idleprocess
Flashaholic
Decided to replace the aging CFL's in the downstairs half bath with some of the Cree 4Flow bulbs. At the same time, I wanted to alter the color in that room a little from displeasing 2700K CFL's to something north of 3000K, so I installed a pair of 40W equivalent 2700's and a single 5000, which should result in a ~3467K color temperature simply averaging the sum of the colors.
These new 4Flow bulbs are well-packaged - the tear here indicator doesn't lie and the side strips off accurately making for an easy open. They also have a mass and balance similar to an incandescent bulb - no heatsink mass to have to think about when handling the bulb.
"Action" photos
The fixture with the bulbs installed - exposure makes it hard to discern the color differences
This exposure somewhat exaggerates the tint differences
From below.
2700K detail and 5000K detail if you're so inclined, with prominent flicker banding
Control photos:
As usual whenever I do a review, I am use something colorful that I have on hand (last few times I used A Day With Wilbur Robinson, but I couldn't immediately locate it this time).
Original 2700K CFL's
Cree LED's
Yeah yeah, the place could use some cleaning up...
Color rendition is obviously also going to depend on camera settings. My smartphone's camera app has all of one readily-accessable color control - HDR (which I disabled). Otherwise, the color is pretty representative of how I saw it. Rendering is more balanced than the two generic and one Philips 2700K CFL's managed, but that's no huge feat.
Output wise, the 40W equivalent LED's fare worse than the 60W equivalent CFL's they replaced - small surprise. The reduced lumen output is aggravated by the dark wallpaper that absorbs light. Suspect I'll manage since it's a very small room and I spend little time in there.
That fixture has eaten a few CFL's - probably due to short-cycling. Since it's used infrequently and for brief periods of time I'm hoping that the Cree's outlast the fixture.
These new 4Flow bulbs are well-packaged - the tear here indicator doesn't lie and the side strips off accurately making for an easy open. They also have a mass and balance similar to an incandescent bulb - no heatsink mass to have to think about when handling the bulb.
"Action" photos
The fixture with the bulbs installed - exposure makes it hard to discern the color differences
This exposure somewhat exaggerates the tint differences
From below.
2700K detail and 5000K detail if you're so inclined, with prominent flicker banding
Control photos:
As usual whenever I do a review, I am use something colorful that I have on hand (last few times I used A Day With Wilbur Robinson, but I couldn't immediately locate it this time).
Original 2700K CFL's
Cree LED's
Yeah yeah, the place could use some cleaning up...
Color rendition is obviously also going to depend on camera settings. My smartphone's camera app has all of one readily-accessable color control - HDR (which I disabled). Otherwise, the color is pretty representative of how I saw it. Rendering is more balanced than the two generic and one Philips 2700K CFL's managed, but that's no huge feat.
Output wise, the 40W equivalent LED's fare worse than the 60W equivalent CFL's they replaced - small surprise. The reduced lumen output is aggravated by the dark wallpaper that absorbs light. Suspect I'll manage since it's a very small room and I spend little time in there.
That fixture has eaten a few CFL's - probably due to short-cycling. Since it's used infrequently and for brief periods of time I'm hoping that the Cree's outlast the fixture.
