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People complaining about LEDs being too "bright" or "clinical/sterile" were too bothered to look into the different color temperature options. The annoyingly br
by degenerate 10y ago
People complaining about LEDs being too "bright" or "clinical/sterile" were too bothered to look into the different color temperature options. The annoyingly bright bulbs are around 5000K brightness which would make a home at night feel like a fully-lit classroom. I have 2700K bulbs which give off a much cozier incandescent glow: http://blog.batteriesplus.com/2013/seeing-things-in-a-different-light http://blog.batteriesplus.com/2013/seeing-things-in-a-differ...
Sure, the bulbs take about 1/5 of a second to turn on, which is not instant, but the cheaper LEDs can take up to 2 seconds to reach full brightness. You have to buy a better made bulb to get the quicker "on", which means spending more money. People only trying the cheapest LEDs available are the ones complaining the most about them, I'd assume.
- manmal 10y agoI have two different brands of 2,7k led bulbs, and they are like night and day. The ones that were shipped with a lamp are actually quite bluish. Haven't bothered to measure them though..
- zamalek 10y ago> night and day Tsk tsk. We're do you source the bulbs? I've recently tried f.lux and I definitely get better sleep - I'd like to upgrade my home lighting story.
- toomuchtodo 10y agoPhilips Hue + Amazon Echo + Custom Integration = Glorious "Alexa, I'm ready for bed." is like I live in the future (warms up the lamp colors like flux on my mac). Still working on tying the coffee pot into the morning wakeup alarm though.
- cgriswald 10y agoI'm in the process of figuring out how to talk to my color changing LEDs so I can change them over time like flux, but for now I'm just turning them a dim, dull red at bedtime and I am sleeping better than I have in years.
- toomuchtodo 10y agoIts striking how much of a difference it makes. There should be PSAs about night time lightening color warmth!
- manmal 10y agoI just buy them on Amazon or their third party retailers.
- cgriswald 10y agoIndeed. I recently replaced all the incandescent cans in my house with LED cans and was very certain to specify a color temperature. I've also got "LED filament" bulbs in one room at 2200K (designed to replace those clear 'vintage' bulbs), which give a really cozy feel, if a little too yellow. Yet for my garage, I love the high color temperature bulbs.
- kazinator 10y ago3000K is also very nice. White objects look more white than under 2700K, but the light is still warm; not a huge difference from 2700.
- copperx 10y agoI've done countless tests with different temperatures and I've found that 3500k is the perfect one for my house but it's really hard to find bulbs of that color temperature.
- fl0wenol 10y ago3500k is common in CFL, but you have to want to be investing in CFLs. My biggest issue with them is size limitations. Lots of places they won't go.
- strictnein 10y agoYep. I've replaced about a lot of the bulbs in my house with LEDs. The key is to buy a number of them, find ones that you like, and then put the ones you don't like in places that the color doesn't matter as much (garage, storage areas, etc). For me, a lot of the Philips LED Soft White (2700k) bulbs worked.
- Turing_Machine 10y agoAgree. While tastes differ, to me the Philips models (the ones that look like an Erlenmeyer flask) give the most pleasant light by far. They also seem to be much better constructed than the knock-off cheapies you find in bulk packs at Lowes or Home Depot.
- ashmud 10y agoI've found the Philips 424382 (60w replacement, 2700K soft white) to be very nice. I haven't tried any of the replacement SKUs, though.
- mark-r 10y agoPhilips makes lots of different bulbs, even with the same specs. I suspect they have very little in common, other than the name on the box. This is a time of very high churn in the industry.
- dboreham 10y agoFor me the LED bulbs Costco sells worked the best. They're also coincidentally quite inexpensive.
- copperx 10y agoI wanted to like 2700k, but I find it to be extremely yellow. I remember, even on tungsten times I found lights to be annoyingly yellow. It's even more apparent when working on a led screen, then turning around to see your devastatingly yellow lights. Then again, I find 5000k lights too blue, and I have found that 3500k-4000k is the most pleasant temperature, but the industry has settled on yellow and blue lights. It's a shame.
- 10y ago
- doughj3 10y agoI've tried two brands so far (GE and Hyperikon) for LED bulbs at 2700k and 3000k and they all were incredibly white and nothing like my incandescent bulbs- and on top of that, even the "dimmable" LED bulbs suck. I want to have LED all over my house, but there's honestly almost an "uncanny valley" feel to the LED bulbs I've tried, and so far I'm sticking with my incredibly inefficient bulbs.
- jeremyt 10y agoThese are awesome: http://www.amazon.com/Greenlite-Lighting-13W-Spiral-CFL/dp/B007OC9YU4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage http://www.amazon.com/Greenlite-Lighting-13W-Spiral-CFL/dp/B...
- tdsamardzhiev 10y agoI've tried plenty of LED bulbs and so far they've all been rubbish. The light of 2700K bulbs is definitely whiter than incandescent bulbs. Stuff in the room is not the right color. In addition, the bulbs seem to "flicker" and/or make strange noises when dimmed. Good thing some shops in smaller towns still sell incandescent bulbs.
- kazinator 10y ago> The light of 2700K bulbs is definitely whiter than incandescent bulbs. You must be looking at some mislabeled, or carelessly packaged stuff. Also, the actual temperature of incandescent is going to vary with the line voltage. A swing down to 110V will produce a more yellow light than 120V. > Stuff in the room is not the right color. Stuff in the room is the right color when you take it outside on a sunny day. Compare photos taken outside with no-flash indoor ones.
- tdsamardzhiev 10y agoThanks, that mght explain why I find the 2700K LEDs too "white". I found some 2100K LED bulbs online, I might give them a try. Being "whiter" won't be an issue. I meant there's some awkward green/purple nuances everywhere.
- ashmud 10y agoI've used some of the better tested LED bulbs (per http://www.ledbenchmark.com/ http://www.ledbenchmark.com/ 2700K, 80+ CRI, "nice" looking spectrum, "flicker free"). They are very good, and have improved over bulbs from years back. Definitely better than any CFLs I've used. Still a bit less vibrant and warm compared to incandescent. I personally don't need huge amounts of light outside of bathroom/garage, and find most of the LED bulbs too bright if swapped out 1:1 per the equivalent wattage labeling in my existing fixtures.
- ydant 10y agoI tested ~10 different bulbs for my kitchen lighting about 5 years ago. I don't know how much the situation has changed since then, but at that time I had a few key requirements - high output (150W equivalent), warmish (but not super-warm for the kitchen) color temperature, fast turn-on speed, and dimmable. Much to my surprise, the (almost) cheapest bulbs (some Utilitech model that doesn't seem to exist anymore) ended up being the winners. Instant on (no perceptible delay, compared to all others I tried), great color temp, no flickering, wide range of dimmability. I tried many different brands, from Phillips at 3* the price. It's just a single anecdote, but I cared a lot about the performance of the bulbs, and I was surprised to find the cheap ones actually worked best. I think there's a lot of variability out there and you can't rely on cost and you definitely can't rely on brand name (Philips was the worst). Lately, I've found Ikea's LED bulbs are good and quite cheap (with imperceptible delay on turning on).
- wlesieutre 10y agoAs another anecdote, I have several LED bulbs from Philips (LPrize-PRO and Hue), GE (GE Link) and Ikea. All of them are bright, work fine, and start instantly, but the Ikea drivers have a constant buzz. I've relegated those to bathroom fixtures that are only used briefly so that the sound won't drive me crazy.
- ultramancool 10y agoInteresting, my IKEA ones from a few months ago don't seem to have this issue. Could be an AC frequency difference or just a different model of bulb?
- joe_the_user 10y agoAnd while I don't know how well this work, apparently it's possible to get blue-tooth-controlled adjustable temperature bulb: http://szdealer.com/index.php/mi-light-e27-8w-rgb-color-temperature-bluetooth-control-smart-led-bulb.html http://szdealer.com/index.php/mi-light-e27-8w-rgb-color-temp... Seems like something it would be at least interesting to play with.
- mark-r 10y agoColor temperature isn't the only thing, CRI is important too (though less so). It's hard to find CRI specs on most bulbs, nobody mentions it unless they have a really good number to brag about (90+). One thing never mentioned is that LED color temperature will vary over time. It's a two-part system with complementary colors, the LED itself is blue and it's coated or surrounded with a yellow phosphor. The phosphor will dim eventually. I've never seen a LED bulb that was so slow to light up that I noticed it, unlike some fluorescents that are really atrocious. I've already given up on fluorescents, if only for the hassle of recycling them due to the mercury content.
- tempestn 10y agoNormally when people complain of led bulbs being slow to turn on, it's actually the dimmer at fault. Most dimmer switches have only two wires, and so charge their caps through the bulb. Since LEDs draw far less current, this takes longer, and so the bulb takes longer to appear on.
- danielweber 10y agoI have some stairways I must light up and they need to light up instantly for safety reasons. I make sure one of the bulbs in the fixture is incandescent, and CFL/LED the rest.
- tempestn 10y agoYou can also not use a dimmer, or use a (quality) dimmer intended for LED bulbs. (Many dimmers supposedly for LEDs will still not turn on instantly.)
- danielweber 10y agoI have no dimmers at all in my house.
- tempestn 10y ago
- gambiting 10y agoI've tried multiple different LEDs rated at 2700K to replace the GU10 halogen lights in my kitchen - literally every single option I've tried is too "white". Nothing gives off that nice warm colour of a halogen, even expensive Philips LEDs can't match right colour warmth.
- r00fus 10y agoAren't halogens (as a subclass of incandescents) expensive, and run hot/high wattage?
- gambiting 10y agoThey use considerably more energy, since each one uses 50W, times 8 halogens in the kitchen=400W just for the lights, vs. 40W if they were LEDs. But then again, the energy saving is not worth anything if the light annoys me. But they are not expensive, halogen GU10 costs $1 each.
- mnw21cam 10y agoHalogen bulbs (as a sub-set of incandescent bulbs) are actually more efficient than normal incandescents, because they operate at a slightly higher temperature, and the glass usually stays clear for longer. This is possible because the halogen inside the bulb prevents evaporated tungsten from condensing on the glass. This also means that an appreciable amount of ultra-violet light is produced, so most halogen lamps will have a UV filter. The reason people need more power going into halogen lighting is usually because of all the other arrangements around the bulb that reflect the light into the wrong place. A bare halogen bulb (without a reflector) will light a room better than the same amount of power going into a bare normal incandescent bulb, but it will be a harsher bluer light.
- Eric_WVGG 10y agoI’m one of those goofball hipsters who is in love with those “Edison filament” bulbs. In the past year, passable LED facsimiles have been turning up everywhere. No idea what the color temperature is, but if you like that cozy, dim feel… https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/led-filament-antique-bulbs/ https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/led-filament-antique-bulb...
- degenerate 10y agoThese look cool as hell, thanks for the link!
- NoGravitas 10y agoHey, those look really nice. I may turn to the Victorian style ones for my lighting needs. The site advertises the colour temperature as 2200K to 2700K depending on the model.
- brunoqc 10y agoI like these bulbs but not too close to the face. A friend has some over his kitchen table and I don't like the heat in the face.
- lfowles 10y agoThe LED ones are hardly even warm to the touch (there are LEDs embedded in the "filaments").
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- protomyth 10y ago> People complaining about LEDs being too "bright" or "clinical/sterile" were too bothered to look into the different color temperature options And where when I'm buying these lights at the supermarket does the information that other color temperature options present itself? I've bought lighting for camera work, but I've never seen anything about color temperature at a local store.
- wodenokoto 10y agoI've seen it on Philips bulbs in the supermarket and also on Ikea bulbs (obviously not in the supermarket) For brand names I think it is pretty common, at least here in Europe.
- protomyth 10y agoI've never seen a chart in a Wal-Mart or Target, and this was never a concern for the average person with incandescent bulbs.
- mark-r 10y agoIncandescent bulbs never had any variation, they're all around 2700K. The GE Reveal bulbs I believe use a color filter to influence the appearance, but the filament still glows the same as everybody else's.
- protomyth 10y ago> Incandescent bulbs never had any variation, they're all around 2700K. That's basically my point. Of course people will complain about the light since LEDs act differently and buying options didn't properly explain how to get back to something that looks like what people had.
- JonathonW 10y agoYou're not going to get a ton of granularity, but you should be able to find at least ~2700K and ~5000K bulbs in your local supermarket, if they've got a decent selection at all-- "soft white" bulbs are going to be ~2700K and "daylight" bulbs are ~5000K. Stores with larger selections may have a few options in between, too; "cool white" and "bright white" designations aren't uncommon (although exactly what they mean may vary; check the packaging if you're not sure).
- monochromatic 10y ago> 5000K brightness That's color temperature, not brightness. Totally different.
- lucaspiller 10y agoThe colour issue can be true for CFLs too, when I was living in Asia last year I had a really hard time finding warm-white bulbs. It seems like they prefer cold-white bulbs there (you even can see the difference when flying over Asia vs Europe). It's great for a kitchen where you need to see clearly what you are doing, but not so much when you want a cosy living room. I assume most LED bulb factories are in China at the moment, so they are just targeting their own preferences for colour.