LED light bulbs

Dave_Fowler

almillar wrote: »

We should call it 'Good Cheap LED lamps'. Then we can separate the good ones from the bad ones and exchange experience.

If by 'good' you are meaning high quality (CRI etc) then there we are, getting subjective again.

Perhaps 'reliable' or 'efficient' could be included in the thread title, but subjects such as CRI I think not. There are occasions where I would choose to have either a 'daylight' or a 'warm' colour temperature. It just depends on for what I am using the illumination and what is being illuminated.

Dave F

NigeWick

Dave_Fowler wrote: »

Perhaps 'reliable' or 'efficient' could be included in the thread title, but subjects such as CRI I think not. There are occasions where I would choose to have either a 'daylight' or a 'warm' colour temperature. It just depends on for what I am using the illumination and what is being illuminated.

'Fraid light is light to me. The question I ask myself is "Is the light working or is it not working?" If it is working, no problem. If it is not working, change the bulb and I have never had to do that with either CFLs or their LED replacements. I bought what was the best deal at the time using a cash back site for the LEDs.

silverwhistle

NigeWick wrote: »

"Is the light working or is it not working?"

Except if it's the CFL in my shed which is working but is as dim as a Toc H lamp..

NigeWick

silverwhistle wrote: »

Except if it's the CFL in my shed which is working but is as dim as a Toc H lamp..

It and me both then.

Ben84

elstimpo wrote: »

You will not still be using those lamps in 2030. Lifespan claims are usually completely false. Power supplies are not going to last 20 years, it's ridiculous to suggest they will and some companies out there really are misleading their customers with LED lifespan of 50,000 hours etc

Top quality LED's are not getting cheaper at an 'amazing' pace, whats getting cheaper is the cheaper stuff as everyone is in a race to the bottom on price (and quality).

I can see a lot of LED companies facing legal action in the future when their products suddenyl start failing en mass.

Only time will tell. What I can say about them so far is that I bought the Phillips LED bulbs some time in 2010 and put them in my most used light fixtures. They were around £25 each at the time. I wanted good quality light and energy saving, and they were about the best item I found for both at the time. At this price however they could only be justified for heavy use, so I put them in my reading lamps. At a very conservative estimate, they've been used at least 10,000 hours so far. They still work perfectly.

These same bulbs also dropped greatly in price since I first bought them. Some years later I bought some more for about £12. They are as far as I can tell exactly the same product, just cheaper.

Now, there is an issue here - cheap is relative. What someone considers cheap, I might not. I have bought some LED bulbs of a different type, mostly status branded R63 bulbs for £4.99 - which I would say are cheap. They've been used daily in my kitchen and dining room for over a year now. They seem to work well, and they are a big drop from the prices I paid for my first bulbs. Not so many years ago you couldn't buy any LED bulbs for £5, and then later only dim ones at that price, but now you can buy ones that replace 60w bulbs for £5, and they seem to be lasting well so far. These aren't just the same product, but made cheaply, there does seem to be some progress in the technology and what a few pound gets you.

almillar

No you lied, claiming I was sitting in the dark

You've already quoted back to me that I was 'betting'. That could be construed as guessing or speculating. It's not lying, and it's not claiming. Oh, and it's also not a statement.

I challenged you to back up your claims, and you took it personally and attacked me for daring to ask questions about your purchases.

So made a completely false statement - you lied.
Did I replace lamps with lower lm LED's, no, you admit that yourself now. So you made a false statement - you lied.

As above, it wasn't a statement. Stop calling it lying. Stop taking it personally.

But I never said this, or anything like it, or anything that could be interpreted like this, or anything that could justify you saying this to me. You simply 'made it up' perhaps as a personal attack to hide your embarrassment?

I've already covered this but you've brought it up again. YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT a 100W bulb, OR about 400 LUMENS. IN FACT you never mentioned ANY wattages or ANY lumens values. THESE are the INFORMATION I REQUESTED. MY 100W 400 Lumens was a hypothetical example. If people do what you said, take out a bulb, replace it with a £1.50 LED, they COULD end up doing exactly that. Your advice missed out checking specs, I simply asked that people should, indeed, check specs of what they replace, and what they replace it with.

And your off again. Now lying that I replace all lamps with 806lm. You just can't stop can you?

My point, missed again. How do you know if you never check?

I had said what they were,

YOU. HAD. NOT! Your first post was #4, with a list of retailers. I *THANKED* your post #16 with useful advice. In post #23 I ASKED the question 'What lumens do they put out', and I 'bet' they weren't the same quality of light. Where had you said, BEFORE THIS POINT, what they were?

You took issue with the second part and here we are a long time later. You focussed on this, whilst I tried to focus on the first part. It turned out yout lamps were just fine.

Your bet turned out to be wrong, because you didn't have a clue what you were talking about.

It sure did turn out to be wrong. And no, I didn't have a clue what I was talking about (the product you were recommending/had bought), because you wouldn't tell me!

You were confident at the start that I'd bought the 'wrong' lamps, so what are the right lamps?

If you hadn't checked the specs (did you?) you simply got lucky. You won your bet, I lost mine. Other people won't get so lucky following your advice to simply walk into a shop a buy an LED. They need to check things! I'm not recommending any, as I've already said. But for the purposes of this argument, to replace a 60W halogen, I recommend the Screwfix one linked previously.

or are you completely happy that we bought the right ones in the first place, and all of your posts were simply argumentative garbage?

You did buy the right ones, but everyone should still check specs. That ain't garbage.

Even after I'd supplied the information that you now say is fine, you still took a personal swipe at me, whilst responding to another poster. A swipe that turned out to be a lie, by your own words later in the very same response from you.

Seems pretty personal to me.

Where was the personal swipe? Apology pending from me.

I didn't post this. Are you incapable of carrying out a sensible response?

Ha, it was a reply to another poster, but I'm glad you read it.

'Good Cheap LED lamps'
That's exactly what we were doing till you brought darkness to the thread.

No it's not. I added the word good. To compare products, any products, you need some basic information about them. Don't you agree?

Dave Fowler:

If by 'good' you are meaning high quality (CRI etc) then there we are, getting subjective again.

In the context of this thread, I'll not argue CRI. How about Lumens? Is anyone seriously going to suggest that when comparing LEDs, or any LIGHT SOURCE, that we shouldn't compare the LIGHT OUTPUT from them?

Nige Wick
(You're wearing sunglasses in your profile pic, which gives me a giggle!)

'Fraid light is light to me.

So a 60W bulb is no different from a 100w one in your eyes?
It seems like you haven't ad the disappointment of your room getting duller when you change lamps (regardless of technology). That's fair enough, but if you don't check the specs, it could happen.

EricMears

Martyn1981 wrote: »

. . . .one should never feed the trolls

That really says it all !

jimjames

Who'd have thought my post telling where I bought cheap LED bulbs would extend to 7 pages of discussion of the merits or otherwise of different specs!

almillar

as one should never feed the trolls

Nice one. Accuse ME of getting personal and then this!

The sum of your advice - I didn't take issue with. I've been stuck on the first piece:

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!

There is not enough information in here. I asked for more, you refused to provide it for so long, eventually did, and here we are.

I'll quote again, your very first words in the thread:

No idea about the quality,... ...in Home Bargains

You had no idea about the quality of the bulbs you had seen in Home Bargains. I had seen bulbs in Home Bargains, I had looked at them, and I DID have an idea about the quality of them, they weren't good, so I chipped in. Is that OK? Turns out you were defending a Screwfix product all along. This is all so unnecessary.

Why do you assume I don't check?

None of your posts indicated that you did, or that you think others should. As I've said, I've taken part in plenty of other LED discussions on here where people don't know what lumens are, or have bought cheap LEDs and been disappointed, or have come on looking for advice. I've seen it happen. So I think it's safe to assume. Please don't take that personally.

So therefore, all of your argumentative posts directed at me, or about me, were 'argumentative garbage'.

You're mixing up what it turns out you actually did in the privacy of your own home (which I made incorrect assumptions about - bets, speculation, not lies), with the information you actually provided on the forum. All you needed to do was supply the info. You eventually did. What would have been so wrong with saying it earlier?

On the 27th Feb you posted this swipe at me, whilst responding to jimjames:-

Apart from actually using your name, literally being personal, I don't see how that's an attack. You've now implied I'm a troll so think about who's being more personal.

but I'd posted this 3 days earlier:

We've covered this. You were posting over the weekend, I wasn't on, and I was responding to posts in chronolgical order. It doesn't change the fact that jimjames actually enganged in providing specs for a product, and you didn't.

You claimed I told people what to do, which is a lie, I simply shared my experience.

You did share an experience, yes. It ALMOST looks like a recommendation. I asked for further info, and you didn't provide.

If you think about it, what has your contribution to this thread been

CHECK.
YOUR.
SPECIFICATIONS.
That's all!

theboylard

Get your feet off the sofa!

That's the Oval Office!