Thursday, November 23, 2017

GE LED Light Bulb Review – Compare to CFL Bulbs

Recently I went shopping for new light bulbs and at first I was looking for the squiggly CFL type bulbs which I had been using that are supposed to be good for energy saving. I was surprised when I visited 2 different stores and found the availability of these bulbs to be almost non-existent. It seemed the stores now only had LED bulbs or the old fashioned incandescent bulbs.

So I went home to do a little research before investing in one of the new bulbs. It seems LED bulbs are quickly taking the place of CFL bulbs because they are more responsive, better for the environment, and are becoming more affordable among other reasons. So I decided it was time to try out the LED bulbs.

In store I found the GE brand and store brands available. GE has a few different variations on the standard LED bulb such as Reveal, Refresh, and Relax each of which are designed for specific rooms in the house. They also have a standard LED Soft White bulb which is for general purpose. I found them on sale for a good deal so I decided to try them out. I got the 60w 800 lumens rated 4 pack. It seems most of these bulbs have good sales and promotions going on whether it is buy one get one free, or a steep discount on a multi-pack.

The box says they last 13 years, but the warranty says it is only covered for 5 years so I'm not sure how that works out. The bulbs have a similar shape and size to traditional light bulbs. I noticed the material seems to be made of a plastic vs glass found on the old incandescent bulbs.

Upon installing the new LED bulb, I found the light to be a little brighter compared to the CFL bulbs of the same wattage rating. Also they light up faster than the CFL bulbs which tend to take a little while to get to full brightness. I found the color of the Soft White LED bulbs to be very nice with a good mix of warmth and clarity without looking too yellow.

So far I have only been using them for a short time but so far they have been working out well. I did look up some reviews online and was surprised that they had a lot of negative reviews saying the bulbs went out much sooner than the package advertises. Just in case I will hold on to the receipt in case there are any issues with the bulbs since they are guaranteed for 5 years.

I will update this article with long term updates with results on how the bulbs perform over time.

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