New Utilitech 1100 lumen remote phosphor LED bulb

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PhotonWrangler

PhotonWrangler

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Spotted this at Lowes tonight. Looks like Utilitech's answer to the Philips 1100 lumen remote phosphor lamp. At $25 it's a bit less expensive than the Philips.

It's pretty easy to open up - there are two tiny philips screws in the top hub, which then lifts out, allowing the lenses to be removed. The LEDs look like rebels in shape, and they are really BRIGHT with the lens removed!

I haven't tried a side by side comparison with the philips lamp yet. Stay tuned.
 
Looks like the design that Intematix was showing at LightFair 2012 and was making available for bulb manufacturers. I think I'll be making a trip to Lowe's this weekend!
 
Just took a few photos of the Utilitech and Philips 1100 lumen LED lamps side by side and posted them here.

A few notes - After running them for a couple of minutes the Philips lamp was noticeably warmer than the Utilitech, particularly around the lenses. The Utilitech was surprisingly cool, both the lens and the body of the lamp. I think Imtermatix / Utilitech did a better job of heatsinking.

The Utilitech was noticeably whiter than the Philips (not visible in the photos). This is expected as the Utilitech is rated at 3000k while the Philips is rated at 2700k.

I can see an application for each of them in my home. The Utilitech will work better for a workbench desk lamp, while the Philips might be more comfortable for general illumination in the living room.

The next test will be longevity.
 
PhotonWrangler said:
Just took a few photos of the Utilitech and Philips 1100 lumen LED lamps side by side and posted them here.

A few notes - After running them for a couple of minutes the Philips lamp was noticeably warmer than the Utilitech, particularly around the lenses. The Utilitech was surprisingly cool, both the lens and the body of the lamp. I think Imtermatix / Utilitech did a better job of heatsinking.

The Utilitech was noticeably whiter than the Philips (not visible in the photos). This is expected as the Utilitech is rated at 3000k while the Philips is rated at 2700k.

I can see an application for each of them in my home. The Utilitech will work better for a workbench desk lamp, while the Philips might be more comfortable for general illumination in the living room.

The next test will be longevity.
Click to expand...


Saying that Utilitech did a "better" job of heatsinking is not really accurate.

Utilitech needed to apply significantly more heatsinking in order to achieve an LED life and performance that Philips has achieved through other means.

Philips uses blue Lumileds and remote phosphor. Blue lumileds die can be run very hot and still have exceptionally long lumen maintainance. By using remote phosphor, they do not have degradation mechanisms associated with high die heat, phosphor and packaging.

For that reason, Philips can run their bulb much hotter and still achieve desired performance. No doubt they need to put more care into the power supply to ensure that part of the product does not fail either.

Semiman
 
SemiMan said:
Saying that Utilitech did a "better" job of heatsinking is not really accurate.

Utilitech needed to apply significantly more heatsinking in order to achieve an LED life and performance that Philips has achieved through other means.

Philips uses blue Lumileds and remote phosphor. Blue lumileds die can be run very hot and still have exceptionally long lumen maintainance. By using remote phosphor, they do not have degradation mechanisms associated with high die heat, phosphor and packaging.

For that reason, Philips can run their bulb much hotter and still achieve desired performance. No doubt they need to put more care into the power supply to ensure that part of the product does not fail either.

Semiman
Click to expand...

Semiman, thank you for your input. I probably didn't make this clear in my writeup but both the Utilitech and Philips lamps use blue LEDs and remote phosphor technology. This is the first lamp from Utilitech that uses remote phosphor to my knowledge. I haven't done any significant testing beyond the initial comparison so I can't speak to the longevity or lumen maintenance of wither lamp yet. I just happened to notice that the surface temperature of the Utilitiech was much cooler, both in the electronics and lens areas of the lamp. Time and experience will tell the true story though. As always your actual mileage may vary.
 
PhotonWrangler said:
Semiman, thank you for your input. I probably didn't make this clear in my writeup but both the Utilitech and Philips lamps use blue LEDs and remote phosphor technology. This is the first lamp from Utilitech that uses remote phosphor to my knowledge. I haven't done any significant testing beyond the initial comparison so I can't speak to the longevity or lumen maintenance of wither lamp yet. I just happened to notice that the surface temperature of the Utilitiech was much cooler, both in the electronics and lens areas of the lamp. Time and experience will tell the true story though. As always your actual mileage may vary.
Click to expand...

Sorry about that ... was reading and replying to too many threads .... 🙂 ... forgot to put brain in gear before engaging typing fingers.

I think my confusion was the LEDs in the picture looked like standard white LEDs ... they looked yellow.

Semiman
 
SemiMan said:
I think my confusion was the LEDs in the picture looked like standard white LEDs ... they looked yellow.

Semiman
Click to expand...

They looked yellow to me also, but I powered it up without the lenses on and they were a retina scorching blue! They look like rebels to me - what do you think?
 
PhotonWrangler said:
A few notes - After running them for a couple of minutes the Philips lamp was noticeably warmer than the Utilitech, particularly around the lenses. The Utilitech was surprisingly cool, both the lens and the body of the lamp. I think Imtermatix / Utilitech did a better job of heatsinking.
Click to expand...
I would not worry about the lens (LED) area. I worry about the temperature at the capacitor. Body cool is good.
I have 3 LED bulbs fail so far. I suspect in all 3 cases the capacitor failed first.

PhotonWrangler said:
The next test will be longevity.
Click to expand...
:sleepy:
 
How many watts does this consume? I'm searching for the specs... if this is solid blue I think I've found my new orchid light.
 
i just picked up 2 of these tonight to replace the crappy old CFL's in both of my porch lights, they look well built, and are brighter than i expected, they really throw the light to the sides and down just a good as the CFL's that they replace, they are on all night (photocell) so i hope they last the listed hours
 
Thanks Superjoe. I'll be interested in hearing of your results. Are they operating in an enclosed fixture? Base down or base up? I think the base orientation has an effect on cooling. Operating the lamp base-down is probably going to keep the electronics a little cooler while base-up would favor the LEDs.
 
PhotonWrangler said:
Thanks Superjoe. I'll be interested in hearing of your results. Are they operating in an enclosed fixture? Base down or base up? I think the base orientation has an effect on cooling. Operating the lamp base-down is probably going to keep the electronics a little cooler while base-up would favor the LEDs.
Click to expand...

they are base down in a pretty much enclosed fixture, there may be some ventilation, but not much, here is a pic of the light:

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/31/312a57a7-729a-4a57-9dd4-db11ea875ec0_300.jpg
 
i bought one. the basil hasnt decided if it likes it, but the romaine pratically doubled in on the side that gets the spill. if only i still had an online 10%...
 
I just picked one up a few days ago. So far so good. It does run a bit hot, but that just means that the heat is actually getting from the LEDs to the heatsink so I'd say that is a good thing.

I'll probably have a better review in a few weeks.
 
I tried running the Philips and Utilitech remote phosphor bulbs in the same fixture but the slightly higher color temperature of the Utilitech lamp made for an uneasy color balance in the room. The Philips is 2700k and the Utilitech is 3000k so I'll have to do my longevity comparison in different fixtures.
 
PhotonWrangler said:
I tried running the Philips and Utilitech remote phosphor bulbs in the same fixture but the slightly higher color temperature of the Utilitech lamp made for an uneasy color balance in the room. The Philips is 2700K and the Utilitech is 3000K.
Click to expand...
The Osram-Sylvania 1100 lumen LED bulb is also rated at 2700K, but the light seems to be a little whiter than the Philips, so I suspect the Osram-Sylvania may actually be more like 2800K CCT.

The Philips Ambient line of remote phosphor LED bulbs emanates light that I do not care for (it seems very orangish, with a purplish tint). I have tried other "2700K" LED bulbs, but the light from these Philips remote phosphor ones just seems much more orangish and eery. It is okay for outside lighting, but I would not recommend using it in your living room.
 
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