LED lamps, source and value

Not even close. You should be able to get 15W ones for that price. eg

Or 2 packs of 8W ones.

Plenty of other brands are OK too. Dimmable ones are more expensive.

Amazon have plenty of genuine ones. I have bought some specialist LED bulbs direct from China on eBay and they were OK too - at least for what I wanted them for. I suspect exposed bare LEDs isn't ideal if you are putting them where small fingers might touch them.

Not an expert, but the LEDs in my local Tesco seem to be a lot more expensive than the local ASDA. And the ASDA ones I've bought dim with a normal dimmer too. The Tesco ones I looked at say 'not dimmable'.

But I've not used LEDs anywhere they matter yet. Same as CFL. OK for just providing light of a sort - but until they are as good as halogen I'll stick to them.

Have you also checked to see what interference they can chuck out. some are terrible, one assumes the dreaded switch mode psu. Brian

I don't like halogen. gives me a headache even though I cannot see. I get this spreading green yellow flashing haze when I go near Halogen lighting. Goes to prove I guess that even blind eyes can give strange effects. Brian

Tesco presently have twin packs of 8W ones for £7-something. I bought some yesterday.

Interesting that I seem to be mostly replacing elderly CFLs with them at the moment, whose light output has fallen dramatically & changed (?) colour to a bilious green.

I have done the same as you using HomeBargains bulbs at £2.49 each. They have them in 2 versions, cold or warm (or similar), and pretty much every possible fitting.

The only difference between halogen and tungsten lights is the temperature they run at.

Are you getting so close they burn?

Are you saying those ones brought don't conform to EU regulations ?

Have you found out why, as our brains tell use what we think we see rather than what is there, so something in your brain is causing this rather than your eyes I would have thought. I wonder what sot of light halagen give out that no other light source including the sun gives out. Interesting I think you need to be tied to a chair and experimnted on by sh ining differnt sorts of lights at you :-)

If you are into short wave radio then some of the dodgier Chinese imports may lack the suppression capacitors but a properly designed switched mode PSU has no reason to be electrically noisy.

Way too expensive. Philips branded bulbs can easily be obtained for half that price

Places such as Screwfix have their own brand for around £10 for 5 (9W)

Often Philips brand but only re-stocked twice a year and when they are gone they are gone.

Don't most people dispose of these type of bulb in the household rubbish along with their used batteries?

Screwfix sell five for a tenner. That's a reasonable price IMO. I'm quite impressed by them, though it'll take a few years to find out if they're really good.

Morrisons have 6W, 800lm, warm white ones for £5 and, bizarrely, 15W, 1520lm for £4 (E27 only). Home bargains has some at reasonable prices, but not such a wide range as last year (in my local one at least). Screwfix do 5x9W, 800lm, warm (~2800K) or cool(er) )~4500K) B22 for £10.

Also, have a look at Ledlam. Various offers and a discount on Ebay's prices for going direct.

There is a more intense IR component cf filament lamps as well as a slight UV component but I can't see how it could affect someone.

But to first order all incandescent lamps are basically black body radiation with a characteristic temperature of 2700K, 3000K or 6000K for classic, halogen and sun respectively.

The latter varying a fair amount with time of day and cloud cover.

That sounds cruel.

Thanks for the tip off.

There was a recent thread about this (which I started) and which you may find it of interest.

Beware of electromagnetic interference as these devices can interfere with radio, particularly DAB. It seems many do not comply with the EU Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive and some do. I have tried both and even those that comply (Philips) still cause significant interference.

Philips admit the problem but say mains voltage lamps are less prone to this than 12V.

I would avoid LED Hut. They were helpful at first but now that I want to return all the (non-compliant) lamps they are not replying to emails. I think my report to Trading Standards probably got their backs up.

I would ask any supplier to confirm that the lamps are EMC compliant.

When you say 'genuine' did you receive assurance that they are EMC complaint?

Surely the temperature directly influences the frequency of the light output?

The ones I bought don't and the seller said they do not require to. I am now in dispute over refund.