Philips' LED Lightbulb Uses 17-watts as 75-watt Replacement

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Guide community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Status
Not open for further replies.

xenophorge

Distinguished
May 27, 2010
9
0
18,510
I'm a Phillips distributor as well as a lighting specialist. And these things are the way to go.

For those of you balking at the price, well true hardware costs money. Like CFL's and hell, even PSU's, yes the chinese will create some cheaper alternatives. And they will fail. As a stores manager in downtown Toronto I was approached by every company under the sun trying to get me to stock and sell their LED's. For the most part, they all sucked. It was still an emerging market at the time (about 6 years ago). It's not the same anymore, the big players have a product that works, and works well.

The prices will still come down, in time. Just like T8's and now T5's, the newest tech always costs more, until they become the standard and something new and better comes out. CFL's have come down a lot (and I'm not talking cheapo depot $2 offshore crap, I mean the real ones liks Phillips or Panasonic) since they hit the mainstream market, LED's will do the same.

If someone was looking to upgrade their home lighting right now, I would strongly recommend stop thinking about what's the cheapest and start thinking about what's the best. You get exactly what you pay for.

 

jimsocks

Distinguished
Dec 30, 2010
52
0
18,580
US isnt mandating switch to led, just any bulb better than incandescent.
Anyway, these things have to get alot cheaper. Ive never had a bulb of any kinds live up to its expected lifespan. Ive had cfls die out in 3 months so I dont believe those longer life numbers justify the cost.
 

mdillenbeck

Distinguished
Jun 11, 2008
283
0
18,930
[citation][nom]ctbaars[/nom]I like these far better:http://store.earthled.com/products [...] light-bulb$30 each, sometimes one day sales less than that.only 7 watts. I have five so far in the house.[/citation]
Went there - unfortunately these are a 40 Watt equivalent bulb vs. the 75W in the article. (In my house my CFLs are at least 75W equivalent with 100W preferred.) In other words, to get the about the same light output I would need 2 bulbs of what you stated to get the same light or more out of one of these bulbs - so suddenly these bulbs are looking better to me already.
[citation][nom]NezzyMighty[/nom]May be a good time to purchase Philips company stock, especially if the rumors are true that the US is going to mandate consumers to change use to LEDs (I thought this was a free country)...[/citation]
Amazingly, our country still has tons of laws that restrict our freedom to do what we want because it is for the benefit of society. Try to carry a dozen full sized bottles of shampoo onto a plane, walk around with a sword strapped to your side, drive faster than 85 mph anywhere in the USA, or marry someone of the same sex (or 2+ other people at the same time, same sex or not) and you will see it is not allowed.
In the case of lighting, incandescent to CFLs had made a significant impact in my energy consumption at my household. Multiply it by every household in the USA and you reduce the burden on an aging energy infrastructure system. Add to it our dependence on fossil fuels and reluctance to switch to renewable sources, and you can see how it extends our lifespan of feedstock (especially if that feedstock is needed to be processed into a gasoline substitute to keep our oil-based economy going).
However, I doubt such a law would ever pass in the USA.
 
G

Guest

Guest
"OK, so how many people know that when CFL's fail, they EXPLODE. It's all in the mercury and stepping up the voltage yadda yadaa"

Wow, I have been using CFLs for 10+ years and have never had one explode when they failed. They just stopped working like a non-CFL bulb does. Granted I have only had 3-4 fail in that 10+ years. When they have failed I just put them in a zip-lock bag and drop them off at Home Depot recycling on the way to work.

Building I live in converted to CFLs a couple of years ago. We have one occasionally fail, but never explode. Building I work in uses CFLs in places and I haven't heard anyone mention exploding lights.
 

newbie_mcnoob

Distinguished
May 6, 2009
16
0
18,560
I currently have two of the 60 watt models that only use 12.5 watts. I really enjoy the amount of light they generate and a lot less heat than incandescent bulbs.

I went with LEDs instead of the CFL because the frequent turning off and on is harder on the CFLs.
 

ngoy

Distinguished
Apr 23, 2009
16
0
18,560
[citation][nom]masterbinky[/nom]OK, so how many people know that when CFL's fail, they EXPLODE. It's all in the mercury and stepping up the voltage yadda yadaa...Yeah... I don't like them much. In fact, many major home insurance policies have a part that say if you have cfl's installed, they won't cover your house being burned down. Lots of local agents don't know this until they do paperwork and there's a simple question for it, and tada! not covered. I'm being honest and not out to bash CFL's since I love lower electric bills, but they are honestly dangerous and very specific to where you should use them(it requires venting at the base where they get hot, unlike typical bulbs where the heat is in the filiment near typical openings), just google it. Anyways. I use the bulb pictured above and two other LED bulbs in my house. They are in the fixtures that are turned on the most. My wife loves lamps, so her favorite lamp to just have turned on all day (I try... honest) has one, as well as two overheads that have a tendancy to get left on..(rolls eyes). LED bulbs are worth it, just be reasonable and pick your most used lights.[/citation]

You are full of misinformation. CFL don't explode unless they are broken, just like a incandescent bulb (both are have negative pressure inside. The only remotely close thing on the web that refers to cfl's not being covered is the cleanup cost in ONE case of a woman who completely overreacted to breaking a bulb. READ the cleanup procedures recommended by the EPA. You have a higher chance of getting mercury from eating fish.

When they are double the price of a cfl, then LEDs will be worth it. Until then, I'll let the rich people buy them, much like the $10000 dollar plasmas of yesteryear they had at Costco.
 

Freiheit

Distinguished
Dec 23, 2003
2
0
18,510
17 watts for 75 watt equivalency is not that impressive. CFLs have the same efficiency and cost much less (at this time) to purchase.
 

milktea

Distinguished
Dec 16, 2009
344
0
18,930
[citation][nom]xenophorge[/nom]I'm a Phillips distributor as well as a lighting specialist. And these things are the way to go.For those of you balking at the price, well true hardware costs money....[/citation]
Agree with you, but it's better off for the average consumer to stick with CFL for now. In the next 10 years or so, the LED becomes the standard, then prices would come down. That's when everyone should jump on the LED lighting bandwagon. :)
 
G

Guest

Guest
@xenophorge for a lighting specialist, you talk like a potato seller from the mid-west (wherever that is).

Still incandescent light bulbs for me.
1. The light is very good
2. It's the only bulb that emits warmth and infrared, and it's really good for the skin.
3. Price
 

Ahumado

Distinguished
Jan 31, 2003
7
0
18,510
I've stockpiled the incandescents cause CFL's are a hoax. As for LED's too expensive. Obama and his cronies want to change the way everyone lives
 

sirmorluk

Distinguished
Jul 16, 2009
74
0
18,580
[citation][nom]NezzyMighty[/nom]May be a good time to purchase Philips company stock, especially if the rumors are true that the US is going to mandate consumers to change use to LEDs (I thought this was a free country)...[/citation]

Yes please purchase Philips stock.
- Philips Lighting I.T. employee
 

jfby

Distinguished
Jun 4, 2010
59
0
18,580
[citation][nom]wiyosaya[/nom]In theory, the price is not that bad for a light that stands a chance of outliving its owner. However, prices on these will drop as production, sales, and efficiency go up. This is not much more efficient than a CFL that costs far less. Its primary advantage over CFL is its lifetime.That said, I would not run out and buy a bunch of these for my home. Most of my lights are already daylight CFLs, and they last a long time.[/citation]

I'm not a green peace person, but I won't get the CFL due to the mercury content. I know incadescent bulbs have their issues, but until these LEDs become mainstream, I'm still stuck in the 20th century.
 

Pherule

Distinguished
Aug 26, 2010
110
1
18,640
Already got a whole bunch of LED's in the house. I'm not sure if it's worth it. They may draw less power and have a similar 'brightness rating', but in reality the brightness is decidedly lacking.

I mean seriously, if you want decent lighting out of LED's you've almost gotta buy a LED floodlight for your living room. Hmm, I actually want to do that.
 

slabbo

Distinguished
Feb 11, 2009
192
0
18,630
the only way these new light bulbs or any bulbs for that matter last as long as they say it does, is if you just never turn them off. when you start flicking the switch on and off the life of the bulbs drastically go down, which is why most consumers never see a bulb go through it's complete 10k hour life or 25k hour life in case of this bulb.

So if I purchase this bulb and left it on all the time, how much energy and money would I be saving as opposed to turning an old fashion incandescent (which are less prone to break by switching it on and off all the time which is why refrigerator bulbs still use incandescents) on and off?

I want to know real world conditions and numbers instead of theoretical PR stuff. like how many times can i flick this bulb on and off before it breaks?
 

masterbinky

Distinguished
Oct 21, 2010
23
0
18,560
I’m sorry if you’ve been misinformed about the risks. I've had the damn CFL bulb explode, nice little arc blast, melted, kinda scary really. The ballast is the part that heats up, most fixtures are designed to dissipate heat from the bulb not the base. If there is not adequate venting for the BASE of the bulb, it will hopefully just burn out quicker. Examples of bad fixtures are in ceiling fixtures, outdoor fixtures without ventilation, desk lamps without the vents at the base. It was even a GE bulb, I didn’t go out of my way to buy the cheapest one china makes.
They say it’s misuse of the bulbs, but there is not a damn thing on the packaging to suggest they cannot be used anywhere a standard incandescent bulb can.

http://www.wattworks.com/CFL%20Hazards.htm
http://synergylightingusa.com/cfl-light-bulbs-pose-fire-risk/
http://edisontechcenter.org/CFLs-Rick.html
 

UmeNNis

Distinguished
Feb 20, 2007
41
0
18,590
[citation][nom]slabbo[/nom]the only way these new light bulbs or any bulbs for that matter last as long as they say it does, is if you just never turn them off. when you start flicking the switch on and off the life of the bulbs drastically go down, which is why most consumers never see a bulb go through it's complete 10k hour life or 25k hour life in case of this bulb.So if I purchase this bulb and left it on all the time, how much energy and money would I be saving as opposed to turning an old fashion incandescent (which are less prone to break by switching it on and off all the time which is why refrigerator bulbs still use incandescents) on and off?I want to know real world conditions and numbers instead of theoretical PR stuff. like how many times can i flick this bulb on and off before it breaks?[/citation]
This.
 

berk98

Distinguished
Apr 14, 2009
2
0
18,510
I really hope the price comes down. LED lighting is nice since its instant-on, dimmable, and probably better for the environment than CFLs. However, these LED bulbs are about as efficient as CFLs, which cost a fraction of the price. LED bulbs do last a bit longer, but strictly speaking economics (as it appears this article is), LED bulbs aren't so hot.

Still, I will probably buy a few of these bulbs as soon as they come out. I haven't seen any other 2700k LED bulbs, so these will probably look somewhat nice.

Source: http://www.ecobulbplus.com/ecobulb_plus/ecobulbplus.html
 

masterbinky

Distinguished
Oct 21, 2010
23
0
18,560
Switching on and off affects CFLs more than incandescents because of their ballasts. Not anywhere as big an issue with the lower voltage solid state builds of the LED bulbs.

A note on the lifetimes given, All bulb lifetimes are statistic of how long it takes before 50% to fail. By that measurement it could be that 48% fail within the first 10 hours and the then 2% more fail at 10,000 hours. It also is most likely the tests are performed in temperature controlled open air well ventilated conditions. As opposed to the confined and changing hot/cold & dry/humid conditions that lightbulbs deal with.
 
G

Guest

Guest
"I've stockpiled the incandescents cause CFL's are a hoax."

CFLs are a hoax in that they don't produce light? use less energy?

Since I have about 20 in my house I can assure you that they do actually produce light and they do actually save energy ($28 energy bill using 206 kW received two days ago).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.