Do incandescent bulb hoarders now feel like idiots with the new $2.50 LED bulbs available?

[carnivorousplant]

@Mdcastle

I’ve noticed the turn on delay of some LEDs too, I assumed it was capacitors in the power supply rather than aesthetic design choice.

I believe that you are correct. I use LED bars to light some of my aquariums, and while they light up quickly when switched to a running power supply, turning the supply on and off presents a two or three second delay.4

[Mdcastle]

@Habeed

You’re going to have to provide a cite for that. Last I checked…in terms of A/B comparisons where the bulb is hidden, incandescents are defeated by the nicer CFL brands and the higher end Phillips LED bulbs. You can get better light and save more than the bulb costs in power.

All incandescents have a perfect CRI of 100:

Knowledge Base

The two best, highest CRI LEDs have a CRI of 90 and 93

Shining a light on high-CRI LEDs

[Mdcastle]

@Amateur_Barbarian

There are tube fluorescents well over 96.

I don’t know of any light source short of the fusion-powered one on a clear day, or halogen ones of nearly equal power and heat, that hit 100. If it’s worth that last few percent to run photography monolights in your house…

I don’t have a desire to put linear fluorescents in every room of my house like an office building.

[carnivorousplant]

@jz78817

fluorescent lamps color-shift as they age, unfortunately.

Do they? It has been my experience with fluorescent aquarium lights that they produce less light with age, but that the frequency does not change.

[Drunky_Smurf]

I don’t feel like an idiot at all. Quite the contrary. I still have enough to last at least another decade, maybe two.

[jz78817]

@carnivorousplant

Do they? It has been my experience with fluorescent aquarium lights that they produce less light with age, but that the frequency does not change.

it’s more subtle than, say, a metal halide lamp (which goes from bluish-white when new to pink as it ages) but yeah, they do. I regularly see used up fluorescent lights (the long tube kind) at work which have gone full-on pink.

[Noelq]

Nope.

I hate fluorescent lights. Can’t stand the things.

I’m very happy with my stockpile.

Money was never the issue. Its the light frequency, and the color. When they’re not right, they drive me batty.

Additionally, I prefer the 250-watt bulbs in my house, for reading.

[JoseB]

I am rather surprised by the posters who say that, after shifting to something other than incandescent/halogen lights, their electricity bill didn’t significatively change.

I had a lot of halogen lights in my home. I switched to LEDs (which give a light that I am perfectly happy with) and my electricity bill went down quite noticeably.

[GrumpyBunny]

@Marion_Wormer

I stockpiled the incandescent true color bulbs because I need them when I put on make up.

Ditto!

Also because I didn’t like how the CFL options that I’d seen at Home Depot looked in my faux-Tiffany table lamp. (I’d only seen the twisty ones, and they looked awful, so I stocked up on 60-watt bulbs.)

I also prefer a softer “pink” light for my bedside light. Easier on the eyes when I’m reading in bed. I did not see those in CFL at the time, though they’re available now.

[Dewey_Finn]

@Drunky_Smurf

I don’t feel like an idiot at all. Quite the contrary. I still have enough to last at least another decade, maybe two.

Just how many bulbs are in use in your house and how many spares have you stockpiled? Because incandescent bulbs only last, typically, for a year or two. So you’d have to have five or ten replacements for every bulb in the house.

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

I didn’t stockpile, but I am using all my replaced incandescents in my garage door opener, which doesn’t play well with any other type of bulb.
mmm

[kanicbird]

@JoseB

I am rather surprised by the posters who say that, after shifting to something other than incandescent/halogen lights, their electricity bill didn’t significatively change.

I had a lot of halogen lights in my home. I switched to LEDs (which give a light that I am perfectly happy with) and my electricity bill went down quite noticeably.

I once went from IC to CF blubs and saw a small drop in the amount charged (didn’t look at the amount of power consumed), till the moment of enlightenment when I switched most back to IC. I looked and didn’t see any increase in power usage or price.

I chalk it up to seasonal usage patters and price of power fluctuation.

[BurnMeUp]

I have noticed a higher percentage of LED bulbs having bad circuitry that causes unpleasant flickering. Not massively but just enough for you to notice it off handedly.

In this case I mean a larger percentage than of incandescent bulbs which would not work right out of the box.