The light bulb landscape is rapidly evolving: incandescents are on the decline, compact fluorescents have become increasingly standard, and LED bulbs are becoming more affordable. The options one faces when replacing a bulb can be overwhelming. Recently, Marco Arment (creator of Instapaper and cofounder of Tumblr) performed a thorough and detailed test of some of the top LED light bulbs available.
In his review, Marco tested four LED bulbs, a standard 60W incandescent, a compact fluorescent, and a halogen-incandescent. He photographed the bulbs while off, on, and under a lampshade, and compared their brightness, directionality, color temperature, power efficiency, value, and aesthetics. I like that he didn't simply line up the bulbs in a feature-by-feature comparison chart, but instead gathered his findings in long form writing that better captures each bulb's real world strengths and weaknesses.
Marco found a practical favorite, but not an all out champion. A few days later, he posted a follow-up: one last bulb had come to his attention, and it beat all the original candidates. For his conclusion, I recommend reading through the two posts in full. You'll come away not only with a great LED light bulb recommendation, but a better understanding of these products' promises and perils.
Learn more:
Four LED light bulbs reviewed for normal use | Marco.org
I wish I discovered this LED bulb before my review | Marco.org
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I was surprised reading those posts that there was no reference to Ikea LED bulbs, but to my shock, in the USA, Ikea have yet to stock LED builds.
I've tried so many types of LED bulbs and I can honestly say that the Ikea range is second to none. After reading all about this philips bulb that's a replacement for a 60watt bulb but is 20dollars, it seemed like it was VERY expensive.
Here in Ireland, Ikea sell all types of LED Bulbs - 4.3watt to me is as very close 60watt and they have a 8.1watt, which is more like a 75-80watt bulb, but the best part is the cost. The 4.3watt LED (which comes in all shapes and sizes as well as clear / opaque) is only 7.11cent (so less than 9dollars and 50 cent!)
Here's the link to the Irish Ikea Site and the search result for their LED Bulbs - http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/search/?query=LEDare
I have replaced all the lighting in my 2 bed apartment with LED lighting and my energy bills have more than halved. (I mean all bulbs, Ceiling Spot lights, Bedside lights, floor lights, Ceiling Pendant lights). The initial outlay has already seen benefit and well, I should see me making my money back in reduced bills by the end of the year.
(on an off point, for accent lighting, the Ikea LED Strips - either these colour changing ones: http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/00202324/ or these solid white ones: http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/90192071/ are amazing. I have them mounted eveywhere. Under my sofa for that "cinema" feel and under my bed so I can get up at night without blinding myself, but the best spot was in my bathroom, where the solid white ones use 1.8watts and gives off more than enough light to use the bathroom at night / even shower by. Here's a link to a photo of it in place in my bathroom - http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a98C0u3uaYY/T04Ue1K6YiI/AAAAAAAAKFQ/aa6oHRZhbeQ/s1600/IMG_20120216_005756.jpg
or http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x5wAgH0PSFQ/T04T6Jl12fI/AAAAAAAAKEo/8eG_MfyG_do/s1600/IMG_20120216_005640.jpg
It was done in my bathroom as part of its renovation - http://tonyreilly.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-bathroom-before-and-after.html
I wonder when you guys state side will get the Ikea bulbs!
I bought a couple of LED light bulbs off a website for about 5 dollars each, and they have been great. They were suppose to replace 40 watt bulbs but they are almost too bright. The quality of light is nice, and not blue or too white. Its just a shade cooler than a standard bulb. I'll start replacing my other CFLs with LEDs as they die. However I have zero issues with CFLs and mine are still going strong, so I dont forsee buying more LED bulbs for a while.
I also bought those Magnatech LED ORION bulb and I was quite impressed. Replaced a 60W bulb, the colour is really clear and it is way better than I expected. Not really being a fan of LEDs, I just wanted to give it a try because of the savings but now, I`m definitely going only for LEDs now and would fully recommend those. SInce there are many brands now, I would go for a Magnatech LED, they`re price is quite good for the quality you get.
Hi, just found out about that ORION bulb too. Friends of mine advised me this brand Magnatech LED and I wanted to check. Just got the first 2 a few weeks ago from a local distributor and tried them out. Except the fact that it`s a bit warmer than usual LED bulbs, the brightness is just awesome just for a 5.5W. Now I`m replacing the whole house`s bulb with that one. Cheers for that brand which actually holds his promises...not the case for some others that I know [...] unfortunately!
Just for the record, I got some Philips bulbs too, about the same quality but definitely more expensive ($10 more) so without doing any advertisement, go for a Magnatech LED, I bet you won`t regret it!
FYI, Arment updated his bulb comparison with two new LED bulbs and found a new winner amongst the six LEDs tested.
http://www.marco.org/2012/07/31/two-new-led-bulbs
Very thoughtful review. And I found another LED Lights site http://www.ledlightshub.com/.