hawkeyestoob Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 Like the title asks: Has anyone here tried the GE LED Brightstick bulbs? I was in Sams club today and came across these - http://www.samsclub.com/sams/16-watt....ip?navAction=I am setting up my new shop which is a 24X36 garage with 8' ceiling height. The existing lighting consists of 12 evenly spaced pull chain type single bulb fixtures that are divided into 2 different groups each controlled by a switch. The compact form factor and the ruggedness of the construction on these would seem to make them an ideal choice. With the sale price of $12 for a 2 pack of the 100 watt equivalent bulbs I could change out the whole shop to LEDs for under $80 which seems crazy cheap for 100 watt equivalent LEDs. Is there something I am missing here or do these seem to be a good deal for general lighting?Thanks, Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Bussy Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 I have not, but there are some interesting reviews on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/GE-Lighting-32287-Replacement-760-Lumen/product-reviews/B00R7DFJYU/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_hist_one?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 My experience with other low cost led replacement lamps is that they work well, but seldom achieve the advertised lifespan. Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 The diode is not the part that fails. LED runs cool at low output. As output demands go up, we are back to dealing with heat. It is substantially less than other options but it is focused on a much smaller object. Cheap LED that fail almost always fail in the heat dispersion realm. If dispersing heat is an issue where you want to place the LED, best not to go the cheap route. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeyestoob Posted January 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 Thanks for the feedback. The reviews on Amazon seem to line up with what I found on Home Depot and a few other sites. People either love them or they died almost the instant they got them out of the package. I think I am going to try a couple to see how they work. They will be replacing standard 60 watt incandescent bulbs that do a descent job of lighting up my shop. I figure that if they are in fact brighter and have good longevity they will be a quick and cost effective upgrade without changing fixtures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawmillgeo Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 My opinion is the same as wtnhighlander. I had to replace 7 out of 10 small g9 style bulb that advertised 50000 hours 6 months after install. I believe the technology for the smaller bulb is too new. I am trusting if I spend a little more, don't buy the cheapest, I might have better luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 We are slowly replacing older fixtures with LED at the steel mill where I work. Purpose-built LED fixtutes seem to give much better results over LED replacement lamps, for exactly what Carus said. The lamps can't dissipate the heat well enough, and the driver circuits fail. Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 That's a great space you have to work with there. But some points about lighting it to consider: - A good level of lighting in a wood shop would be around 100 Lm/sq ft. You have 864 sq ft, which would need 56 of those lamps to achieve that lighting level. - Those lamps have a CRI of only 80, which is going to give you poor results when you are dealing with color of wood, stains & finishes. A finished piece that may look fine under those lights might look quite different in natural light. - The rated life of those is only 15,000 hours, which is really low for LEDs, or even 4' fluorescent. The life of most screw base LED lamps is not great, usually around 25,000 hours. Fixtures that are designed from the ground up as an LED fixture have ratings of 50,000 to 100,000 hours. You will find that really good quality LED lighting (high CRI, long life) is still quite expensive. Check out Big Ass lights. At this point, fluorescent is still a more economical way to get quality light for your shop. If I was relighting my shop though, I think I'd go good quality LED cause I just really like them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeyestoob Posted January 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 I did grab some today and for the price they are nice enough to use in the house but like many of you have said the color temp is not high enough for the shop. I am going to try some of these from Costco since they are not much more and they look to be much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 Do not confuse color temperature with color rendering index (CRI). Color temperature is more a mater of personal preference, although a higher temp like 5000K is closer to natural daylight than the lower temps. CRI tells you the quality of the light & it's ability to render colors accurately. That's the important thing to look for but sometimes you have to do some digging to get all the specs. Here's some info on CRI: http://www.topbulb.com/color-rendering-index 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Bussy Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 Thanks for the references! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeyestoob Posted January 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2016 Thanks again for all the input. I am waiting on the bulbs from Costco that I linked to above. I think that for what I will be doing they will work for me. If I ever get to the point that I am having trouble with color matching I will look at upgrading or adding some additional lighting. I will be certain to let everyone know how the Costco bulbs work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeyestoob Posted January 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 I am happy to report that I am very pleased with the bulbs I purchased from COSTCO. They might not be the best possible choice for accurate color rendering but for 99% of the work I do they will work great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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