wws944
Enlightened
I just bought one of the new Philips LED 3-ways at HD. Both are rated at 2700K color temp and 80 CRI. The Philips is one of their "white alien head" designs, so the heat sinking is no where near as intrusive as the Cree version. Philips is a couple dollars less than the Cree 3-way.
The Cree is rated to draw 3/8/18 watts for 320/820/1620 lumens respectively. The Philips is rated to draw 4/9/20 watts for 470/840/1620 lumens. So the Philips is a little brighter on the low setting, but about the same on medium and high settings. Both have efficacies of over 100 lumens per watt in the low position! Philips drops into the 90s in the medium postion, whereas the Cree stays at over 100. On the high position, the Philips drops to ("only") 81 whereas the Cree is at 90.
Using a Kill-A-Watt meter, I had previously measured actual power draw of the Cree at 2.8/7.2/17.2 watts respectively - slightly better than they claimed. The Philips measures out at 4.9/9.1/21.0 respectively - slightly worse than they claimed. Measured power factor - Cree: 0.81/0.96/0.94, Philips: 0.70/0.79/0.96. Measured VA - Cree: 3.5/7.5/18.8, Philips: 7.0/11.2/21.8. The Kill-A-Watt meter readings tend to bounce around a bit more with the Cree, whereas the readings are more stable with the Philips.
Subjectively, the low setting is certainly lower with the Cree than with the Philips. The medium and high settings are about the same between the two. However the Philips seems to have a little higher color temp.
My conclusions? The Cree is a bit more efficient in power usage. But everything else, including price, leans towards Philips on this round.
Here is a photo of both - on the low setting:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wws944/15650446355
The Cree is rated to draw 3/8/18 watts for 320/820/1620 lumens respectively. The Philips is rated to draw 4/9/20 watts for 470/840/1620 lumens. So the Philips is a little brighter on the low setting, but about the same on medium and high settings. Both have efficacies of over 100 lumens per watt in the low position! Philips drops into the 90s in the medium postion, whereas the Cree stays at over 100. On the high position, the Philips drops to ("only") 81 whereas the Cree is at 90.
Using a Kill-A-Watt meter, I had previously measured actual power draw of the Cree at 2.8/7.2/17.2 watts respectively - slightly better than they claimed. The Philips measures out at 4.9/9.1/21.0 respectively - slightly worse than they claimed. Measured power factor - Cree: 0.81/0.96/0.94, Philips: 0.70/0.79/0.96. Measured VA - Cree: 3.5/7.5/18.8, Philips: 7.0/11.2/21.8. The Kill-A-Watt meter readings tend to bounce around a bit more with the Cree, whereas the readings are more stable with the Philips.
Subjectively, the low setting is certainly lower with the Cree than with the Philips. The medium and high settings are about the same between the two. However the Philips seems to have a little higher color temp.
My conclusions? The Cree is a bit more efficient in power usage. But everything else, including price, leans towards Philips on this round.
Here is a photo of both - on the low setting:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wws944/15650446355
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