I just paid £8 for a light bulb.

Angilion · 7 Feb 2018 at 01:16

Seems bizarre to me - I remember when light bulbs were pennies.

It's worth it, though. CFLs always buzzed and flickered in the crappy cheap wiring and sockets in my shonkily renovated house. This new LED bulb doesn't. Also, it comes on fully when I turn it on, not slowly over a period of time. And it's brighter.

In fact, it's just like the flourescent bulbs I used to use. So yay, I'm finally back to lighting as good as I had 40 years ago but at many times the price.

Also, I am drunk. You might have guessed that. Week off work, a bottle of nice beer (Old Crafty Hen). Lovely.

Zefan · 7 Feb 2018 at 01:32

Angilion said:
In fact, it's just like the flourescent bulbs I used to use.

Incandescent*

My job here is done.

Mr Badger · 7 Feb 2018 at 01:44

Zefan said:
Incandescent

I would be incandescent too if I had just been ripped off £8 for a bulb.

Shoeyuk · 7 Feb 2018 at 06:44

At least an LED bulb should last a while though. The one that comes with an remote and you can change colour looks nice.

pepp77 · 7 Feb 2018 at 07:08

If you paid £8 for a basic LED bulb, then you overpaid, ifit is a smart bulb in some way then that isnt a bad price.

RoyMi6 · 7 Feb 2018 at 08:47

pepp77 said:
If you paid £8 for a basic LED bulb, then you overpaid, ifit is a smart bulb in some way then that isnt a bad price.

Yeah... I'm ashamed to admit how much I've paid for bulbs

adwol48 · 7 Feb 2018 at 13:00

Most expensive bulb I ever bought was the 1st gen LIFX bulb I still have £75 afew years back

explicit4u · 7 Feb 2018 at 14:18

pepp77 said:
If you paid £8 for a basic LED bulb, then you overpaid, ifit is a smart bulb in some way then that isnt a bad price.

£8 is expensive for an LED bulb? :confused:

Usher · 7 Feb 2018 at 14:30

Poundstretcher shops sell LED bulbs for under £3, screwfix sell a pack of 5 for £8.99

pepp77 · 7 Feb 2018 at 14:56

explicit4u said:
£8 is expensive for an LED bulb?

Yes - https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-bc-gls-led-light-bulb-806lm-9w-5-pack/5894t - that is 5 for £9!!

explicit4u · 7 Feb 2018 at 17:11

Is there a difference between them and, say, the GE ones that are around £8 each!?

pepp77 · 7 Feb 2018 at 18:30

Yeah, they are a lot cheaper

Angilion · 7 Feb 2018 at 21:17

pepp77 said:
If you paid £8 for a basic LED bulb, then you overpaid, ifit is a smart bulb in some way then that isnt a bad price.

I don't think it's smart to connect things to the internet with no security, no knowledge of what the device actually does and little or no purpose. So I don't buy "smart" items if I have a choice.

I was in Tesco and decided to buy an LED bulb right there and then as a test to see if it would work better than a flourescent one in my probably rather less than perfect home. CFLs buzzed, hummed and sometimes flickered in my bedroom socket unless they were very light in weight (and therefore emitted less light) and turned to exactly the right position in the socket, to the millimeter. And they still hummed a bit even then.

I could have bought a low light LED bulb (like the examples other people give in this thread) from Tesco right there and then for £4, but I didn't want a low light one. I wanted one that put out about as much light as an old 100W incandescent bulb. And those were £8. I could probably have bought a comparable bulb for a pound or two less, but then I would have either had to spend more money getting it delivered or more time/money travelling to get it myself.

Money well spent for the significant improvement over CFLs for me, in this room. In any case, even at £8 per bulb given how long LED bulbs last that would almost certainly be less than £1 a year and probably closer to 50p a year. It just seemed a lot for a light bulb because like most if not all people I have to think about cost over time more than about cost alone.

neil_g · 7 Feb 2018 at 22:00

Please.. Wait until you have an unhealthy Hue obsession...

pepp77 · 7 Feb 2018 at 22:31

I currently have 20 LED bulbs in my house - and none that are not (save the one in the oven) with two of them being Hive lights (one coloured and one normal white). Apart form the obvious lower energy consumption the main benefit for me is the ability to have either warm or cool white bulbs. Bedrooms and hallways I have warm, whilst the kitchen and bathroom I have cool, and in the living room one of the hive bulbs can be either and the other is just warm. Instant on and basically zero heat from them is great, but once you start getting to this many its an expensive swap at £8 a pop

delta0 · 8 Feb 2018 at 08:07

It doesn’t take long for the bulb to pay itself off with the energy savings.

Psycho Sonny · 13 Feb 2018 at 17:24

delta0 said:
It doesn’t take long for the bulb to pay itself off with the energy savings.

yeah if you bought one for a quid off screwfix. a £75 smart bulb then i'm sure you will be waiting for a lifetime or two.

Duke · 13 Feb 2018 at 22:02

Using the calculator on the UK Power website, if you had say 3 x GU10s in the kitchen being replaced the yearly cost (4 hours a day usage) would drop from ~£32 to ~£5, so you'd make back the cost (say £10 for 3 x GU10 LEDs) pretty quick there

I just replaced a few more at mine, only one left I think is now the bathroom which has a big dome light but not checked which type of bulb is in it yet.

Sasahara · 13 Feb 2018 at 22:05

No one mentioned Tulips yet, oh it's not a bitcoin thread!

£8 isn't cheap, but over the lifetime it should save money over an old incandescent bulb. At 13p per kWh 100 W vs 15 W. 1500 hours is what the average incandescent should do. The extra 85 W would cost you £16.57 for that 1500 hours. So that maybe a years usage in a active room.

Now they say these LEDs last 10 years, but I've had 2 fail in 2 years, 1 was very low usage, so probably faulty. Most of my LEDs are OK though.

spoffle · 13 Feb 2018 at 22:06

40 years ago? You must be a grandad face.