How would you choose a best LED lights?

As for buying LED light, what do you consider most and how would you choose the best LED lights? I just wanna know that coz I was considering changing my halogen bulb to LED. Is there any suggestion? Thanks in advance.

It depends on what you're trying to accomplish and what you're trying to replace.

Efficiency? Focus on lumens per watt. More lumens per watt = more efficient bulb

Colour rendering/how good things look? Look for a higher CRI (Colour Rendering Index) number. 100 = best. I usually won't use anything less than 80 and even that's pushing things. I prefer 90+

Colour of light? Look for the Colour Temperature spec. 2700K is supposedly equivalent to incandescent, 3000K-3500K is supposedly halogen, 5000K is supposedly daylight at high noon. I say supposedly because the CRI mentioned above + colour temperature greatly influences how things look. A standard fluorescent 3500K does NOT look the same as a halogen.

Light pattern/bulb style? Are you replacing a flood/spot/reflector bulb? A standard omnidirectional (type A) bulb? Too many variables here. Spots/floods come in all sorts of widths and patterns. Same goes for the Type A bulbs. Some Type A LED replacement bulbs are good at shooting light in a near-perfect sphere. Others only are good at shooting it straight up.

Longevity? Look for higher hours....BUT realize that many of these figures are bull, and the cheaper co's will spec what the LED element manufacturer's spec sheet says rather than actual testing. Heat destroys LEDs and electronics, so the better a bulb is able to get rid of heat, the longer it will last. Overheated LEDs also have the tendency to age and grow dimmer over time.

Dimmable? Not all LED bulbs are dimmable. Those which are vary in just how exactly they dim. Some are smooth, others not so much.

I wish there was a simple answer, but without more context it's only possible to offer generalities.

Yea, thank you for your suggestion, it's detailed. :twothumbs
Actually, I wanna know how to purchase a good LED light bulb, you have mentioned it.

The only thing I would add is to only buy a proven brand name.

CoveAxe said:

The only thing I would add is to only buy a proven brand name.

Click to expand...

Yea, but I know less about LED. I heard philip light bulb, it works well but expensive.
Could you suggest me some LED brand or what kind of LED you regard as a brand? thank you!! [FONT=&#24494] ..[/FONT]

The Cree bulb replacement is pretty good. But what is "Expensive?" The halogen bulbs may eat 50W each. If you use two for a day, that just cost you ten cents. Do that for 100 days and you have paid the retail price for one Cree LED bulb. So this bulb has a payback time of about a year. That's cheap, unless you plan on dying this year.

One more +1 for Cree. Philips makes some good LEDs (and a price to match) and Philips makes some cheap bulbs which aren't all that great but are priced attractively.

I'm with AnAppleSnail and predominantly use Cree LEDs when possible. Generally a good product and a great warranty (10 years! Save your receipts). Any table lamp I have which I use regularly and any which get used >3 hrs/day are Cree bulbs, as are some of my outdoor lights which get left on from dusk to dawn. I figure if Cree's going to stand behind it for 10 years, I might as well take advantage of it. And so far it's looking promising -- no dimming of a Cree 60 watt bulb running in an enclosed fixture 24/7 outdoors in Florida for a year straight. I've tried other no-name or cheap-name bulbs and they've all dimmed substantially in that fixture.