LED light bulbs

jimjames

I've had low energy bulbs for a few years now having bought when CFL bulbs started to be available at a reasonable price. I saw some LED bulbs at screwfix over the weekend at an amazing price so decided to take the plunge and buy some.

Wow! I've been really impressed with the brightness and how quickly they come on compared to CFL ones and the power consumption too. In the hallway it was a 20W CFL replacing a 100W standard. That's now a 5.8W LED which seems very similar brightness despite only being a 40W equivalent rating. Best of all the LED bulb was only £1.79, really great moneysaving as it's now well within 12 months payback for heavily used lights.

legoman62

I've bought plenty from here:D

http://cpc.farnell.com/

Good selection and price too.

Delivery is/was free if you spend over £5.00 :T

JimLad

Replaced most of ours over the last few years with bulbs from LED HUT online. Not had a single one blow and they have 5 year warrantys. Bargain

Martyn1981

No idea about the quality, but last week I noticed LED 'normal' bulbs (B22 & E27) in Home Bargains. From memory they were cheap, I think the prices were:
100W equivalent £2.49
60W £1.49
40W £1.29

Have bought LEDs from Screwfix and B&Q especially when offers are on (9W B22 and 5W(ish) GU10s), typically now 5 for £10 or less.

Absolute no-brainer now. And a nice stash of old 12W CFL's for the bathroom, the old ones come on slowly and don't blind you when you are at your most vulnerable! :eek:

LucyGoosey

Have bought the £2.49 home bargains 100W equivalent bulbs. I opted for the daylight 6500k bayonet fitting bulb and find it perfect for the kitchen where I prefer a colder light.

John_Kennet

The Home Bargains ones are good for the normal shape and fitting bulbs (as well as smaller and larger ones). I have recently installed the 100W equivalent ones (12W 1500 lumen warm white) in my Hall and Landing as I like those areas bright.

Poundland do 5W 330 lumen warm white bulbs - mainly in the small screw fitting and GU10 fitting though they also have candle B22 bayonets (which can be hard to find). They also have many more 3W 200 lumen bulbs but they are only really useful for bedside lights.

I replaced the spots in my bathroom, study and kitchen with Poundland 5W GU10 and golf ball bulbs plus a couple of the 5W candle bayonets elsewhere and a 3W golf ball for a bedside lamp. Quality OK so far.

Sadly none of the above are dimmable, so looking at those next for the lounge and bedrooms. Cheapest dimmable SES golf balls I have found is £10 for a 4 pack on ebay but currently out of stock and still looking for higher brightness dimmable "normal" bulbs at reasonable prices.

I calculate just replacing all my higher use light bulbs with LEDs will knock over 10% off my total electricity usage once complete - am monitoring.

Payback period varies from under one to two years too for most of them, so a great investment and way better than putting the money in a 1% savings account.

jimjames

I did some calcs for a colleague this week. If they switch from GU10 50W to 5W then they'll pay back in under a month because those lights are so heavily used. Really is a no brainer at current prices, 5 pack of GU10 for a fiver.

John_Kennet

The easy to remember rule of thumb (at current prices) is:

One watt for one year costs one pound.

Makes it easier to do quick comparisons.

It can often be worth replacing Compact flourescent bulbs with LED bulbs as they use half the energy for same luminosity (and last longer).

tony6403

John_Kennet wrote: »

Poundland do 5W 330 lumen warm white bulbs - mainly in the small screw fitting and GU10 fitting though they also have candle B22 bayonets (which can be hard to find). They also have many more 3W 200 lumen bulbs but they are only really useful for bedside lights.

I replaced the spots in my bathroom, study and kitchen with Poundland 5W GU10 and golf ball bulbs plus a couple of the 5W candle bayonets elsewhere and a 3W golf ball for a bedside lamp. Quality OK so far.

I too have given Poundshop LEDs a trial and am impressed. Began about 5 months ago and not yet had a failure. By looking in the various "pound" retailers I have now found ES , SES and bayonets to replace all my bulbs.

ASavvyBuyer

Bought a pack of 5 GU10 3 watt LEDs in Screwfix the other day for £3.50

Equivalent of 70p each !

jimjames

ASavvyBuyer wrote: »

Bought a pack of 5 GU10 3 watt LEDs in Screwfix the other day for £3.50

Equivalent of 70p each !

All the ones I've been buying have been from screwfix, great value for money on the LED ones!