Paying $60 For A Light Bulb That Lasts 20 Years Is Kind Of A No-Brainer (Really?!)

Consumerist ^ | April 23, 2012 | By Mary Beth Quirk

[SMGFan]

After months in development, Philips is finally ready to sell LED light bulbs that last 20 years. Could be quite a game-changer — after all, if you didn't have to change a light bulb between now and when your unborn child graduates from high school, just think of all the precious minutes you could spend on other tasks. And the environment would surely thank you.

Philips put the $60-bulb on sale yesterday, which was also Earth Day, of course. The bulb uses LED — otherwise known as light-emitting diodes — to light things up, instead of filaments, reports BBC News.

[combat_boots]

Far out, Man! Dude, it's bitchin' cool! The number of over-the-hill hippies it takes to turn on and repair one of these light bulbs is ____________

[Sudetenland]

Government needs to get the hell out of our business. If LED lights meet a demonstrated need, or if THE MARKET perceives a product to fill an already existing need better than the one it replaces, it will succeed.

I don't recall ever complaining about incandescent lightbulbs. It is appalling that Congress stepped in and essentially destroyed an industry for politically correct purposes.

I want my incandescent lights!!!! I prefer drowning due to "Global Climate Change" over mercury poisoning from curly cues or going broke over LEDs.

[Ouderkirk]

Mary Beth, Mary Beth, you are so uninformed.

What about the energy needed to mine the materials needed to make the LED, and then to refine them in to purity levels to make the useful?

Gallium, Arsenic, Antimony, Indium, Germainuim, Yttrium, and the many other minerals used to dope the surfaces are not exactly eco-friendly to mine and refine.

You can pay me now or pay the Chinese later.

[knarf]

Yabut ... look at all the people you’d put out of work ... YOU know ... one to hold the bulb and two to turn the ladder ....

[lacrew]

Whoa. I thought CFL’s were the best thing since sliced bread.

So why do we now need LED?

Oh yeah...CFL’s didn’t match their hype....wonder if LED will.

[central_va]

You need to see this: Girl changing light bulb link

[molson209]

let the suckers test it out

[knarf]

I picked up a 35 count of $.97 ... yep .. less'n a buck ... flat of solar lights.

The kind you stick in the ground so when you're drunk, you can get to the door before puking ...

And I pulled off all the stick-in-the-ground things, arrranged them cell up, in a wirew basket I've had since .. I don't know .. (took 19, I think) and after charging all day, I hang it off of my kitchen light.

Great FREE night light

('cept o'course the initial cast of LESS than 29 bucks)

[Mears]

At my age,never——I’d have to add the bulb to my will.

[mass55th]

Will I get a refund if I die before the bulb?

[rod1]

Yep no-brain er is not too far away from reality when (not if) a bulb breaks and you have mercury spewed around the home of an yet-to-be born child.

Obama is trying to turn the US into an something approaching an Indonesian village complete with a night market.

[al_c]

2 years?! I can’t get any to last 1 year! And I still have some incandescents that came with the house that are now going on 7 years.

[discostu]

That’s the ticket.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I don’t understand what would make this bulb more desirable than the LED bulbs you can buy now for as little as $8.50 on Amazon. I realize that it costs a bit more for dimmable.

My guess is it is the promised lifetime, but unless they give you a guarantee for that 20 year period, I don’t know how you can count on it.

I’ve just started dabbling in LED bulbs. I’ve got one that looks a lot like a nice 60-watt incandescent, which works great as a standalone light in my TV room (light enough to move around, but doesn’t cast harsh light on the screen like the CFL). It’s 6 watts.

I’ve got one in my bathroom that is only 2 watts, and puts out a more “point source”. I pointed it at a mirror, and it is a fine light for almost everything you have to do in the bathroom. I have a CFL that is slightly unscrewed in the other light socket, so if you need extra light you just turn it a bit. At 2 watts, you can afford to leave the thing on all day. However, this isn’t really the right light for a bathroom, my plan is to mount it on a directional light off a wall that I can use as a reading light, because with it’s directional feature it’s like a 100-watt bulb if you point it where you need it. It is surprisingly bright for 2 watts, and it only cost me $10 bucks and it’s dimmable.

But I’m seeing how long it will last. That is what my test is now.

Still, if I had a guaranteed 20-year cycle, I would pay $60 for LED bulbs for all of my enclosed hard-to-reach fixtures.

The plan is to be able to run most of the lights in my house on a UPS unit. I’m still working on a UPS unit big enough to run my FIOS box and TV for 8 hours. :-)

I am really going to buy a propane generator (I was going to use gas, but with propane I am truly off-grid for months if things go bad — otherwise I’d use natural gas because I’ve never lost gas feed before). I want to be ready when the EMP pulse hits.

[Sirius Lee]

I have them. I use them. I believe them.

[Moose Burger]

Until Big Nanny comes in five years, tells you its mumbo jumbo radiations are killing the speckled butterfly of the south pacific, and you have to change it

[bobcat62]

I’ve had one of these Philips bulbs at my desk for the past year. Very pleasing incandescent-like lighting. Easy on the eyes. No complaints & we were able to find ‘em for around $17 each.

[JaguarXKE]

I don’t, I won’t, I don’t care.

[Revel]

I can’t make out details at all under LED lighting. LED lead lights really are the pits.

[Doogle]

...what needs investigating is how many senators and congresscritters have stock in this “new” bulb?