If you are seeking to exchange a 100W light bulb, you'll find several LED choices at costs that are not almost as unreasonable as they were just a 12 months or two ago. The current crop, together with the Philips 100W Equal LED, hovers proper around the $20 worth point. Initially priced at $25, Philips' LED has since been marked down a number of bucks to $22, which remains to be barely dearer than what you will see from opponents like GE and Cree. Philips justifies that by claiming an extra eighty lumens' value of brightness over those two, together with superior dimming capabilities. Nevertheless, our exams did not reveal any noticeable distinction in both brightness or dimmability. That, together with the fact that Philips provides half the guarantee that you'll get with GE or Cree, makes this bulb difficult to recommend. Philips' 100W Equivalent LED shares the same, flat-topped construct of its smaller siblings in the 60W and 40W categories, but units itself apart with a unique design that splits the bulb into three sections separated by deep channels.

This helps keep the heat buildup at bay, energy-saving LED bulbs one thing that gets especially important when LEDs start putting out this much light. Even with the emphasis on thermal management, EcoLight outdoor the bulb gets sizzling to the touch after just a couple of minutes of use, which is not unusual for a 100W replacement LED. As such, Philips recommends not using it in an enclosed fixture -- in the event you do, you'll danger shortening the bulb's lifespan. That lifespan is rated at 25,000 hours, the same as the other 100W substitute LEDs I tested, with the exception of Utilitech. That lifespan comes out to 22.Eight years if the bulb is used for a mean of three hours per day. Philips warrants the bulb for EcoLight outdoor the first five of these years, whereas GE and EcoLight lighting Cree each supply ten-12 months warranties. 25,000 hours is the longevity benchmark for Energy Star certification -- the Philips 100W Equivalent earned certification over the summer season, EcoLight outdoor as did the GE LED I examined. Cree's bulb is not certified but, nevertheless it meets the factors -- Cree's staff tells me they anticipate it to be certified in the close to future.

Philips claims a light output of 1,680 lumens at a golden hued 2,seven-hundred Okay from a energy draw of 19 watts. That makes it good for about 88 lumens per watt -- a formidable quantity, but not as impressive as GE and Utilitech, which both handle to place out one hundred lumens per watt. Those 1680 lumens are a slight step up from what you may get with GE, Cree, or EcoLight any of the other bulbs we tested. With brightness being one in every of the first stuff you want from your home lighting, that quantity would seem to give Philips an edge, albeit a minor one. Nevertheless, the engineers at Vitality Star take a look at bulbs out for EcoLight themselves, EcoLight brand posting the full specs for each LED they certify online. On Philips' listing, Power Star charges the bulb at 1,620 lumens -- not 1,680. Whereas an extra eighty lumens is simply barely sufficient to make a noticeable distinction, EcoLight outdoor an extra 20 lumens is largely insignificant. We needed to know which quantity had it right.

From a easy eye check, the light put out from the Philips 100W Equivalent LED does not differ a lot from its nearest competitors, the Cree and GE 100W replacements. Aspect by facet, the three have nearly similar glows, all of them boasting equally warm tones. That isn't stunning, given that each one three are rated with the identical 2,seven hundred Okay color temperature. When examined, each one erred low, on the yellowy facet. Remember, though, EcoLight outdoor that Philips claims to place out 1,680 lumens to Cree and GE's 1,600. That is a pretty minuscule difference, EcoLight outdoor however it's one which must be noticeable if you're looking intently for it. The issue is that I couldn't notice it. Testing bulb brightness will get a bit tricky. In addition to measuring colour temperature and colour rendering scores, our spectrometer can take luminosity readings from a given mild -- however those readings are easily skewed by things like viewing angle and distance. To get numbers you can depend on, you need something called an integrating sphere.