LED GU10 downlighters.. experiences?

[daz]

Good thing about the LEDs too is they're stone cold to touch when on, bloody halogens can take your skin off. That's where the leccys going - heat not light!

Exactly! I only go for LED lights now.

[vetran]

My brother has LED in his kitchen and I was unimpressed with the light level.

The wife and I looked at some LED ones for our kitchen and they were quite expensive, wasn't sure if they would pay for themselves.

May look again as the technology improves.

nearly mature.

4.5 W can produce ~ 35w so if its bright with 50watts then it will be acceptable on LEDs. make sure you see them in comparison the efficiency varies.

they last for years and cost a <3rd to run so its a no brainer.

[redgiant]

I've just bought two types to see which one is the best. I had a couple for free LEDs for a year and not that impressed with the amount and colour of the light produced compared with the halogens. Now the halogen GU10s are hard to find I've looked again and have found these two on Amazon which I've ordered one of each:

£9.99 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

£11.99 - Aurora 6W GU10 LED Light Bulbs Warm White 3000k 50W Equivalent (Higher Quality than other LED GU10 Energy Saving Lamps - 4 Year Guarantee) Perfect Size Retrofit: Amazon.co.uk: Lighting

So the two pound extra bulb gets you a brighter light (not much), no warranty and it's slower to turn on. Buying a humble light bulb has never been so complicated ... Decisions ... Decisions ... Decisions!

[northernladuk]

Well I plumped for for a couple of these babies...

HUGE DISCOUNTS on GU10 LED Bulb 220 Lumens 45W Equiv

in warm and normal light and they are bloody bright. The warm light ones actually seem brighter than the halogens as the halogen has a smaller cone of light. These things have 120 degrees so light the wall much higher so the hall way was much brighter. Going to take some getting used to.

One downside is the actual LED's are right next to the glass where as a halogen has the light source higher in the bulb. It means you get glare from the LED as they are visible. Slightly annoying so I am going to order some of these instead...

*New* 4.5 Watt GU10 COB Bulb - Wide Beam Angle - GU10 LED - LED Spotlights

Light source is higher in the bulb so slighly smaller cone of light so will feedback when I get them.

The LED's are very impressive though, bordering on too bright. Just a matter of getting used to it.

[d000hg]

Just getting back into some DIY after years renting, so a bit out of touch... with these lights do you get a single control box to the mains and then plug in multiple lights with bits of dinky wire, or are they more like old fashioned lights that just 'plumb in' to the mains direct?

[redgiant]

Just getting back into some DIY after years renting, so a bit out of touch... with these lights do you get a single control box to the mains and then plug in multiple lights with bits of dinky wire, or are they more like old fashioned lights that just 'plumb in' to the mains direct?

There are two types of GU10 fittings that I have seen. One that runs at 240v so the bulb just plugs straight in and the other has a transformer in each fitting to bring the voltage down to what ever is required by the bulb.

I went for the 240v fittings as I read that the transformers frequently break and make noises when the lights are on.

[BoredBloke]

We bought some bulbs yesterday. One type had a 10 year warranty! Who the frig keeps a lightbulb receipt for a £5 bulb for 10 years!

[fullyautomatix]

My halogens lasted a couple of hours

Replaced with LED and they have been going for a few weeks now.

[northernladuk]

Ok, final update on my results for those that are interested.

I got some of these

and they are pretty much perfect for what I wanted. The colour is virtually the same as the halogens if you go for the warm white, slightly lighter but liveable with. The beam angle of 90 degrees is better than the halogen but enough still to create a shape on the wall making the blank walls less bland. The 120 degree ones lit everything much higher up but no interesting shape on the wall so made it look a bit bland if that makes sense.
The lighting element is much brighter than a halogen if you are stupid enough to stare at it but because it is recessed in to the bulb you can't see the light source if you were looking down a corridor for example. The other ones that have the light source right at the glass meant it was a bit blinding as you were looking directly at the source even down a corridor. Light wise they are almost exactly the same as the halogen. Very happy with these.

Will be placing an order for a crap load of dimmable ones of these as soon as a decent discount code appears on the site.

[eek]

Will be placing an order for a crap load of dimmable ones of these as soon as a decent discount code appears on the site.

15% not decent?