Cree increases CRI to 83 on its basic dimmable bulb

[DanKegel]

Not much to say here other than "it's nice to see incremental improvements".
Maybe I'll give Cree another shot, wonder if it'll inch ahead of Osram in light quality.
Ain't competition grand?

http://creebulb.com/products/standard-a-type/the-new-40-watt-replacement-soft-white-led-bulb

[lkruper]

Not much to say here other than "it's nice to see incremental improvements".
Maybe I'll give Cree another shot, wonder if it'll inch ahead of Osram in light quality.
Ain't competition grand?

http://creebulb.com/products/standar...white-led-bulb

I just bought my first two led bulbs at Home Depot 2 days ago. I got a 60w Cree that is soft white and dimmable and a Philips. It is called 4FLOW filament design. The Philips was DOA. Did I get one of the new Crees? I know very little about them.

[DanKegel]

I just bought my first two led bulbs at Home Depot 2 days ago. I got a 60w Cree that is soft white and dimmable and a Philips. It is called 4FLOW filament design. The Philips was DOA. Did I get one of the new Crees? I know very little about them.

If it says 83 CRI on the front of the package, it's the new one.

I haven't had any of a dozen Philips or Osram fail yet, but one of four 460 lumen Cree 4flows died after 4 months, three of six or so Cree 800 lumen old-school ones failed after about 18 months, and *none* of 50 old-school Cree 450 lumen ones have failed after 12-18 months.
I chalk the Cree failures up to early production problems, but who knows, maybe their 800 lumen old school ones really are jinxed.

[donald]

$4/bulb

The U.S. government has certainly ruined the freedom loving incandescent bulb biz.

[DanKegel]

The good folks at Heartland and the Competitive Enterprise Institute said it best:

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2010/10/04/ge-closes-last-incandescent-light-bulb-plant-jobs-sent-china

"If the new energy-saving technologies being pushed by government are really that good, then we don’t need government to mandate them. And if they are being mandated, that’s a sure sign that they’re not very good"



(The Crees I mentioned are $8, but non-dimmable LED bulbs go for $2.50 at Lowe's and $4 at Home Depot; dimmable ones are about twice that. Lowe's actually has a dimmable one for $4, I haven't tried it yet.)

[lkruper]

If it says 83 CRI on the front of the package, it's the new one.

I haven't had any of a dozen Philips or Osram fail yet, but one of four 460 lumen Cree 4flows died after 4 months, three of six or so Cree 800 lumen old-school ones failed after about 18 months, and *none* of 50 old-school Cree 450 lumen ones have failed after 12-18 months.
I chalk the Cree failures up to early production problems, but who knows, maybe their 800 lumen old school ones really are jinxed.

I looked up the bulb I got and it is 80 CRI. Never knew what CRI was. Can you tell the difference in light between 80 and 83?

[DanKegel]

The difference between CRI of 80 and 83 is probably small, and CRI isn't really all that great a measurement of light quality.
90 or above is "great", and 70 or below is "way not great", but only as a rough guide.
I'm pretty happy with 80 most places, but I use high-CRI bulbs (94 or so) for bathroom mirrors.

It comes down to "83 is probably a little better, but you might not notice".

The real test is "does your wife like it"

See also http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildin...-factsheet.pdf

[lkruper]

The difference between CRI of 80 and 83 is probably small, and CRI isn't really all that great a measurement of light quality.
90 or above is "great", and 70 or below is "way not great", but only as a rough guide.
I'm pretty happy with 80 most places, but I use high-CRI bulbs (94 or so) for bathroom mirrors.

It comes down to "83 is probably a little better, but you might not notice".

The real test is "does your wife like it"

See also http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildin...-factsheet.pdf

I put the light on the side table next to my easy chair at the cabin and this light is in plain view and on much of the time. I did not tell her what the bulb was changed to and she has not commented ... that is good. My next experiment is to replace the two dimmable incandescent sconces on either side of our fireplace which is front and center. I think they may be 100w each. That is the real test. If she does not say anything I am home free

[SunEagle]

The difference between CRI of 80 and 83 is probably small, and CRI isn't really all that great a measurement of light quality.
90 or above is "great", and 70 or below is "way not great", but only as a rough guide.
I'm pretty happy with 80 most places, but I use high-CRI bulbs (94 or so) for bathroom mirrors.

It comes down to "83 is probably a little better, but you might not notice".

The real test is "does your wife like it"

See also http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildin...-factsheet.pdf

I just picked up a 3 pack of FEIT electric dimmable LED at Costco at ~$5/lamp. They are rated 9.5watts (60w replacement) and 810 lumens. They have a CRI rating of 92 which is "soft white" at the 2700k wavelength.

So far the one I am testing is ok but for an LED it seems to get pretty warm. I would prefer to go with Cree but it is hard not to try out something I find at Costco.

[DanKegel]

Sounds pretty good. Do they dim well and pass the wife test?

[SunEagle]

Sounds pretty good. Do they dim well and pass the wife test?

Actually she prefers the warmer color to what I have been getting so that is a plus in their favor.

They don't start to "flicker" until the dimmer is all the way down to off.

We will see how they pass the "cycle" test since the one I am testing is in a lamp that gets turned on/off a few times a day.

[lkruper]

Actually she prefers the warmer color to what I have been getting so that is a plus in their favor.

They don't start to "flicker" until the dimmer is all the way down to off.

We will see how they pass the "cycle" test since the one I am testing is in a lamp that gets turned on/off a few times a day.

I have two sconces, one on each side of the fireplace at the cabin on a dimmer. Had incandescent in both. ... did not realize until yesterday (because I checked) that the left side was 43w and the right side was 100w. Well, I guess bulbs don't like being moved, because today the right one (100w) burned out with a flash. So I took the Cree 60w dimmable from my table lamp and put it in to replace it. I am not seeing too much difference when they are on 100%, but when I put the dimmer down all the way the incandescent looks yellow while the led still looks white. I prefer the led and my wife still has not said anything. I am going to replace both with 100w equivalent leds. I am excited, because the battery backup system I am planning will love these bulbs.

[DanKegel]

Yeah, it's kind of important to match bulbs in a room, else dimming is likely to be uneven.

(All the Cree / Philips / Osram bulbs I use seem to dim quite well, with no flicker...
except for a couple funny rooms where they occasionally freak out and flicker like
mad in a way that depends strangely on the dimmer setting. I'm chalking that up to old dimmers.
Well, the flat Philips ones flicker when very dim.
Older Crees hum, too, which is a problem in some locations but not others.)

[inetdog]

I just picked up a 3 pack of FEIT electric dimmable LED at Costco at ~$5/lamp. They are rated 9.5watts (60w replacement) and 810 lumens. They have a CRI rating of 92 which is "soft white" at the 2700k wavelength.

So far the one I am testing is ok but for an LED it seems to get pretty warm. I would prefer to go with Cree but it is hard not to try out something I find at Costco.

I would definitely call 2700K warm-white rather than soft-white, but there does not seem to be any standard for those descriptions (except maybe for daylight which is 5000K or higher.)
And, of course, the CRI rating is something independent of the color temperature. In theory a black body radiator (which is closely approximated by incandescent without any glass or phospor color modifiers) will have a CRI of 100 regardless of the color temperature.

[SunEagle]

I would definitely call 2700K warm-white rather than soft-white, but there does not seem to be any standard for those descriptions (except maybe for daylight which is 5000K or higher.)
And, of course, the CRI rating is something independent of the color temperature. In theory a black body radiator (which is closely approximated by incandescent without any glass or phospor color modifiers) will have a CRI of 100 regardless of the color temperature.

The light produced by these LED's are more "warm" then "soft". The "soft-white" is the description on the packaging and IMO a little misleading.