Re: GU10 Energy efficient replacements

[David <ukha@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:35:59 -0000, "Kevin"
<kw1816@xxxxxxx>
wrote:

>Having nearly had a fit at the size of our leccy bill again I'm looking
for energy efficient replacements for our 50W GU10 halogen lights - of
which we have a lot :-(
>
>Does anyone have any personal recommendations? I'm finding the choice a
bit overwhelming so I'd like to try out a couple of different types (e.g.
LED or CFL)to see which work for us. Dimming would be nice but it's not
required for most of our rooms. They're for recessed fittings so must be
the same physical size as a normal GU10.
>
I have a couple of the 4W dimmable ones from www.simplyled.co.uk (the
one with 20 surface mount LEDs - I haven't linked directly to the item
because apparently they are getting a new range in this week) that I'm
very happy with - although I can't report on how they work with a
dimmer as I don't have one. Very good service from that web site as
well - bulbs turn up the next day, very well packed, by recorded
delivery.

They seem very similar to the (non-dimmable) ones sold by
www.dealtastic.co.uk and www.ledhut.co.uk that are quite a bit cheaper
- I also have a couple of these.

One thing to watch out for is that none of the LED bulbs advertised as
50W equivalent actually give out as much light as a 50W halogen. There
are a lot of different figures quoted (and probably many different
ways to measure it) but I believe a 50W halogen GU10 is normally about
400-500 lumens. Both types I've mentioned above claim to be 320 lumens
which seems about right to me - I don't think they are quite as bright
as the halogens they replaced. Some sellers claim 210 lumens is
equivalent to 50W!

I was surprised to see someone else has said LEDs have a much narrower
beam (although they were talking about the 3x1W variety which may
explain it) because the SMD variety have a much wider beam angle (they
claim 120 degrees, compared to 35 degrees for a halogen). Whilst that
makes a difference to the perceived brightness, it also makes a big
difference to how and where you would use them - the bulbs I have are
fine for lighting a room, but wouldn't be ideal if you wanted a
spotlight focussed on a small area.

David


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