are these led lights any good

fluffpot

try these:

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/LTGU9NW.html

they are almost as bright as a 50W halogen

markdavey

Brightness is only part of the story...

As TimBuckTeeth has said above, you will be dissappointed with ANY of the LED GU10's that are on the market at the moment. Mainly for the Beam angle (don't be fooled by eBay sellers quoting 120 degree beam angles, they are talking bull).

Where they specify a colour (Warm or Cool White), that colour is generally projected straight out from the bulb. once you get to the limits of the beam angle (normally around 30-40 degrees) the colour changes completely and the overall effect is not good. Halogen produces a consistent colour across the beam.

I have tried all, from cheap to very expensive, I have returned to Halogen GU10's for the time being.

Dan_Iggulden

Alot of incorrect info posted on this thread.

Lumens is a measure of brightness at a certain distance from the lamp, usually tested at 1 metre distance.

A Halogen bulb has a very narrow beam angle, usually 38 degree, so the light is narrow and intense, so will always come up high in terms of lumen because it is a strong concentrated light. You cannot then compare the lumens to a LED lamp with 120 or even 90 degree angle of light, because it is not a level playing field.

Wattage is certainly not a measure of light, but lumens only tell part of the story, the real measure is luminous flux, but no one mentions that because it is tricky to understand.

When look at LED's, you need to consider the following:

Lumens
Angle of light
Wattage
Warranty (confident companies will give 2 years now).

On a 120 degree angle of light, approx 330 lumens will be very close to a 50 W Halogen.

elstimpo

Dan_Iggulden wrote: »

When look at LED's, you need to consider the following:

Lumens
Angle of light
Wattage
Warranty (confident companies will give 2 years now).

On a 120 degree angle of light, approx 330 lumens will be very close to a 50 W Halogen.

Good post Dan. Although i have to disagree on the warranty. Confident companies will give at least 3 years if not 4 or 5 years.

If you are claiming a product will last 10-15 years, then the very least you should be getting as a consumer is a 3 year warranty.

We have 3 year and 5 year warranties on our products.

With Beam Angle, you also need to take into consideration the ceiling height and size of room. 60 Degrees is a wide enough beam angle for a good LED to compete with 50w Halogen. Minimum of 350 lumens is need though.

mac2008

I replaced 8x 50W halogen GU10's in my kitchen with LEDs from simplyled.co.uk - they are at least as bright, have a good beam angle and colour temp. and use just 5W.

elstimpo

mac2008 wrote: »

I replaced 8x 50W halogen GU10's in my kitchen with LEDs from simplyled.co.uk - they are at least as bright, have a good beam angle and colour temp. and use just 5W.

You can get a similar product for a few £ less with a warranty three times longer if you shop around a bit.

paulmapp8306

Depends why you want them.

Im looking at saving money period, but there not going to do that yet as there too expensive.

They save 45w per bulb - so thats 20 hours to save just under 1 KW hour - which costs around 12p( give or take - dependant on your leccy prices), so you have to run them for 2000 hours just to break even.

so - for me, in the bathroom, bedroom, landing and hallway its just bnot worth it. They get 1 hour use per day - possibly 2 hours in winter, so it will take around 5 years use just to break even. Of course if you have to replace your haogens anyway as they have blown it changes the equation a little to nearer 4-5 years, but still thats a long time before you actually start saving. Actually longer for the 4 in the bedroom as there on dimmers, and dimmable LEDs are even more expensive.

Now we also have 3 spots in the kitchen - which get a higher useage. Maybe 2 hours in the summer but 4 hours in the winter. That makes it nearer a year to a 1.5 years to break even - so I think for those lights ill give it a go.

The price needs to come down on these bulbs to around £3-£4 each before there really worth the investment, £5 tops. There not expensive to make (Im an electronics Tech, so not unaware of production prices), but anything thats "energy efficient" is seriously inflated in price as people think it will save them money on spiraling energy bills. For most those, it simple wont. your just paying for the cost up front rather than spread over a few years.

As the government is "alegedly" committed to low emissions and energy saving - they should maybe cap the prices of such items - or supply them via the local authorities free, or at a subsidised price - possible a bit of both (source the bulbs at just above cost for the manufacturers get some - give them away to those on benefits and make them available for a small proffit to those not on be3nefits) - but as usual industry will lobby any such thing (as they did for FITs on solar power) and it wont happen.

As consumers were stuffed either way.

PRICES NEED TO COME DOWN !!!

paulmapp8306

elstimpo wrote: »

You can get a similar product for a few £ less with a warranty three times longer if you shop around a bit.

where, cos I can only find 2 places to get these bulbs, and there both the same price.

yangptangkipperbang

I have these in my kitchen:

http://www.halers.com/led_downlights/10765_0c.html

7 years warranty.

Brilliant - in all senses !