When I realized that Lowes has 750 Lumen bulbs for 99 cents I dropped everything and headed right over. (only a 4 mile trip).
Sure enough, they had plenty and at 99 cents!
With these available in all States it means that there is no subsidy behind the price, bringing the cost down. These bulbs are made to sell for 99 cents.
As soon as I picked one up I noticed that it felt light. There must not be much heat sinking in it.
Then I noticed the packaging, it gives a life of 1.8 years. What happened to the ever ubiquitous “22.8” years? So they finally figured out how to build in obsolescence?
I bought 2 and plugged one in as I cut the top off the second to see how it’s built. When I finished I checked the one running and already it was very hot at the base. So I figure they just burn up after 2000 hours or so.
So what’s inside?
Hollow Pill! But the base of the bulb is made out of aluminum. Until this I had feared it was just plastic.
What I do like about this bulb, other than the price, is that when in a ceiling fixture pointed downwards, most of the light will be directed to the floor. Some times that is an advantage so these bulbs will be useful to me in some instances.
I only bought 2 to test. I will now buy more.
If one doesn’t have other cheap alternatives (subsidy pricing) this is a great deal. You have finally found a deal on LED bulbs that EVERYONE can partake of.
I took the test subject apart futher. I think I might try using four of the stars in a worklight. For only $4 in parts I think I can end up with a 3000 Lumen work light. Each star has 2 holes that could be used to mount to a heat sink, extending the life greatly.
More pics
I also picked up a 2-pack of 40 watt Utilitech led bulbs..same format as the aforementioned 99 cent one, and they were on sale for $2.98. The package on the 40 watters says 4.5 years life based on 3 hr a day usage.
You have been 1 step ahead of me all the way on this one.
After supper I made it point to drive all the 4 miles back to Lowes to get some more of these bulbs. When I got there, not 1 single bulb had been sold since I was last there 4 hours earlier.
4 hours ago the display looked like this. That red shopping cart to the right was mine. I intended to fill it with bulbs, but only got 2.
4 hours later, red cart is still there and not one bulb sold since
Anyway, I grabbed 20 and headed off to look for the double pack you mentioned with the 4.5 year rating. I couldn’t find any 40W but I did find a display with 2 60W bulbs per pack.
$3.98 per pack of 2 is twice the price. They are Utilitech and when I took one out to check it out, it too felt very light in weight. In fact it looked like the same exact bulb, but it is rated at 4.57 years, not 1.8 :~ Upon closer examination, it IS the same exact bulb. They each have identical part numbers (blue arrows)
Only 2 ways to explain this. At first Utilitech thought they lasted 4.57 years and found out they didn’t so they reduced the price to get rid of inventory. Or they really do last 4.57 years and they reduced the rating on the packaging of this special sale so as not to dilute the value of their regular stock.
Either way, I felt confident enough to buy another 20. I need at least 4 for my worklight idea, and a friend wants 10.
Nice find Streamer and great break down info dchomak.
Mounting to a better heat sink should improve life and output a bit, but it appears that the small heat spreaders (that also are electrical paths) will the next thermal bottleneck. I'm hoping I'm wrong though.
Curiosity got the best of me. On the way home from an appointment I stopped at a different Lowes. I wanted to buy a 2 pack of that identical bulb that instead of 1.8 year life had 4.57. I wanted to open one up and absolutely verify they were identical. If they were, I could then just replace the one I opened up with a 97 cent one and get my $4 back for the twin pack. I found that twin pack easily enough but when I started hunting for the display of 99 cent bulbs I came across this.
Wowzer!
75W equivalent, 1100 Lumen bulbs on clearance for $1.74 each. So I grabbed 2 trays, a total of 24 and went on my way hunting for the 99 cent bulb. When I couldn’t find them I decided to go back and get the rest of the 1100 Lumen ones. When I went up to the register and the girl started ringing them up they were $5.93 each! I stopped her, but then I noticed that there are 2 kinds of bulbs here. Notice the picture above, the bulbs on top have a massive heat sink with fins. The bulbs on the bottom have no fins and are actually more like the 99 cent bulb. Light weight and not much heat sinking. Only the massive heat sinked ones are on clearance, they rang up at $1.74.
The older cheaper bulb is on the right, the newer more expensive bulb without the massive heat sink is on the left.
They are both rated at 16.4 years!?
Turns out, after I brought all the higher priced bulbs back, there were “only” 16 of the $1.74 ones
In the parking lot I checked and found that there was another Lowes 4.6 miles away and it was on my way home. The Lowes app told me they had 9 more.
When I got there I searched the store but could not find them. I did come across this though.
40W equivalet, 450 Lumen for 87 cents and they have the massive heat sink, good for 16.4 years. They had 37 and I grabbed them all.
BUT, when the girl scanned them, they rang up for 42 cents
Like I said, why does this only happen to me?
Do we know if the 40W ones with the better heatsink are better quality? Its the only ones my local lowes has on clearance. The older ones show 16.4 years lifetime
I picked up a couple of those and a couple 2 packs. Wanted to give them a once over before running back out for more
You’re right!. I plan to reuse the globes as difusers when I use 4 of those bulbs to make a work light. I got some of these on clearance and plan on using the Aluminum for a base plate and heat sink. then screw the stars from the bulbs and reglue each difuser onto the plate around the star.
That plate of aluminum is 13 inches square, I will only use a piece of it 6 1/2 inches square or 1/4 of it.
Here is a partial teardown of the 40W equiv that I got on clearance. There is way more heat sinking, but don’t forget the 99 cent bulb is 750 Lumen, this one is only 450 Lumen.
Here is the 450 Lumen star next to the 750 Lumen star
All stores should have the 750 Lumen bulbs at 99 cents. I doubt you will find the 1100 Lumen bulb on clearance at $1.74. I checked online a number of stores across the country and could not find another store with both stock and a clearance price. If your store still has them but they are $6.98, keep an eye on them and see if they do not go on clearance. You may actually have to ask for a price check. Look at what happened with the 450 Lumen bulbs that I found. The clearance sticker price was 87 cents but the actual price was 44 cents (then I got an additional 2 cents off for using my Lowes card)
All of the 99 cent bulbs are gone I checked all stores online and they are out also. The web site says there are plenty, 1000 or more in each store but they are not available (at 99 cents?)
I did find these though
I scanned it from my Lowes app and set to that store
Notice that it was $1.24. 62 cents is exactly half of $1.24. This bulb has been on clearance for some time. Original price was probably $4.98 and it went to $2.50 to $1.24 to 62 cents. It was then that I came along and it met its demise
I checked other stores in the area with my app and some still have them at $1.24
My point here is that there are various clearance sales and deals going on right now.
A few days ago ImA4wheelr mentioned the LuxPro 280 Lumen light for $12.97> I bought one 2 days ago, even though they were marked $24.97. It rang up for $12.97 just as he promised. Now 3 days later, they are STILL marked at $24.97. I scanned one with the Lowes app and it came up 12.97
De domed :bigsmile:
No hollow pill! Maybe the reason for the 13.7 year lifetime
Comparison to the heavy heatsink version of this bulb. Same 6 emitters on a smaller star.
In my local store the display is gone. Another store I was in last night said they sold out. What is confusing is that in those stores and others when you look up online for that product the stores around here have on average 1000 each. But if you try to buy them online for local store pickup, you can’t put them in your cart as they are “unavailable”
Tonight I will go back to my local store and ASK them about it.
I went to my local Lowes today and they didn’t even have the 99 cent display at all.
So I ended up getting 10 (5 2 packs) of the 750 lumen 40 watters. Worked out to $1.49 per bulb and I was ok with that.
I also got 2 individual 60 watt bulbs for my living room, and two 75watt ones for my front and rear porch lights.
I noticed that the 75w equivalent units had SIGNIFICANTLY more heft to them as the others did. So that’s promising. I understand that these are cheap, budget LED household bulbs, but I just didn’t want CFL’s anymore.
I’m not used to the 3000k color temp, I’ve had 5000k and 6200k for the past 8 years. But so far I’m pleased, even if I didn’t get them for a buck a piece.
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