As a lighting nerd
I have to throw in my opinion.
All LED bulbs are not created equal, and by this I mean 1) the color of the light produced by the bulb and 2) the light's angle of dispersion i.e.
where that light goes once it leaves the bulb.
I've bought three different LED bulbs in the past year:
Philips BC8A19 - looks like something from a sci-fi movie, a
cool something though! I paid a total of $22 for mine at Home Depot.
Philips BC5A19 -I bought mine at Home Depot last year in August for $19+ tax, but it seems to have been discontinued (can't find it on their website anymore), though last month it was still on their shelves IIRC for around $14.
Feit BPA15 - mine is the 15 watt equivalent version but otherwise looks the same.
.....and the Philips BC8A19 is definitely the winner. Its light to me anyway looks 99% identical to a regular incandescent bulb's i.e. nice-n-warm, and its dispersion pattern seems to be the same. So if you didn't tell me a table lamp used this bulb, I would think there was a conventional incandescent bulb in there.
The other Philips isn't too bad, though its light is much whiter, and IMO not suitable for a living room or bedroom. Its dispersion from its "half bulb" lens is decent, though more of its light goes out the top of our lamp w/shade than the BC8's.
The little Feit, which I bought at a local HEB grocery store(!) for $9.00 also produces a very white light, but stops just short of the cold/analytical bluish light many no-name brand LEDs produce. Dispersion is actually pretty good, better than the Philips BC5 but not nearly as good as the yellow-lens BC8.
FYI: except for the Feit, the metal portion of both Philips bulbs - AFAIK which act as heatsinks or cooling systems for their internal electronic circuits - become quite hot after a few minutes of use. Not nearly as hot as an incandescent bulb, but hot enough I cannot keep my finger on them for more than a second. The Feit? It never gets hot, and in fact is only vaguely warm after hours of use.
When I can I want to try out some bulbs from GE and Sylvania; and also, an outside LED floodlight.
I really like the LED concept - extremely long life, energy savings - and especially because they don't use mercury like CFLs do
(I no longer buy them). So when I can, I will be replacing most of my incandescents with LEDs.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
