Thank you to the locals that stopped by the lighting DIY Workshop that I partnered with the Home Deport on last weekend! I LOVED meeting you and it was great to get tips from the on-site lighting expert about how to increase lighting energy efficiency. It’s a topic I’ve been sadly pretty ignorant about until recently. We have a lot of CFLs in our house, but the Home Depot guy encouraged me to look at their LED offerings while I was at the store on Saturday.
I think it sort of stinks to have to drop $8-16 on just a single bulb, but how crazy is it that LED bulbs last for literally 20 years and they use a fraction of the wattage that an incandescent bulb uses?!
I picked up a pretty expensive (almost $16!) Cree bulb that has a new technology that’s supposed to help colors read more correctly, which has been my main complaint about LED in the past. I also bought this Ecosmart two-pack as a cheaper comparison that brought the price-per-bulb down to about $8. And I threw in to the test group an incandescent I already owned for good measure, just because I was curious. All of the bulbs were Soft White in tone and 60 watts or equivalent.
Well, here are the results of my extremely technical and super scientific light test results! ;)
I actually really liked the tone of the most expensive LED bulb (surprise, surprise), but really the Ecosmart brand wasn’t bad at all. I’d probably use it in bedrooms or for fixtures we use a little less. And actually I’ve read that it’s a good idea to switch over to the more expensive bulbs over time to help spread out the initial expense, but that you should put the new bulbs in your most frequently used fixtures so you can start the energy savings right away.
As a part of the workshop last weekend, Home Depot gave me a $100 gift card to give away today! Maybe you’ll want to spend the gift card on a dozen or so new LEDs? :) To enter, leave a comment here on this post. I’d love to hear about what bulbs you’re using and loving.
Contest ends next Thursday at midnight. Winner will be emailed. Good luck!
PS Home Depot has lots of great (free!) DIY workshops coming up! To see what your local store has to offer, check out the registration page here!
We use some halogen light bulbs (is that the right word?) and some regular. I also hate the light they emit and may have to switch over to those fancy pants ones. :)
We really need to get on the LED train. :)
I just bought bulbs, but I haven't tried them out yet. I found it very confusing to choose.
We are in the process of switching, slowly but surely!
We've changed a couple out, but haven't gone too far yet. Too many other projects to spend money on!
Thanks for your Light Bulb advice! :)
just switched a couple recessed lights to led, so much brighter!
I'm confessing that I've been an incandescent hoarder. Mostly because I'm concerned about the toxicity of the mercury in the CFL bulbs. I don't think that whole switch was very well-thought out! Let's use environmentally unfriendly means of making new bulbs that require environmentally unfriendly disposal and are toxic when broken in your home to replace "environmentally unfriendly" incandescent bulbs? AND I haven't like the light CFLs emit and they're ugly. All that to say, I'm very impressed with the light tone and the style of these Cree LED bulbs and I'm definitely swayed towards THIS form of helping the environment. I'd definitely put the gift certificate towards that investment!
This seems perfectly scientific to me :-) We have mostly CFLs right now but I'd love to make the switch.
We're slowly – but surely – swapping out existing bulbs as they go out, this Home Depot gift card WOULD certainly go a long way to wrapping that up!
We are slowly switching over to leds!
We are moving to a new house where more lightbulbs (as well as other things) will be needed.
We've been using Cfl for awhile now. Have been wanting to swith to LED
I'm a fan of LEDs!
CFLs from costco. Here in NC some stores' CFL light prices are subsidized by Duke Energy for the next year, I think. Made them quite affordable.
Haven't yet made the switch to LEDs. Great advice to start with our most used, love saving energy costs.
My condo's got the worst light ever… Maybe new bulbs can turn it all around. So… Please. May I win?
Might have to try the LEDs
We've switched a few lamps to LEDs we got for free at a local energy workshop, but I'm most impressed with how far all the energy-saving bulbs have come … No more ugly spiral bulbs in a glass fixture!
I still go back and forth about the different bulbs – maybe these will be my new best solution.
I'm glad to hear that you've found some that don't make it feel like you're in a jail cell! Some of those "green" light bulbs are just horrible! They have such bad color and don't make me want to save money at all!
I'm definitely going to give that Cree a try!
Thanks for the post!
Would love to try the LEDs! Thanks for offering this give-away!
I went light bulb shopping at Walmart the other day and was underwhelmed. This topic is right on my mind these days! I am super interested about the Cree bulb you discovered. I can't wait to go to Home Depot to check out their LED selection. And it'll make my day if I go with a $100 gift card! ;)
We've been switching over to LED. SRP was giving a rebate last year and I bought them at Costco. They put off way less heat than a typical lightbulb which I love!
I just bought my first two LED bulbs for the lamps on my front table and I am loving them. I tend to like pretty bright lights, so not having any added heat from an incandescent is great in this heat wave we've been having. I bought the Cree bulbs because they were recommended by Daniel from the blog Manhattan Nest and I am very happy with the light quality. The warm white looks just like the warm light from an incandescent, and with a shade on, I can't even tell the difference! I would love to be able to afford some more.
For quite a while I had switched everything over to CFLs but hated their look and the light they gave off. So I switched everything back to the good old fashioned bulbs. I'm glad the LEDs are better looking and give off light that looks real! I'll have to give them a try.
Super stylish test – I love your wall lamp and wall color! We use CFLs (mostly) I'd love to change out the bulbs in my children's rooms first!
I'd like to use LED if they can work with my dimmer switcher.
I'm so excited for an energy efficient bulb that isn't awful! I love being green but not if my house feels like a twilight zone
I'm not sure my other comment published so…
We put LEDin ceiling fixtures so they won't have to be changed often.
Light bulbs that last for 20 years = one less thing to worry about around the house! Sign me up.
Good inspiration to switch to LED bulbs. It's nice to see the difference between the light put out by the various bulbs. Guess I have another project to add to the list! :)
Ugh! I hate that we are being forced to change our lights. The new lights remind me of an old TV that took a while to warm up and turn on. I think my house is darker these days. You're experiment gives me hope that the newer versions might be okay. I liked the Cree colors better too. I leave my lamps on all day and do like the idea of savings and longevity. Thanks for "en-light-ing" me!! ;-)) Judy
We just invested in a lot of new LEDs for two large fixtures in our house where the bulbs are impossible to change without a (very) large ladder. I'm looking forward to not having a burned out bulb when we use those lights!
We use the LED lightbulbs.
Haven't tried the LED bulbs yet.
We have mostly CFLs in our home, but bought new outdoor fixtures for our deck that have LEDs and I have liked them more than I anticipated. I would love to replace some bulbs with the new LEDs.
Do they have a bulb for recessed light fixtures? I have tons of those in my house.
Still using incandescents. I'm very sensitive to the color of the light. Will try LED bulbs.
I've been living in an apt with horrid wiring so didn't want to risk frying a $16 LED bulb. Moving soon and can't wait to switch.
We have mostly CFLs in our house but I'd love to trade them in for LEDs! Thanks for the giveaway!
We started using LEDs when we moved into our new apartment, I love them and will continue to add them as we figure out lighting etc
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We need to try the led bulbs – I'm glad to know the light they provide is getting better.
We have been switching over to LEDs as our old bulbs burn out. I love the LEDs for our recessed lighting.. Such a nice sleek look. = )
Have a light in my kids' bedroom that I cannot figure out how to get the cover off the lightbulb…if the lightbulbs were 20 years-ers I'd be fine to live with my ignorance. :)
I'm still mad at California for stopping manufacturing of high wattage bulbs… Now I feel like we just sit in the dark… Haven't tried a high wattage led though… Another thing for the list…
We use a mixture of bulbs but are switching over to LED bit by bit.
Thanks for testing out some bulbs, we haven't switched out all of ours yet, iflucky we can do so with the giveaway!! :)
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