No wonder Home Depot and Lowes have huge light bulb departments. There could be 30 billion light bulbs in America (10 X 300 million people ?). Cree seems set to sell everyone a few bulbs. Once. Replacement time will be 2034. Cree will have merged or be out of business by then. Or, the market will keep growing.
PS -- a few notes. The new Cree has ventilation slots, something new, don't know how that would affect use in closed fixtures, but there is no warning on the packaging about that. There is the conventional warning not to mix LED and other types of bulbs "together" in a multi-bulb enclosed fixture. I am presuming the heat from the other bulb could damage the LED bulb. I have 4 enclosed fixtures in my home, and I have had to be careful to replace both bulbs at the same time.
My initial fascination with the CFL (spiral) bulbs is fading in all categories other than the outdoor flood lights, where they seem to work very well, and last a long time. Some CFL bulbs are instant light and good color and brightness, and thus just great. But I forget which brands they are and so I am cautious to just buy CFL's on sale. I will research my favorite brands of CFL's and Blog on them later. But I know the GE brand is my favorite for CFL outdoor flood lights. the 75 Watt type is quite bright, I think close enough to the old 150 watt floods to get the job done.
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