I was in HD today and noticed the design of the 40 and 60 watt equivalent Cree bulbs has changed. They are now ventilated. They seem lighter. Any users/opinions?
New Design of Cree Bulbs-Now Ventilated
- Thread starter velvetfoot
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Comparing the old style to the new style :
Old 9.5w 800 lumen 2700K 10 year warranty
New 11.0w 815 lumen 2700K 3 year warranty
I would stick with the old style. Cost $2.00 more per bulb, longer warranty and lower power consumption. Would probably never recoup the additional cost in energy savings, but may use the extra warranty.
Old 9.5w 800 lumen 2700K 10 year warranty
New 11.0w 815 lumen 2700K 3 year warranty
I would stick with the old style. Cost $2.00 more per bulb, longer warranty and lower power consumption. Would probably never recoup the additional cost in energy savings, but may use the extra warranty.
I got one of those, 1600 lumens, daylight spectrum. $20. I wanted something to really light up the room in the cold, gray winter days to help cheer me up. It is bright, but the spectrum is not as close to daylight as I wanted it to be. I get much more happy when I go to the local hydroponic store and walk around their grow lights.
Overall, though, not bad for the price.
Overall, though, not bad for the price.
Also noticed that they are approved for use in enclosed fixtures. Not many led bulbs are approved for enclosed fixtures. The ventilation openings in the bulb must allow more air to circulate around the bulb to help keep it cool.
I don't know if snow could get into the bulb itself? Would not be good when you turned the light on and poof - magic smoke. Electricity and water don't play well with each other.
IIRC, the CRI of the newer cree bulbs is much better (provide a truer rendering of color which was/is an issue with LED bulbs). I believe this is accomplished by a coating on the bulb which filters part of the LED light's color spectrum, which is quite different from that of sunlight (the basis for CRI comparison). Thus, it requires a little more power to produce a similar light output (lumens) because some of the light is being produced is being filtered (reduced) by the coating.
Having seen and used both bulbs, I would choose the newer one every time, it is a much more pleasant light and closer to an incandescent. What's $2 over the 10,000 - 25,000 hour lives of these bulbs?
Where2
Feeling the Heat
Unfortunately, my most demanding use enclosed fixtures have a lid on them. I nearly bought some of the old style Cree 40W TW bulbs today on clearance for $6.50 each. 10 year warranty, ok for enclosed fixtures, CRI=93. 450 lumens for 8.5W was the kicker. I'm spoiled to my 9W 800 lumen 60W equivalent units.
Nice. I bought some high-CRI LEDs a while back (the L-prize from phillips), and a bunch of cree for undemanding applications, but I have been waiting for the CRI to come up before I really replace everything. I poked around last week, and it seems the high CRI Crees all have the blue coating, right?
(broken link removed to http://www.cree.com/Lighting/Landing-Page/Cree-Bulb)
**(broken link removed to http://www.creebulb.com/Content/downloads/product_info/TWseriesFAQ.pdf) The rare earth element neodymium is added to the glass of our Cree TW Series LED bulbs to augment the LED light. This creates a “spectural notch,” allowing the LED light passing through the glass to show colors that are true and natural.
**(broken link removed to http://www.creebulb.com/Content/downloads/product_info/TWseriesFAQ.pdf) The rare earth element neodymium is added to the glass of our Cree TW Series LED bulbs to augment the LED light. This creates a “spectural notch,” allowing the LED light passing through the glass to show colors that are true and natural.
This is the 2700k bulb I was looking at: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-60W...9-08027OMF-12DE26-3U100/205597078?N=5yc1vZbol
Thanks guys. Drilling down on those the CRIs are not that great. They say '>80', about the same as a cheap CFL.
I found these Blue Cree Edison bulbs: http://www.earthled.com/products/cr...-13-5-watts-60-watt-equal-93-cri#.VKk6W4BUNBs
that have a CRI of 93. FF's link shows that the blue tech has shown up in the reflector bulbs, but not in the edisons in HomeDespot, yet.
Aaah, now I get it, the 'TW' series. Looks like the lum/W are lousy though....maybe 60 or so. My L-prize bulbs got the CRI by adding in red emitters IIRC, and got a much higher lum/W at the same high CRI, before they were discontinued....
I found these Blue Cree Edison bulbs: http://www.earthled.com/products/cr...-13-5-watts-60-watt-equal-93-cri#.VKk6W4BUNBs
that have a CRI of 93. FF's link shows that the blue tech has shown up in the reflector bulbs, but not in the edisons in HomeDespot, yet.
Aaah, now I get it, the 'TW' series. Looks like the lum/W are lousy though....maybe 60 or so. My L-prize bulbs got the CRI by adding in red emitters IIRC, and got a much higher lum/W at the same high CRI, before they were discontinued....
Those high-CRI bulbs are high K as well, no? Personally, I hate the 'brightness' and go with the 2700.
edit: I take that back and actually clicked on the link, lol.
edit: I take that back and actually clicked on the link, lol.
Why is the high CRI so important to you? I find the ones I'm using, 80?, to be not obviously strange.
In the kitchen and dining room, high CRI keeps your food from looking weird. I **imagine** that the spectral features of the color molecules in food can exaggerate color effects.
I also notice that my clothes look different in low CRI lighting relative to outdoor lighting or daylighting, and often have subtle discolorations or stains that are 'plain' in daylight and invisible when I got dressed. This might be a WW Kelvin effect.
Bottom line: if I am shopping for a bulb to use for 20 years in my dining room or dressing area.....I want something that shows true colors. Garage, porch or living room, not so much.
I also notice that my clothes look different in low CRI lighting relative to outdoor lighting or daylighting, and often have subtle discolorations or stains that are 'plain' in daylight and invisible when I got dressed. This might be a WW Kelvin effect.
Bottom line: if I am shopping for a bulb to use for 20 years in my dining room or dressing area.....I want something that shows true colors. Garage, porch or living room, not so much.
My brain does a pretty good job of color correction all on its own. Once the brain gets used to different color rendering, everything returns to "normal." What are colors, anyway? Just our eye-brain rendering to something with which we are familiar. Animals see "color" much differently. Personally, I like the 3000K much better than the 2700K which are much too red for me. And for outdoor lighting, basement, and any other areas that need "bright" light, the 5000K are my choice. I think it is a mistake to imitate incandescent, which is a technology of the dark ages.
I agree with you completely regarding color temp. Your eyes adjust. Midday sunlight is actually v blue 5000K light, but looks warm to the eye. This makes sense since the effective color temp of natural light varies significantly with time of day and weather conditions.
We disagree about CRI though. Your eyes don't adjust to it because low-CRI lighting just presents less color information to the eye, so there is nothing to adjust. I can stand in a sodium light forever, and I will never start to see colors normally, everything will just keep looking gray.
The folks that care about this, and are CFL-haters are not making it up...they can see a difference they don't like.
We disagree about CRI though. Your eyes don't adjust to it because low-CRI lighting just presents less color information to the eye, so there is nothing to adjust. I can stand in a sodium light forever, and I will never start to see colors normally, everything will just keep looking gray.
The folks that care about this, and are CFL-haters are not making it up...they can see a difference they don't like.
The CRI scale is based on the color of sunlight... the most natural of light. It just so happens that incandescent lights apparently provide color rendition that is very close to sunlight (albeit at a different K). I'm with Woodgeek on CRI - you don't "adjust" to an unnatural CRI - it's always noticeable. Probably because we're provided with a constant reference source for light color: sunlight. There's another index for the color red, specifically, which is very important for retailers and food stores and allows the natural and attractive attributes of the color red to be displayed. Most all commonly available LEDs are pretty mediocre at this.
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