What's the current sweet spot (price/performance) for led lighting.

[mike]

The previous thread got WAY off track on mercury poisoning. I want to hear about LED lighting ONLY.

[ransley]

Led is overpriced, poor color, no more efficent than Cfls, its a waste of money.

[Eric in North TX]

Too early for me to jump in, but with a little time and innovation, it will likely be the way to go. I have bought LED flashlights, and they are the way to go. The home units are still too clunky & inefficient.

[ransley]

Led flashlights are great, but the Led 120v light I used was not honestly rated in output, it put out about 25% of what it claimed in my opinion. HD carries Phillips but just the price doesnt justify my desire to want any.

[Van Chocstraw]

They are much more efficient that CFLs you idiot.

[Van Chocstraw]

The 'sweet spot' is about 2.5 years. A regular 100 watt bulb is what, $1.50? A CFL is about $4.00? A equal LED is about $80.00 but will last 20 years. Takes about 2.5 years in power savings to balance out. Saw it on This Old House. Most lighting contractors and departments in Home Depot and such now carry LED screw base LEDs. The High price will come down as they become more abundant.

[willshak]

A box of 10 GE 26 watt CFLs (equal to 100 watt incandescent) cost $23.88 at Sam's Club. That's about $2.39 a bulb.

[Tony]

I picked up a shitload of 13 watters at lowes when they were changing the packaging style. I paid $1.08 each. I forget the brand but they work great with a nice soft white color.

[Tony]

Personally I'd wait a couple more years for the price to drop significantly.

[gnu / linux]

theledlight.com has some good info

[Charlie]

Too early for me to jump in, but with a little time and innovation, it will likely be the way to go. I have bought LED flashlights, and they are the way to go. The home units are still too clunky & inefficient.

I was just in Sam's and saw that they have a couple of brands that are called accent lights. Neither brand is dimmable.

[ransley]

You are the Idiot, show me some numbers and links-Moron. Cfls are in the area of 60 Lpw. Leds are a direct focused light not full dispersal that lights a room. Ive tested Lights Of America brand and what I have are total BS in rating. Now lets see who how smart you really are, or do you just believe every advertisement you read.

[ransley]

Sweet spot my ass, there isnt one yet. And a HD soft white 23w cfl I just paid 3.37 for 4 pack, they are not 4$ each, but you feel an 80$ bulb is worthwhile? Rerun that number and calculate interest lost-you idiot.

[mike]

Name-calling is what people do when they have no logical argument. You DO have a logical argument, yet you still revert to name calling. Maybe it's the mercury...

[Nate Nagel]

Really? Philips has a LED "bulb" that draws 7W and they claim it's roughly equivalent to a 40W incandescent. (if that's anything like the brightness claims for 1st-gen CFLs, they're probably dimmer.) They also cost something like $50 apiece. or I can get a 15W GE CFL that is brighter than either for a couple bucks. Hmmm... so if I *could* get a LED "bulb" from a major mfgr. bright enough to light a small bedroom, it'd draw *more* than 7W... yeah, I don't see the savings there.

Don't get me wrong, I think LED technology is quite possibly the longer term future of residential lighting, but it certainly doesn't make sense for the average consumer, at least not yet. It would be nice to have an option that plays nice with dimmers though...

nate

[JIMMIE]

Ive heard that the pay back time on LED replacement bulbs are 2 to 3 years and they last for 20 years. I don't think I'm buying that. Bulb was a flood type and cost $120 USD.

Jimmie

[ransley]

My Ace hardware Lights of America Led is crap. LOA usualy doesnt decieve as their flourescent line is great, but their 7w Led I tested in a dark room, it put out nowhere near a 9w HD cfl , it actualy only put out about what a 9w christmas tree bulb iluminated. Ratings on leds are deceptive since its a directional light, as you need in a flashlight, and in that case they are great. But a spotlight Led doesnt make a good room light candidate, its a spot. Red, Blue, leds are real efficent, but white ones are not white they are I believe UV with filters to make them white so actual efficency is very low, someday they will develop a good one but I pass on what is sold for room lighting. Now a Led in a ceiling can may be fine, then there is color rendition, Cfls were ugly grey for years and the leds ive seen dont look as pleasant as incandesant or halogen or a good cfl. Now consider price and I pass. Those are 3 good reasons to pass on Leds.

[sandy_swiss]

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