<p>I don’t care for the light from CFLs, and I’m fumble fingered enough to worry about mercury exposure from breaking them. I try hard to avoid buying anything made in the PRC, and so far have not found any non-Chinese LED bulbs. If there are any, please post about them.</p>
<p>EcoSmart makes LED bulbs (40 Watt) in the US. They are about $10 at Home Depot.</p>
<p>BCEagle91, you just made my day. Thanks! I’ll ask dh to stop on his way home this evening since he passes right by HD.</p>
<p>Stopped by the grocery store this evening and was stunned to find 60 Watt Equivalent Sylvania Ultra High Performance Series LED lightbulbs for $9.99. I bought three of them and put one in and I am a very happy camper. Color is 2700K Soft White. The are shaped like bulbs, slightly bulkier than incandescent bulbs and fit standard fixtures. I plan to pick up a few more for those spots where 40 Watts just isn’t enough.</p>
<p>BTW: these are Made in China for those concerned with country of manufacture.</p>
<p>BCE, do you know the color rendering index of those? I’ve seen one or two LEDs for pretty cheap, but the CRI is considerably lower, so I know I’d get complaints if I tried to replace any of our “normal” lights with those.</p>
<p>Are these the guys you got? [Shop</a> SYLVANIA 12-Watt (60W) A19 Medium Base Soft White (2700K) LED Bulb at Lowes.com](<a href=“http://www.lowes.com/pd_221498-3-78792_]Shop”>http://www.lowes.com/pd_221498-3-78792_)</p>
<p>I have not been happy with the LED lights we have for the most part. They are fine for under cabinet lighting or spot lighting but they don’t cast enough light to use in a lamp, etc. We have been using halogen lights in our overhead light fixtures and I do like those. They are harder to find and more expensive though. The CFL’s are fine in our lamps, the lamp shades do a good job filtering the harshness. Honestly, I don’t think there is an optimal choice as a one size fits all. I LOVE my florescent tube lights in my laundry room and kitchen as they are bright and the bulbs last forever. They certainly are not “stylish” any longer but far more functional than our spot lighting. I wouldn’t use them in a living room or dining room though.</p>
<p>Also, has ANYONE gotten a good life span out of a CFL? I don’t find them to last any longer than an incandescent bulb and in many applications they don’t last nearly as long.</p>
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<p>Yes, those are exactly what we got. I can’t believe that they’re selling them for $40!</p>
<p>BTW, a friend bought 3000K 60 Watt Equivalent 10 Watt bulbs at Amazon for just under $12. Those are more efficient and he says that they are soft white.</p>
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<p>We have these in our basement and I have to change them every 2-3 years. I don’t know if it’s because it gets cold in the basement or we turn them on and off too frequently or what but changing them on the ceiling is a pain in the neck. I would like to replace them with LED tube lights but I haven’t seen them in the stores yet. They are available at Amazon but I’d like to find someone that’s used them to see if there are any caveats to using them as drop-in replacements. In general, we use the tube lights to get into the basement and then use a smaller lamp for the area that we’re using and then turn off the overhead lights. The overhead lights light up the whole basement which generally isn’t necessary.</p>
<p>The one thing about fluorescent lights that drives me up a wall is when they take a long time to come on. This happens in my son’s apartment bathroom. You turn them on and it takes half-a-minute for them to come on. This happens in our basement when the bulbs are near death but his have been like that for a while. He has a few spare LED bulbs in his apartment and I suggested that he replace one of theirs. I don’t think that he can be bothered.</p>
<p>They replaced the fluorescent lighting in all the offices in my building a few months back (plus installing some motion sensor light switches). They’re way better than what I had in the past. No more flickering, no more gradually lighting up, no annoying hum.</p>
<p>I’ve found you really have to be careful when they say what wattage bulb CFL/LED lights are equivalent to. You need to look at the lumens and compare that way. I looked in my light bulb bag and saw some rated the same wattage have approximately a 50% difference in lumen output (between various CFLs and incandescents I have).</p>
<p>Has anyone tried these in outdoor fixtures? I recently replaced the bulbs on my porch, and I get so many insects flying around there after dark it’s crazy. I’ve heard LED bulbs are a good solution (smaller heat signature, much less radiation in the non-visible spectrum).</p>
<p>I haven’t tried them outdoors but it’s a good place to use them as many people accidentally leave them on overnight from time to time. I’d need a ladder to get to the outdoor lights in the back - I’ve never changed this bulb - it’s been working for 25 years (I hardly turn the light on). I wonder if LEDs are available for refrigerator lights.</p>
<p>We replaced all outdoor lightbulbs with LEDs. Got the cheapo bluish ones that came in a 3-pack from Costco. The results were… quite unexpected and really, really amazing!!! The cold-burning, bluish LEDs do not attract bugs as much as their predecessors did! No bugs means no spiders, which, in turn, means no cobwebs to sweep and no spider poop to wash off the siding! Love my outdoor LEDs. 
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<p>We have all outdoor lights on a dusk to dawn light sensor wired into the circuit.</p>
<p>A bit off topic, Does anyone know a safe way to dispse of a fluorescent bulb (tube)? Do you just chuck it in the trash can?</p>
<p>You shouldn’t chuck it into the trash can since there’s trace amounts of mercury vapor in the tube. A lot of tech and home improvement stores will have a recycling bin somewhere in the store. I know my local Best Buy has one right next to the entrance.</p>
<p>Check for hazardous waste recycling days in your city.</p>
<p>^It’s this coming weekend. Quite timely. In the past, the line was long and I gave up on them.</p>
<p>The hardware store said they would take them. Now I just have to transport them without incidents.</p>
<p>I buy the tubes in a box and it has cardboard supports to hold them securely in place. I don’t buy CFL bulbs so I’ve never had to dispose of those.</p>
<p>I’m an artist looking for color corrected LED bulbs to replace what’s currently in my studio. I purchased traditional color corrected incandescent bulbs in the past, but those were pricey and are probably not even available anymore. I really do need bright white lighting for this room, and it needs to come on immediately and not cast an annoying gray or dingy yellow glow. Right now, I’ve got GE Reveal bulbs in my fixtures, which while not as color corrected as my earlier special order incandescents, are head and shoulders above regular soft whites (100 watt over the drawing table, 50/100/150 in a floor standing fixture, and 60 watt in a clamp-on over my easel). These are the last of my old stock, and may blow at any minute. I’m now rendered well and truly confused by the options currently available, and just want good, clean color-corrected lighting for the accurate reading of paint/pastel hues and temperatures. Are there any artists out there who can help me?</p>