Utilitech 13.5-Watt LED $7.98 B&M YMMV

$19.99 in Oklahoma, checked about 15 stores.

$19.98 everywhere around me.

I've picked up three of these over time and they are great. I've been using them in can lights in my kitchen even though you're not supposed to since they can overheat. They're indistinguishable from the 75W halogens they replaced.

Weird.. so many different prices.
I guess Lowes can ask whatever they like at any store.

Its $17.99 at Gilroy, CA.

Anybody think this is gonna be regular price soon?

Quote from dhc014 : $19.98 everywhere around me. I've picked up three of these over time and they are great. I've been using them in can lights in my kitchen even though you're not supposed to since they can overheat. They're indistinguishable from the 75W halogens they replaced.

How will the overheat? I have had CFLs in my outdoor recessed lighting and heat is a non issue.

Whats the benefit of these over fluorescent? Even at this price compact fluorescents have slightly more lumens/watt and are a lot cheaper.

Quote from asuchemist : Anybody think this is gonna be regular price soon? How will the overheat? I have had CFLs in my outdoor recessed lighting and heat is a non issue.

This is an LED light, not CFL. LED lights get hot, that's why they have visible fins... for cooling. In a can light, air circulation can be very poor.

$17.98 in l.a

$9.98 near Baltimore

$20 in OR

Quote from javaking_1000 : Whats the benefit of these over fluorescent? Even at this price compact fluorescents have slightly more lumens/watt and are a lot cheaper.

CFL can put mercury in the air if the bulb breaks. LEDs still have some heavy metals, but cleanup of a dropped/blown bulb would be less dangerous than disposing of an equal volume of circuit boards, since the LED emitter itself is so small compared to the bulb housing/heatsink, which will probably just be glass, plastic, and aluminum. Even if CFL bulbs don't burst in use (they generally don't), they typically break open in the trash.

That, and LED bulbs in theory last much much longer than CFL before they need to be replaced. LED bulbs reach their maximum brightness faster than CFL (a few seconds difference), but the LED may or may not take a moment longer to actually emit light than CFL depending on any circuitry in the bulb. If LED bulbs do last much longer and have similar light/power ratio, an LED bulb put in today would be cheaper than going through CFL bulbs over the same operating life of the LED bulb.

Also, CFL tend to do poorly in settings like a bathroom or refrigerator where there's frequent on-off. Incandescents have a similar weakness (they usually blow turning on). LEDs have no issues with that, turn them on/off as much as you like. LED bulbs are also more likely to be dimmable than CFL.

The catch with LEDs is that they are ultimately directional lights, while incandescents and CFL are omnidirectional. Indoor light bulbs are typically omnidirectional, so LED bulbs use a few tricks to spread their directional light out, like shining the light through the opaque outer bulb shell to diffuse the light. LED emitters themselves are so efficient at putting light out though that even with this limitation they still use relatively low power for the same amount of light compared to incandescent.

The main reason to still be wary of LED bulbs is that they still cost much more per bulb than CFL, and LED bulb technology is still being quickly developed, so it's harder to be sure how long an LED bulb will actually last. LED bulbs typically get warranties like any electronic device though, since they're not really considered disposable like CFL and incandescent, both due to how long LED bulbs are supposed to last and also to current pricing. Additionally, it took until 2012 before LED bulbs showed up for <$30 that can do at least 60W equivalent, and even now it is still a bigger one-time purchase to get room light levels people are used to. I myself like warm-light 100W-120W equivalent CFL, so I've only limited my LED bulb use to deskwork and bedside reading; I wouldn't have kept the LED bulb except the reduced room brightness and extra couple watts saved was actually useful.

Oh, and LED bulbs really don't like to be installed wherever there's not enough air circulation *at the base* or good enough setup to pull heat away from the LED emitters (which means closed, recessed, always-on-outdoor lighting is probably the most common place LED bulbs fail in). Incandescents were the same about heat, except they got to a point they were cheap to replace so they went everywhere. CFLs are pretty temperature-resistant.

I haven't followed the rate of development and prices on LED bulbs though, so I'm not sure when LED bulbs will just click with the mainstream market like CFLs did, but that will definitely depend on LED bulb prices going down (or a good campaign to raise awareness and convince buyers of LED savings-over-lifetime vs. CFL's savings-per-bulb) while still providing 60W+ levels of light for typical household use. My rough guess is a $5 (2013 value) 60W-equivalent LED bulb is where homeowners will start converting their bulbs as the old bulbs go.

That said, if I happen to find one of these 60W warm equivalents for $8, I'll be going in for a couple.

BTW, for the cost, best place for an LED bulb would probably be in children's rooms in floor, desk, or table lamps to avoid the mercury risk from CFL (mercury's extra-bad to kids) and to minimize energy wasted from forgetting lights on (as well as letting kids do that thing where they strobe room lights by turning it on/off really fast, which would wear out a CFL pretty quickly). If the LED bulb is cheap enough, other good places would be the bathroom (you probably want 2-3 to fill in shadows) and refrigerators, since both those places tend to have the bulb turned on/off quickly. CFLs would still be more economical and safe enough in any non-kids room where lights are kept on for >30 minutes, or where there's enough hazardous house materials where an extra mercury risk isn't really adding much, or outdoors away from pets.

Quote from yus9 : Weird.. so many different prices. I guess Lowes can ask whatever they like at any store.

Lowes isn't the only store that works like that. Shoot even Walmart works like that.

What's nice about Lowes is that the web site prices are an exact match for the store you've got selected, so it's possible to price check all the stores in an area pretty easily.

My favorite Lowes deals are the ones that DON'T list prices on the web site....since they've been on clearance for a while.

Quote from javaking_1000 : Whats the benefit of these over fluorescent? Even at this price compact fluorescents have slightly more lumens/watt and are a lot cheaper.

Compared to CFLs, LEDs are dimmable, have better color, aren't harmed by being turned on and off a lot (both CFLs and regular bulbs die quickly if the switch gets flipped a lot) and use somewhat less power. Oh, and no mercury in LEDs.

The biggest advantage to an LED is how long it lasts. By the time an LED burns out, you'd have replaced several CFLs, which theoretically makes LEDs cheaper over time. [nytimes.com] The saved labor of changing the bulbs can be a big deal for bulbs in hard to reach places like high ceilings or businesses that have to pay people to change them. If someone costs a company $20 an hour to employ (including benefits and all that) and it takes 15 minutes to change a bulb, that $5 saved for each CFL that didn't need to be replaced.

I'm finding a wide range of prices in local stores between $9.98 and $19.99. Try checking a few different stores in your area.

Looks like I'll be grabbing a few to try. $4.98 in my area.

Quote from dogi : If anyone is interested, several costco stores are still selling the feit 60-watt equivalent for $4.99 + tax on $15. I believe they are the same model since there are reports that this utilitech is made by feit and it looks the same.

Wich costco location?

Quote from no1psycho : Looks like I'll be grabbing a few to try. $4.98 in my area.

what location?