Tell me about LED lightbulbs

[mum]

I read endlessly that we should be replacing regular bulbs with CFL or LED bulbs. I would love to save on the electricity bill. I hate the fluorescent bulbs that we do have. I can only bear them in the hallway and my husband's office. We have LED Christmas lights outside, but I don't like the blue cast that they have. When I look in the stores there's 'daylight' and 'soft white' LED bulbs, but I heard somewhere that the 'bright white' are the least objectionable. Please share what type you have and what you like/dislike about them.

Thanks!

[Kalmia]

Do not get daylight. They have a very objectionable blue tint to the light, reminiscent of a scary outdoor motel walkway or something >shiver<. We bough soft white and they are much nicer, more like incandescent. I don't have a recommendation as to brand, though one of the ten has burned out after only 2 months of use, we were expecting years...

[MEmama]

We use the Cree brand soft white from Home Depot. With state energy efficiency discounts they were only around $3.00 each IIRC. They give off a warm light, it's not that horrible Christmas string blue light at all. I refuse to use those and found beautiful LED fairy lights that I use instead.

 

The energy savings we experienced from changing out our halogen lights in our kitchen to LEDs has been dramatic.

Edited March 5, 2016 by MEmama

[StephanieZ]

Yes, Cree soft white (2700K) from Home Depot. AWESOME. We replaced nearly all the lighting in our home with them last year, and the light is fantastic. Very close to incandescent color -- beautiful and good for people and art, instant on, dimmable .. .  and although we doubled the size of our house last year, including going to 2 water heaters and 3 HVAC systems (from 1), our utility bills barely went  up because of the combination of the LED lighting, better insulation, and updated high efficiency appliances. 

 

Go buy some. You'll love them. 

[bethben]

We will never buy CFL bulbs only based upon how the EPA says you should clean them up if they break.  The combination of opening windows to air out your room along with shutting off central air for several hours just doesn't work in the winter.

 

http://www.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl#instructions

[umsami]

I just bought a package from Home Depot a week ago.   So far, I really like them.  I have no idea what brand they were, but it was about $9.00 for two.  I've noticed that they are brighter than the CFLs. 

[Mergath]

We can't use CFLs because they don't play nicely with my epilepsy, but we have quite a few LED bulbs around. I think they're the soft white, and I don't notice any difference between the LEDs and the incandescent. 

 

The cheapest place to find them that I've found is Target. If you can find them on sale and use a manufacturer coupon and a Target coupon, you can get them for pocket change and stock up for a while. Most of ours have lasted for over a year now, though a couple in the kitchen died after only a couple months.

[zoobie]

We've gotten the LED lights at Home Depot, Lowe's, and Costco. The "soft" ones seem better. They make SUCH a difference especially in chandeliers with a bunch of bulbs or in rooms with the wide bulbs in recessed cans. We no longer feel like we are French fries under the heat lamps in our living room. :)

[Upptacka]

We switched to LED bulbs in every fixture of our house two years ago. For the most part, I love them! They don't cast off weird light to me....I find the light pleasant and warm.

 

My biggest complaint is how many have failed. We have had about a dozen bulbs fail/burn out in the past two years. It is disappointing because they are supposed to last much longer. We buy the CREE at Home Depot, and they take the bad bulbs back on warranty. So we have been able to replace them all free of charge, but it is a hassle.

[Peach]

we've  been using the LCD bulbs for about 2 years too and the soft white is a lovely warm light. We also have am epileptic in teh house and those spiral ones are a weird blue and flicker way too much. It was like bad fluorescent lighting and was awful. 

[Mergath]

we've been using the LCD bulbs for about 2 years too and the soft white is a lovely warm light. We also have am epileptic in teh house and those spiral ones are a weird blue and flicker way too much. It was like bad fluorescent lighting and was awful.

The spiral ones are fluorescent. ;)

[lailasmum]

We've had CFL a long time and they've improved a lot in the last couple of years. We've got led too which I like the best in soft white. I have some really nice cfl bulbs in my living and dining room that are full spectrum daylight and my favourite. They cost a lot more than the normal cfl though but I would buy them again.