If you are in the USA, finding good quality LED light bulbs is probably as simple as buying “JA8” compliant bulbs.
ENERGY AND BUILDING STANDARDS:
The California energy efficiency and building standards known as “Title 20” and “Title 24” / “Title 24 JA8” help to characterize LED bulbs and fixtures in a broad sense.
Title 24 JA8 compliant bulbs are 9050 CRI min, have <30% flicker below 200Hz, +/-0.0033 Duv, are dimmable to 10%, and should have a >90% survival rate after 6,000 hours of operation, among other features. In other words, if you buy a JA8 compliant bulb, the light quality should be pretty good. (JA8 qualification requirements)
FYI, the “Title 20” requirements is significantly less strict:
A couple of relevant papers about flicker:
Measuring Flicker: California’s JA10 Test Method and Its Uses,
Commentary regarding the methodology: LED Flicker Test Results and Repeatability Analysis.
ENCLOSED FIXTURE RATED:
It is worth mentioning that many LED bulbs are not rated for “enclosed fixtures.” If you want to put your LED bulb in an enclosed fixture and you want it to last, get a bulb which is rated for use in enclosed fixtures.
WHERE TO BUY BULBS:
Here’s the category of “JA8 compliant” LED bulbs with E26 base, which are rated for enclosed fixtures, at bulbs dot com:
Here’s the equivalent category at 1000bulbs dot com:
NOTE:
The low CCT and dimmable requirements of JA8 mean that non-dimmable bulbs and 5000k bulbs are not going to be JA8 compliant. 5000k bulbs are ideal for workshop / garage use imo, so there are notable use-case exceptions, but in general JA8 compliance makes it easy to buy bulbs for interior lighting purposes that meet a certain standard of quality.
ENERGYSTAR SEARCH ENGINE:
Worth mentioning: the Energystar.gov search engine is a way to find products which are “Energy Star Certified,” which doesn’t mean much, as far as I can tell.
But there are over 10,000 LED bulbs in the database, and the search filters make it is easy to find certain products which might otherwise be difficult to find. It’s slim pickin’s now, but In the future the 96-100 CRI bulbs category should be more populated.