If you are trying to exchange a 100W mild bulb, you may discover a number of LED choices at costs that aren't nearly as unreasonable as they had been only a 12 months or two ago. The current crop, together with the Philips 100W Equivalent LED, hovers right across the $20 price level. Initially priced at $25, Philips' LED has since been marked down a couple of bucks to $22, which continues to be slightly more expensive than what you may see from rivals like GE and Cree. Philips justifies that by claiming an extra 80 lumens' price of brightness over those two, together with superior dimming capabilities. Nonetheless, our checks did not reveal any noticeable distinction in either brightness or dimmability. That, together with the fact that Philips offers half the warranty that you will get with GE or Cree, makes this bulb tough to recommend. Philips' 100W Equivalent LED shares the same, flat-topped construct of its smaller siblings in the 60W and 40W categories, but 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 essential when LEDs start placing out this much gentle. Even with the emphasis on thermal management, the bulb gets scorching to the contact after just a couple of minutes of use, which is not unusual for a 100W alternative LED. As such, EcoLight dimmable Philips recommends not utilizing it in an enclosed fixture -- should you do, you will risk shortening the bulb's lifespan. That lifespan is rated at 25,000 hours, the identical as the other 100W substitute LEDs I tested, with the exception of Utilitech. That lifespan comes out to 22.8 years if the bulb is used for a median of three hours per day. Philips warrants the bulb for the first five of those years, while GE and Cree both provide ten-12 months warranties. 25,000 hours is the longevity benchmark for Energy Star certification -- the Philips 100W Equivalent earned certification over the summer, as did the GE LED I tested. Cree's bulb isn't certified but, however it meets the factors -- Cree's team tells me they anticipate it to be certified within 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 powerful quantity, however not as impressive as GE and Utilitech, which each manage to place out 100 lumens per watt. These 1680 lumens are a slight step up from what you will get with GE, Cree, or any of the other bulbs we examined. With brightness being one among the primary things you need from your private home lighting, that quantity would seem to provide Philips an edge, albeit a minor one. Nevertheless, the engineers at Vitality Star check bulbs out for themselves, posting the complete specs for every LED they certify online. On Philips' listing, Energy Star charges the bulb at 1,620 lumens -- not 1,680. While an additional eighty lumens is simply barely enough to make a noticeable distinction, an extra 20 lumens is basically insignificant. We needed to know which number had it right.

From a easy eye check, the sunshine put out from the Philips 100W Equal LED doesn't differ a lot from its nearest opponents, the Cree and GE 100W replacements. Facet by aspect, EcoLight the three have practically identical glows, all of them boasting equally warm tones. That isn't shocking, given that each one three are rated with the identical 2,700 Okay colour temperature. When tested, every one erred low, on the yellowy aspect. Remember, although, that Philips claims to put out 1,680 lumens to Cree and GE's 1,600. That is a pretty minuscule distinction, but it is one that ought to be noticeable if you're wanting intently for it. The problem is that I could not discover it. Testing bulb brightness gets a bit difficult. In addition to measuring color temperature and coloration rendering scores, our spectrometer can take luminosity readings from a given gentle -- but these readings are simply skewed by issues like viewing angle and distance. To get numbers you can depend on, you need something known as an integrating sphere.