Need help choosing quality LED bulbs for the house

[NickB79]

My electrical provider has a rebate of $5/bulb on LED's right now up to 20 bulbs, and the CFL's I've been using for the past 5 years are approaching the end of their lifespans. I'd like higher light output (60-75 watt equivalent); the standard 40-watt equivalent bulbs seem too dim most of the time, especially during our long, dark Minnesota winters

Any suggestions for quality brands of bulbs? Thanks.

[Travis_0004]

1. Cree is the best

Available at home depot. The old style (have a heatsink visable at the bottom) are a bit more efficent than the newer style (4 flow), and have a longer warranty.

The one downside with cree ( at least the old style) is they dont send a lot of light straight up. If the bulb itself is viasable it could be an issue.

Also you will see two different color temperatures. 2700k, and 5000k. I reccomend 2700k, but its all personal preference. Do a bit of reading on the two or maybe buy one of each to try.

The garage/ shed is the only time I dont use 2700k. I use 4100k T-8 bulbs in there. The rest of my house is LED. Mostly cree. Some phillips.

When shopping also have an idea of how many lumens you want. A 60 watt incandescent bulb puts out about 750 lumens. So thats your baseline for a bulb claiming to be a '60 watt equilivent' Most will be in the 750-800 range. A few manufactures (I'm calling you out ikea) stretch the truth and have bulbs that put out 600 lumens but claim to be 60 watt. If instead of shopping for a 60 watt bulb you bought an 800 lumen bulb, you will be happy with the brightness.

[rurallib]

2. Are you a Costco member?

We got ours from Costco. Pretty sure they were 60 watt in a 3 pack for $11 or $12. We did the whole house and man they are bright. Did it last fall.

[OnyxCollie]

3. I bought a GE 75-watt equivalent LED last week.

Cost $10. I'm very happy with it.

Didn't do any price comparing, though.

Edit to add: It's a daylight bulb (5K output).

[David__77]

4. Without the incentive from your provider, would you buy the LEDs?

I have a professional interest!

[sue4e3]

6. what incentive

[David__77]

7. The $5 rebate.

If you didn't get the rebate, would you still make the same decision to get LEDs?

[sue4e3]

8. I was completely unaware of a rebate and still made this decision

The other energy saver bulbs were toxic and didn't work as well. It wasn't even a question of switching in the first place, That had to be done.

[NickB79]

9. Yes, but much more slowly

Replacing a bulb here or there as needed, and possibly just buying CFL's on sale instead of LED's.

[mahina]

5. Between Toshiba and Phillips, I prefer Phillips.

The Toshiba bulbs that our utility was giving out were so cold blue white, the light made the place look like a morgue.

The 2700 K (Kelvin) bulbs we use now are wonderful. I haven't had to replace one in yearsd, wrote the date installed in Sharpie on each to test the warateed hours and haven't had a chance.

I haven't tried warmer color temperature bulbs from Toshiba. No other complaints than the color.

Our electric bill dropped by 3/4.

[Piedras]

10. Feit Electric 65 watt equiv. dimmable LED BR30 Flood light bulbs

In November 2014 I replaced halogen flood lights in my house with 13 watt dimmable Feit Electric BR30 LED flood lights that put out 750 lumens. They are rated as 65 watt replacement bulbs. I purchased them at Costco for $14 for a two pack. The packaging says they can last for up to 22 years. They're brighter than the halogen bulbs I removed and have a pleasing color temperature. They dimmed easily but do not dim quite as low as the halogen bulbs I removed.

I bought almost three dozen of the bulbs for my niece's family of seven people. She said their electric bill went down about $100/month.

[cprise]

11. The best I've found are TCP Elite

They cost about $20 (delivered) but they are worth it to me:

* Great color rendering, high CRI and high R9 values.

* More color temperature options. I prefer 3000K (halogen-like).

* Directionality is very good. They don't have the drastic hemispherical problem like most LED bulbs.

* They dim way down and are completely silent.


I was leaning toward Cree but found they only make bulbs at the opposite ends of the "spectrum", orange-y and bluish. I also prefer not to buy from North Carolina businesses (Cree): The state was the first to pounce on voting rights (and other issues) when SCOTUS gutted the VRA.