Comments on: The Light Bulb Showdown: LEDs vs. CFLs vs. Incandescent Bulbs – What’s the Best Deal Now … And In The Future?

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:48:59 +0000

I like to say that light buble are cheap at a 99 cent store and they come from china and they give out good light and last longer then America light bubles.So I like to say that why spend all your money on a good light bubble when there is a cheap light buble that do the job for you everyday in office or a home.

Josh

By: Vikas

Vikas — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 04:42:54 +0000

What a great article. I live in India where LED lights are not that popular. Rather it is the CFLs that rule the roost. An IT Company in South India headed by an Ex Infosys guy is replacing all CFLs with LED lights. Since cost is most important for these companies I expect that they would have done some calculations.
Starbucks is converting all the lighting in its stores to LED and Wal-Mart is using it too. Given that WalMart is focussed on cost above everything else – it suggests that LEDs make compelling financial sense. I did a lot of research and it seems that ‘heat’ that you have mentioned is an important factor. With LEDs the savings in air conditioning costs are very handsome.

There is excellent information on this site and a lot of good comparisons between LED, CFL and incandescent including the impact of LEDs on Air conditioning. They have done a lot of excel modelling and many their conclusions are very compelling.
http://www.myledlightingguide.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=21

They also have some dope on the link between mercury and CFLs (http://www.myledlightingguide.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=19) and again their modelling is pretty good.

regards
Vikas

By: Shubha

Shubha — Tue, 11 May 2010 19:05:40 +0000

hey,

very interesting review. I am a student at Carnegie Mellon and am going to spend my summer working on LEDs impact on employee productivity or students grades..since till now all the studies i find just compare energy , cost , light etc..

Any help would be welcome. Do direct me to any useful information you know of.

Shubha

By: Marle

Marle — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:54:13 +0000

Iassos, the solution is to read reviews of brands and not buy ones with bad reviews. Amazon.com makes that really easy.

One commenter above said that she has some fixtures that CFLs burn out in a couple of days in. What’s probably happening is the socket is still releasing some energy and isn’t completely off when it’s off. Incandescents can handle that, CFLs can’t.

By: IASSOS

IASSOS — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:54:17 +0000

I just read through all the comments, and although several mentioned early life failures of CFLs, no solution ever showed up. I think there is an unresolved issue with these.

In my opinion a five-year guarantee or some such is not satisfactory. After all, who still has that a year later? I want the thing not to fail.

By: greenconsumer

greenconsumer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:59:17 +0000

I am a big fan of LED lighting. Choose a bulb that fits the application (lumens and color) and you will be happy. Unfortunately many manufacturers and vendors overstate (I’m being kind here) their products specifications.
I have purchased 45 LED bulbs and have had mixed reliability.
The good news – some are very reliable. I have five LED bulbs outside that have run dusk to dawn for two years with no problems.
The bad news – some bulbs are VERY unreliable. VERY high failure rates.
I purchased 12 of one type LED bulb and 12 out of 12 have failed (8.5W product 47856 from LEDLight.com). 100% failure rate. To make matters worse they are refusing to replace them now.
Beware of LEDLight.com. This company is selling products that they know are defective. No support for failed LED bulbs. These bulbs are very expensive ($20 – $105) and in some cases last only two or three weeks. They refuse to replace defective bulbs. LEDLight.com is selling known defective products and has bad customer service.
ledlight.com, LED, problem, fail, failure, burnout, quit, reliability, unreliable, review

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:01:23 +0000

Good article and I appreciate the cost comparisons. Lately I have been making an effort to purchase LEDS which, as stated, is a very expensive proposition!

The issue I have, which I feel was glossed over in this piece, is the QUALITY of the light emitted from an LED. All of the bulbs (most in the 2700-300K range) have a cold or dirty gray tone when compared to an incandescent or even a recently purchased CFL. I have purchased from several manufacturers (GE, Cooper, Cree, GeoBulb) and the issue remains. The one fixture that pleased me was a Cree LR6 which is a recessed ceiling fixture and has a reasonable light quality – all my opinion of course!

By: Tammy

Tammy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:35:28 +0000

Our local energy provider, First Energy, just tried a promotion where they would provide each homeowner a “free” 2-pack of CFL’s to lower energy costs. They would deliver them to your home at no cost to you! The fine print of the deal was that there would be a $0.60 charge per month added to your electric bill for the next 3 years. So $0.60 x 12 months x 3 years = $21.60 for 2 light bulbs I can go to the store and buy for $5! NO THANKS, First Energy! Thankfully, Ohio legislation made them cancel the “deal”.

By: Rebekka

Rebekka — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:41:56 +0000

I can’t believe you paid that much for a bulb! I bought an LED bulb about six months for a very awkward spot where I hope not to have to replace it for thirty years or so – it cost $30. And you can now get them for under $15 on ebay – for example: http://cgi.ebay.com/Globe-60-LED-White-110V-120Deg-Standard-Screw-Bulb-Lamp_W0QQitemZ390078363892QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5ad27b78f4&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

(I’m not the seller or anything – just wanted to point out that with the reduction in price it means that the cost of running the LED would be more like $40)

By: Gerald Hunter, Calgary

Gerald Hunter, Calgary — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:06:22 +0000

As much as the CFL’s are savers, the quality and color of the light they produce remains between
cool and warm. Fluorescents offer a greater wariety (Currently). Full spectrum, black light etc.
LED’s are still in their infancy for their usefulness when it comes to light color and variet
sockets. Lights that are not used frequently
should be left alone. I am hoping that the light
Mfg. industry will catch up with the need for variety.Some of the costlier flashlights already
have powerful but expensive bulbs.

By: James

James — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:47:29 +0000

I have tried several CFL’s, and have discovered a little mentioned problem. For some reason, the electricity in our home fluctuates occasionally. We have had it checked out, and no one can find anything wrong. We don’t know if it is the power company or our home that is at fault.

At any rate, the CFL’s also go out when this happens, and then take several seconds to come back up to full brightness. This is more than a nuisance. I was wlking across a room one night when the lights went out almost entirely, and then came back on. I can not read when this happens.

It also damages the CFL’s as I have had to replace 75% of the installed bulbs. Not a good rate.

this problem may be limited to situations like mine, but I have had no problems with incandescent bulbs. In fact my older incandescent bulbs are still working, even though my CFL.s have already had to be replaced.

Let’s hope the LEDs turn out better.

By: Gage

Gage — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:37:02 +0000

Check out ledgreenlightint.com
They have lights to replace all kinds of lights without having the directional problem and they are significantly cheaper than the geobulb. They also have a life span of greater than 80,000 hours.

By: budharley

budharley — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:07:41 +0000

There is a website with bulbs from several different manufacturers for several different applications — ledlight.com the bulbs are fairly affordable, and listed at around 60,000hrs

By: Jfidler

Jfidler — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:22:28 +0000

This a very good comparison report of the three, unfortunately it did not run long enough. About 6 months ago I was very excited about LED technology and started converting my house to LED lighting. When the first one failed after about 4 months I just figured it was that one in a million that always seems to happen to me, but noooo. In the following two months or so all but 2 of the original group have failed. Only one actually failed at the LED level and it was partial, out of about 38 or maybe 40 individual LEDs about two thirds were dark with the remaining in various states of less than bright.
With that one exemption all of the failed bulbs had burned out resistors, always the same resistor, the one that reduces line voltage to LED voltage, Humm. Engineer can’t add or there was no engineer…
The very simple, very reliable, very cool LED should last 100,000 hours and a even simpler resistor should last even longer. All of the bulbs, er, make that units, that I purchased were manufactured by “Lights of America”… So, be careful what you buy, the technology should work but I don’t know who or whom to suggest or recommend anymore as my balloon has burst.

By: Rich

Rich — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:48:08 +0000

Update on the LED stoplights.

Taking a closer look in the last few days I see that many of the LEDs are significantly dimmer or completely dead, that is, the LEDs are indeed failing.

I also wonder if they are as bright as they were when installed. I recall thinking at first that they were too bright, but they don’t seem that way now.

By: John

John — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:14:21 +0000

http://www.eternaleds.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=HP-GLOBE+10&Show=TechSpecs

How about a 500 lumen LED bulb for $30? Seems they’ve already reached the price-point the article is looking for!

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:30:26 +0000

Good article, but the new purespectrum technology cfl’s have solved the major issues. Not only are they instant on (for real!), but fully dimmable on a linear regressive basis, high power factor (.976) and longer lived bulbs (10,000+ hours). The amount of mercury to fill the old oral thermometer would require 22 houses filled with purespectrum bulbs to equal that volume. The product is being launched at Lightfair in NYNY at the Javit’s Center the first week in May. The price is half that of current dimmable cfl’s (and these actually work) and all their lights are dimmable.

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:58:25 +0000

//These bulbs cost an astounding $119.95 a pop, but they last for 30,000 hours//

No, I do not believe this is true. The LEDs *may* have a 30,000 hour life, but the base and it’s components almost certainly do not.

Case in point, they replaced almost all the stoplights in N CA with LED bulbs. When I ran the numbers they looked like a good deal, *if* they worked to spec. They were spec’d at 7 years, not 27 years BTW.

Now this was way back in 2000-2001 or so.

Many failed shortly after install and were quickly replaced. For the last 7-8 years most of the fixtures worked fine and no doubt saved quite a bit in electricity and maintenance costs. They do not work when the sunlight hits the LEDs straight on, as happened to one stoplight in the winter on the way home from work, but mostly they worked well.

They are starting to go out now, some have failed completely, many more have partially failed with odd patterns of LEDs dead. One even has a rough smiley face. I don’t think the LEDs have died mind you, although I can’t verify this, I think the solder connections on the circuit board have failed. Probably because of thermal cycling.

The point is, even if the LEDs did last 27 years (and they will not), the LED bulb will not, for many well known reasons.

Note, LED bulbs, like CFLs will require a ventilated fixture as the electronics in the base requires cooling. Most existing fixtures were designed for incandescent bulbs and are not ventilated. Installation in an unventilated fixture will result in premature failure of the bulb same as it does for CFLs, and for the same reason.

As for LED service life, look at any older car with LED brake lights. Even in intermittent “mostly off” operation after 5 years or so half the LEDs are burned out in many car’s brake lights.

I also have read of several people who bought LED lights and have reported that they lasted less than a year. My LED nightlights lasted the same, despite the packages claimed 10 year service life.

Don’t believe everything you read about LEDs, there is plenty of evidence that most claims are marketing and your experience will be quite different.

By: Chuck Miller

Chuck Miller — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:33:00 +0000

Not sure if anyone pointed this out but isn’t the GeoBulb a bit of a rip off? earthled has a product called the Zetalux that is actually brighter on a lumen basis and is only $49.99 sure its not $15 but you can almost get 3 units for the same price as one GeoBulb.

check it out http://www.Earthled.com

By: Ron Gessler

Ron Gessler — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:01:34 +0000

Great analysis, it might be helpful to point out that even if they say they are, CFL’s are not really dimmable. They burn out quickly in that application. Another situation that causes a shortened life span is frequent turning on and off. They are also not good for lighting artworks, no impact! Use em where you can though and they can only save you time and $. As an art installer / lighting tech I cannot wait for LED’s to come of age. For now the color temps just don’t work and as with the CFL’s they lack impact. Someday……………