LED lights, choices...overwhelmed

[Whitworth]

Hi, I'm looking to replace all the lights in the shop with LED. Currently I have 24 can lights with compact fluorescent flood light style bulbs.

The situation is I do NOT have any trim pieces to the cans (Halo brand), and see that LEDs are available as just the bulb or a bulb/trim piece combo unit. Prices are all over the place, bulbs @ $9ish, combo units range from about $14 to almost $30 a piece.

If I buy bulbs and Halo trim pieces that add into the equation, I think about $40 for a box of 6.

So I could conceivably spend as much as $700 to replace. I don't mind paying for quality, what are your experiences with LED brands and particularly the combo units?

What concerns me most if I go that route is if a lamp fails down the road and that model/brand is discontinued I might have to go with a mismatch for a replacement unit.

This is a relatively new consumer technology/product, and prices may go down and quality may change, so should I just hold off for now?

Thanks,

Gary

 

[Showkey]

I would wait .........prices are dropping like a rock. Very possible that $700 price tag will be $300 is 12-18 months.

If you must buy now look for a power companies rebate. Costco in some areas was offering a power company rebate where standard LED 60 watt equivalent was $1.00 per bulb. The BR30 flood 75 watt equivalent were $3.00 per bulb.

Your saving are not going to be "night and day" coming from CFL bulbs. The real saving is replacing standard bulbs with LED. As for pricing CFL bulbs can now be found for .30 per bulb when purchased in a multipack. Remember when CFL where an expensive alternative.

 

[Norcal]

Make sure your LED retrofits are UL classified to be used in the Halo cans, cans are UL listed for specific can/lamp/trim combinations, so a retrofit should be evaluated for that can.

 

[My Old Tools]

We have been replacing all the bulbs in our house with Feit bulbs from Costco. They are about 2 for $15 now for PAR 30, a bit more for PAR 38. Regular 100w replacements are 3 for $15 or so.

 

[cybrdyke]

If you care how they look, you should have a trim. If it's just a grungy shop, then no one usually cares.
I'd get the LED trims. You can get them for about $20 and they'll use 11-ish watts. There's not alot of energy dollars to be saved, but considering the time spent changing bulbs and getting rid of the sucky CFL's is worth it in my opinion.
I dont think you can consider LED technology new anymore. It's been a legit product for several years. When these trims first came out, they were pretty horrible. Now, they're excellent. Here's a decent one:http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-65W-Equivalent-Daylight-5-6-in-Retrofit-Trim-Recessed-Downlight-Dimmable-LED-Flood-Light-Bulb-E-800060/205943570
If you choose to skip the trims, you should use BR30 bulbs, not PAR bulbs, unless your ceiling is really high. PAR bulbs have a beam angle of about 40 degrees or tighter, not enough to spread light around. BR bulbs have a beam angle of 120 degrees, which is much better for general illumination.
Good luck
CD

 

[woodzy]

If they are just pointing straight down, I would go with the retrofit kit and just wait until there is a sale. Menards in our area had them for 19.00 for a two pack. On my new house, I have about 80 of these - some are different brands and normally I added these in groups of two rooms so in the event one of them went bad, I could replace it with one from another room and then I would just replace one room with a new style. It seems like a different style comes out about every few months.

Hopefully they are not on the same circuit and you should get dimmable lights as I think at full power they are extremely bright.