Moving to an LED world

When we moved into the house, we bought a lot of Philips 100-watt equivalent dimmable CFL bulbs. A few have gone out and we have learned that no one sells 100-watt equivalent dimmable CFL bulbs anymore. Since we do not want to replace our lamps and switches we need to switch to LED bulbs. Which, as of now, generally are dimmable. The problem is that they are very expensive; it now takes $25 or so to get a light bulb. The benefits are more lumens (light) for the energy used, faster turn on, and better lifespan.

CFL bulbs promised crazy lifetimes when they came out. They are better than the old incandescents. They go for years instead of a year. But not as much as the advertising would leave you to believe. Hopefully the LEDs will go longer.

The only reasonably sized and reasonably priced 100 watt LED dimmable lightbulb is the Philips 19-watt A21. So we bought a pair for our living room. The light quality is about the same and they seem a bit brighter. We also got a lot of Philips 10.5 watt BR30 flood light LEDs for the basement since they were on sale for about $10. They are far brighter than the old CFL flood lights.

I did a quick little comparing of the old CFLs versus the new LED floods. Both use about 10 watts of energy.

Old bulb:

New bulb:

Looks about the same, right? Well, not quite. The new bulb required an exposure 15 times faster than old bulb to look the same to the camera. So, for the same energy, we get a lot more light.