LED bulbs with selectable color temp

[TPA]

CRI definitely isn't ideal with these bulbs, but still is way better than most CFLs. At the hotel this past week, the Costco bulb had a significantly better CRI than whatever garbage bulb the hotel had in there.

 

[N8N]

Well, since I posted that I ended up moving, and replaced a bunch of CFLs of various color temps with these Feit 60W bulbs. Set them all to 2700. So far they are pleasant and I have had no problems. It's certainly an improvement over 4000K CFLs...

I will update if anything remarkable happens. Sliding the switch does change the color temp and it seems about right. Man if you told me when I first joined this forum that something like this would be available today I'd be skeptical, but it is pretty cool. $20 for basically upgrading the lighting in half the house is not a bad deal at all. (I suspect some of that might still be state subsidies, LED light bulbs have been cheaper here in MD than in VA for quite some time.)

I don't have any dimmers, so can't comment on dimming performance. As I stated before I was impressed with the Feit 60W 2700K bulbs in my last place, with Lutron Maestro C-L dimmers they performed better than any other bulb I tested. I hope that these are similar.

Had my first failure today. It's been less than a month as I didn't move in until the first of June. Discovered something about these bulbs as well. Last night I was downstairs working on the furnace/AC (irrelevant to the story, was hooking up a Nest thermostat and had to rerun the cable) and then this morning I went back down there to clean up. I don't spend a lot of time down there as that's not "my" space, nobody's living there but that is not mine per rental agreement, although I do have to go down there for laundry. That *is* relevant, as it means that the new bulbs down there only have a couple hours on them, as in maybe 10 at most. Yes, I replaced them because they were awful (again, there were a lot of high color temp spiral CFLs here) and the place looks so much less industrial with good 2700K lighting. Consider it my gift to landlady/future tenants. Anyway one of the bulbs was out this morning which was disappointing and I noticed that it would come back on brighter and brigher as I slid the switch. So what I can only assume is that there is one LED or set of LEDs for 2700K and another for 6500K, and the intermediate positions are achieved by mixing the two.

I didn't throw it out in case I find an application for 6500K or I feel froggy and want to disassemble it, but the latter likely won't happen as I'm very busy ATM. Good thing I did clean up this morning, there's supposed to be someone coming to look at the basement this evening so at least I got a head start on it and it looks decent now.

I still have yet to test one on a dimmer; if I did have a dimmer anywhere it would be in my bedroom but that room does not have a ceiling fixture and I actually would like to pick out a new lamp for it because I don't have one that I like currently, other than an old Robert Sonneman floor lamp that would be more appropriate by a reading chair.

 

[N8N]

CRI definitely isn't ideal with these bulbs, but still is way better than most CFLs. At the hotel this past week, the Costco bulb had a significantly better CRI than whatever garbage bulb the hotel had in there.

Feit claims "90+" but I have no way of testing. Has anyone done it yet?

I guess you'd have to run it at each color temp, as well...

 

[TPA]

Does CRI on LEDs change with brightness? you might have to test at different brightness levels as well.

 

[aznsx]

Well, since I posted that I ended up moving, and replaced a bunch of CFLs of various color temps with these Feit 60W bulbs. Set them all to 2700. So far they are pleasant and I have had no problems. It's certainly an improvement over 4000K CFLs...

I will update if anything remarkable happens. Sliding the switch does change the color temp and it seems about right. Man if you told me when I first joined this forum that something like this would be available today I'd be skeptical, but it is pretty cool. $20 for basically upgrading the lighting in half the house is not a bad deal at all. (I suspect some of that might still be state subsidies, LED light bulbs have been cheaper here in MD than in VA for quite some time.)

I don't have any dimmers, so can't comment on dimming performance. As I stated before I was impressed with the Feit 60W 2700K bulbs in my last place, with Lutron Maestro C-L dimmers they performed better than any other bulb I tested. I hope that these are similar.

I've been using the GU24-base version of the A19 Feit HCRI single/fixed CT bulbs in the recessed ceiling fixtures in my kitchen for a year or two, and the improvement over the CFLs they replaced has been substantial and enjoyable. The replacements I have on hand are the newer 3x selctable CT version, and I expect to like them as well. I can see how a steak is cooked without resorting to a flashlight now;-)

 

[JoakimFlorence]

Feit claims "90+" but I have no way of testing. Has anyone done it yet?

I guess you'd have to run it at each color temp, as well...

I'm usually pretty good at this (better than most people). Just by looking at the light, I'd estimate it to be 90 CRI.
(possibly 91, but it very much seems below 93, judging by skin tone)

Probably the color temperature would not result in much or any change in CRI. We can assume it probably uses a mix of 2700K and 5000K emitters with the same CRI specifications.

In my opinion, 90 CRI is "good enough" for home lighting, maybe even "kind of nice", but really nothing fantastic or amazing.
This seems to be considered the "economy range" of "higher CRI".

Does CRI on LEDs change with brightness? you might have to test at different brightness levels as well.

Basically no, CRI does not change with different LED brightness settings (with a few very small caveats, for those who like to nitpick and demand absolute complete accuracy)

 

[N8N]

I'm usually pretty good at this (better than most people). Just by looking at the light, I'd estimate it to be 90 CRI.
(possibly 91, but it very much seems below 93, judging by skin tone)

Probably the color temperature would not result in much or any change in CRI. We can assume it probably uses a mix of 2700K and 5000K emitters with the same CRI specifications.

In my opinion, 90 CRI is "good enough" for home lighting, maybe even "kind of nice", but really nothing fantastic or amazing.
This seems to be considered the "economy range" of "higher CRI".


Basically no, CRI does not change with different LED brightness settings (with a few very small caveats, for those who like to nitpick and demand absolute complete accuracy)

I'm just happy that we seem to be getting more options labeled 90+ on store shelves; up until a couple years ago it seems that 80 was the best you could hope for without ordering online.