A Buyers Guide to LED Bulbs

RobGuggle

malc_b wrote: »

A point on your payback calculation. You have ignored the 40W the incandescent etc. gives as home heating. Most lighting is during the winter when you heat as well so although the electric cost 13p you save about 50% of that in gas etc. so payback isn't 1 year but 2.

Eh? Spotlights in my ceiling, which are quite high + the fact that heat rises? So how do they heat my kitchen?

RobGuggle

Doshwaster wrote: »

I've just picked up a 2 pack of GU10 led lights from Homebase (http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=100730) and they fit my existing fittings perfectly so I'll be going back tomorrow to get some more.

I've tried those, they are the same ones Robert Dyas sell and they are useless.

JohnB47

Doshwaster wrote: »

I've just picked up a 2 pack of GU10 led lights from Homebase (http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=100730) and they fit my existing fittings perfectly so I'll be going back tomorrow to get some more.

There should be some sort of law against this. There is no way an LED bulb of 250 lumens is anywhere near being equivalent to a 50w halogen. Having tried out a couple of (useless) LEDs, I agree with the OP (Chris) that a minimum of 400 lumens is called for.

almillar

And yet 72 people on the Homebase site give them over 4 out of 5 stars - why?!! 2 4W lights giving 250 lm each for £10? Neither cheap nor good.
And also, don't heat your house with light bulbs!

elstimpo

JohnB47 wrote: »

Yes Chris that does help, thanks. I'm much wiser now.

Edit: I was thinking that it might be a good idea for a retailer to make available kits of lamps for customers to try out. There could be a gu10 kit, comprising a range of spots of different wattages and temperatures, another kit would contain bulbs for bayonet type bulbs etc. The customer would pay a deposit which would be refunded if they purchase items above a certain value, otherwise they would be charged, say, £5 plus return p&p.

The idea for this came from my remembering that I was able to 'hire' a set of Audioquest speaker cables from a shop on the Tottenham Court Road back in the nineties. This allowed me to try out three types of cable and of course I bought the most expensive ones!

Thanks John. This is not a bad idea, we currently operate a 365 day returns period with no Terms & conditions so that customers can buy a range of products, try them, test them against competitor products and send the products they don't require back to us for a full refund.

We could come up with these 'kits' and have say 5 for each fitting or lamp type and send these out to customers with a deposit.

We have a white board in the company where if anyone has an idea, no matter how silly, they write it on there, allow others to comment, then we discuss it at the weekly meeting. I will add it to the board now. :T

elstimpo

jimmy_81 wrote: »

This is very timely; we'll be redoing our bathroom in January and I've been considering LED downlights... So thanks elstimpo for a very useful post! :T

One thing I don't understand, though - do you need special lampholders for LED - or can you just use standard GU10 inset spotlight holders with LED bulbs?

The LED downlights I've been looking at appear to be integrated units i.e. the LED lamp is built into the holder. Presumably they're relying on the long LED lifetime and if anything was to go amiss, you replace the whole thing? As they seem to run approx £40 each, that's a slightly scary idea!

My preference would be to go with simple lampholders & LED bulbs... But maybe I'm missing something?

If anyone can shed any light on this, I'd greatly appreciate it...

Jimmy - You do not need special fittings or lamp holders for LED GU10's. The one thing you need to be careful with is that most LED's are slightly wider than halogens due to the heat sink an LED has. We obviously haven't tested all fittings in the UK, that would be impossible, but roughly our tests show that most LED Spotlights have problems in about 10% of existing fittings in the UK.

Another reason why, if you buy from an online retailer, you must make sure you can return the products for a full refund !

elstimpo

almillar wrote: »

I'm happy to list Chris' site as I've bought several bulbs from him and always had an excellent service, on excellent products. He is honest and doesn't oversell his products, which I think is the biggest problem with LEDs at the minute, as he hinted at in his first post.
http://www.energysavingled.com/
I've personally got the LED spotlights (V6 which are no longer made) which just about replace 50w, 60 degree halogens. I have other LEDs too, which clearly either do not output what they say they do, or have been very generous in saying what they're equivalent to. Or hidden the beam angle away somewhere.

Thank you very much. We are not a perfect, company, we do make mistakes but our policy is that not matter what happens, we aim to exceed the customers expectations. If thats with the performance of our products or the way we respond to our own mistake, it doesn't matter. We do pretty much everything completely differently from any other LED company.

We were also recently chosen to receive an award from a certain Dragon, which was nice.

elstimpo

RobGuggle wrote: »

I've tried those, they are the same ones Robert Dyas sell and they are useless.

I'm working on improving the LED products Robert Dyas sell after meeting the chairman of the company recently

Doshwaster

JohnB47 wrote: »

There should be some sort of law against this. There is no way an LED bulb of 250 lumens is anywhere near being equivalent to a 50w halogen. Having tried out a couple of (useless) LEDs, I agree with the OP (Chris) that a minimum of 400 lumens is called for.

I'm sure you know what you are talking about but these Homebase LEDs are brighter than the 50W halogens they are replacing. Any brighter and I'd need to wear sunglasses in the kithchen.

Do you have a recommendation for a GU10 LED?

sunshinetours

Have also used Chris's company a couple of times now and will continue to do so as we gradually replaces the higher use areas with LED's.

Have also had to return one bulb that wasn't suitable for the fitting and returns was painless and easy refund as suggested above.

The 7W dimmable bulbs are great replacements for traditional bulbs and sit between 40 and 60W equivalent and would say in a very nice warm white. Especially work well in a larger room with say two or more bulbs required (work fine with regular dimmer switch). Ones in lounge are now a year old an probably on at least 8 hours a day I would say over course of year and have 3 year warranty