I do not like energy saving bulbs only 70/100w old fashioned type, need middle ground

ic

I too would recommend LED. The lumens are the value you need to look out for. Around 250 = 25W, 470 = 40W, 1000 = 60W, 1300 = 100W (lumens to equivalent old bulbs) - note this is off the top of my head, but essentially what I look out for when I'm shopping for bulbs. So many equivalent ratings on the boxes are nonsense. Ikea sells LED, but people using them must be living in such gloom as they're very dim bulbs. Aldi keep doing bulbs every so often, and I'd highly recommend them. They've done ES and BC standard sized bulbs, candle and golf ball, reflector and halogen replacements - all are great.

27col

mrxry wrote: »

Energy saving bulbs just make me feel sleepy as they do not give me the level of light I need to perk up, I have some halogen bulbs that are 70w but give 100w of light that 9 times out of 10 seem perfect but that one time out of 10 is normally in a smaller area i.e bathroom or kitchen where it feels the light is strongest in the centre and halogen seems to spread it out too much.

Similarly I feel rough in the winter months due to lack of light and at best energy saving ones are better for reading with rather than to sit in front of tv or computer with.

Makes me wonder how you would have managed in the days before the general availability of electric light.
However, SAD is a real thing, I've felt it myself on many occasions.

jamesd

mrxry wrote: »

Energy saving bulbs just make me feel sleepy as they do not give me the level of light I need to perk up

What colour temperatures have you tried? The most commonly available ones are warm white but cool white and daylight are available. Daylight are the ones used in SAD-specific lights because they are expected to be more effective at giving a wakefulness feeling. That's also why daylight temperature is used in offices or hospitals. You might try a 1400 or so lumen LED in a cheap uplighter to experiment. Maybe lower lumen output if you have trouble finding the 1400 lumen (100W equivalent) type.

muckybutt

Quite a lot of LED lamps don't say Warm or Cool white - they specify colour temp.

For a SAD sufferer you want a Daylight lamp with a colour of around 5.500 K - 6,000 K

Rotor

If you can tolerate a large bulb then these are very bright. They do 85w and 105w also and ,I think , in both 'warm' and 'daylight' . NB - small they are not! The one I got is 65w and about 10" long


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/65w-325w-Photography-Daylight-5500K-B22-Light-Bulb-/200642854825?pt=UK_Photography_Light_Bulbs_Tubes&hash=item2eb73effa9

nodiscount

This is 6500k for under 4 quid and free delivery if you order over a fiver:
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=LP06759

almillar

B&Q have 35W CFLs which are equivalent to 120 or 130 filament ones.
They're extremely bright of course, and they're very fast to warm up, especially compared to other CFLs.