LED light bulbs

Coz

Does anyone use these in their home? What are they like? Are they any good? I want to try one, as the yellow energy saving bulbs make me feel sick. We got some Philips Eco ones from B&Q a few weeks ago which are fine, but they no longer sell them. But the LED ones are quite expensive if i find I don't like them. If I do try one, which one would I need to get if I need as much light as a 100 watt regular bulb gives out?

docmatt

Are they spotlights? and will they need to be dimmable?

Coz

What do you mean by spot light? No, they don't need to be dimmable.

WestonDave

You will struggle to find a 100W equivalent LED bulb as LED's that powerful are extremely expensive. Lightplanet.co.uk import a 60W equivalent (in their view anyway!) which looks the same shape and size as an old style lightbulb for about £15 which might be worth a try. They also have a choice between a warmer light colour and a colder daylight colour.

alexlyne

I've just bought a pile of GU10 and E14 (read: small edison screw types) LEDs for our house - around £4-5 each off ebay (and a couple of other internet retailers). They're around 40W with 120 degree beam. I have a couple of samples, one of them £12 which is generally better (nearer 50W), but the bang-for-the-buck for me in my situation was the 40W ones.

I have seen similar type bulbs with E27 screw threads on (i.e. 'normal' size screws), but haven't looked for bayonet fitting ones as we don't have any of them in the house.

lustrumlight have an '60W' E27 bulb for £7, but wouldn't recommend them 100% as I thought the guys customer service was a bit short and curt when I emailed a couple of questions (and didn't answer the question I had asked). Though I did initially buy a '40W' e14 bulb that I am happy with, and the delivery was good.

muckybutt

Coz wrote: »

Does anyone use these in their home? What are they like? Are they any good? I want to try one, as the yellow energy saving bulbs make me feel sick. We got some Philips Eco ones from B&Q a few weeks ago which are fine, but they no longer sell them. But the LED ones are quite expensive if i find I don't like them. If I do try one, which one would I need to get if I need as much light as a 100 watt regular bulb gives out?

The "yellow" energy saver is more likely what is classed as "warm white", these give off a yellowy smoke stained type of light. Pop into your local electrical wholesaler and as for a cool white lamp, these give off a much crisper daylight type of light.

Although led lamps are getting better you cant get them as a particularly good "old style lamp" replacement....yet !,as a replacement for a spot light they are good - but expensive, but will save money in the long run.

dander

I bought some LED bulbs a few years ago now as replacements for haologens but they were absolutely abysmal. The light was really blue and really dim and made my kitchen feel more like a nightclub than a kitchen. And the bulbs were something like £11 each! Never touched them since, but I should imagine technology has moved on.

Steve_xx

I thought I'd try one of the LED bulbs and so did a quick scan on eBay and decided this one will do the job for £4. I ordered it yesterday and so it wont arrive for a while as it's coming from Hong Kong. It's a bit of an experiment really and although I have researched it a bit I can't work out the output watts easily:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130408087200&ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:GB:1123

I've just had an email from Lidle shoing these LED's which are on sale there from Monday 24 January:

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_17284.htm

alexlyne

There's a few threads on the ethical moneysaving board.

Those lidl ones are only 25W equivalent. Can get much better off fleabay (and UK sourced) for that price.

p.s. dander - yes they are much better now. I might have a couple of the ones you have from a couple of years back. They're awful! New ones are very bright, some of them have nice wide beams, and are cheaper. It's a shame you can't get the good ones in the shops, they all seem to be online at the moment.

deano72_2

iv got 6w osaram x3 on a track (gu10version) led in one bedroom & gu10 50w x3 on a track inthe other bedroom..when i stand on the landing i can see into both rooms & the the one with led looks alot brighter & a nicer light..but the @ £25 per lamp they aint cheap but with leds you get what you pay for either in effectiveness or longer lasting

Yorkie1

deano, did you simply put them in a light fitting which previously took standard GU10s, or have you had to get a new light fitting / transformer etc?