Which Smart Lightbulbs Are Right For You?

time ^ | 4-14-2015 | John Patrick Pullen

[GRRRRR]

I’ve been using the CREE LED in the living room for over a year now. I like them, cool to touch, coated for break resistance and the light is comfortable to the eyes, no flickering etc.

[ansel12]

There is no reason to switch yet if you don’t want to, but in a couple of years the led bulbs are going to be too good to ignore.

Personally I already use all led, and I love the savings and the durability and long life of them, a well made led bulb will last for many years.

Here is a good chart on the facts of leds.

http://eartheasy.com/live_led_bulbs_comparison.html

[ctdonath2]

Incandescent bulbs irritate me with their frequency of burnout. In a house with several dozen in frequent use, there’s often 1-2 dead bulbs at any time. Then there’s the 60W of power use when 14W can do the same. Hardy “phenomenal in reliability and efficiency”. As they burn out, I’m replacing them all with major-brand LEDs (the Great Value Walmart LED flickers stupidly; yeah I’ll pay the extra $2 for a bulb that won’t start dying in 6 months). CFLs are a non-starter: mercury vapor in a house with kids? NO; had one smash right in front of ‘em, that was the end of CFLs in my house. Only remaining issue is fully-enclosed fixtures (heat retention can kill LEDs fast).

[perfect_rovian_storm]

If only the stupid government hadn’t poisoned the well by trying to force out working technology in favor of technology that wasn’t ready yet, people would be more open to how great the LED bulbs actually are.

I cut my electric bill by 1/3 by switching out incandescents to LEDs without any sacrifice in light quality. It took like 4 months to pay back the investment for the bulbs.

These smart bulbs, on the other hand, are about on the level of a ‘smart watch’ in terms of real-world usability in my opinion. I just don’t get them at all. I can find a use for all kinds of home automation equipment, but the bulb is not the component I want to use to control a lamp.

[WKUHilltopper]

I prefer candles...no spy/surveillance lights for me.

[ctdonath2]

“Soft white” LEDs look exactly the same as incandescents. I’m sensitive to “white temperature” too, and am happy with current bulbs.

The one thing that still gets me is very obscure: how _fast_ LEDs turn on. There’s no subtle rise in brightness (milliseconds though it may be), the durn things are just ON when you flip the switch.

[JRandomFreeper]

Ain't the free market great? You get what you want, and I get what I want, and they aren't the same thing at all.

/johnny

[NewHampshireDuo]

The cool light LEDs are not bad. We’ve gotten a bunch of them from Lowe’s and Dollar Store for anywhere from $1.00 to $5.00.

We still like good old Thomas Edison’s bulbs for reading.

[NorthMountain]

Uses six watts for the equivalent of a 40 watt incandescent. It’s the one I leave on if I am out of the house at night. Waiting to see what the savings look like, if any.

The average cost of electricity in Ohio is approximately $0.06 per kWh.

Let us suppose, for example, that over the course of one month you leave that bulb "on" for 100 hours.

If that use is served by the 40W tungsten bulb, it will consume 4000 Wh, or 4kWh. That will cost you $0.24 on your power bill.

If that use is served by the 6W LED bulb, it will consume 600 Wh, or 0.6 kWh. That will cost you $0.036 on your power bill for a savings of twenty cents per month.

For example.

[spokeshave]

One like this:

The Centennial Light is the world's longest-lasting light bulb. It is at 4550 East Avenue, Livermore, California, and maintained by the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department.[1] The fire department says that the bulb is at least 113 years old and has been turned off only a handful of times. Due to its longevity, the bulb has been noted by The Guinness Book of World Records,[2] Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and General Electric.[3] It is often cited as evidence for the existence of planned obsolescence in later-produced light bulbs.[4]

[Bubba_Leroy]

incandescent bulbs have been phenomenal in reliability and efficiency why in the world would I change.

Because our wise and benevolent government overlords have decreed that you cannot buy them anymore.

I stocked up before the ban kicked in and have about a 5 year supply left.

[Conan the Librarian]

We have LEDs in almost all the lights on our sailboat (it’s also our house and home). My main issue is that some are just too bright. They are also not bulbs but flat panel breadboards with the chips embedded.

They pull VERY little power though. Some also have a “RED” setting which can be important when sailing at night.

I’m hoping to get one of these red lights made into a lamp for astronomy purposes.

[xander]

Costco - best prices on most houshold LEDs and recessed retrofit LEDs. Some exterior LEDS (porch, post, motion).

Dollar stores sometimes have LED bulbs. All I have seen are the 60w, 2700k temp, 800lumen, equivalents and are not dimmable.

A little known side benefit of LEDs is that they don’t emit UV light due to their limited spectral output range. Their use helps prevent the fading of items in the living/work space from long term UV exposure like you get with fluorescent bulbs.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Ain't the free market great?

It was. I hope we have one again in my lifetime. I'm not holding my breath.

[outofsalt]

I’m a, “soft white” guy! (Racist?) Made the mistake of buying cool white years ago and I’ve felt like I’ve walked into 7-11 at midnight in that room ever since.

[American Constitutionalist]

If they are smart light bulbs, why can’t they make coffee and do my tax returns for me ?

[fruser1]

“Waiting to see what the savings look like, if any.”

Math fun:

My latest power bill was 65.90 for 492kWHr. That’s an average of 0.1339 / kWHr. 1 kW = 1000 W.

So say you get a regular bulb for $1. That’s a difference of $6 for a 34 W power consumption difference.

So to make your 6 bucks back, you’d have to run that bulb:

(6 * 1000 )/(34 * 0.1339) = 1318 Hr, or running continuously about 55 days.

[TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed]

I pick NONE OF THE ABOVE.

I want my dumb, warm, instant on/off incandescent.

[American Constitutionalist]

Actually I like the LEDs better than the compact florescent bulbs, and don’t flame me, but I like the LEDs better than the incandescent bulbs.
Now if they were 50 cents a piece that would be great.

[American Constitutionalist]

Heat and the on and off cycles is what ruins the life of light bulbs and electronic equipment.