Earlier today I purchased two Cree “daylight” LED bulbs from the local Home Depot for $14 each. I just finished installing them into my clamp-on light fixtures and couldn’t be happier!
A while back I used daylight CFLs, and while they were pricey, they put out beautiful light.
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There were a few things I didn’t like about CFLs, such as the slow warm-up time and breakage hazard, so I eventually swapped them out for Philips LEDs, which cost me $13 each.
These LED bulbs cast faint but noticeable shadows. I didn’t like them. Philips has since come out with improved bulb designs.
But the biggest name in LED bulbs these days is Cree, which earned a solid reputation from their flashlight-suitable LED emitters.
I purchased a Cree soft white LED a while back, and it gave off much better light than the Philips bulb it replaced. I use the LED bulbs in clamp-on light fixtures that have 10″ reflectors, and find that with the Cree bulbs there is somewhat of “hot” center spot, although it’s not prominent enough for me to mind. But what I did mind was how yellow the soft/warm light was. The “soft white” color temperature is 2700K, which matches that of older-style incandescent bulbs.
Finally fed up with my Cree soft white bulbs, I went to the local Home Depot to pick up daylight-colored bulbs. These bulbs are closer to white daylight, which I tend to prefer over yellowish soft/warm white hues.
I believe the daylight bulbs only came out a few months ago, as I first noticed them in the Fall of 2013.
This morning I had one small clamp-on lamp with a Philips bulb, and one with a Cree warm white bulb. Now I have two with Cree daylight bulbs and it’s soooo much better. Well, I’m not exactly ecstatic, but I am happier.
My major complaint is the price. The soft white bulbs just dropped in price to $8 for the 60W equivalent and $6 for the 40W equivalent bulbs, yet the daylight bulbs are still $14 each. Oh well, at least they’ll last me a long time.
The daylight bulbs are 60W equivalent, and like the soft white bulbs they have a rubberized translucent layer outside the glass bulb for improved safety.
Power consumption is said to be 9W, color temperature is 5000K (not quite daylight, but close enough), output is rated at 800 lumens, and they’re dimmable.
There’s no lead or mercury in these bulbs, and they’re also UL-listed.
Lastly, they’re assembled in the USA.
These are the best LED light bulbs I have ever used.
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
Also available: 60W soft white, 40W soft white
More Info(via Cree)
Note: If you’re unsure as to which type of “white” you prefer, a lot of home improvement stores, Home Depot included, have a setup where you can visualize different major bulb color styles side by side. If you plan on swapping out a lot of bulbs, maybe just buy a few individual bulbs to try out before committing to one particular style.
Update: In a comment someone asked whether these bulbs flicker. I cannot see flickering with my naked eyes, but flickering is evident when looking at the light using a digital camera.
Ken says
I will definitely check these out. I purchased the Cree LEDs 250 lumens 3 pack flashlights from Costco last year and was so impressed with the build, quality and light output, I went back and purchased two more 3 packs. The high setting is blinding! The lights have 3 settings, low, high and strobe. Excellent product. Now I know they’re assembled in the US, I will look for more of their products.
Jerry says
I bought a couple LED bulbs recently, and don’t believe I will ever purchase another CFL again. Yes they are pricier, but the CFLs I have gotten don’t last any longer than incandescents. I live in a rural area, and they say voltage lags/spikes like we have here, kill them quickly, unless you get the harsh service ones that are supposed to be tolerant of it. Those cost $8-$12 apiece, so I just as well go LED and use even less electricity.
Bob S says
I like the Cree bulbs as well. The wam white are great for people that like incandescent type of lighting and the bright white are very close to natural light. Unlike other led bulbs they seem to have fewer usage restrictions. I have even put them in a couple of enclosed globe type fixtures to see if they hold up. They can also be used outside in a fixture.
They look like an incandescent bulb so I think they will be easier to sell to the general public that is accustomed to that shape. In addition, they are very close to the same size as equivalent incandescent bulbs so they easily fit in existing lamps and fixtures.
Federico Sevilla says
As soon as I saw you’re post I ran and bought the 6 pack
You’re right they output a really good light
But for some reason i was not able to put them on my bedroom side lamps the lip seems to be wider and get on the way so they don’t reach all the way down
Nothing a little dreamel didn’t fix ….
Daniel Lawson says
I was at HD tonite and see they came out with a 75 watt equivalent I want to look into. I have several of these cree bulbs and love em. Oh yeah the new bulbs were $21 I believe.
Andrew says
Wow 6 bux for a 40w cree led is a crazy good deal. At my home depot they are selling for 10 bux a pop. Interesting how prices change by area.
But its me! says
I think part of the pricing is due to local rebates or discounts required or offered by some areas and utilities. Where I live in West Tennessee the bulb prices are generally much higher than the same bulbs purchased while visiting family in the Baltimore/DC area. When visiting I stock up on the bulbs just for this reason. Just changing my local store on the Home Depot site made me aware of the difference the first time around (and the Costco in Wheaton, MD had the rebates listed on the displays).
Fazal Majid says
I bought a bunch of these and they are what I use in my home office. I put some in to replace CFLs in my living room and my wife complained they looked too “institutional” (as in hospital or factory) and I had to swap them out for the soft white, which are noticeably dimmer for the same wattage. I hope the preference for warm white is a legacy of people who grew up with incandescents, and will eventually fade away.
Phil says
I still prefer a warmer white color – about 3000K – for general indoor lighting in the house. It’s a warmer light, familiar and not harsh like typical “daylight” (5000K) lamps. I do prefer 4000-5000K for working. I use 4000K fluorescent tubes in the shops and garage, and 4-5000K for up-close work (machine tool lamps, magnifiers, hand lamps, etc).
I like the softer light especially for applications using dimmers, or low-output lamps. Dimming a 5000K LED to the lowest settings makes for a cold, grey light I find very unattractive in a living space. I’d rather use a high-CRI 2700-3000K lamp even for working conditions over a low-CRI 4-5000K. For photography I like halogen overall, but some of the “daylight” LEDs are getting there. Any single emitter phosphor-based light (this includes fluorescent, CFL and white LED) can have noticeable “holes” in the emitted spectrum and make for unconscious or unaware “problems” with perceived colors in a room, not to mention play hell with indoor photography using available light. I had to get rid of some earlier Sylvania LEDs in can lights in the kitchen because food didn’t look right at times despite the light appearing decent at first.
The CREE “cheap” LEDs are decent replacements for the price. I found one thing unacceptable in the sample I picked up a while back. The color seemed acceptable at 2700K, but I noticed a low frequency flicker much the same as old-school magnetic ballasted fluorescent. I have an unusually keep perception of flicker and modulated lighting. In a long line of nighttime traffic on the superhighways I can pick out the cars that have LED-based taillights that use modulation to light them at running light levels. Quite a few of my LED flashlights used PWM to adjust brightness or control operating current. PWM lighting is terrible around machinery doe to the strobing effects. The CREE bulbs don’t have an exaggerated flicker, but it is still noticeable. I would still use them in a living area, but not as reading or task lighting. Perhaps my example is defective or it has been improved with newer parts (I grabbed mine off a display at Home Depot that was in the process of being stocked for the first time). People with more “normal” vision can see flicker by waving their hands with fingers apart in front of a white surface or wall illuminated by a suspect light. If there is any flicker, the shadows of the fingers will appear strobed or multiplied.
Stuey, can you find out of your new CREE lights are flickering? I’d like to replace some CFL lights used indoors and out with LEDs, and would like to use these.
Stuart says
I cannot perceive the flickering, so I aimed my smartphone camera at the bulbs.
Yes, they DO flicker. Both the soft white and daylight bulbs flicker.
Phil says
Well, damn.
I can still use them in non critical (for me) areas.
Thanks for checking!
RogerWilco says
Thanks for the review of these bulbs, Stuart. I converted nearly totally to CFLs a few years, and while I enjoy the lower carbon footprint feeling, they are still poor replacements for incandescents, in general. I have used some LEDs more recently, to mixed results, but have found the later generations to be both accurate and consistent in rated color temp.
One problem I continue to run up against is practical dimmability, in both CFL and LED bulbs. I use “dimmable” bulbs and dimmers made specifically for CFL/LED, but still find that the functional range is about 100-75%, then suddenly 0%. Additionally, every LED I have used on a dimmer buzzes – some virtually shriek when dimmed low. Have you tested the new Cree bulbs on a dimmer? Are they advertised as being compatible with dimmers?
Thanks!
Stuart says
I haven’t tried them with a dimmer, but they are advertised as being dimmable.
Jeremy says
From my understanding of dimmers you need a different type of dimmer for CFL and LED bulbs. Since they have some onboard electronics to control the illuminant at lower power they don’t play nice when you have an external source also limiting the power. Manufacturers of dimmers for CFL and LED bulbs will also have a list of bulbs they have tested to work well with their product.
Jason says
I have been dimming with the non certified dimmer switches. The lights seem to be fine except the range of dimming is not the same as a halogen light. I might drop down to 40w bulbs in the one fixture.
Andy T says
Nobody ever mentions the black spot at the top of these Cree bulbs. There aren’t any LEDs inside this bulb pointing up.
Annoying.
I bought 7 for $8 apiece. 6 are going back. I hate the 2700K yellow color and that black spot.
Stuart says
I use the bulbs with 10″ reflectors and don’t see a black spot. I popped them into a bare receptacle, and there’s no black spot there either. Maybe it’s more noticeable in certain lamps.
Steve says
I just installed a couple of Cree 60 Watt equivalent bulbs in a bathroom fixture above the mirror and immediately noticed the gray area at the top of both bulbs. I hoped it would go away after a few minutes, but no such luck. I will not be using these bulbs where that spot is visible. Kinda’ disappointed.
Katherine says
I installed a 60 watt bulb in my enclosed shower fixture and the black spot is very noticeable. I have a naked (no enclosure) 100 watt Cree in my closet and it turns out it too has the same black spot. (I had never looked up.) This bulb does not work for an overhead fixture where you look up. Hoping the xledia will prove better?
Dave L says
ALL bulbs flicker to some extent-that 60 cycle thing. 🙂 Note that LED bulbs are solid-state devices which are more sensitive to spikes and surges than incandescent bulbs. Surge protectors might be a good idea.
Jeremy says
I’ve held off buying Cree bulbs after I read of a flaw they had in the bonding of the bulb to the plug housing. I’d be suprised if they hadn’t cleared it up by now, did any of you experience this?
http://www.marco.org/2013/09/04/cree-led-flaw
Dennis says
I started switching over to LED and I have found the Cree ones to be the best quality. I bought some other brand for one light fixture and they have a delay before they turn on. Nothing major, probably half a second, but enough for me to notice every time. I’ve found the Cree bulbs to be nearly indistinguishable from good old fashioned light bulbs. And now I don’t get as mad when my family leaves lights on for no reason. I just wish that Cree would put out a 100W equivalent or at least a 75W.
Dave Wittmann says
I just put one of these in my Mom’s bedroom lamp. I was amazed at how much additional light it provided. I really like it. I paid about $11 for it. I feel much better about Mom’s ability to see in that room now.
Garrick says
I did a somewhat dangerous measurement of the power consumption of the Cree 60 watts, and they were spot on the wattage they claim to use.
Of the about 150 Cree bulbs I bought (most of which were presents) one came apart as far as I know. Of 10 Ecosense bulbs, one also came apart.
I was surprised to hear so many prefer the daylight to the soft white Cree bulbs.
In the laundry room, bathrooms and shop, I use a combination of both, but elsewhere I prefer the warmer colour. Actually the shop has still some T8 flourecents, a couple of halogen spot lamps, one incandescent, several 2 dollar 40 watt LEDs, a 3 watt (actual wattage)watt LED, and an assortment of 60 watt Crees, both daylight and soft white.
The only serious downside to LEDs is the extreme cost of 100 watt equivalent bulbs still. That would be about 1500 lumens.
Greg Post says
I’ve tried a lot of different led bulbs, these are some of my favorite.
Andrew says
So I got my local home depot to price match the jersey city home depot 40w cree bulb price of 6 bux a bulb!!!! That is a deal and a half! 40% off normal price.
Israel David says
Surprisingly when I got home the other day I received a package from con Ed (my utility provider), containing three spiral compact fluorescent bulbs providing 11 year life. I won’t be using the led lights for awhile.
Andrew says
Also, just one note… the packaging says the cree bulbs work with normal dimmers. They work but occassionally will flash or flicker. You do need a new style led dimmer despite cree’s claim otherwise. But i do love these bulbs…. I’ve found that only CREE and PHILIPS bulbs work well with led dimmers. Utilitech forget about it.
Joe says
I’m all about 2700k bulbs. They look far better imo.
Nathan says
These bulbs are great
Matthew Sumner says
Go Cree! They have a plant about 45 minutes from me in Durham NC. Love the USA made products.
John says
I was an early adopter to led bulbs ….like 4 years ago. The leds may be rated for 10 to 50 thousand hours but if the bulb isn’t heat sinked adequately they burn prematurely. Ask me how I know this…
Mind you these were cheap made in china bulbs purchased on ebay.
One would assume the big name companies engineer them with some kind of heat sink… otherwise they wouldn’t last nearly as long as they should.
Jeff says
I have purchased many of these, three are in a fixture over our kitchen table. Two of the three failed, thankfully I was able to swap the dead ones for a replacement at HD where I purchased them. Sure didn’t last anywhere near the promised life…………