Switch Lighting believes they’ve got all the problems with LED lighting figured out. They say their bulb is efficient, relatively cheap and, most importantly, mimics the ambiance of a soft white lightbulb. And they’ve got Slate’s Farhad Manjoo sold on it.
When I arrived at Switch, Brett Sharenow, the company’s chief strategy officer, showed me two lamps. Inside one was a standard 75-watt incandescent bulb. Switch’s 75-watt replacement bulb, which uses only 16 watts of power, was plugged into the other. The lampshades prevented me from seeing the bulbs directly-I couldn’t tell which lamp contained which bulb. When Sharenow turned on the lamps, the light from each lamp looked identical. The moment was completely undramatic, and that was the point. Switch has spent years developing bulbs that produce something thoroughly unexceptional-light that looks exactly like what we’re used to.
The 60W equivalent Switch bulb will cost $20, which is considerably less than other premium LED alternatives (the 75W and 100W equivalents will cost a little more). Furthermore, the bulbs will last for decades the 60W equivalent only uses 13W of power (the 75W equivalent uses 16).
That means that despite the higher cost, you’ll save money on your power bill and would spend more money on replacement incandescents in the same time period. And the bulbs will be in stores this Fall. Sounds good to me. [Slate]
Graham
Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 3:47 PMI wonder at what rate these bulbs flicker?
TSH
Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 3:59 PMhow does it deal with “rapid” on/off cycles (closet lights for example)? I know that that’s the major weakness of CFLs, so if that’s not a problem then I’ll be on these like a fat kid on cupcakes.
Still <3 my 48W CFL though…
Franz
Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 4:57 PMIncandescent non-bulbs already sorted over a year ago by a small company in Germany.
Ben
Friday, July 8, 2011 at 12:42 PMIt’s LED, not CFL.
Tortfeaser
Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 5:24 PMI’m going to take a bunch of convincing that these LED replacements have got the colour temperature and diffusion characteristics right. I’ve tried so called warm LEDs and they’re just not right. So unless they’ve suddenly improved the LEDs in the fitting we’re still screwed.
Bree
Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 7:26 PMLEDs don’t flicker and don’t care if you turn them on and off heaps. This is way better than those pretend globes: CFLs. The difference in household power usage over one year, between an incandescent and an LED globe is around about the cost of a large meal at McDonalds. The real benefit is at the manufacturing end…. LEDs last for years, therefore reducing the emissions and landfill waste from the manufacturing side and providing the most benefit to the consumer directly through the number of globes they will need to purchase. LEDs are the way to go…. Not the money scamming unenvironmental CFLs.
yup
Friday, July 8, 2011 at 1:49 PMWell, when connected to an AC supply they will flicker, but chances are the bulb includes a circuit to take advantage of both sides of the AC curve. If not then they will flicker at a rate dependent on the frequency of the AC signal coming down the wires.
Ash
Friday, July 8, 2011 at 9:29 AMHold on. 75W uses 16W of power for an LED bulb, but the current bulbs either use the same or less. So why would I want to dish out so much money for one of these? If people cant afford them because the initial layout of updating all your bulbs is expensive, then we’re all gonna sit around waiting until bulb price wars heat up and they become affordable. At this rate, it will probably be at least 5-6 years before people start warming up to LED bulbs as they will probably be mass produced by multiple companies by then, including cheap chinese labour, so prices will start to drop dramatically and we’ll be able to buy a 4 pack for $20 rather than a single one at that price.
polymath
Friday, July 8, 2011 at 1:21 PMThat’s a Halo 3 Bubble Shield generator.