The 60W equivalent Cree should have been reduced from $12.97 to $6.97 at your local store. The 40W should have been reduced from $9.97 to $6.97. Here are the links
My local Home Depot doesn't have any of the 100 watters in stock yet. That said, I'm not going to pay $19.99 for them. I'll wait until the price comes down
I don't even want to think how much I've spent on LED bulbs in the last year! I own over 20 of the CREE 40 and 60 watters, also a couple of the CREE BR30 flood hi-hat bulbs, and 10 of the Philips latest 60 watters... My wallet is screaming at me "Glenn, you're retired living on a limited budget!" Does that stop me??? NO IT DOESN'T!!
Interesting, i assumed they were the same size, but i don’t really care if they are a bit bigger, as long as they fit my fixtures and if i can afford it i will never buy a 60W for household use.
I own about a dozen of the CREE light bulbs from Home Depot in both 40W and 60W. I like the 2700K tint. They are nice. They will supposedly pay for themselves in the long run. But I agree that they are priced too high for the average homeowner. I, like you are retired and living on a limited budget.
Incorrect, you can’t just pull numbers out of the air like that. Let’s assume electricity costs 23.2 cents per kilowatt hour (about what it is on the east coast of the U.S. now) and increases by 2% per year. And we’re buying GE 26 Watt Energy Smart CFL - 100 Watt Replacement bulbs on Amazon and paying sales tax.
In your first scenario of several hours per day (let’s say three), the LED w/a rated lifetime of 25,000 hrs would cost more than the 4 CFLs w/a rated lifetime of 8000 hours each that it would take for the same period ($21.79 vs $10.40). However, electricity for the CFLs would cost 26 watts/18 watts = 44% more. Even so, the LED wouldn’t be cheaper until about the 8th year and then you’d only save less than $50 total after 23 years.
In your second scenario of a bathroom or hallway (let’s say a few minutes at a time for 30 minutes/day), even if the CFLs only last 1/6th their rated lifetime, the LED will not be cheaper because the cost of the bulb is greater than the cost of the CFLs plus electricity saved which would tiny (34 cents the first year). After 23 years the CFLs would be cheaper by about $1.60.
The 60 watt equivalent Philips is slightly brighter, 880 vs 800 lumens, uses slightly more electricity, 11 vs 9.5 watts. The biggest difference is the Philips dims much lower than the Cree. I bought 10 of the Philips 60 watters on sale at Home Depot for around $8.00 each. I Like them better than the Cree's simply because they dim better with the Lutron dimmers I'm using..
Check out this review on the Philips 60 watt LED bulb:
Lets just say i pulled numbers form premium air, not exact but educated nonetheless.
Your first scenario just proves my point, less then $50 saved by going LED more then pays for that bulb and even another 2 bulbs, or even several flashlights with batteries!
Your second scenario is within the cost of one CFL at the cheap price, and your 1/6 is optimistic, i’ve had many people complain that CFLs last a few months to a year so they are actually just as bad or worse then incandescent, so my next question to them is which ones died, the washroom ones or your living room ones? Most people tell me it must be both but they are not sure because they never thought to keep track of it. The CFL industry does not like to advertise the many start/reduced life problem, they prefer to sweep it under the rug. So with such a low margin of error and even slightly less life then your using your calculations for you cannot confidently claim exactly $1.60 is saved by CFL, its too close to call, which favours the LED again, less waste, no mercury going to landfill, and less headache of burnt out bulbs. A place i was renting last year had an incandescent that burned out so i told the landlord get me some incandescent (60W) and i will replace it, an its cheaper then CFL for the washroom because you will get similar life from both for exactly this reason. He got a CFL, it lasted a few months, i moved during the lifetime of the next CFL so who knows how long it lasted.
No, my numbers don’t prove your point, they refute it because you had it backwards. The first scenario favors the LED and the second favors the CFLs but is wash longer term (20+ years) … the opposite of what you said.
Thanks, that was a great video. Always wanted to take one of these apart. The same guy also did an interesting review of one of the Crees. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6DDFRBrSas
But I agree that they are priced too high for the average homeowner. I, like you are retired and living on a limited budget. 
