Journal timothy's Journal: Glad Tidings! No. 3: LED lamp (a decent early entrant) 4
Sunday before last, I stopped at the Walmart at exit 200 (north of Seattle) for my usual dazed stumble through the wonders of modern mass commerce. I was looking, among other things, for an architect's lamp -- the kind that clamp to the edge of a drafting table. This, I did not find, but I did find and buy two other interesting things:
1) A very expensive lightbulb. Philips-branded, 10-watt LED bulb, Cree-based, quad-emitter, claims 200 lumens, feels rather hefty in its (aluminum?) finned, long-necked glory. An otherwise identically specced / packaged / priced bulb with a shorter neck was also available, and perhaps I should have gone for that one instead. I chose the long-neck, thinking I would put it into a gooseneck lamp I have; turns out, this bulb is just a touch wide for its tapering shade, even with the long neck. $40 and tax for a lightbulb seems like rather a lot, I realize, but that's what I get to do for not taking up smoking or gambling many years ago. (This is my cigarette and gambling money!) Though it's billed as a floodlight, that's a generous description -- beam is fairly tight. Certainly wider than some LED bulbs, though. Warmish, "incandescent" cast -- really not bad. I like having a bulb that I can leave on without much worry about either the electricity consumed or the bulb's lifespan, and with IMO a much nicer color than typical CFLs. I'm aware that the economics are a bit silly, but so is saving money on a play to see a cheaper one you don't care for.
2) Unexpectedly, I also found a small articulated mains-powered LED desk lamp, the same sort of thing I mentioned being in search of a few weeks back. This is the sort of lamp that would have been equipped w/ a small (very hot!) halogen bulb not long ago, and cost considerably more. It took me a while to find a price, in fact, but eventually I found a store clerk who scanned the box for me, and pleasantly surprised me: $19-and-change. The lamp comes just-about fully assembled; just need to extract the body from the compact box, and secure it (captive thumbscrew) to the weighted base. Plug it in -- two-prong outlet, flip the switch, and don't have the lamp pointed at your eyes. The switch is conveniently on the cord, rather than the lamp base. Convenient for me, at least; ymmv. The beam color of this no-name lamp is a bit harsher / colder than the Philips bulb, but a) the whole thing is half the price and b) I don't find the blueish, cooler cast at all unpleasant. It uses a grid of 16 LEDs; the box is vague about rating. Happy overkill as an over-the-shoulder reading lamp, though. I'm using it next to my small, lofted bed, with the business end pointed at the ceiling, so the beam is slightly mellowed by the bounce.
Wow, 10 watts?! (Score:2)
That Philips led-bulb has a hefty wattage. 10 watts for a LED-bulb is nothing to sneeze at. I'm also surprised your describing it as an 'incandescent cast'. In your opinion, are we at the point where the light is cozy enough to switch over to LED lighting?
Re: (Score:1)
The color of this one is IMO completely comparable to a typical incandescent bulb. The *spread* is not, but depending on the application that may not matter. I have right now both the bulb (in a torchiere lamp base, pointed at the -- rather low -- ceiling) and the articulated lamp lit; huge difference in the color. The Philips one is white-veering-toward-yellow; I don't think anyone would balk based on the color if I said the light was coming from a conventional bulb. I think this, with the right lamp housi
Bluish (Score:2)
Outside light on a sunny day is bluish. People think a more bluish light is "harsh" because they're used to yellowish incandescant bulbs when indoors, which don't have anywhere near natural light. Their color is as unnatural as flourescants, but it's just that you're use to that unnatural color.
Re: (Score:1)
Even sunlight (natural as it is) can seem pretty "unnatural," depending on time of day, reflective materials, transmission through other materials (like the leaves of trees), etc. Not always unappealingly so, either!
timothy