LED lightbulbs worth the extra money?

[Ferra]

one thing I really hate about LED (or even CFL) bulb is that, most of them look really "dead"....unlike halogen like bulb that gives you a full warmth color spectrum, LED usually make everything looks very "washed out" and colorless...

[Great68]

LED's are still not quite there yet, both in terms of colour spectrum and light output.

CFL's are better, but not perfect.

3 years ago I converted all my lamps to CFL's, I've had one failure a year. At the cost of CFL's vs incandescents, any ROI on "energy savings" is already out the window.
CFL warmup time is definately a problem, especially in colder temperatures. My laundry room is an sort of an unheated utility room attached to the house, I had a CFL in there and it was absolutely useless. I would usually be in and out of the room before the CFL would ever reach full brightness. In that respect CFL's are not well suited in applications where they will be on for only short periods of time, or they are switched on/off frequently.
The best solution for me is a mix of incandescent and CFL, but I loathe the day when I can't buy incandescents anymore. I want to smack the fuckheads in ottawa that made the decision to ban them outright because the alternatives just aren't good enough.

[kalekain]

Originally Posted by Ferra

one thing I really hate about LED (or even CFL) bulb is that, most of them look really "dead"....unlike halogen like bulb that gives you a full warmth color spectrum, LED usually make everything looks very "washed out" and colorless...

That's because everyone is promoting the Cool white LEDs, like 5000k or even 6000k (the cheap Chinese stuff). If you want something close to incandescent, you need warm white, 2800-3000k, look at the CRI rating, the higher the better, anything under 80 will look washed out.

[EgNyTeR]

Originally Posted by hamsup

Hi Kalekain.. .i bought a track lighting system from home depot... and right now they are using 50W halogen bulbs. Is there a way for me to change it to LED bulbs without compromising the warm colours I am getting?

Thanks.
J

Just an FYI . . . I currently have track lighting in my kitchen using GU10 Base bulbs. Initially I was using regular Philips branded GU10 bulbs rated @ 35watts each.

I've recently replaced them with IKEA GU10 base LED bulbs which are the same exact standard size as the halogen GU10 bulbs. The IKEA LED bulbs were rated at 4watts output and cost me $15.00ea The rated lumens is 120. I'm no expert on lumens ratings but replacing my 35watt halogens with 4watt LED's produced the same exact light output if not a little brighter! The colour output was 4100k which look just like halogens. If you just saw the light without me telling you it's LEDs you wouldn't know the difference both in colour and/or light output.

These are the cheapest LED bulbs that are comparable to regular bulbs I can find. It fit in my track lighting just like a normal bulb and now I'm enjoying 80% energy savings! It'll take a long time before I make my money back from the initial investment of the bulbs but at least it doesn't give out heat and I'm saving the enviorment! haha . . . halogens are just way too hot when I use them in my house in the summer. These LED bulbs should make it cooler for me to use in the summer and not worry about heating up the house.

These bulbs are brand new at IKEA so grab them while they last. It would have been nice if they sold them for $10 each. I would have bought more for my family and living rooms. I'll just wait until they drop in price but for now, my kitchen lighting have all been changed!

[matrixfwd]

i replaced my whole track lighting last week with the one from Costco which uses 13w CFL's. It had a rebate on it so it was only $25. Even included the 4 lightbulbs too.