I have your problem. Philips makes no flicker LEDs, they don't have PWM like the Hue system, and good capacitors so no 60hz flicker. They're the "Ultra Definition Eye Comfort" models.
kinda, but you're also not buying a mini space heater.
Average lifespan of an incandescent bulb is about 1,000 hours. For a typical 60 watt bulb, that means it burns 60 kWh in electricity over the course of it's life. At $0.20/kWh, that means an incandescent is going to cost you $12 in electricity over its lifetime.
A Philips Ulta-Definition 4-pack of 60W-equivalent is $11.53 on amazon today, or $2.88 / bulb. That $3 bulb is actually 8W. So over those same 1,000 hours, that's 8 kWh, or $1.6 in electricity costs. So the $3 bulb saves you $10 in lifetime electricity costs vs. one incandescent.
But those bulbs are rated for 15,000 hours. Lets assume they all lie and deflate that by 1/3 (maybe a power surge will hit a few years in). That single $3 bulb still saves you 10 x $10 = $100 in electricity costs vs incandescents over its useful life. A bit more if you pay California electricity rates, a bit less if you live near some hydro co-op. But the difference is large enough that the effect is true no matter where you are.
So yeah, top-range lamps give better results than the cheapo stuff, but top range isn't that much more expensive, and the lifetime savings of going to LED are hard to ignore -- op-ex vs. cap-ex if you will.
Personally, I'd pay a lot more in electricity costs to have light that has full spectrum output. The Waveform lights I bought are about $40/bulb, and they're nicer than the Philips I tried, but they're still not as nice as a regular full spectrum incandescent.
But I also live in a small NYC apartment, so I don't have your typical suburban house with 20+ light fixtures to deal with, I only have 6.
You're suggesting that LED light bulbs need replacing every year, which hasn't been my experience (like, at all). I switched over to LED bulbs 10 or so years ago and haven't had to replace a single one yet.
I’ve got outdoor LED lights that fail constantly. So often that I keep dozens of them in storage to replace them as they die. Much less reliable than the incandescents they replaced. I’m fact, I have a string of about 50 sockets, about half are still incandescents that have survived for 10+ years, and the other half are LEDs that I have to keep replacing. Sadly, whenever an incandescent light goes, I have to replace it with the crappy LED version, so eventually it will be 100% crap.
Incandescent has other advantages. For example, in winter time if it is cold and it is also dark in winter time, then the heat can be beneficial. In summer time you should not need the light so much since there is already the light. Either way you should not need to use the light too often, and if you do not use the light too often then you can save energy by that too, and does not need to be replace as often.
Of course, that electricity could still better be used to power a heat pump. Or the money saved on electricity could be spent on insulation, or, more likely, used to buy natural gas / propane which is usually extremely cheap per unit of energy.
I really hate modern technology sometimes. I have nothing against being more energy efficient, running cooler, lasting longer, but we're losing some great things along the road.
I have to pay 3x the price for a CRI>90 LED w.r.t. a CRI>80 one. At least the price difference brings better light quality regardless of CRI (soft start, dimmability, even less flicker, better light distribution). On the other hand, I'm happy that I can get halogen bulbs if I really want to.
The problem comes from losing past frames of reference. We say "we're at 99% of benefit parity with the previous generation", but this 1% losses compensate every generation, and now we live in a more efficient, but arguably less comfortable life.
A couple of Technology Connections (this guy is nuts when it comes to LEDs, in a good way) videos on the subject:
I would rather buy a incandescent light (even if I have to pay 3x or 5x) which is not as bright as the LED (forty watts or possibly even lower, should be sufficient; I have a few 40W incandescent light and they are good enough), and then not turn it on in the day time when it is light outside.
(Unfortunately, other people where I live like to turn on the light even in the day time and that bothers me.)
You can buy an E27 halogen bulb around 50 watts (which would be around 100W incandescent) and pair it with a universal dimmer.
It'd provide you nice warm light, and will allow to flood the space with bright light if the need arises. Neither of them are expensive. Halogen bulbs are also CRI100, so their color rendering is not different from incandescent bulbs.
Turning on lights when you have ample sun is not a wise choice, I agree.
On older LEDs you could replace the caps, but newer ones use SMT caps that require more than just a soldering iron. It makes a huge difference, and also eliminates the slight delay when switching the lamp on (though I don't recall experiencing this with recent LED lamps, even cheap ones).
searched for images of "LED bulb teardown", the SMT components are not that tiny, so quite possible to solder with a regular iron. Am I missing something?
You can cut them open with box cutters. You don't even have to glue them shut, just cut 270° and seal with electrical tape after. Ali Express has white electrical tape if you prefer.
