So I have now bought a few different LED bulbs. Here’s my comments on them:
GU10 – SimplyLED NxtGen Series II Dimmable ‘Warm White’
- 410 Lumens
- 3000 Kelvin
- 5W
These are sold as 50W Halogen equivalents, but they are far brighter! So top marks there. The colour is a bit too cool for my liking. Important to note that these are physically larger than a standard GU10 Halogen, so I was only able to use them in certain rooms (and consequently I haven’t been able to test them dimming).
SimplyLED have been bombarding my Inbox since so lose marks there, but were good with customer service and let me swap them for a warmer version.
Paid
£11.27 each. SimplyLED seem to have a sale on abut half of the time, so make sure you don’t pay full price as listed on the website.
GU10 – SimplyLED NxtGen Series II Dimmable ‘Very Warm White’
- 400 Lumens
- 2800 Kelvin
- 5W
These are a little bit dimmer than the 3000 Kelvin version above, but still brighter than a 50W Halogen. The colour being that bit warmer is a lot better for me. TBH I’m not really sure why SimplyLED call their 3000 Kelvin bulb ‘Warm White’ and this reserve this 2800 Kelvin bulb for ‘Very Warm White’. Whilst these are that bit warmer and a perfectly fine colour to live with, you do still
know that they’re LED, but that doesn’t bother me. They are the same size as the 3000 Kelvin version above, so still don’t fit in all of my light fittings and hence no dimming tests.
Same price and retailer as above. Note that they don’t do these 2800K bulbs in multipacks, but they’re on the dropdown menu on the RHS by the quantity box.
GU10 – Philips 6W Perfect Fit Dimmable Very Warm White (40°)
- 300 Lumens
- 2700 Kelvin
- 6W
These I’d say are spot on identical brightness with a 50W Halogen (so not as bright as the two above). Colour is a little warmer than those above (you can notice the 100K difference) and again I’d say pretty much spot on with a Halogen. They are the same size as the Halogens, so fit all my tighter light fittings fine. Tested them dimming and they dim very well across a good range, but obviously unlike a Halogen that gets orange when you dim it these stay the same colour throughout. Overall I’d say the lack of colour change when dimming is the only way you would tell that these are LED not Halogen!
Paid
£18.59 each from energybulbs.co.uk… so not cheap
. No other comments on the retailer, they haven’t been spamming me and I haven’t needed to contact them at all.
Bayonet (B22) – Philips 9.5W Bayonet Cap Classic Bulb Warm White
- 600 Lumens
- 2700 Kelvin
- 9.5W
Philips say this is a 48W incandescent equivalent, but I’d say the brightness is more like a 60W. Colour is perfectly fine, and it would be pretty hard to tell these apart from a normal bulb other than the fact that these are slightly larger. I’ve bought a few of these and one of them started off with a weird purple’ish light to start with but then went normal after the first hour of usage, and the rest have been fine straight out of the box. These are sold as non-dimmable, and I haven’t tried dimming them.
Paid ~£15 from various retailers.
G9 – Lighting EVER 3W Super Bright G9 LED Bulb Warm White
- 250 Lumens
- 3000 Kelvin
- 3W
Brightness is fine. They’re bigger than the Halogens it replaced, and the light comes out the length of the bulb so that’s good too. The colour description must be wrong, as it is definitely not a warm white! Also they don’t dim properly, they have hardly any dimming range and make weird noises when you do try to dim them. Not a fan of these.
Paid
£6.25 each from amazon.co.uk. No need to comment on Amazon as a retailer as we all know them, but yeah I wouldn’t recommend this bulb.
G9 – Megaman 4W G9 LED Capsule Warm White
- 220 Lumens
- 2700 Kelvin
- 4W
These are meant to be the equivalent of 20/22W Halogens, and I’d say they are spot on brightness with a 25W Halogen that they replaced. These are a good bit larger than the Halogens they replaced (and the light comes right out of the top rather than through the whole length of the bulb) so make sure they fit if you’ve got tight fittings – mine are open roofed so fitted these in fine. Colour is pretty much spot on with a Halogen. Tested them dimming and they dim very well across a good range, but obviously unlike a Halogen that gets orange when you dim it these stay the same colour throughout. Other dimming comment is that occasionally you need to turn these up to maximum and then wind them down to get them to dim properly.
Paid
£10.49 each from energybulbs.co.uk. No other comments on the retailer, they haven’t been spamming me and I haven’t needed to contact them at all.
Small Screw (E14) – Megaman 7W Clear Dimming Candle Warm White (SES/E14)
- 400 Lumens
- 2800 Kelvin
- 7W
These I’d say are spot on identical brightness with a 40W incandescent. Colour is perfectly fine, and it would be pretty hard to tell these apart from a normal bulb but… they are massive. Not just big, massive. Unfortunately therefore whilst I really like them, they’ve been vetoed by SWMBO due to appearance, so the 10 bulbs in the lounge chandelier are staying as incandescents and the one of these I bought has been relegated to a light where the bulb is hidden by the shade.
Paid
£16.48 from energybulbs.co.uk. No other comments on the retailer, they haven’t been spamming me and I haven’t needed to contact them at all.
Flood – 70W Day White
- 6,000 Lumens
- 6000 Kelvin
- 70W
Wow. This has replaced the 500W floodlight that had broken, and is noticeably brighter. Seller said it is equivalent to a 700W Halogen. All I can say is that it’s like having a portable sun.
Unfortunately the seller sent it by “Hermes” (whoever they are) which took ages to arrive and when it finally arrived it was all broken with the glass smashed. To be fair to the seller, they sent out a replacement (again taking ages with Hermes) which got through undamaged, and they never wanted the original back.
Paid
£66.99 from eBay.
It’s obviously a bit of a risk buying from an unknown name and I don’t know how long it will last… but it was cheap – about £90 cheaper than the next equal brightest I could find!
