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Re: Recommended: New Cree LED Light Bulb

PostPosted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:35 am
by Len Evansic
There are new Cree bulbs out now that have a much better CRI than previous generations discussed in this thread. The new bulb's packaging has a rainbow ribbon across the dark blue background. These new bulbs list in the $18-$20 range, but I was able to find some at a $10 discount at a Home Depot in the nearest larger city.

I just bought a few of the 40W equivalent (9.5 W) and 60W equivalent (13.5 W) of Cree's TW series. Both have a 2700°K white point, but the CRI of the 40W is 95 and the 60W is 93.

You can really tell the difference from previous LED bulbs, as now reds really pop! Unfortunately, I can't say that the dimming abilities have improved. I have four of the 60W replacement bulbs installed on a circuit controlled by an older Switchlinc dimmer. I need to hit 25% before the first turns on, with the rest following at 26%. After becoming illuminated, I can dim the whole way down to 1% without any flicker. These bulbs will definitely not work in a slow wake-up sunrise simulation.

At 1%, they are brighter than the Insteon LED's set at 1%, but at full brightness, they have almost double the lumen output of the omnidirectional Insteon bulb.

I really wish I could get the light quality and output of the Cree TW bulbs, with the control (illuminating from 1%) of the Insteon bulbs.

-- Len

Re: Recommended: New Cree LED Light Bulb

PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 5:10 pm
by rehafer
The 9.5w Cree lights available from Amazon in "multi-packs" that are under$10 per bulb, for those who can't get them locally.