You've got a lot of good options these days, so there's really no need to compromise. Like I said, LEDs like these are designed to be durable and waterproof and last years, so it's well worth buying ones that you'll actually like living with. They're also just really damned good at taking pictures of light bulbs.Īll of that said, the most important thing isn't what I think when I'm taking readings in our lighting lab - it's what you and your family think after screwing the bulbs in and turning them on in your living room or other area. Our photo and video team (Tyler Lizenby, Chris Monroe and Vanessa Salas here in Louisville) are a huge help at this point, with standardized photography that lets us take a really close look at those metrics. Once a bulb we're testing is done in the lab, we take a close look at things like light spread, tone and color quality. At that point, I plug the sphere's power cord into a variety of dimmer switches, then measure for the average maximum and minimum settings across all of them while also keeping a close lookout for flicker or buzz. We log those brightness measurements every 10 minutes for 90 minutes, then take a final reading at the end. Instead, the bulb's light bounces around inside, which lets our spectrometer take reliable, calibrated measurements for things like brightness and color temperature. Our spectrometer peeks in through a tiny hole in the side of the sphere, with a "baffle" that blocks it from looking directly at the light bulb. We load each bulb we test into the center of our integrating sphere - a big, hollow ball with special, reflective paint coating the inside. The best I've tested is still the Lutron Caseta line of smart switches, but keep an eye out this year for new, relatively low-cost smart switches from GE.Ī peek inside our integrating sphere. If you've got a bank of floodlight bulbs overhead that are all wired to one switch, smartening up one switch instead of several bulbs might be the better way to go, anyway. You might need to teach your kids to leave the switch up so your automations will work as planned, but there are new solutions for that age-old problem" target="_blank coming out this year, too.īeyond that, you could always smarten up any of the dumb bulbs recommended in this post by pairing them with a smart switch that's wired into your wall. You won't need to use dimmer switches associated with those light fixtures at all. With bulb-specific dimming hardware built right in, most smart bulbs will dim with flawless, flicker- and buzz-free precision via their app or through some other integration like an Amazon Alexa voice command. Smart bulbs are a great choice if you're picky about dimming. Those three can all control Sengled and Sylvania bulbs, too, as can other Zigbee controllers like the SmartThings Hub. Hue bulbs require the Philips Hue Bridge, an Amazon Echo Plus or a second-gen Echo Show. Just keep in mind that, except for Lifx bulbs, which communicate using Wi-Fi, all of these smart lights require a Zigbee hub that can translate the bulb's signals into something your router can understand. Payback period (if replacing a matching incandescent)įive, affordable new smart switches will join the C by GE smart lighting lineup this year. No (faint buzz, flicker on older rotary dials) Yearly energy cost ($0.11 per kWh, 3 hrs of use per day) That means if you already sprung for something like a solar light or a floodlight with a motion sensor, upgrading the bulb won't negate the improvements you've already made. Don't worry about whether or not these things offer easy installation - all you have to do is screw them into your existing fixtures. You'll find plenty of LED floodlight bulb picks in your local lighting aisle that are bright, dimmable, efficient, durable and more affordable than ever.Īnd because your typical LED light has a lifespan that lasts years or even decades, it'll be a long while before you have to break out the ladder again to replace a bulb. If that's what you're working with and you're looking to upgrade wide-beam light bulbs like those, you'll almost certainly want to go with an LED over incandescent bulbs or a fluorescent model. Overhead BR30 (or bulging reflector) floodlights in recessed-lighting setups are what you'll get for an indoor or outdoor space. You can't just buy any old smart light and hope it works. Finding the best LED floodlight bulb can be a daunting task when considering the right brightness, color temperature and energy-saving capabilities. There are plenty of reasons to use floodlights around your house, whether for security purposes or aesthetics.
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