Cree reinvents the Lightbulb

bose301s · March 5, 2013, 4:43pm

Released today are 40 and 60 watt equivalent bulbs for $9.97 and $12.97 respectively. 60 watt bulb is 9.5 watts for 800 lumes for 84-85 lumens/watt. Looks pretty decent and I will get to see them at work tomorrow

Here’s the press release:

Cree Introduces The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb.™
Cree® LED Bulb Breaks $10 Price Barrier and Works Better than a Light Bulb
DURHAM, NC — March 5, 2013 — Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) introduces a game-changing series of LED bulbs at a retail price point that gives consumers a reason to switch to LED lighting.Press Release Bulb The long-lasting Cree LED bulbs showcase Cree’s commitment to LED lighting innovation. The new bulbs shine as brightly as comparable incandescents while saving 84 percent of the energy compared to traditional bulbs. The Cree LED bulbs are backed by a 10-year limited warranty and available exclusively at The Home Depot®.

“The Cree LED light bulb was designed to offer consumers a no-compromise lighting experience at a compelling price,” said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO. “Over the last couple of years we recognized that the consumer is instrumental in the adoption of LED lighting, but we needed to give them a reason to switch. We believe this breakthrough LED bulb will, for the first time, give consumers a reason to upgrade the billions of energy-wasting light bulbs. We could not think of a better way to get this bulb into consumers’ hands than through The Home Depot, a visionary partner who embraces innovation.”

“As the leading retailer of energy-efficient LED lighting products, our customers look to us to provide them with the most advanced and most cost-effective lighting technologies available,” said Jeff Epstein, merchandising vice president, The Home Depot. “We diligently work with our manufacturing partners to offer consumers the most innovative alternatives that also help save money and energy. We are pleased to expand our relationship with Cree. It has enabled us to be the first in the market to offer a technologically advanced and affordable LED light bulb in the market today.”

The innovative bulb is illuminated by Cree LED Filament Tower™ Technology and provides a compact optically balanced light source within a real glass bulb to deliver consumers the warm light they love and want. Boasting a shape that looks like a traditional light bulb, Cree LED bulbs can be placed in most lighting fixtures in the home. The new Cree LED bulb is designed to last 25,000 hours or 25 times longer than typical incandescent light bulbs – reducing the need to replace bulbs for years to come.

With a retail price of $9.97 for the warm white 40-watt replacement, $12.97 for the 60-watt warm white replacement and $13.97 for the 60-watt day light, the Cree LED bulbs save 84 percent of the energy compared to traditional incandescents. Cree LED bulbs can pay for themselves quickly and then pay consumers year after year. By replacing the incandescent bulbs with Cree LED bulbs in a home’s five most frequently used light fixtures, consumers can save $61 per year on electric bills.*

Cree LED bulbs are the ideal replacement for energy-wasting 60-watt and 40-watt incandescents and compromise-laden CFL lighting. The new LED bulbs turn on instantly and are free of the mercury that is found in CFL bulbs. Unlike many low-priced LED bulbs, Cree LED bulbs are easily dimmable with most standard incandescent dimmers.

The Cree LED light bulb (60-watt incandescent replacement) delivers 800 lumens and consumes only 9.5 watts and is available in warm white (2700K) and day light (5000K) color temperatures. The Cree LED light bulb (40-watt incandescent replacement) delivers 450 lumens and consumes only 6 watts and is available in 2700K color temperature.

All products are available exclusively at The Home Depot. Please visit www.creebulb.com to purchase the bulbs online today.

Based on Cree LED bulb 60W replacements at 9.5 watt, $0.11 per kilowatt-hour, 25,000 hour lifetime and average usage of 6 hours per day.

Business Outlook Update:
For its third quarter of fiscal 2013 ending March 31, 2013, Cree now targets incrementally higher revenue and net income. The revenue target has been increased to a range of $335 million to $350 million. The GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin targets remain the same as previously announced with GAAP gross margin targeted to be similar to Q2 and non-GAAP gross margin targeted to be 39.5% +/-. Our GAAP gross margin targets include stock-based compensation expense of approximately $2.4 million, while our non-GAAP targets do not. Operating expenses are targeted to be approximately $2 million higher than previously announced, due to higher R&D and marketing costs to support the new product launch. The tax rate target is unchanged at 17% for fiscal Q3. The GAAP net income target has been increased to a range of $18 million to $24 million, or $0.16 to $0.21 per diluted share. The Non-GAAP net income target has been increased to a range of $36 million to $42 million, or $0.31 to $0.36 per diluted share. The GAAP and non-GAAP net income targets are based on an estimated 116.7 million diluted weighted average shares. Targeted non-GAAP earnings exclude expenses related to the amortization of acquired intangibles and stock-based compensation expense of $0.15 per diluted share.

http://www.cree.com/lighting/landing-page/cree-bulb

RedForest_UK · March 5, 2013, 5:03pm

Looks like a lot of XT-Es on that central tower, it’s impressive they can sell for so cheap at retail.

jmpaul320 · March 5, 2013, 5:04pm

just saw this - looks cool… i actually need a 40w replacement so i might pick one up this weekend

joe1512 · March 5, 2013, 6:24pm

Wow that looks extremely nice. Much better look than the typical heat sinked arrangements, plus it appears much more omnidirectional than previous attempts.

Jinx · March 5, 2013, 6:32pm

Are these available outside the US?

Slim_Pickens · March 5, 2013, 6:33pm

Excellent efficacy #’s 8)

Vectrex · March 5, 2013, 6:39pm

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/jnVw0doTbJ4?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0

FlashPilot · March 5, 2013, 6:48pm

Its nice that cree is making strives to introduce cheap LED into the household lighting market but they still have a tremendous way to go before the cost can even remotely justify the savings over CFL in the US.

Cree
60 watt bulb is 9.5 watts for 800 lumes.

GE Reveal Spiral CFL Bulbs (the nice tinted ones)
60 watt bulb is 13 watts for 800 lumens. I bought a case of these for $1 each last year.

texaspyro · March 6, 2013, 4:50am

Looks like Home Depot only sells them in 6 packs…

bose301s · March 6, 2013, 5:06am

I bet they will be available as singles. They’re giving all employees a bulb but I was off today, I will be picking mine up tomorrow and will let you all know.

DB_Custom · March 6, 2013, 5:08am

I’ve been looking for a good replacement for 2 fixtures that I like a daylight white bulb, ordered 2 from Home Depot online just now.

Thanks for the heads-up Bose!

PilotPTK · March 6, 2013, 5:12am

From the video, it looks more like XB-D’s to me… Could be wrong though - I’m going of of a 3D Render…

PPtk

jmpaul320 · March 6, 2013, 2:42pm

ok, whos going to be the first to break one open and let us see

djozz · March 6, 2013, 2:56pm

Is anything known of the CRI of these bulbs (especially the 5000K one)? And of other quality led bulbs around? For home lighting the CRI matters even more to me than for my flashlights.

biggulp · March 6, 2013, 3:08pm

CRI is listed as 80 in the data sheet

djozz · March 6, 2013, 3:12pm

thanks!

JohnnyMac · March 6, 2013, 3:19pm

Looks really nice. Makes me wish I had stock in Cree right now.

djozz · March 6, 2013, 3:20pm

I looked up the CRI for the Philips led bulbs I recently reviewed, and it says >85 CRI. They don't do a 5000K bulb though, all warm white .

RedForest_UK · March 6, 2013, 3:35pm

XB-D might make more sense at that price, but I can make out a cross in the middle of each LED at 14-16 seconds on that video, that’s what made me think XT-E…

After a second look the cross seems to be more like a + than an x though, in fact it looks a bit like 4 individual bumps under the phosphor, so possibly even a new remote phosphor LED? Or of course the graphics could be a little innacurate.

InfinitusEquitas · March 6, 2013, 4:09pm

Hmm, I need to stop by home depot today anyway.... and need spare bulbs, I'm down to two right now.