Cree 9.5-Watt (60W) Warm White (2700K) LED Light Bulb
Cree 9.5-Watt (60W) Warm White (2700K) LED Light Bulb Reviews
I really wanted to like this light bulb. I'm as gung-ho for energy efficiency as anyone (my house is solar powered, we drive a hybrid car, yadda yadda), so I thought I'd check out the Cree bulb to see if it could replace our incandescents. The good news: the color is actually quite good and close to the color of an incandescent. Comparing them side-by-side it's hard to tell the difference. The very bad news: after only a few minutes using these bulbs (as an indirect lighting source, no less) I started to get a pretty bad headache and eyestrain. Since the color is OK, I have to conclude that the bulb must be flickering at a high frequency, and some people (like me) are sensitive enough to pick this up. This is probably due to the dimming circuitry, but there's nothing I can do about it (I had installed it in a non-dimmable socket), so this bulb is not an option for me. Once I replaced it with an incandescent the headache/eyestrain started to go away. Also, even though these bulbs supposedly use very little power, there is a heat sink on each bulb which gets plenty hot (as in, you'll burn your hand if you touch it hot) while the bulb is on. This is probably to protect the electronics, which will fry if the temperature gets too high (this is also why you shouldn't use these with an enclosed fixture). For comparison, I don't have problems with CFL bulbs (though I don't like the quality of light they emit), and of course incandescents are fine. My conclusion is that LED bulb technology (at least as represented by this bulb) is not ready for prime time, but I'll check out some other brands to make sure. One thing is clear: I won't be buying Cree bulbs again for some time. UPDATE: These bulbs definitely flicker. I verified this by turning the bulb on in a darkened room and waving my finger rapidly in front of the bulb (which was facing away from me). I could see a strobe-like effect when I did this. Then I turned it off and turned on an incandescent light bulb in an identical lamp. No matter how I waved my finger, it never showed a strobe pattern (which isn't surprising). So if you're sensitive to flicker, as I apparently am, stay away from these bulbs. I've read that sometimes the cause of the flicker in LED bulbs isn't the dimming circuitry but simply the way the wall power is converted into DC for the LEDs to use (they are DC devices). If it's done cheaply (no smoothing of the rectified waveform, for you geeks), you'll see 120 Hz flicker. Maybe that's what I saw. Anyway, Cree, try harder next time.. this is my Cree 9.5-Watt (60W) Warm White (2700K) LED Light Bulb reviews
Cree 9.5-Watt (60W) Warm White (2700K) LED Light Bulb Specs
Cree 9.5-Watt (60W) Warm White (2700K) LED Light Bulb Best buy
Cree 9.5-Watt (60W) Warm White (2700K) LED Light Bulb. Cree 9.5-Watt (60W) Warm White (2700K) LED Light Bulb will.. (Read More)
Cree 9.5-Watt (60W) Warm White (2700K) LED Light Bulb,
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