Philips Master LED light bulb set for US release in July
Philips has been hitting us with some out-there lighting concepts lately, but the company's Master LED light bulb is actually already on sale in Europe and is set to brighten up Stateside lives around July. The 40W-equivalent bulbs should run between $50 and $70, and expected lifetime is set at 45,000 hours -- just slightly more than a CFL's 10,000 or a standard bulb's 750 hours. The Master is certainly a damn sight nicer looking than the other mutant LED bulbs we've seen, but we'll see if consumers are ready to jump on another more-expensive-upfront lighting tech so soon after CFLs have hit the mainstream.
[Via Core77]
[Via Core77]























Nice, but CFL are $4 or so. These bulbs last 4 times longer, but at a much higher price point making them too expensive and a waste of money.
Man I wish I had a product to sell to the green frenzied masses. I wouldn't mind getting rich off of silliness.
since when is 45000 slightly more than 10000? that's a huge signficance.
if you ran the light for 10 hours a day, that'd be 4500 days vs 1000 days, or 12.3 years vs 2.8 years-- that's huge in my eyes
in lumens/watt efficiency LED and CFL are tied.
but since LED bulbs cost at least 10x that of unsubsidized CFLs, CFLs are going to be the better deal for some time to come
and 250 lumens is nowhere near the light output of a conventional 40W incandescent bulb!
LEDs are great for task lighting, but are NOT a CFL replacement yet.
Yeah, this isn't coming out in the US anytime soon. I don't know where the article got its information from, but I know that this product is not in the North America's release plan for 2009. On top of that, at that price point, Home Depot will never sell it, and if they're not going to sell it, Philips won't bring it here.
Lumens! These put out 200 lumens which is awful. 40W incandescents put out 400, $50-$70 for half the light... no thanks. I am not sure how they determine these are 40w equivalents.
For all the whining about the miniscule amount of mercury in CFL bulbs, I see a lot more landfill material in these LED bulbs, unless Philips is planning on offering a trade-in/recycling program.
Oh, and all discussions about power costs are irrelevant once Steorn powers the world for free.
There's some very important information missing here. Namely, Lumens per Watt, color temperature, and CRI. At 20X the cost for 4X the lifespan, it's gonna be a real hard sell over compact fluorescent aside from niche applications such as extreme cold, or frequent power cycles (motion detectors, etc) applications. I've said it many times, LEDs have gained great strides, they are ideal for quite a few applications, but for white light general illumination, the tech is not there yet.
As for environmental concerns, fluorescent lamps can be recycled, the mercury and other materials are recovered for reuse. LEDs are not without environmental issues either, toxic chemicals are used in fabrication. On top of all this, as someone else said, coal generated power which is used in much of the US releases much more mercury into the environment generating the power to run an incandescent lamp than is contained in a CFL.
Wait a few years and the cost of LED will drop like Plasma did a few years back. Just need the rich 'Go Green' environmentalist to start dishing out the cash for these to get the ball rolling...
I hate to break it to people, but I don't know of many CFL's that actually last for 10,000 hours. In real life they only last about 1500 to 3000 hours, depending on where they are used and how often they are turned on and off. So, you need about 15 CFL's to one LED bulb, or about $60 worth.
Now the issue with this bulb is that it is only 250 lumens. $50-70 for 250 lumens is kinda a lot, especially when there are bulbs out now that are $50 and are 400-500 lumens. http://www.environmentalled.com/ZetaLux-7-watt-LED-Light-Bulb-p14.html
Also remeber that LED's are directional, so thats how they come up with the 40w equivilent. Think more a long the lines of spot and floods lights instead of normal light bulbs.
This is a great idea but what we really need is a light bulb or fixture that is affordable. If you can't price something within the reach of the targeted maket what good is actually? I would imagine here the target maket is every homeowner, and I know this one can't go around replace my CFLs with LEDs at $70.00 a fixture/bulb.
The time for the LEDs is now I know Of a company who is currenty developing and getting ready to bring to the market the best
leds which are 30 percent cheaper than any other led bulbs out there at this time,they are using the Cree leds which are the most
advanced leds on the market. Also these leds will be made in the usa , not like the other junk out there now that only lasts a year
if your lucky.
Cree aren't the high end and you mean like
http://www.lightbulbemporium.com/wdm_lighting_5w_led_cree_lamp_5w_led_cree_lamp.asp
which is out already????????????????
oh and http://www.metaefficient.com/leds/led-light-bulbs.html
Cost for making these LED lights - a few cents
Cost to by $70
WHAT ON EARTH!
It's bad enough CFL technology was being held at bay and artificially inflated so good old junk lights could continue to pollute our souls and the world
Now LED technology being held at bay on purpose and even more so as it can easily replace all light bulbs out now for less than $1 per bulb CONSUMER COST for an equivalent 40 or 60 or 75 or 100 or more watt................................
Phillips and such are a blight to the world.
In Soviet Russia, bulbs light you!