That Lifespan is Rated at 25
If you're looking to exchange a 100W light bulb, you may discover a number of LED choices at costs that are not nearly as unreasonable as they have been only a year or two ago. The present crop, including the Philips 100W Equivalent 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 continues to be slightly costlier than what you may see from opponents like GE and Cree. Philips justifies that by claiming an additional eighty lumens' price of brightness over these two, along with superior dimming capabilities. Nevertheless, our exams didn't reveal any noticeable difference in both brightness or dimmability. That, along with the truth that Philips provides half the warranty that you will get with GE or Cree, makes this bulb tough to recommend. Philips' 100W Equal LED shares the same, EcoLight LED flat-topped construct of its smaller siblings in the 60W and EcoLight LED 40W classes, however sets itself apart with a novel design that splits the bulb into three sections separated by deep channels.
This helps keep the heat buildup at bay, one thing that will get especially necessary when LEDs start putting out this a lot gentle. Even with the emphasis on thermal administration, the bulb gets sizzling to the touch after just a few minutes of use, which isn't unusual for a 100W replacement EcoLight LED. As such, EcoLight home lighting Philips recommends not using it in an enclosed fixture -- in case you do, EcoLight you may danger shortening the bulb's lifespan. That lifespan is rated at 25,000 hours, the identical as the opposite 100W substitute LEDs I examined, with the exception of Utilitech. That lifespan comes out to 22.8 years if the bulb is used for an average of 3 hours per day. Philips warrants the bulb for the first 5 of these years, whereas GE and Cree both supply ten-year warranties. 25,000 hours is the longevity benchmark for Energy Star certification -- the Philips 100W Equivalent earned certification over the summer time, as did the GE LED I tested. Cree's bulb isn't certified but, nevertheless it meets the factors -- Cree's group tells me they expect it to be certified in the near future.
Philips claims a mild 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 powerful number, however not as impressive as GE and EcoLight LED Utilitech, which both manage to put out 100 lumens per watt. Those 1680 lumens are a slight step up from what you may get with GE, Cree, or any of the other bulbs we tested. With brightness being one in all the first stuff you need from your own home lighting, that quantity would seem to give Philips an edge, albeit a minor one. However, the engineers at Energy Star test bulbs out for themselves, posting the total specs for EcoLight LED each LED they certify online. On Philips' itemizing, Power Star rates the bulb at 1,620 lumens -- not 1,680. While an additional 80 lumens is just barely sufficient to make a noticeable difference, an extra 20 lumens is largely insignificant. We needed to know which number had it right.
From a easy eye check, EcoLight LED the light put out from the Philips 100W Equal LED does not differ much from its nearest competitors, the Cree and GE 100W replacements. Aspect by side, the three have nearly similar glows, all of them boasting equally warm tones. That is not stunning, given that all three are rated with the same 2,seven-hundred Okay colour temperature. When examined, every one erred low, on the yellowy facet. Remember, EcoLight dimmable though, EcoLight smart bulbs that Philips claims to place out 1,680 lumens to Cree and GE's 1,600. That's a fairly minuscule difference, however it's one that ought to be noticeable if you are looking intently for it. The problem is that I could not notice it. Testing bulb brightness gets a bit tough. Along with measuring coloration temperature and coloration rendering scores, our spectrometer can take luminosity readings from a given gentle -- however these readings are easily skewed by issues like viewing angle and EcoLight LED distance. To get numbers you'll be able to rely on, you want something referred to as an integrating sphere.