LED Quality

[EatenByLimestone]

Is there an appreciable difference in LED quality between brands? About 10 years ago I replaced my bathroom lights (3 bulbs) with off the shelf LEDs. They’ve lasted fine. One finally started flickering and was removed. This morning I noticed a 2nd doing it. I have no issues putting 3 more cheap bulbs in, but if there’s something to be gained by putting better stuff in, I’m not against doing it, provided the bulbs aren’t a crazy amount more expensive than the cheap ones that last a decade, lol.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Is there an appreciable difference in LED quality between brands? About 10 years ago I replaced my bathroom lights (3 bulbs) with off the shelf LEDs. They’ve lasted fine. One finally started flickering and was removed. This morning I noticed a 2nd doing it. I have no issues putting 3 more cheap bulbs in, but if there’s something to be gained by putting better stuff in, I’m not against doing it, provided the bulbs aren’t a crazy amount more expensive than the cheap ones that last a decade, lol.

I have the same experience with bulbs that you screw in. You never know when they are going to fail. It's probably the electrical components beside the LED itself. If you take one apart it's pretty cheaply made as they have limited room. I switched to permanent LED fixtures where I could. I too still have those bulbs in use. I don't think it makes too much difference which brand. I think I bought quite a few boxes from Walmart. I started using the exposed filament vintage type in the bathroom for the 6 bulb strip.

PHILIPS 4.5W ST19 Medium Base Daylight LED Light Bulbs Vintage- Clear Glass, 2 Pack, Philips LED 40W ST19 DL - Walmart.ca

Buy PHILIPS 4.5W ST19 Medium Base Daylight LED Light Bulbs Vintage- Clear Glass, 2 Pack, Philips LED 40W ST19 DL from Walmart Canada. Shop for more LED Light Bulbs available online at Walmart.ca

www.walmart.ca

 

[blades]

They were decent when they first came out, but have become much poorer quality since. 98% of the time it is the power supply inside the base that fails. Some have vented bases which last a lot longer.

 

[Duds13]

It's typically the drivers that fail in LED lighting

 

[begreen]

I've had good luck with FEIT brand LEDs and prefer them for a more pleasing CRI.

 

[Whitenuckler]

BAZZ is what I have been using for pucks. Never a problem.

 

[gthomas785]

I haven't found any that are consistently good. Once in a while I'll luck out and get some that seem to last, but if I buy that brand/product again they are garbage. It's really annoying.

 

[TradEddie]

If by "quality" you mean longevity, I've seen no good correlation between price or brand and bulb life. I've bought dirt cheap LEDs that have lasted 8+ years in daily use, and I've had Crees or Feits that barely lasted longer than a filament bulb, while others from the same batch lasted forever. If by quality you mean color quality, or CRI, then the difference between brands or models can be huge.

 

[ABMax24]

I've had pretty bad luck with the ecosmart bulbs from home depot. I've just about burnt through all of mine that I bought 8 years ago. I've had pretty good luck with Philips, had one fail right out of the package (well 20 minutes later) and one other failure and that's it, And Phillips are the majority of my bulbs.

I think I'll start going with dedicated fixtures as well though. I'd like to replace the fixture in the master bathroom and maybe the kitchen as well.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It seems like individual batches are either good or bad and brand might not be all that important. Even the cheapies seem to last a good while though. 5 to 8 years isn’t bad for a 1-2 dollar bulb. I’ll throw some more cheapies in and forget about it for another decade or until my wife decides we need a new fixture.

 

[Whitenuckler]

I've had pretty bad luck with the ecosmart bulbs from home depot. I've just about burnt through all of mine that I bought 8 years ago. I've had pretty good luck with Philips, had one fail right out of the package (well 20 minutes later) and one other failure and that's it, And Phillips are the majority of my bulbs.

I think I'll start going with dedicated fixtures as well though. I'd like to replace the fixture in the master bathroom and maybe the kitchen as well.

I have just been getting the multipacs of daylight LED bulbs from Walmart. I don't need as many now as I changed all the old fixtures in my bedrooms and kitchen with fixtures like the picture. Also in my basement bar and kitchen I removed old pot lights that took bulbs and replaced with BAZZ pucks.

 

[Ricks]

My house has a mix of LED’s. The permanent LED’s are all original from when the house was built. The screw in LED’s I have replaced all but two or three. Some I have had to replace multiple of times.

Given the cost of screw in LED’s I don’t believe I am saving any money over the life of the bulb.

Given a choice I would only use permanent LED’s. Not a fixture that that uses a bulb.

 

[begreen]

What is a permanent LED?

 

[woodgeek]

My beef is matching bulbs. I have four bulbs in a room, and if I buy 4, 1 will die early, then I have to buy another 4 pack.

I basically buy multipacks of the cheapest filament LEDs I can, with a goof buffer on the number if 1 or 2 fail young. The challenge is then finding the matching 'spares' years later when they start to fail, but that is a 'me' problem.

I also adhere closely to a single color temp in case I need to change brands. Currently 3000K.

 

[Whitenuckler]

What is a permanent LED?

Permanently attached to the heatsink

 

[Whitenuckler]

My beef is matching bulbs. I have four bulbs in a room, and if I buy 4, 1 will die early, then I have to buy another 4 pack.

I basically buy multipacks of the cheapest filament LEDs I can, with a goof buffer on the number if 1 or 2 fail young. The challenge is then finding the matching 'spares' years later when they start to fail, but that is a 'me' problem.

I also adhere closely to a single color temp in case I need to change brands. Currently 3000K.

Ohhh I like 4000 to 5000 in my living area's. Some of the fixtures I bought off Amazon (yes, still working) were switch selectable for color.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I tend to like the higher K lights, my wife likes the warmer K lights. She wins.

I just cycled through a pack of Home Depot contractor grade LEDs that allowed me to change the k of the lights. I have no idea how long they last though. I put them in, and then hope to not hear from the customer for a while.

 

[gthomas785]

I also adhere closely to a single color temp in case I need to change brands. Currently 3000K.

Ohhh I like 4000 to 5000 in my living area's

I tend to like the higher K lights, my wife likes the warmer K lights. She wins.

Personally, IMO, kelvin temp should be correlated with lux. Brighter lit areas like a work room get 4000K while softer lit areas like a living room should have a warmer light 2700K. But I never like anything over 4000K. It just makes everything feel very cold and dead to me.