Would you buy a $50 lightbulb?

[Ken g6]

I would if it was dimmable and could work in an enclosed fixture.

It seems to be hard to find good, efficient, dimmable bulbs.

 

[Mark R]

How much does it cost to change a lightbulb?

If (changes per year) * 17 years * (cost to change) > $50 - then yup, I'd be buying them up by the handful.

In fact, in many circumstances, it can cost several hundred $ to change a light bulb - e.g. how much do you think it costs to change the bulbs in a road tunnel. (You have to close the road, get several technicians in on a personnel lift or scaffolding, etc.) But then, $100 bulbs, energy efficent bulbs which last 60k hours have been available for many years.

 

[Mark R]

No, I wouldn't. LEDs give off a vary unnatural light IMO.

Only the cheap ones with low-grade phosphors. The modern 'warm white' LEDs are really very good - certainly a better, more natural light than most CFLs.

 

[Rubycon]

Only the cheap ones with low-grade phosphors. The modern 'warm white' LEDs are really very good - certainly a better, more natural light than most CFLs.

Yes the blue/flicker is basically a myth (that ALL LEDs do this).

The driver can be designed to run on a variety of power supplies, support dimming and even maintain tint throughout the dimmable range utilizing PWM. Of course the flicker at dimmer ranges becomes apparent. It becomes a balancing act between maintaining tint and still having a long enough phosphor persistence to buffer out the side effect of the pulses and make the flicker non apparent to human eyes. This comes at a cost and thus a specialized product for use in critical areas (pure CW output where the stroboscopic effect could be hazardous) or blended full spectrum outputs where color rendition is critical. These products would be much more expensive than a consumer light bulb, for example.

 

[Red Squirrel]

If it was the same bright white light as CFLs maybe. I actually buy CFLs because of the light they create, the savings is a bonus.

Though for 50 bucks, I can build a flux capacitor. It can be tuned to run continuously and generate flashes of light. To keep consistency the time circuit can be designed to make the photons go back/forward in time accordingly to create a very bright, and constant light. While expensive and complex, this can create an equivalent of 1.21 jigawatts of light! You only need one per 1000 mile radius, and you just pump the light through special optics to every home. It is the future of lighting.

Then there's also flux transistors and a flux diodes, but they are more complicated.

 

[BassBomb]

my car's bulbs were 50, even that is supposed to be a killer deal

 

[SparkyJJO]

WHAT?!

Government mandating that we can't use incandescent bulbs anymore?! What the heck.

These guys need to get fired, all of them, for being total, utter idiots

 

[Jeff7]

Only if they'll actually guarantee it to last that long, and have a good warranty policy.

I've seen things whose package info says, "Lasts 50,000 hours!"

But it only comes with a 2 year warranty. (17,520 hours)
:hmm:

 

[Rubycon]

Only if they'll actually guarantee it to last that long, and have a good warranty policy.

I've seen things whose package info says, "Lasts 50,000 hours!"

But it only comes with a 2 year warranty. (17,520 hours)
:hmm:

Computer peripheral policy effect: You have a limited lifetime warranty that covers full replacement as long as the product is in production.

 

[nageov3t]

no, I don't see myself living in this apartment for more than another year tops.

I could see the appeal if you're a home-owner and have some stupid pain in the ass hard to reach outdoor light, though.