Philips Award Winning LED Bulb Review

[Cavannus]

Very interesting thread and following discussion. I'm an incandescent lover and I hate CFLs. First I started making incandescent bulb stocks (I'm from France that banned them; now I live in Canada where classic incandescent bulbs are still very common... until the next ban law) but since I discovered the XP-G 90 high-CRI led, I've been waiting for led improvements.

I own some XP-G-90-based flashlights (the Armytek, the Puissanceled modded C2, and I ordered the HDS) and they really remind me good times, when I was using my Mag underground for dozens of continuous hours.

But only a few people care about incandescent-like flashlight or headlamp lighting.

However more people do care about home lighting and they don't like CFL rendering. They don't know what CRI and CCT mean, but they look for good and natural warm lighting. This is not a niche market, which explains IMHO why the L-Prize winner Phillips bulb was born. This bulb seem fascinating to me, if it really mimics incandescent. 60$ + shipping fees is pricey; should I wait? or is this bulb already a collectible as the first led bulb able to replace incandescent?

 

[kaichu dento]

But only a few people care about incandescent-like flashlight or headlamp lighting.

You've actually got more company than you might think! It's fairly common for me to do a quick warm/cool presentation for non-flashaholics and have them mostly impressed with the ones they don't think look like LED's, in other words, my hCRI Clicky, hCRI V10R, warm MiNi AA, or even my 5b Draco.

As another incan fan I definitely enjoyed reading your post and it makes me feel good to see others choosing aesthetics over quantity.

 

[Kinnza]

Yesterday I found that Dough Leeper has performed an awesome teardown of the L-Prize winner Phillips lamp.

Extremely detailed, great pics and the highest rigor as he always did :thumbsup:. It has been years since the last time he posted on CPF but I'm very glad he continues sharing his knowledge on this topic in his page.

 

[Theatre Booth Guy]

You've actually got more company than you might think! It's fairly common for me to do a quick warm/cool presentation for non-flashaholics and have them mostly impressed with the ones they don't think look like LED's, in other words, my hCRI Clicky, hCRI V10R, warm MiNi AA, or even my 5b Draco.

As another incan fan I definitely enjoyed reading your post and it makes me feel good to see others choosing aesthetics over quantity.

That's a great idea. Brightness sure gets peoples attention but I bet showing them color and cri differences could be even more illuminating ;-) This also reminds me that I need to work at finding a good high cri flashlight that's not too expensive and is available.

 

[kaichu dento]

That's a great idea. Brightness sure gets peoples attention but I bet showing them color and cri differences could be even more illuminating ;-) This also reminds me that I need to work at finding a good high cri flashlight that's not too expensive and is available.

Instead of shining the light at things, I shine in on my hand, and few if any like the cooler tints over warmer, particularly when it comes to skin tones.

 

[tickled]

When will we see 5500-6500K versions of these things?

 

[sandos]

Is it possible to buy these in europe?

 

[LEDninja]

tickled
When will we see 5500-6500K versions of these things?
NO. The L-Prize requirement is to be as close to an incandescent 60W as possible. (Nice warm yellow.)
: US DOE L Prize Requirement - Philips Result (average for 200 units)*
Luminous flux : > 900 lm - 910 lm
Wattage (W) : ≤ 10 W - 9.7 W
Efficacy (lm/W): > 90 lm/W - 93.4 lm/W
Correlated color temperature (CCT) : 2700-3000 K - 2727 K
Color rendering index (CRI) : > 90 - 93
http://www.lightingprize.org/60watttest.stm

sandos
Is it possible to buy these in europe?
NO. The L Prize is USA specific. 115VAC 60Hz. Europe is 230VAC 50Hz. Won't even work. (So do not even try buying it from a US online store.) Also have to be Made In The USA.
Philips may make an equivalent bulb for Europe sometime in the future.
The closest for now is
Philips MasterLED 12W B22 Warm White LED Light Bulb £37.99
and
Philips 12w E27 Screw Cap Warm White GLS LED A60 £30.90
at amazon.co.uk
YIKES! Those are expensive over there. The 12W is ~$25 in the US and ~$30 in Canada.
The L Prize is $60 in brick and mortar stores and $50 + shipping at online stores.

More info of the 12W here:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?308557-Philips-12w-Teardown

 

[tickled]

I was aware of the requirements of the competition, it was more of a general query. I am not a big fan of these LED 'bulb' replacements with sub 3000K temperatures but it's all that's available in stores.

 

[idleprocess]

I was aware of the requirements of the competition, it was more of a general query. I am not a big fan of these LED 'bulb' replacements with sub 3000K temperatures but it's all that's available in stores.

Utilitech (I believe Feit makes the bulb) has a ~5000K version of their 40W incandescent equivalent bulb available at Lowes. Seems a bit closer to 6000K to me, but matches my ~4000K outdoor lighting close enough.

 

[LEDninja]

I am not a big fan of these LED 'bulb' replacements with sub 3000K temperatures but it's all that's available in stores.

Earthled has the Lighting Science Definity A19 - 13.5 Watt - Omni - V2 listed in 2700°K, 4000°K and 5000°K.
They shipped me the 2700°K by mistake when I ordered the 4000°K.

 

[blasterman]

Side note here, but a non-profit I volunteer for has been installing Feit Brand LED retrofits that look a lot like the Ecosmart (contrary to my advice). Bulb failure rates are running a bit worse than standard CFL.

 

[Cavannus]

Thanks for the review!

I've tried the L-Prize bulb: I've been somewhat disappointed by the overall colour rendering.

I'm not discovering high-CRI led lighting:
- I have two flashlights based on the Cree XP-G 90 (90+ CRI and 3000K CCT as per binning sheet) (great led that mimics halogen almost perfectly);
- I also have a couple of small Ikea desk lamp based on the high-CRI SSC P4;
- recently I purchased a few Philips EnduraLED candebra bulbs (90 CRI and 2700K as per package sheet) (good bulbs but significant tint lottery: some of them mimic incandescent pretty well but some others look like pinkish warm metal-halide).

So, I was expecting the same "wow" effect.

However I can clearly identify this source as non-incandescent (while I'm not able to do so with my XP-G 90 flashlights).

The 2700K tint of the L-Prizer winner looks* clearly cooler than my 2700K T8 fluorescent tubes. The tint looks* also similar to my 3000K fluorescent & led bulbs.

* I'm talking of my visual perception, not of a measurement.


EDIT: I've compared this bulb with a BT15 halogen soft-white bulb I had and never used. Actually both lights look quite similar so this L-Prize bulb mimics the BT15 bulb pretty well. I've been used to standard incandescent so my reference were probably wrong.
For one month since I wrote this message, I've used the L-Prize every day in two ceiling lamps and I love it.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

Thanks for the review!

 

[landroni]

However I can clearly identify this source as non-incandescent (while I'm not able to do so with my XP-G 90 flashlights).

The 2700K tint of the L-Prizer winner looks* clearly cooler than my 2700K T8 fluorescent tubes. The tint looks* also similar to my 3000K fluorescent & led bulbs.

* I'm talking of my visual perception, not of a measurement.


EDIT: I've compared this bulb with a BT15 halogen soft-white bulb I had and never used. Actually both lights look quite similar so this L-Prize bulb mimics the BT15 bulb pretty well. I've been used to standard incandescent so my reference were probably wrong.
For one month since I wrote this message, I've used the L-Prize every day in two ceiling lamps and I love it.

Quick question: My trouble with CFL and LED technology is the presence of excess blue light in the spectrum generated by the lamp ( https://www.economist.com/comment/1956312#comment-1956312 ), even when they try to emulate incandescent bulbs. Even the Nikken KenkoLight comes with way too much blue light, although to be fair they try to emulate sunlight (miserably, I might add).

So where does the L-Prize stand on this front? If I put a pair of yellow tinted glasses (say, Prisma), would I still see the same colour coming from the LED bulb? Another concern is flickering: Many LED bulbs flicker (not the KenkoLight), but what about the L-Prize?

Thanks!

 

[SemiMan]

Quick question: My trouble with CFL and LED technology is the presence of excess blue light in the spectrum generated by the lamp ( https://www.economist.com/comment/1956312#comment-1956312 ), even when they try to emulate incandescent bulbs. Even the Nikken KenkoLight comes with way too much blue light, although to be fair they try to emulate sunlight (miserably, I might add).

So where does the L-Prize stand on this front? If I put a pair of yellow tinted glasses (say, Prisma), would I still see the same colour coming from the LED bulb? Another concern is flickering: Many LED bulbs flicker (not the KenkoLight), but what about the L-Prize?

Thanks!

I read what you wrote on the feedback on the economist page and I am sorry, but what you wrote is predominantly crap.

1) With the exception of cheap Christmas lights, no LED lights flicker. Actually for that matter, no modern CFL or linear fluorescent flickers either.

2) You must hate sunlight ... it has a ton of blue light in it.

3) I don't buy for a minute your test with yellow sunglasses and computers reducing eye strain. Those glasses work outside in bright sunlight where there is more than enough blue light to still make it through the glasses and cause the iris to properly close. In an office situation in front of a computer, the surest way of getting eye strain would be to wear yellow glasses. This will eliminate blue from the spectrum causing your pupils to over dilate and consequently kill your depth of field leading to excessive eye strain as when you move your head things will be continuously out of focus. Manufacturers have even added blue lit trim to monitors to compensate for this real issue. Without adequate blue light, your pupils will be wide open which impacts ability to read fine text, see fine details, and adapt to diverse focal distance situations .. i.e. looking at a monitor and other things around your office.

I am calling bs ..... based on real science, not hand waving. Keep in mind, we evolved in a situation where we were exposed to the sun (super rich in blue) up to 16 hours a day and 12 on average. Sorry, but a few hours of a bit of blue is not going to cause major health issues and likely is saving your eyes and causing less eye strain. But hey, if you want to do reading and other fine work in halogen/incandescent lighting, they are your eyes to wreck. Getting rid of the blue during the day will also play havoc with your circadian rhythm.


Semiman

 

[Yoda4561]

Semiman, check out gunnar optiks and prisma, their business/marketing is based on yellow tinted "computer reading glasses". I don't buy into it either but that's probably where folks are getting this idea. Yellow does increase apparent contrast, but how much that works indoors with a computer screen I don't know.

 

[idleprocess]

I read what you wrote on the feedback on the economist page and I am sorry, but what you wrote is predominantly crap.

I noticed that it was feedback to an article, apparently self-referential feedback, got flashbacks to someone else I believe we're both familiar with, and ceased taking them seriously.

 

[kaichu dento]

I read what you wrote on the feedback on the economist page and I am sorry, but what you wrote is predominantly crap.

1) With the exception of cheap Christmas lights, no LED lights flicker. Actually for that matter, no modern CFL or linear fluorescent flickers either.

2) You must hate sunlight ... it has a ton of blue light in it.

I almost responded to his post, but it looked tiresome and I'm short in the science related posting skills. Thanks for the well written rebuttal.

I noticed that it was feedback to an article, apparently self-referential feedback, got flashbacks to someone else I believe we're both familiar with, and ceased taking them seriously.

I'm sure it also caught your attention that he joined the forum specifically to post this one time only so far.

 

[idleprocess]

I'm sure it also caught your attention that he joined the forum specifically to post this one time only so far.

Indeed it did, and just to go down the tired "blue light is bad for you" path, so easily crushed by sunlight and especially moonlight.