I replaced almost all of the bulbs in and around our home (around 90 altogether) with LED bulbs almost 2 years ago. In that time I've had two of the Cree TW series go dark, but Cree was quick to replace those bulbs when I contacted them through their website.
None of the bulbs I used are "hot" when they are on-you can comfortably hold your hand on any part of the bulb. Slightly warm would be a better description. The color of the LED bulbs was every bit as good and GE Reveal bulbs, which are the standard incandescent bulbs that I replaced in the house. The 8 5000K bulbs in the garage are a great color for the garage.
Judging from the change in our electric usage (our electric company has a usage graph for our account on their website) the bulbs will have paid for themselves sometime in the spring of 2017. So for us it was a worthwhile investment to replace all of the incandescent and halogen bulbs. There was a noticeable year-to-year drop after I replaced all of the bulbs. Especially during the winter months when we entertain guests indoors and have all of the main living room lights, foyer lights, dining room lights, kitchen lights, family room lights and lower level lights on for several hours each evening, the drop in electric use was very apparent.
Other than the two Cree TW bulbs, I have not had to change any of the LED bulbs that I installed 2 years ago. No dragging around the 10' ladder to get the bulbs in the vaulted ceilings, no keeping a few extra bulbs on hand to replace the burned out bulbs, etc. All, including the dimmable and 3-way LED bulbs have performed flawlessly.
I can't speak to the dollar store specials, but the LED bulbs I purchased are, in my opinion, vastly superior to the CFL bulbs. The CFL bulbs were slow to come to full brightness, did poorly in many situations (such as a cold outdoor fixture or garage fixture), wasn't dimmable unless you purchased a very expensive CFL, and rendered a very poor color. The LED bulbs also have a great summertime benefit-the non-flood lights on the front of the house, front of the shop, and the lights on the pergola over the deck and patio no longer attract insects like the incandescent bulbs did.
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
The 20 year life of the LED bulbs is laugh out loud funny, as several have already failed.
I never heard anyone advertise a 20 year life span. Many of the bulbs I purchased have a 10 year warranty, and are rated for 50,000 hours using the L70 metric and following LM-80-08 measurement methods. So far that seems to be reasonable in my experience with LED bulbs. But again, I didn't buy the dollar store cheapies so I can't comment on those.
