Once a bulb we're testing is done in the lab, we take a close look at things like light spread, tone and color quality. At that point, I plug the sphere's power cord into a variety of dimmer switches, then measure for the average maximum and minimum settings across all of them while also keeping a close lookout for flicker or buzz. We log those brightness measurements every 10 minutes for 90 minutes, then take a final reading at the end.
#MINI LED FLOOD LIGHTS UPDATE#
This is one of numerous LED buying guides and roundups that I try to update as often as possible. I've also visited and written features about major North American lighting manufacturers such as Cree and GE to get a better understanding of their methods and standards. That includes hundreds of hours in our homemade lighting lab - a climate-controlled room equipped with a spectrometer and an integrating sphere that lets us run the most scientific and accurate light bulb tests we can possibly run. So how do you test light bulbs, anyway?įirst, a little about me: I'm not a lighting engineer, but I've tested and reviewed light bulbs for CNET for over five years now. The best I've tested is still the Lutron Caseta line of smart switches, but keep an eye out this year for new, relatively low-cost smart switches from GE. If you've got a bank of floodlight bulbs overhead that are all wired to one switch, smartening up one switch instead of several bulbs might be the better way to go, anyway. You might need to teach your kids to leave the switch up so your automations will work as planned, but there are new solutions for that age-old problem coming out this year, too.īeyond that, you could always smarten up any of the dumb bulbs recommended in this post by pairing them with a smart switch that's wired into your wall. You won't need to use dimmer switches associated with those light fixtures at all. With bulb-specific dimming hardware built right in, most smart bulbs will dim with flawless, flicker- and buzz-free precision via their app or through some other integration like an Amazon Alexa voice command. Smart bulbs are a great choice if you're picky about dimming. Those three can all control Sengled and Sylvania bulbs, too, as can other Zigbee controllers like the SmartThings Hub.
#MINI LED FLOOD LIGHTS PLUS#
Hue bulbs require the Philips Hue Bridge, an Amazon Echo Plus or a second-gen Echo Show. Just keep in mind that, except for Lifx bulbs, which communicate using Wi-Fi, all of these smart lights require a Zigbee hub that can translate the bulb's signals into something your router can understand.
Payback period (if replacing a matching incandescent)įive, affordable new smart switches will join the C by GE smart lighting lineup this year. No (faint buzz, flicker on older rotary dials) Yearly energy cost ($0.11 per kWh, 3 hrs of use per day) Read our Philips BR30 Floodlight LED review. But make no mistake, this bright light is still a terrific choice for almost everyone. That undercuts the brightness and efficiency selling points to a small extent.
In addition, the Philips bulb's lumen output topped out at a too-low average of 92% of its actual brightness on the dimmer switches I tested it with.
#MINI LED FLOOD LIGHTS FULL#
And if you want the full 10-year warranty, you'll have to register your bulbs - otherwise, you only get five years of coverage.
So why don't they get the top spot? It's honestly neck and neck, but to my eye, Cree offers a slight uptick in color quality (my Twitter followers agreed when I put it to a vote). On top of all that, they're less expensive than Cree at about $4.50 per bulb. They don't flicker or buzz on dimmer switches and they get warmer and more candle-like in tone as you dim them down, which some will appreciate. They're also super bright, a bit more efficient and a bit better at heat dissipation than Cree. The BR30 floodlight LEDs from Philips match Cree's outstanding and durable 10-year warranty.
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