The light bulb ban is at the hands of General Electric, Osram Sylvania, and Philips. There has been NO PROFIT MARGIN in selling incandescent light bulbs for decades - they're too simple to manufacture and sold for only pennies. They spent millions of $$$ buying off ... er, lobbying :rolleyes:, do-gooder politicians who were thrilled to write and pass another law, this one forcing US citizens to purchase very expensive light bulbs with a large profit margin. The politicians, manufacturers, and retailers are laughing all the way to the bank. Nothing new here. At least they didn't promise us if we liked our old light bulbs, we could keep our old light bulbs :cool:

2 years ago I think I bought 200+ bulbs of standard good old Edison issue glowing carbon wire.


60 watt, 75 watt, 100 god loves them watt.

me hoarding, no, they're not making them anymore so yeah I stocked up.


God loves us so he invented true 100 watt illumination devices.


they don't burn out, they just start eminating darkness.

I have changed most of the bulbs that burn for long periods in my house to LED. The light is instant bright and the CFLs I had used did have a short life and were dim at startup - especially the glass wrapped floodlights.

For example: The vanity fixture in our master bath holds five bulbs. I have gone from 5x60 = 300 watts to 13x5 = 65 watts. They put out about a third of the heat and are supposed to last a long time. I had to cheat a few CFLs into there before I used the LEDs - they were too dim and slow to do the entire fixture.

I bought a few packs of three LEDs when I went to Costco every few weeks and spread the cost and time out.

It finally rained here in California and allowed me to finish a light bulb experiment. I have four 2x4ft florescent fixtures in my garage with T-12 bulbs. When we get rain the fluorescent fixtures don't like to come on. I used the bulbs from one for our laundry room fixture that burned out and installed a 2 bulb x4' T-8 fixture. It has been the only fixture that starts nicely with the dampness. The better light efficiency is noticeable too.

All my 'upgrades' created a box of incandescent bulbs which I will save until they are more valuable!

I'd love to try LED lights, but not at average price of $25-40 dollars EACH.


Shop led light bulbs at Lowes.com: Search Results!

Looks like the life span on those bulbs is a little over 20 years. Seems like a decent deal to me (though it's very easy to find them MUCH cheaper). The next time I change bulbs my soon to be born kid will be in college. Not to mention 90% energy savings every moment the light is on over the next 2 decades.

You too, eh? This probably explains the increased frequency of my migraines over the past few years.

Just buy "rough service" incandescents. The ridiculous law does not affect them. A bit more expensive, but they will last longer than standard duty ones. And you get the lovely warm glow.

The man who saved the lightbulb | Fox News

Newcandescent™ Light Bulbs - Buy Legal Incandescent Light bulbs

Rough Service Light Bulbs and Heavy Duty Light Bulbs | 1000Bulbs.com

I just bought a few "modern" incandescent bulbs - they are a traditional glass bulb with a halogen capsule on the inside. The "60W" was I think 43W so they're more efficient. They were a little more expensive but not outrageous.

If you want the look of an incandescent with LED's, try these out. Not cheap, but in large enough quantities can get your own color temperature matched to what you want. They are at a much faster cycle rate that allows them to be used with digital/video/film/tv cameras without flicker.

LED Dimming 100 Watt Fresnel Pendant Light

I light my room with a single fixture pointed at the wall/ceiling behind my computer screens.

I do agree that there are tons of LED's out there that look like crap as lighting, stuff for the staging/studio industry *should* have better quality controls.

Most supercars with LED's are mad annoying as their brake lights are blinking when viewed through cameras. :(

This is not gonna mix well with rearview cams that cars are being equipped on cars once LED headlights catch on!

I recommend if you plan on changing to LED bulbs - find one of the brand/type you plan on using, and film it with a cellphone or some other motion camera - if the company did their homework - it will look fine on the camera. If not - keep looking.

For those of you interested, 60W equivalents for $2.50 each

Philips 10.5W LED 4 pack in Home Depot for $9.96 03-06-2014 - Slickdeals.net

Thanks for the heads up. May get some to try in the lights in our bathroom. That row of incandescents really heats the room up!

Already sold out... :(

wow, that was fast. I got my 2 orders in which should take care of the remaining stupid CFL's I have in the house.

I'm switching the fluorescent troffer lights in my office building to LEDs as the old bulbs go bad. The LED market is like the wild west. Bulb prices are all over the map. Our local electrical distributor wanted to sell me new fixtures with 3 tubes for $200. I went the route of rewiring my old fixtures. Tubes can be cheap ($25) but the instructions for rewiring the fixture that come with them are obviously written by a non-English speaker and are completely wrong. I had to figure it out myself. The cost to change sockets, rewire, and install LEDs on a 3 tube light is about $80 and takes 15 minutes after you figure it out.

As already mentioned Philips HUE. Absolutely pimp. You manage them with an app and they can be programmed in multiple ways. They'll even spice up your love life :)

This was a process I went through several years ago. I like the change now but had to re-educate myself about lighting and made a lot of mistakes along the way. Been CFL for about 8 yrs and using LED for specific lighting needs.

Color is important- 2700-3000 will look the most like incandescent. LED offers an incredible range of colors that really opens up dramatic lighting effects. Longer learning curve.

You will need CFL or LED compatible dimmers and controls if you use anything other than a std switch. Incandescent based dimmers and controls will kill CFL and LED bulbs quickly.

Quality CFL bulbs are now about $2 ea.
Quality LED bulbs start at $10-12 and go up to about $50 for fully variable RGB lighting.

The result: Instant-on quality lighting where needed, dimmers and really excellent mood lighting where needed, bulbs last 8-10 years, lighting energy costs down 80%. Avg. elect bill is $40 for 2500 sq ft and 2 fridges.

Have not read the whole post here,
But anyone mention ...

What do we do with all the Mercury ?

Have any of you guys installed LED lighting in your garage?

We recycle CFL bulbs just like we recycle batteries, electronics, paint, motor oil, green waste etc.

OK you do...whats the most likely way?
And do you know -when a bulb brakes you are supposed to put a bowl over it and let the gas slowly merge with you and your body rather then all at once ! LOL
I Love goberment in my life............:rolleyes: