Has anyone found a good source for LED light bulbs yet. I hear they are expensive but that they use so little electricity and last for a really really long time. I want to try some out and see if its worth it.

On that note, does anyone know how they really perform?

I have only seen these online at a few places and I think they are just too expensive right now. I wouldn't bother until the price comes down. Let some fat cat rich guy pay all the higher prices for research and development, I think CFLs are fine for right now.

I saw one of these online and it cost $120 for a 50 watt equivalent. That is what was considered a high output bulb too. You have to be kidding me. That is ridiculous. I can buy an incandescent for less than a dollar. So unless these things last 120 years, you are just throwing away your money.

are you talking about the geobulb? I find it ridiculous. I have heard it has a ten year lifespan. So for $12 a year you can have one light bulb that sucks only 7.5 watts. Doesn't seem even close to financially feasible.

These bulbs are definitely not for the money saver in the bunch. Eventually the price will come down. I did see an add in National Geographic where they don't mention the price of the bulb but do say that you save $5.40 per year in electricity when you use this bulb. That means a savings of $54.00 over the life of the bulb. That sounds stupid to me. I will spend $120 to save $54. REALLY?

So the answer is no. LED light bulbs are still not worth it. Do you have a website for that really expensive one, I would like to see it.

http://www.earthled.com/products.html

http://www.ccrane.com/lights/led-light-bulbs/geobulb/

http://www.lighting.philips.com/in_en/global_sites/led_lighting/products/master_led/index.php?main=gb_en&parent=1&id=in_en_led_lighting&lang=en

Its a burgeoning market, so the prices are coming down as the technology is going up.

The price is coming down, but the best ones are still basically 40 watt equivalent bulbs and only useful for general lighting. The CFL is still a better choice as it can be used for task and general lighting. The LED still needs work.

I don't recommend LED just yet. If you have the up front funds, then you are good to go, but they are very expensive and from my experience, the color rendering and output just isn't what most people expect from a light bulb. There will be continual improvements, but for now, I just don't think they are up to snuff.

I love the idea and the prices are falling pretty quickly. I think people need not be so quick to write off the LED bulb as an overpriced underperformer and test one out in an application or two at home.

I don't see this as viable as a replacement for either incandescent or CFL yet. If I replaced all the bulbs in my house (note that this would be a reduction in output with only 40-60 watt "equivalent outputs), it would cost me over $2000. That just isn't reasonable and I don't know many people who would disagree.

Its not viable today, but someday the prices will come down and hopefully the outputs will come up. I have tested one of these and I must say that while I was surprised by the output, it still fell short of CFLs as an incandescent replacement. That was well over a year ago, so the tech may have solved the problems, but you won't see me investing in a new bulb any time soon.

Anyone seen any new research on LEDs. I have seen so many of these lately and I just wanted to know if anyone has seen new info.

Geobulb II seems to get some great press on some sites, but I also caught wind of a competition like the X-Prize that the US DOE is putting on. Anyone heard anything like that?

The competition is called the L-prize and to date there is only one entry. The winning bulb with be an LED that outperforms traditional 60 watt incandescent at a fraction of the energy usage and lasts 20+ times longer than those old bulbs. Its not so easy though. Most of the LED bulbs out there that claim to replace the 60 watt incandescent fall well short of the 850 lumens that it would take.

The L-prize sound pretty cool. I hope that Philips or some one else really does bring this to market. Is there a website for this competition? Has anyone seen a picture of this bulb?

Even if there is an LED 60 watt equivalent, who has the money to replace a whole house worth of light bulbs with new ones that cost 40-100 dollars each?

Gavin, yest they are expensive, and once the price comes down everyone will be buying them. The color rendering isn't the best yet, but its improving. The fact is they last 4-5 times longer than CFLs and use less energy. Right now the costs over time end up being similar to that of a CFL, but the performance just isn't there yet.

Four years to phase in non-incandescents. Sounds fair. I say replace bulbs now with CFLs and then when they burn out, dispose of them correctly and buy LEDs that by then will be cheaper, higher performing and worth the investment.

I saw a great company pushing how we will use LED lighting. Check them out. http://www.creelighting.com/