L.E.D light bulbs, the future is now!

nodle

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So We have energy efficient bulbs in the house, you know the swirl kind. Well mine in my lamp in my room burnt out the other night, so I went to purchase another and I over heard a old man in the isle talking about the L.E.D light bulbs. He was talking about how much they save and how many years they last. So I started looking at them. They actually use even less power than the energy savings ones, plus the last forever. The box says 22.8 years. It wasn't that expensive either so I picked on up. The light output I actually prefer also, its said natural lighting like outdoors and they weren't kidding. No more yellow light but more of a natural light. Plus they look more like a real light bulb that the swirl things. Defiantly the future. Anyone else use them? I plan on replacing all my bulbs in the future with these.
 
I haven't made this investment yet. The CFL bulbs (Swirl things) are pretty much crap. They don't use as much energy, but they don't last as long as they are supposed to either. Then again, they get put into a lot of areas they are not suited for. They are intended to be turned on and left on for periods of time, not turned on and off frequently.

LEDs are the future of lighting, but I don't know if they are quite their yet. While their power usage is low, they can get pretty warm. You can find many different designs, but they all have some fairly large heat dissipation mechanism. The LEDs also are not as dimmable as traditional bulbs. There are dimmable LEDs, most just can't actually dim beyond a certain point without just being off. The brand or two that can are nowhere near cheap. One LED bulb isn't terribly expensive, but they are a fair amount more than other options, so count the bulbs in your house and multiply - they add up quick.

For now I just try to stick to incandescent or halogens. When prices come down even further and the tech has evolved a little more (less heat / better dimming) I'll start looking at them a lot more seriously than I do now when considering a replacement bulb.

 
Mine had little fins on them, I had it on most of the night, and I put my hand on the metal shroud it to see if it was hot. It was warm but the CFL light in there use to be much hotter.
 
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