Switch Lighting - out of business or what?

[Dr Evil]

I went to a local Batteries Plus to purchase a battery. While I was there, I decided to take a look at the bulbs they had. I noticed they had the Switch Infinia for $5 due to rebates through a local electric company. They didn't have any in stock though. The employees said they won't be getting anymore in.

Today I get an e-mail from EarthLED mentioning a Switch blowout sale with 50% off. The e-mail also said supplies are limited.

Has anybody here heard anything about the company or it's factory(ies)? With Switch being the brand, it is a pain to do a search. I keep getting stuff about switching to LED, physical switches and other stuff.

[BLH]

I got the same e-mail from EarthLED this morning.

[bshanahan14rulz]

I hope not, I like how those Switch bulbs look!

[StarHalo]

I don't see how anyone could keep up with Philips; it was one thing to have the L-Prize bulb, but to then follow it up with the Hue system, and now the filament-look bulb..

[PhotonWrangler]

...and Cree. Between Philips and Cree they've won the commodity household lighting race. Switch was making some interesting lamps but they had high labor and parts costs. I honestly couldn't see how they could stay competitive with their pricing.

[mazspeed]

Switch has closed it's doors and let everyone go at this point. I am trying to find out the viability and who owns what patents as I am trying to get a group together to do something with the company if that's even possible. The management staff at Switch was terrible beyond words as sales were high and climbing, but as a last ditch attempt to save the company, they slashes prices on their bulbs putting the final nail in the coffin.
The CEO and COO did such a terrible job running the company that they bled it down to nothing and tried to save it by going backwards in business sense. Yes as of right now they are done.

[BLH]

I would say that will make the Life Time Warranty useless for now.
I downloaded the 40,60,75 and 100 Watt Data sheets. All are marked Discontinued. The Infinia and 3 way Data sheets have not been updated yet.
I did see EarthLED showing many of the models out of stock now.

[mcnair55]

I don't see how anyone could keep up with Philips; it was one thing to have the L-Prize bulb, but to then follow it up with the Hue system, and now the filament-look bulb..

Insignia are doing rather well.

The Best Buy Insignia is one of the best deals we've seen so far for anyone not wanting to break the bank purchasing a first LED bulb. This A19 size 60 watt equivalent uses 13 watts of power, producing a bright 800 lumens of light output. One reviewer pointed out this bulb outputs an even cast light without any visible hotspots. The bulb's rated 22 year lifespan is backed up with a 10 year warranty.

[SemiMan]

Insignia is a BB house brand. Could come from anywhere.

[Canuke]

I just found a Switch display at Fry's, which includes the original Switch bulbs, and the Infinia.

The original Switch bulbs:

1. are less efficient: 60W equivalents come in at 60lm/W versus the Infinia's 80 lm/W.
2. have no filtration whatsoever. Straight 120Hz fullwave profile, which just drops duty cycle when dimmed. The 60W Infinia does have filtration.
3. cost 2.5x as much, at best ($29.99 versus $12 at Fry's)

I have a circa 2008 spotlight that strobes like these do, as well as one or two $6 Walmart/Feit candelabra-socket lights who do it because their filter cap died, but everything else I have has at least some filtration.

I splurged on the 100W Switch partly due to wanting to see it's 4000K color, and partly the nerd factor, but these aren't going to sell to anyone else. The Infinias are decent, but too many others are already there.

[Dr Evil]

I guess I'll need to see what I have already. Thinking I might one of each wattage.

[LEDAdd1ct]

I was going to get one on clearance, but when I read about the leaking fluid,
I said "No thanks," and will be steering clear.

[idleprocess]

Switch has closed it's doors and let everyone go at this point. I am trying to find out the viability and who owns what patents as I am trying to get a group together to do something with the company if that's even possible. The management staff at Switch was terrible beyond words as sales were high and climbing, but as a last ditch attempt to save the company, they slashes prices on their bulbs putting the final nail in the coffin.
The CEO and COO did such a terrible job running the company that they bled it down to nothing and tried to save it by going backwards in business sense. Yes as of right now they are done.

I had a sense that they were doomed a long time ago.

They utterly failed to release a product when there was still a market at their price point - about two years late if I recall. Had they launched when promised, they might have gotten their manufacturing processes down and been ready when Cree then Philips dropped to the ~$10 price level - also assuming they changed their model from a handful of overdriven LED's per bulb to the current model of a far more mid- to low-power LED's for efficiency and longevity.

Then when they finally did manage to release product, their primary retailer was Batteries Plus - an inconvenient sparely-distributed retailer you go when you can't find a battery anywhere else and just accept you're going to get rolled over a barrel.

[SirMack]

Of course, I just bought 10 of the Switch Infinia 60w bulbs last month and now I hear this. Goodbye Lifetime Warranty. But overall I do like the bulbs, they seem to stay cooler and have a very nice color. I have them installed only in non dimming sockets though. Truly Unfortunate. One room has 4, the other has 6. So as they die i will have to move them around to make complete, color/temp matched sets for each room. Eventually I will just use whatever is left for the garage and random bulbs in closets, etc.

Thanks SWITCH for that lifetime warranty!

[gur]

Is Switch Lighting going bust confirmed? Can someone point to a news story somewhere?

[Dr Evil]

The original style Switch bulbs are the only "non normal" looking bulbs I don't mind putting in open fixtures. The only thing I don't like about them is the 2700k temp. The 4000k of the 100W is nice though. That's more light than I need in a lot of places though.

[Harold_B]

Wow, front cover story of Wired magazine just a couple years ago and now out of business? They had a good booth at LightFair and always seemed to be getting a reasonable amount of attention. It would be interesting to know more.

[Dr Evil]

Saw this on the EarthLED Facebook page.

SWITCH is currently in the process of moving production back to the USA and restructuring operations, as soon as we are able to obtain more bulbs from them we will be adding them to our inventory at EarthLED, in the meantime it is best to refrain from posts that are purely speculative in nature.

[PhotonWrangler]

Reposting with black text...

SWITCH is currently in the process of moving production back to the USA and restructuring operations, as soon as we are able to obtain more bulbs from them we will be adding them to our inventory at EarthLED, in the meantime it is best to refrain from posts that are purely speculative in nature.

[Dr Evil]

Does it show up now? I'm using the theme with a black background. I changed the color from white to automatic.

[PhotonWrangler]

Yes, it shows up now. Thanks.

[Harold_B]

Switch has a booth at LFI2014 in just over month from now. I'll most likely be there and typically a few others on the forum tend to go so it would be interesting to stop in and ask what's up.

[PhotonWrangler]

I went to an LFI in Vegas several years ago. That was fun. Bought a confetti cannon there.

[gur]

Not to belabor the point but is there any definitive info about them going out of business? I am a fan of their bulbs and would really like to know.

[Dr Evil]

Switch has a booth at LFI2014 in just over month from now. I'll most likely be there and typically a few others on the forum tend to go so it would be interesting to stop in and ask what's up.

Think you can find out if they have plans for something other than 2700k bulbs in the 40w to 75w range?

[Harold_B]

I haven't booked my flight as yet but most likely will soon. I'd be happy to stop at their booth and chat. It's been a while.

[BLH]

I just checked my Email and got one from EarthLED.
Switch Infinia 40 watt model only. $3.99 each. While they last.

[BLH]

I am not sure if Switch Lighting Co. is reorganizing or gone.
I tried to access their web site to see what was happening.
The web site was not available.

[Harold_B]

I'm not having any luck tracking them down at LightFair either. I haven't had much time to walk the show but I've hoofed around the aisles a couple of times now and have not spotted the Switch booth. They did not come up on the exhibitor list floor plan when I searched there. Today is the last day of the exhibit so I'll look again but I don't expect to find them. It would be nice to be surprised though.

[thisisjims]

I can confirm, they are out of business... or at least in the process of closing. I own the company that did their marketing for the last year or so. Mainly worked on launching the infinia product. Needless to say, it came out of the blue, and they still owe me more than $50K!!! It appears the VC group just decided there was no real profitable way for them to keep up. Not sure I totally agree, but their technology was demanding from a production standpoint. I've been marketing LED technology for 10 years now, I did Cree's stuff for about 8 years. I helped them launch their bulb a few years back. I think the dramatic price drop caught everyone off-guard and has everyone scrambling to keep up.