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New LED Bulbs Look Weirder, Save More Energy

bits.blogs.nytimes.com — Within the next several months, several of the world’s biggest lighting companies, including Osram Sylvania and Philips, will introduce LED replacement bulbs to various world markets, including the United States.

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 5, 2008

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  • obliviousfool, on 11/04/2008, -1/+257Yes, I would buy that awesome looking light bulb.
  • whatup732, on 11/04/2008, -19/+157I for one, welcome out new LED light overlords
  • irishmcsg2, on 11/05/2008, -0/+101jeeze, I didn't know LED's put out enough heat to need heat sinks like that!
  • Hobbes24, on 11/04/2008, -5/+67design looks like it was Megatron based technology : P
  • MeatMountain, on 11/05/2008, -2/+60Not impressed, I modded my LED light bulbs with water cooling kits and overclocked them to over 9000 watts.
  • aolshove, on 11/05/2008, -2/+44I'd buy that over a CFL any day.
  • lead2thehead, on 11/05/2008, -3/+42Go right ahead... it's only $145.
  • UselessTrivia, on 11/05/2008, -2/+40Not weirder than the LAST generation of LED lightbulbs. Those were like a cross between a lite-brite and a pine cone.
  • y2kery, on 11/05/2008, -2/+32Very cool but very expensive.
  • Genecalypse, on 11/05/2008, -2/+29Looks like it wont kill the environment but will kill me
  • megaton, on 11/05/2008, -5/+28That's because it IS a heatsink.
  • Colecoman1982, on 11/05/2008, -1/+24I don't believe they put out much heat compared to other types of bulbs, they wouldn't be more efficient if they did. My understanding is that they are, simply, more sensitive to heat in general and that the light producing element is small so that all the heat it produces doesn't get spread out much without a large heatsink.
  • offrdbandit, on 11/05/2008, -0/+20"Cool torture device design: WIN"

    So where exactly are you keeping your light bulbs these days?
  • Greengoo, on 11/05/2008, -2/+21Read the @$^#^ article, moron.

    " Those funny fins are a “heat sink" "
  • shotgunefx, on 11/05/2008, -0/+18I don't have a problem with the aesthetics, they look like a turbine, but the price is a way too high, but imagine those will fall to a fraction of that eventually.
  • FrederikNS, on 11/05/2008, -0/+16Arguing with yourself, eh?
  • Avaseal, on 11/05/2008, -0/+16Gollum...GOLLUM!

    "Trixie Hobbitses"
  • zip000, on 11/05/2008, -0/+14That was my thought; I really like the look of them - kind of futuristic - but there's no way I can justify spending $145/bulb. Especially not to my wife.
  • robotvsmonkey, on 11/05/2008, -2/+16The real question is, does it have a massage setting?
  • Greengoo, on 11/05/2008, -3/+17Sorry.. I jumped the gun.
  • NinjaBoy, on 11/05/2008, -3/+17Perfect for growing marij......tomatoes.
  • offrdbandit, on 11/05/2008, -3/+16I think that light bulb costs more than your video card.
  • maximilen, on 11/05/2008, -3/+16Creative heatsink design: WIN. Cool torture device design: WIN. Consumer Lightbulb design... FAIL!
  • lead2thehead, on 11/05/2008, -4/+16$145 for that? No thanks. The incandescent version is $4.99 and provides much warmer, natural-looking light.
  • Zervaman, on 11/05/2008, -1/+13I love LEDs. So superior to incandescents, in almost every conceivable way.
  • jman583, on 11/05/2008, -1/+12WHAT? NINE THOUSAND!
  • veriix, on 11/05/2008, -0/+11So it costs $145 and lasts 57 years...I'm not sure I'm ready to make that kind of commitment.
  • altgeeky1, on 11/05/2008, -0/+10As Coleman said.

    Basically the MORE efficient a lighting source is, the greater a percentage of watts to lumens (and conversely, a lower watts to BTUs). Efficiency is how much energy converts to the desired format. The rest is waste.

    LEDs will put out less heat, but are slower to dissipate because of the low surface area.

    This also applies to HALOGEN bulbs... yes you can get a serious burn from them, but it's due to the concentration of heat in a small area. Just compare a 60W Edison-form Halogen and compare it to the small tube halogens... you can barely touch the scre-in halogen, but you won't get your fingers near the smaller version.

    Zero heat waste is a ways off for any technology.
  • Yazilliclick, on 11/06/2008, -1/+10Except for producing light :P
  • inactive, on 11/05/2008, -0/+9a light, a cheese grater and outboard motor rotor blade. I love Swiss Army LED light bulbs.
  • Barbarino, on 11/05/2008, -0/+9I hate my track lighting.. I want to rip it off the dam ceiling.. Can't get them adjusted correctly... But! You could keep a burger warm under them..
  • spritom, on 11/05/2008, -0/+8I've got CFLs throughout, but LED technology is definitely more efficient. I picked up a LED bulb a couple months ago at a premium price that was supposed to be a 60w equivalent, but the light output was downright dismal. I figured the technology wasn't ready yet.

    If this new model can put out the light and the prices get reasonable, then sign me up.
  • tabernacker, on 11/05/2008, -0/+8dugg for "LED light sources generate all their heat through the rear"
  • rolf, on 11/05/2008, -2/+9I agree. Last time I checked, the lumen output was not satisfactory.

    Stick with CFLs for now and check back in a year.
  • diggB, on 11/05/2008, -0/+7I for one, welcome our new LED overhead lights.
  • haikuFU, on 11/05/2008, -0/+7These actually make sense. LED's can put out nearly any color of light imaginable. CFL's, not so much. I have a bunch of recessed lighting, and I bought a few different brands of CFL reflector bulbs for them. They suck. The color on all of them was either super yellow, or an bluish white shop light color. Some of them had noticeable flicker that gave me a headache after a few hours. I switched back to 2950K incandescent PAR bulbs.

    Most designers will tell you that 80% of making a room look good is lighting placement, beam spread, color, and intensity. And with CFL's, about the only thing you have control over is the placement. Many cannot be dimmed, the beam is diffused a ton so you cannot get a nice cone of light, and colors are not listed on packaging at all.

  • Pixelpaws, on 11/06/2008, -1/+81... 2... 2!

    Three sir!
  • Thuktun, on 11/05/2008, -0/+7@lead2thehead

    Money-saving FAIL.

    Incandescent bulbs often only last for 1000 hours, versus these bulbs which are rated at 50,000 hours. To buy incandescent bulbs that last as long as one of these, you'd pay $5 x 50 = $250, so $145 is a bargain. And that's not even including energy costs, since it uses 70% less energy.
  • veriix, on 11/05/2008, -0/+7really? those bulbs are rated for 57 years
  • inactive, on 11/05/2008, -1/+8Damn alien technology always showing up in the private sector. /s
  • DerangedPenguin, on 11/05/2008, -0/+7I imagine that the initial productions costs require the $150.00 price tag.
    However I am going to wait until after a year when like my SSHD prices fall to 10% of that price.
  • yabos, on 11/05/2008, -0/+7Cost? I've seen some that look pretty much identical but without the heat sink and it's about $30-$40 for a bulb equivalent to about a 40-50W incandescent. I don't want a fixture that costs $400 like shown in the article, all I want is a regular bulb to replace my existing bulbs.
  • dafragsta, on 11/06/2008, -0/+7Really? Are you REALLY going to have this thing so long that it would outlive $145 worth of CFL or even tungsten blubs?

    The truth is the technology used to make this one will have gotten cheaper and significantly better (I imagine they won't always need that obtrusive of a heatsink forever) before you get anything remotely resembling that much value out of that bulb.
  • krahzee, on 11/05/2008, -0/+7And a CFL didn't look weird the first time you we saw one? It's all what you are used to. Pretty soon these will look just as "normal" as any other type of bulb.
  • dacheetah, on 11/05/2008, -0/+6You pay $5 for an incandescent? They cost less than 50c here (AUD, like 25c US these days).
    They will stop selling them here soon though. But LED lighting will be awesome.
  • tobikow, on 11/05/2008, -3/+9can i grow umm... tomato plants with these?
  • haikuFU, on 11/05/2008, -0/+6I good combination of warmth and crispness is exactly 2950K. You can get LED's in 3000K varieties, which is much closer than CFL's.
  • KboT, on 11/05/2008, -1/+7Negative. The LED UFO and it's countless HPS +/- MH comparison tests have proven that LED technology is a viable replacement. And with these manufacturers in on it, it's only going to get better and cheaper.
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