Cree LED light bulbs (Home Depot)

[Thunder71]

Oh how I wish I lived near one of the stores offering this... oh well.

[Vashjir]

Thanks for the heads-up on this, I've been replacing any bulb that burns out with these cree bulbs and have been very happy thus far. Just grabbed a few cases (bloomington store had tons left at the >$5 price), should be enough to replace all the standard bulbs left in my house.

My only complaint is that the crees don't look great in open bulb fixtures (like bathroom vanity lights) due to a darker spot on the 'top' of the bulb. For those I use the ikea 'ledare' led bulbs because the bulb 'surface' is more evenly lit, however the ikea ones aren't quite as efficient, and they aren't recommended for enclosed fixtures.

[BigBlue]

Not available at the Elk River HD due to the power company subsidy thing (lack of).

[gunsmith]

ordering online now looks like they sold 100 today.....2000 left.

[xd ED]

I think I know why these things were relatively cheap:
The performance is less than stellar.
As mentioned the light pattern on the bulb is unusual, and the color is that of failing tungsten element incandescent bulb.
I'd hardly describe the color as 'warm'. They turn reflections and glare yellow.
I much prefer the near full-spectrum lighting of bulbs like GE Reveal.

[yukonjasper]

Large display in Eagan. I bought a bunch, I'm not very particular about light bulbs. I do have quite a stockpile of incandescent bulbs when I thought we were going to be stuck with CFLs.

When will the large outside spotlights be cheaper and brighter? I could use a bunch for property lighting.

[linksep]

I think I know why these things were relatively cheap:
The performance is less than stellar.
As mentioned the light pattern on the bulb is unusual, and the color is that of failing tungsten element incandescent bulb.
I'd hardly describe the color as 'warm'. They turn reflections and glare yellow.
I much prefer the near full-spectrum lighting of bulbs like GE Reveal.

I wouldn't call the GE Reveal full spectrum, they put a bluish tint on them to remove part of the red spectrum.

Several months ago I bought one 2700k Cree LED and a 2-pack of good old fashioned $0.45 ea 60W frosted standard bulbs. I put them both in a stand-up lamp. I looked at the bulbs directly and the room as a whole while having them both on and switching from one to the other being the only light source.... the ONLY difference I could see was a slight dark spot top-dead-center of the Cree bulb when looking directly at it and comparing it directly with a standard incandescent just several inches away. The quality and color of the light was EXACTLY THE SAME between the two bulbs (according to my eyes). I wrote the install date and something to the tune of "10-year warranty" on the base of the bulb with a Sharpie and installed it in my sealed bedroom light fixture along with the CFL that wasn't burned out (not because I intend to save the receipt and packaging to collect on a warranty in 9 years but because I simply want to know if it really does last 10 years).

A couple weeks later I was in HD again and purchased the matching 2700k Cree for my bedroom light and a Cree Flood light to test in the hallway with a dimmer. The hallway has 3 cans with 1 halogen flood, 1 "dimmable" CFL flood, and 1 Cree flood installed. The halogen bulb dims perfectly linearly from standard full bright to a warm orange-reddish color at full dim. The CFL appears to have basically two levels of brightness from full bright standard 2700k color to 1/3 brightness with less orange/red than the halogen bulb but still a little more orange/red based color than the full brightness. The Cree flood dims nearly flawlessly (maybe has a step from full bright to 7/8ths bright before linear dimming begins) and the Cree bulb maintains it's same color output over the entire scale of bright to dim (which makes it appear brighter at the fully dim level).

Thanks to the OP for the thread and thanks to xd9 as well as others for pointing out the sale prices! I just verified the $5 sale price (April 9th), and will be getting several more Cree bulbs this week... I might have to upgrade the garage to LED and see how they fare in the extreme heat and cold that is a garage environment as well as find out how vibration resistant they are by installing them in the garage door opener! I have primarily used CFL for many years now, not because I believe anything about global warming or thought I was going to see a ROI... I have used CFL because I am lazy and for some unexplainable reason I REALLY HATE changing light bulbs. Hopefully LED means a virtual end to changing light bulbs for me.

[gunsmith]

your LED was 2700 Kelvin (color temperature)

Incandescents are 3200-3400 K

Noon Daylight is 5000-5500 K

I think in most cases you have to be 'Looking for' the difference.

Color film will show you the difference clearly...I think I'd prefer daylight 5000 Kelvin. Graphics professionals actually have light tents to view printed materials and have light meters to calibrate their monitors.

2700 K may look very warm, I"ll have to try some.

[Jackpine Savage]

I was at the Brainerd Home Depot on Monday and they had 75w and 100w equivalent Crees. The salesman said they just put them on shelf the week before. I think it ~$20 for the 100w.

[xd9]

I was at the Brainerd Home Depot on Monday and they had 75w and 100w equivalent Crees. The salesman said they just put them on shelf the week before. I think it ~$20 for the 100w.

I noticed the 75w in Bloomington about a week ago. Was about $15 if I remember correctly. Still too steep for me. The 60w are working well in several places in our home. Will be nice to get something brighter for the table lamps, but I am not paying that high of a price for them yet.

[linksep]

your LED was 2700 Kelvin (color temperature)

Incandescents are 3200-3400 K

Noon Daylight is 5000-5500 K

I think in most cases you have to be 'Looking for' the difference.

Color film will show you the difference clearly...I think I'd prefer daylight 5000 Kelvin. Graphics professionals actually have light tents to view printed materials and have light meters to calibrate their monitors.

2700 K may look very warm, I"ll have to try some.

I saw that 3200-3400K number quoted as gospel for incandescent bulbs many times on the old interwebs but I just looked at every hot filament bulb in the house (that is still in a box or blister pack with a color temp rating on it) I found they are all 2700K, 2850K, or 2900K with the 2900K bulbs being halogen spot bulbs. That goes for clear and frosted standard globe bulbs, frosted big globe vanity bulbs, rough-service bulbs for the garage door opener, "extended life" bulbs in 40w, 60w, 65w, 75w and 100w... Seriously, if you like the color temperature of regular old $0.25/ea bulbs then you will like the color of the Cree 2700K. If you insist upon 5000K then get the Cree 5000K "Daylight" bulbs, but the sale on those isn't nearly as good at $11 a bulb.

[gunsmith]

I don't think they're in use anymore but the Incandescent "Photo Flood" bulbs were probably calilbrated at the factory to output 3400 Kelvin color temperature so that Kodak had a standard for photographic purposes.

They make a 'tungsten' color film and used 3400K as a standard...there were also filters for lenses to adjust daylight to 3400K

So...your lights could easily be 2700 K it's just that there (used to be) is a photographic standard for 'Tungsten' light that was set at 3400Kelvin....and in the 'photofloods' may be the only place you'll find it.

[linksep]

That's all well and good if you exclusively use 250w and 500w photoflood bulbs that cost over $5 each and have a rated lifespan of 20 hours in your table lamps. I'm not here to judge.

Yes, you got me. Some extremely rare extremely expensive extreme specialty application incandescent bulbs are 3200K or higher color temp.

But the standard 40w-150w general purpose incandescent bulbs that you can buy in a 12-pack for $1.99 are 2700K to 2900K. I'm off to Home Depot to get 10 more Crees. At $0.09 per kWh it will cost $14.92 per year to leave two of them on lighting the front step 24x7 compared to $94.65 per year to leave two 60w bulbs burning 24x7. They will pay for themselves in less than a month and if they last exactly their rated life of 25,000 hours I will have to replace them on February 15th, 2017 (I REALLY HATE changing light bulbs).

[gunsmith]

That's all well and good if you exclusively use 250w and 500w photoflood bulbs that cost over $5 each and have a rated lifespan of 20 hours in your table lamps. I'm not here to judge.

Yes, you got me. Some extremely rare extremely expensive extreme specialty application incandescent bulbs are 3200K or higher color temp.

But the standard 40w-150w general purpose incandescent bulbs that you can buy in a 12-pack for $1.99 are 2700K to 2900K. I'm off to Home Depot to get 10 more Crees. At $0.09 per kWh it will cost $14.92 per year to leave two of them on lighting the front step 24x7 compared to $94.65 per year to leave two 60w bulbs burning 24x7. They will pay for themselves in less than a month and if they last exactly their rated life of 25,000 hours I will have to replace them on February 15th, 2017 (I REALLY HATE changing light bulbs).

I can't think of any practical use for those photofloods....I think if you bought them they'd be in the category of 'antique' or retro...something like a 40's roll film camera. These rare bulbs are where the 3200-3400K mark comes from. And I think 3400K is an 'aiming' point for photo processors. As recently as 1970 90% of photography was Black & White.

I think even the video guys are using LEDs (instead of quartz bulbs) atop their big cameras and I expect they would be around 5000K.

[photogpat]

LED's!

Far less draw on batteries...