replacing CFLs with LEDs

I am at about 95% LED in our house now, having replaced all of our CFL's for the reasons went over earlier in this thread - instant on, consistent colors, good dimming, etc. I don't care if there is additional cost over CFL, the house is lit much better now than it ever was on CFL. Home Depot has long had the best prices anywhere on these and a super easy return policy, and so I've tried almost every bulb available. After buying and returning many bulbs, we are almost entirely Philips. I grabbed a bunch of the L-Prize winner bulbs (93 lumens per watt, CRI of 93) for $15 at one point. I would have grabbed a bunch more if I'd known they were going to discontinue it!!

I've tried higher color temp bulbs in many places and the only place I've found a place for anything above 2700k is in some bedroom closets painted bright white, and those are only 3000k. Otherwise I agree that they look too institutional for home use.

The Philips bulbs dim fantastically, with fancy or regular dimmers. The L-Prize bulb even color-shifts towards red as you dim it. Dimmed even 20% I find that the heat sinks go from 'too hot to touch' to 'not even warm', meaning they should last significantly longer even than advertised.

 

Costco has a great deal on LEDs. ~$7 for three 60 watt Eq, nice color, dimable. I have replaced nearly every CFL, and now have virtually no conventional bulbs in our house.

Icarus

 

Is that in B'ham or in Ontario? Is it after a local utility incentive?

I checked this evening and didn't find it. The closest were several 3-packs of Feit lamps and one other brand, 40 watt equivalent, for $14 thanks to the local utility. Without the utility support the price would have been about $20.

My house is still mostly CFL (by lamp count), but I ceased buying them two years ago and gave away the uninstalled surplus to a friend in need. While LEDs are still a minority of the lamps, they now cover a majority of the 'on' time.

 

2010 is when my house converted over to LED. Since then, they've dropped way down in price and have improved cosmetically along the way. $7 for the 60-watt equiv. (specifically the Philips brand) are really nice. Those are what I've been encouraging others to buy, since they've proven themselves well here. Of course, having LED on the Prius drives the message home too, quite literally.

 

That have been at the Bellingham Costco for a couple of months. I beleive they come at that price with a Puget Rebate, but I really can't say, as I don't set foot in Costco, (or anywhere else save Hardware Sales!) and leave that to my wife!

Icarus

 

Those prices do appear to be after the Puget Sound Energy instant rebate. Other choices are available at other chains:
Take advantage of LED limited time special offers from PSE partners:

Snohomish County PUD and Seattle City Light have similar programs with different rebates:
SPECIAL PRICES on Lighting & More!
Up to $10 Discount on LED Bulbs and Fixtures!
List of retailers

With all these choices available, there are fewer and fewer excuses to avoid them.

 

IIRC Feit bulbs are stocked by Lowes. I was disappointed to find lumen ratings in the ~40-50/watt range.

 

Something is missing from the website. The zipcode of my nearest Costco also returns nothing, even though the program is quite obvious in the store. Two of the three local utilities, for which I posted links earlier, are absent from this partner list.

And put in zip code 98225 to get the deals Icarus mentions, the website brings up deals different then he mentioned. The LED prices look stale.

 

It has been at least a month since I got the last ones at Costco. The deal with Costco is you never know What they are going to have, that's why I stocked up and bought a dozen when I could.

Icarus

 

I'll have to do a Costco visit next time I'm up there. Or even check out one of the stores on the east side of the lake, in PSE territory.

 

Yep, I also been buying Costcos' LEDs, especially outdoor floor lights. Been running these for 4- 5 years now. Do not miss climbing the 2 story ladder for replacement!. As the CFL expire indoors, LED replacement is ongoing.

DBCassidy

 

i moved into my house about 4 years ago and I repalced the inc's with CFL's.

late last year the CFL's began to go out. so I started looking for LEDs. I went online and found a great deal at HD on the CREE LED'S
Cree 60W Equivalent Soft White (2700K) A19 Dimmable LED Light Bulb-BA19-08027OMF-12DE26-2U100 at The Home Depot

I searched several stores in my area and found that I was able to pick up the led's for a bit over 4 bucks, per bulb.

I had to buy them on line and do an in store pickup. The in store price was different. It could have been a price fubar...but who knows... I bought 20 of them...

So I replaced all the CFL's in my recessed lights on the main floor with the LED and I am using the old CFL's to replace the current CFL's elsewhere in the house as they fail.

I've been real happy with the leds. in fact put a few of them outside and so far so good...

 

Differing prices in store vs online is becoming intentional. I've already run into store employees who will match a competitor's brick-and-mortar price, but not their own on-line price.

 

Fuzzy,

I have found that too, in fact the brick and mortar HD was not willing to honor the HDonline price... so I went on the HD computer at the contractor desk bought them online for the discounted price, and then watched them go to the display pick them up and bring them over to me while i waited...

I wa sin the market for a fridge a few years ago. I was at HHgregg and they have a policy about not honoring online prices. so I brought in an online printout from another store....the guy kept saying they can't honor the price off the internet.

He needed to come down 200 bucks. It was a sunday, late afternoon. It was a $1200 fridge... How bad do they want to make the sale... I wasn't desperate my existing fridge was still working so I was willing to walk. He hemmed and hawed so I started walking. He followed me out the door finally willing to meet the price. I swear sales guys can smell when you are in a pinch...

 

We got our water softener from Sears online. I saw that it was on sale there, so went into the store. It wasn't on sale there, but they would match it. Plus the shipping charges. I went home and ordered it online with free in store pick up. I think I also avoided the sales tax.

 

I think what's happening with the lumen verses color rendition is that the cooler colors are more difficult for the human eye to detect. That's why the cooler colors with higher lumen ratings may actually appear less bright than the warmer colors. One of the other thing I note with Feit LED's is that many of them rated as dimmable do poorly upon startup. I note the same type of feedback comments on Amazon.
.

 

That would have been an error on their part. The store still owes the tax to the state, even if it forgot to charge you.