LED Retrofit Kits… worthy choice?

In the process of remodeling my house that has ~26x 6" recessed cans throughout the kitchen/living/hall/bedrooms (currently just 60 W incandescents, no trim) and 10x 4" cans in the bathrooms.

We put in a few LED retrofit trims in my parents kitchen, I believe they were Commercial Electric brand (from HD), subsidized by power company, I think ~$15-20 ea. (about a year ago). They look fine, similar yellow to incandescent, maybe a little bluer. My only complaint is that they take a half-sec to sec to switch on.

I've seen HALO, Cree, Lithuania and CE brand retrofits at HD. HALOs were always the most expensive (though not subsidized at the time) and CE the least. Anyway I stopped by HD over the weekend and the HALOs seem to be subsidized now and I found these two on limited sale:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Halo-5-i...I-3000K-RL560WH-R/203310667?keyword=RL560WH-r

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Halo-5-i...ED-Module-80-CRI-3500K-RL560WH6835R/204163809

The first one is going for $10 ea and thesecond for $20 ea. The specs on the site are not whats on the box, but basically their the same. 3000k vs. 3500k, both 600 lumens, 9.4 vs. 7.3 W, both CRI 83, both 5yr warrenty 50k hr life. Seems like the only downside to the cheaper one is warm color and slightly higher wattage for the same lumens.


I bought one and installed it, seems about the same as the CE in my parents kitchen, but NO delay. I've read that Cree DRDL6 are nice due to high CRI. Any thoughts, recommendations?

Personally, I like that they are available in 3500k (particularly for a kitchen), as I find 2700k too yellow and on the other end I find 5000k to extreme.


Having said that, there are some downsides to buying retrofits. First, if one dies (and the more you have, the more likely one will be an early failure), you'd better hope that that model is still being sold, otherwise you'll have an aesthetic mismatch (compared to buying a bulb alone).


Secondly, most claim to be 5-6 inch, but 6-inch is a BR40, which at 120 watts had 1200-1300 lumens. Retrofits are typically around 600-700 lumens, and too dim to replace a true 6-inch fixture.

Having said that, if kitchen is currently lamped with Br30s and you are happy with their brightness, then those models would be a worthy replacement.

MattPete said:

Personally, I like that they are available in 3500k (particularly for a kitchen), as I find 2700k too yellow and on the other end I find 5000k to extreme.


Having said that, there are some downsides to buying retrofits. First, if one dies (and the more you have, the more likely one will be an early failure), you'd better hope that that model is still being sold, otherwise you'll have an aesthetic mismatch (compared to buying a bulb alone).


Secondly, most claim to be 5-6 inch, but 6-inch is a BR40, which at 120 watts had 1200-1300 lumens. Retrofits are typically around 600-700 lumens, and too dim to replace a true 6-inch fixture.

Having said that, if kitchen is currently lamped with Br30s and you are happy with their brightness, then those models would be a worthy replacement.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I found Cree TW 6" retrofits 2700K for the same price at HD and 5000k for $2 more. I bought a few to try out… I put the Cree 2700K in the bedroom (2x) with the current incandscents (2x other) and they are about the same color, maybe slightly brighter but overall bright enough. About as "yellow" as the incandscents (GE soft whites, bought a bunch at WM for .99c a 4-pack to use while remodeling).

I put two of the 5000k Crees in the kitchen… bright, really white, too blue for my taste. Kind of harsh and clinical.

The HALO 3000k are a little whiter than the 2700K Cree, but they have a slight delay… whereas the Crees don't. Wish Cree offered something between 2700K and 5000K for the retrofits (as they are two extremes).

Is high CRI important? Cree are 90 and Halo are 80. Seems LED floods are more expensive and you still need to buy trim.

There are a couple of common arguments for putting high CRI in the kitchen and in the bathroom.

Kitchen:
o Easier to see problems like spoilage with food
o Lets you see how prepared food will look when served if it is eaten with any natural light
(for the same reason some people say 4000K is better for the kitchen too)

Bathroom:
o Good for inspecting yourself in the mirror - see if clothes match and if make-up is on right

For general lighting, higher CRI isn't as useful but it is a matter of taste.

For dressing areas (bathroom, closet area) I stick with halogen. I found the typical 80 CRI changed the color of my clothing (e.g. deep red shirt) and skin tones too much. I briefly tried a CREE CR6 (it didn't really fit my Lightolier fixture), but it turned my walls pink. I guess the red spike they use to increase their CRI interacted with our paint in some way (for the record the walls have no pink tint under daylight or halogen/incandescents).


For high-use areas (kitchen, family room) I stick with led. My most important consideration is cutting down on energy usage and maintaining dimability. Would I like higher CRI? Yes! And when some truly high CRI (e.g. Soraa) come out with BR30s and BR40s, I'll slowly move the family room and kitchen bulbs to other parts of the house (kid's bathroom, basement) and replace them with high-CRI models.