LED vs CFL vs halogen

Just got some LED lamps I ordered. We had a 150W halogen floodlight in the yard - the other day the bulb blew and as usual with cheap floodlights the screw to open it is rusted solid. However, I thought, ought to look into LEDs. The obvious choice to replace the 150W halogen would've been a 20W LED unit, but such are the oddities of manufacture and marketing that 2 x 10W units worked out cheaper, and also allows the option of altering the coverage by putting them in 2 different places or aiming them in 2 directions from the same place. I've yet to fit those, but what I have fitted is a 6W daylight-equivalent bulb, which I bought at the same time. It's the same size and shape as a regular incandescent GS bulb, runs on mains voltage (240V nominal here in the UK).

Comparing it with the 11W CFL daylight lamp it replaces, it's brighter, and hits full output more or less immediately. Now, that warm-up thing has never really bothered me on CFLs, provided they are more or less instant start (and modern ones are) I never found the need for full light the instant I get in a room - provided there's *some* light, that's fine. By the time I'm ready to actually look at something, the light is bright enough, mostly - modern CFL also warm up much faster than the first ones we had on the market nigh on 30 years ago.

I took a couple of pictures using the same exposure settings on the camera - this lamp is mounted on a wall fitting, and the switch is on the same wall maybe 4ft away.
First (and out of focus) the 11W CFL:

and the 6W LED:


Once I get the floodlights installed, I'll take some photos.

I think LED is the future

For what it's worth our host Paul Wheaton has some thoughts on CFLs.

CFLs really bug me.

Terribly unhealthy things when they break.

Far shorter than claimed lifespan from nearly all of the brands I've tried... and the one that was doing well, I can no longer find!

Poorly suited to any use where frequently turned on and off... so, most uses!


LEDs are excellent; I've got an armytek flashlight with a neutral white LED and it is just such good light.

LED should be the present, not just the future... sadly LED bulbs for use in household applications are far behind what the LEDs themselves can offer. If the situation isn't better once I own a dwelling, I'll be rather tempted to order a bucket of good LEDs and build something from bits, properly cooled and in the spectrum mix I prefer... Bonus: if it's off grid; it can just all stay DC and be that much more efficient.

I replaced all of my lights with LEDs. I can turn on every light in the house, and only draw 0.86 amps, 120 volt here in the U.S. My two oldest globes produce light of questionable quality. The more recent purchases are as good as an incandescent bulb. I dig 'em.

Cheers,
DB

I stocked up on all incandescent, we don't use the lights terribly often in the summer, in the winter they are electric powered space heaters. I don't like cfl's and have heard some scary stuff about health problems with led's as well. I have a few cfls in some random places but when they burn out they will get incandescents.