This is so true. I don't need lead on to results. If I'm respected and not talked down to in a video, I'll rewatch it a few times just to make sure I've got out of the video all I can. That means multiple views.
Man, you nailed it, and I mean that you know what viewers want right from the get-go. It was so refreshing to see the final conclusion and test result at the beginning of your video. You are awesome, keep it up.
Yeah, hiding the results doesn't protect anything. I use Revanced to watch TH-cam and someone marks the important bit by the time I watch and I would skip to it anyway.
The LED filaments like in the Phillips bulb are not individual LEDs. They're a series string of about a dozen emitters mounted on a rigid substrate, then coated with phosphor. So, the Phillips bulb doesn't have 4 LEDs, it has something like 48. If you remove one of the filaments from a bulb and slowly increase the voltage across it with an adjustable power supply, you'll be able to see the individual emitters when they begin to light up.
Yup, Philips made a killer slimline version before with the same type of tech. Had them for over a decade, zero issues, and they draw 7.2 of the listed 8W while emitting the listed lumen count. They also make their Hue line, which is just absurdly nice ARGBW for your home.
This is probably why the failure mode I've been experiencing with them seems like a string or two of the LEDs are flickering then dying. While some of the light still works, which results in a bulb that flickers between bright and dim and eventually just stays dim.
I found this video recommended on the migraine subreddit talking about how amazing these Phillips bulbs are for people like us. Bought a pair to use in my bedside lamps and WOW. No migraines. Truly flicker-free, even plugged into dimmer switches. Life-changing. Thank you so much!!!
@adamwalter2573 it may be a bit low for daylight, but very calming for the latter part of the day as well as for anyone with migraines probably throughout. With that said, on the strength of this video review I bough about 20 of these Phillips Ultra Definition LED bulbs, and 3 of them have failed so far (i.e. within a year of ~50% daily use.). One just quit, but the other two started badly flickering (even with no dimming applied).
You did something I've always wanted to see in a review: the answer in the first 20 seconds with a follow-on to see why that one was the top pick. What's surprising is how well it worked and even more surprising is the reaction to it. Respect. I've had that idea floating around in my head for years and its great to see it in practice and also nice to see it didn't run people off - you have nearly 300,000 views on this. Well done sir!
Look man, Immediately gave me the answer, and THEN proceeded to explain things that I have been wondering my whole life, even as a complete LED lightbulb fanatic. absolutely incredible!
This is the most extensive and up-to-date comparison I've watched. Rob tests the essential features and provides measurements that matters to me, an average consumer. It's also a great plus that he explains his methodologies in an understandable manner. I also appreciate that Rob starts of with the conclusion, but I continue to watch the rest of the video for the comprehensive comparisons. If you find value in his videos, please consider tapping the $Thanks button.
I appreciate the kind words (and thanks)! My secret is that these videos are also super interesting to me. After I came in from collecting data in the garage I said to my wife "I can't wait to get into this spreadsheet".
@@TheHookUpI data gathering aspect is what I appreciate the most! I'll definitely keep a couple of screenshots of the graphs for future reference and review them when I go to Home Depot
@@TheHookUp Thank you! My EMF groups will be very interested in the results of your tests. Limiting blue light and flicker are very important and hopefully, less harmful to our eyesight.
@@lawabidingcitizen5153 🤔 Surely that would depend on frequency, amplitude, duration of exposure and countless other factors? Exposure limits for RF radiation have been established by various organizations around the world. So the reason that EMF doesn't cause us any harm _in practice_ is because we apply those standards.
I'm still desperately searching the Philips equivalent reference for Europe : "Ultra Definition" range is unknown there. Instead Philips have a 50year lifespan product. Thanks you so much for your work, integrity and for still dealing with a web site !
I was going to ask how the flicker statistics translate to 230 V, thank you for making me aware that the winner is not even available for us. Great video even if not applicable to me.
@@helvettefaensatan There's no difference in flicker between 120 & 230 vac bulbs, the amount of flicker is dependent on the frequency, not the voltage. As explained in the video, US is 60 Hz or cycles / second while Europe and much of the world runs at 50 Hz which will result in a slightly slower flicker rate of 100 Hz vs 120 Hz in the US.
I have epilepsy, and I am very sensitive to flicker. The incandescent ban really freaked me out because there are MILLIONS of people with epilepsy and I knew LEDs messed with my head, so testing these really really helped! Thank you so much for this test! Whenever my bulbs die I will definitely look back on these tests!
I paid ~$60 for a single Phillips Endura over ten years ago when LEDs were brand new and squiggly bulbs were popular. Actually I bought six. They’re still working with moderate use. Most of the other no-name models, and even Sylvanias, made between 2010-2020 have been replaced and never lived up to their long life claims.
A reminder that back in the day all the light bulb manufacturers literally got together and determined to stop making light bulbs so good because people weren't having to keep buying light bulbs.
I bought 4 3W LED bulbs from some rando brand back in 2011, and only one of them failed last year. Granted that one was used about 30% of the time, and he other much less so. Since then I've purchased 3W leds from other brands but these randos outlived all of them.
@@JZStudiosonline Well there's a little more to that; with incandescents, the trade-off was efficiency & color temperature vs lifetime and it was based on the physics of filament temperature. Yes there definitely was a cartel deciding the lifetime but they weren't really screwing anyone over except in the case where bulbs were difficult to reach to swap out. In that case one might elect to spend more on electricity to extend the change interval. However, these days, it's possible to make light bulbs that will outlive the buyer without technical compromise and there is some business motivation to not do that.
This blew me away: you tested everything I would have thought of and some I wouldn't; you didn't insult your audience; and, best of all, you didn't waste time, which so many TH-cam technical presenters do. (If anything it was slightly _too_ fast, but then I can always pause - that's easier than skipping through waffle.) From a UK (50 Hz mains!) reader. (I probably can't get most of the bulbs you mention, and would need a 230-240 volt version anyway, but you showed me the sort of things to look for. Though I don't think most of the bulbs available here have anything like the amount of information you found - I think they'd mostly only have watts, lumens, and maybe colour temperature.)
I thought it was gonna be clickbait. But the fact you told the result at the start had me watch everything and thumbs up. Thanks for this, I am angery at the LEDs due to shit dimming and flicker and all
I'm disappointed to see how many Amazon reviewers experienced early failure with the recommended Philips Ultra Definition bulbs. As I write this, 16% of 1049 customer ratings were 1-star, with almost all of the customer-documented discontent relating to failed bulbs. Just a word to the wise that besides even the best of expert reviews, the wisdom of crowds should also be taken into account.
The dirty little secret about LED bulbs that I learned from the technology connections youtube channel is that they are specified to operate at a certain temperature range, for this Phillips bulb it’s 104° maximum temperature. So the problem is when you put these bulbs inside of a for example of domed ceiling light where the heat gets trapped in there, it will get above that temperature and the bulbs will fail. I’m not sure if Phillips sells the bulb that’s rated higher than 104.
I’m one of those people with a bad story. Of the 33 Philips 60W equivalent Ultra Definition bulbs I’ve installed in my home, 32 have failed. I documented my experience in a separate comment.
With the conclusion at the beginning of the video, it still encourages to watch the entire video to figure out why and if some people are in a hurry and trust you they can just get the info instead. Thank you!!
This is probably the most useful video I've seen this year. Incredible work, and thank you so much for testing the 5000k version. I recently got some Waveform bulbs to test before biting the bullet and upgrading my whole house. They really do have incredible quality light. But one advantage you didn't mention that the Philips has over the Waveform is that the light is better diffused. My current bulbs are ~6 yr. old Philips Glass LEDs, and it turns out that the full glass bulb actually changes the light output significantly. The plastic enclosure on the waveform means the light is overly directional - not great in, say, a chandelier. Even in bathroom lights, this reduces the ambient light going up toward the ceiling, making the room feel darker at the same lumen output. I've been on the fence due to the expense, but these FAR cheaper bulbs look like the way to go! FYI waveform does actually sell dimmable bulbs, but only in extra warm soft white. They are excellent.
Bought these bulbs before watching this video and think they are great. They don’t look weird like other LED bulbs with no obnoxious fins and plastic exposed and the light looks much better than my old LED bulbs. Great Recommendation.
Phillips was my conclusion as well. The others, even if they're fine when purchased, will eventually flicker. I initially chased my tail checking for wiring issues with a digital scope, but realized it was the bulbs. Forums indicated that manufacturers use cheap regulators, even on high-end bulbs, and they degrade over time. They all recommended Phillips as having a quality regulator. We switched to those LED bulbs, and haven't had a flicker since.
That is what I always wanted to know is which actual component was causing led bulbs to not reach anywhere near their life expectancy! Because I knew the Chinese manufacturers will always cheap out on electronic components and . not build to last. Always just designing for cost per unit and sell to suckers in other countries!
Amazing video! Thank you so much for your thorough work! CRI/RA is the absolute most important for me, and my rule of thumb is: If a bulb states 'minimum 80 RA' or similar it means: not good enough. Always go for CRI/RA of minimum 90.
Probably gonna be the norm relatively soon, with Philips just pushing it first. I cannot find these on the German market, though, and I only tolerate high CRI, too, and I am still wondering how well these emulate the natural light spectrum as a whole. Because daylight bulbs are frickin' expensive, and the LED based ones don't even provide UV anymore, which is weird, since you can generate UV via LEDs. (And not having vitamin D generation anymore is especially an issue for office spaces and thus societal health.)
@@Dowlphin I'm almost certain these are called "Master Value LEDBulb" in Europe. They state >90 CRI, dimmable and are of the same full-glass bulb style. 5,9W (60W equivalent) matte finish would cost €3,50 in NL. Exact product ID: MAS VLE LEDBulb D5.9-60W E27 927 A60 FRG Enjoy!
@@nervousbreakdown4506 I find nothing. There is UK, Russia, Lithuania, and the only Germany Philips links are dead, and some GErman Amazon listings only show very weird designs and only in warm white. This is the big plague. High CRI for 2700K is the damn easiest thing. And despite that, in hardware stores and such 95% of all bulbs offered are 2700K CRI >80. And unlike Osram, Philips doesn't even print CRI on the box.
Unfortunately, the producers are gaming the system again. A lot of the CRI > 90 bulbs have a strong green-yellowish cast. They exploit the rating, as it doesn't measure the whole spectrum. Then, certain reds are very weak, giving an unbalanced overall impression. Phillips (Signify) is good though, I have a lot of their dim to warm products, within a certain range, they are very close to incandescent bulbs.
The Hook Up is the most trustworthy household electronic device evaluation channel on TH-cam. The attention to detail and in-depth explanations are just outstanding.
This is the only kind of hook up that I appreciate. Thank you for getting to the point right away and for giving us the evaluations after. Then going back to give us the choice bulb along with others that ranked behind it the most. I hope that you will be the example for other content creators with your honesty and straightforwardness. Thank you.
Having previously worked in the lighting industry, I'm quite impressed with how much technical knowledge you have on the subject. I'm sure doing this video included a certain amount of research, but you were quite thorough and I'm impressed you bought a flicker meter. One of my biggest complaints at my house is I seem to have somewhat "dirty" power that causes cheaper bulbs to fluctuate in brightness on a regular basis, likely due to inferior capacitors used for surge suppression. As mentioned by someone else, I would have liked to see more Big Box house brands tested, like EcoSmart, since most people I know pick up their bulbs at the local hardware store. Also, I'd like to see more people start using the lumen output to refer to bulbs these days. Saying "60W equivalent" will eventually mean nothing, when the younger generations have never bought an incandescent 60W bulb. I recommend people look for 800 lumen bulbs instead of 60W. And for the life of me, I don't understand people who install "daylight" or 5,500K color temp bulbs in their living areas at home. I understand it seems "brighter" but it also makes your living room look like the interior of a self-storage building.
I'm lucky to have a lot of base knowledge to fall back on at this point, so learning a new topic is fun and not too daunting. I did note smoothing capacitor sizes when I was doing my teardowns. The GE bulbs use 47uF, Philips is 33uF, and the Waveform uses a massive 150uF cap which explains its super low flicker value.
Here in India, everyone uses the actual wattage to refer to LED bulbs. 9W is standard for retrofits, 20W for fluorescent tubes. If you think 5500K is too cold, welcome to India, where we have 6500K "cool daylight" as the bog standard. Warmth is not a particularly valued property here in the tropics.
This is fantastic, better than anything I’ve seen on Consumer Reports! Thank you for all the hard work. This inspired me to join with a Patreon subscription.
TH-cam beats Consumer Reports any day of the week as long as you can find unsponsored content (which can be difficult sometimes depending on the topic).
I have bought loads of the Philips Ultra Definition bulbs in all sorts of sizes and find them every bit as good as you say. The icing on the cake (and the reason I bought them) is the "warm glow" dimming effect, which you didn't mention.
yeah, i was also wondering why the warm glow effect had not been mentioned. it is the most important thing when it comes to dimming, creating a comforting effect of a sunset. i just dont get why almost nobody cares about this, manufacturers included. there were some around a couple of years ago, but nowadays they seem to be extremly rare. i wished these had become a standard to replace incandescent bulbs just 1:1, but obviously it seems to be something like rocket science oO ..... (and i just dont want those super fancy RGB smarthome bulbs which at least require an app on the smartphone etc... and CRI is also said not to be the best... )
I was absolutely surprised to hear the answer in first few seconds of the video. No cheap tricks, no mincing water in cup. Still watched entire video and liked :) Great informative video! Thanks
Well done mate. In Europe I can reccomend Philips Master ExpertColor spots in GU10 97CRI in 25 and 36 degrees - perfect with a Shelly Dimmer. Also Philips Master DimTone E27 with 1500 lumens and CRI90.
Thank you for literally "putting your money where your mouth is" and doing the actual testing to get real world results. With all those light bulbs, you should be full of bright ideas! :)
I have been waiting for someone to do something like this for years. I did my own tests, definitely not as thorough and landed on Philips bulbs 8 years ago at nearly $22 per bulb. Fast forward to a few years ago, I added more lights to my house, I wanted something that had better CRI and better dimming performance on smart dimmers. I went with Philips again in 2019ish and... they were horrible. They had a very noticeable light output fluctuation below 60% and dimming performance seemed stepped. I was able to get some old stock Philips Warm Glows which were pretty good, but not great. Once again, about a year ago I got the bug again and tested 10 bulbs across Zooz, Inovelli, GE, and Homeseer dimmers. The Philips Ultra High Definition came out so superior that I actually thought I had a few defective bulbs from other highly respected brands like Cree. Nope... These Philips bulbs really are that amazing. It wasn't even close. I bought 6 extra boxes this time just in case Philips decides to do something stupid again and mess up their amazing design. Awesome video! Thanks for scientifically validating what I found. I feel that much better with my decision. Keep it up! I'm going through your back catalog now to pick my next camera. Such great content.
The origin story of this video is actually very similar. I bought a set of the Philips Ultra Def bulbs in May and when I installed them they were so much better than anything else I'd ever used that I assumed there had been some breakthrough in technology. I wanted to know if every new LED bulb was that good or if it was just the Philips. So I did what any reasonable person would do and bought $1500 of lightbulb testing equipment and $600 of bulbs to know for sure.
@@TheHookUpand this is why we are thankful for you. What about testing LED wafer lights since you've got the gear now? I'm specifically interested in the capability of the newer "warm dimming" or "dim to warm" options being created.
FYI, I was all set to order the Philips Ultra Definition bulbs. However, people on Amazon are saying, while they look great, they fail very prematurely. And not just a few people. Many. 🤷️
I bought 40 of them from Amazon, and 25 have failed in less than a year. I haven't even used them all! Most failed within days or weeks. When I finally burn through them all, I'm going to have a party.
Got the info i needed within 20 seconds. But I watched the rest of the video so I could understand how you reached the conclusion. 10 out of 10 for this youtube experience!
This video is a masterclass on a technical review/comparison video, no faffing or wasted time, comprehensive testing, actual electronics knowledge, used a spectrometer, perfection, subscribed
Very nice testing! Perhaps this is hard to test, but I would say the light output pattern makes a noticeable difference to most people, i.e. how narrow or wide the beam is. The bulbs that use those COB LEDs have the most omnidirectional light output, so this is especially great in enclosed areas such as in most light fixtures that have covers or shades. Most of the bulbs with plastic bases tend to have light that shines up at 180°, and only a small amount of light is reflected or scattered in other directions because of the frosted glass (or plastic) cover. I would also rank the different metrics with different weights. Efficiency is nice, but all LEDs already draw so little power that I would focus much more on CRI, flicker, and lifespan. I would say CRI and light output pattern are the two most important aspects for me because a higher quality of life for me is well worth the few extra pennies in my electric bill. Thanks!
This is actually a big benefit of filament-style LED bulbs like the Philips, the light shines as much or more out the sides than out the end. They are far more omnidirectional, similar to the cob LEDs. Very nice when you are trying to light a room from a central source!
This is a fantastic set of tests! But I'd love to know if the brands that specifically sell HIGH CRI, but don't break the bank (like Waveform Lighting do), have the CRI that the really claim. For instance, TCP (which you tested) also sell a 92 CRI version of their bulbs, which is only a few bucks more expensive. "PLT" and "90+" are other brands that *claim* to have high CRI, at minimal extra cost. It would be really fantastic to know once and for all if their claims for CRI (and R9 in particular!) are to be trusted. Wouldn't it be great to have a DATABASE of actual measured CRI values?
@@Tess.terday waveform is in the current lineup. My point is that it breaks the bank 🙂 There are other bulbs marketed as high CRI that are not as expensive. Premium, but not 600% more expensive than the Phillips 😂
@@benwhittle7204 yes, and I'm asking him to do a few more 🙂 cheeky, yes, but there are quite as few specifically "high CRI" bulbs out there that are relatively cheap that he didn't test. It's really cool that he has spectrometer! Those are not easy to come by
Thanks! I’m surprised you didn’t include the GE “Sun Filled LED”. Next test ideas: * 75w equivalent LEDs * 100w equivalent LEDs * BR30 shape LEDs * 3000K LEDs vs Halogen
Awesome job with the test setup and analysis! Since you've already invested in the test gear and developed a methodology, it'd be interesting to see other products. Smart bulbs, BR30/BR40, higher lumen A19, etc. Since I installed dimmers nearly everywhere I prefer to run 100W equiv LEDs and run them at 50% normally, but can crank it up if I need to clean and want to see all the dirt and grime.
@@TheHookUp looking forward to that, I hope you do! I have never commented to a TH-cam review, buy you really do an amazing Job. I needed this last review 6 mo before I wasted hundreds of dollars! I’m not sure how I am to ask you questions, just getting into this instead of Consumer Reports. Enough People like you, I would put my $45 a year to reviewers that help me out instead. I asked a question on your best projector reviews from a year ago. If you have a chance to reply 👍🏼
If you plan to do any more testing, I'd love to see an audio spectrum for each bulb as it dims. Many of them create a high-pitched whine at certain dimming values. It drives me crazy, and has caused me to give away a lot of bulbs I've tried to people with less sensitive ears. Flicker testing while dimming would also be amazing. Some bulbs become dang near to strobe lights at lower values.
I did have the flicker meter running during dimming tests. The Philips flicker did increase significantly at the lowest level (4 lux), to 0.13 flicker index. Above 100 lux (still very dim), flicker dropped to 0.00, and there was no whine or hum at all.
Wyze and govee both are great at low light and high. Surprised the hell out of me actually. More than worth the money are sigled i think the name is. I have about 5 of them and they are the cheapest best led bulbs around. I've tested allot. Mercury brand doesn't seem all that horrible either
I used to sell LED light bulbs and l used the Philips Lamps as the “what not to buy” comparison… I currently concur with your conclusion. They have come so far and have done so well in their design and commitment to quality. I would also suggest to check out their new MR 16. It is phenomenal and despite being the lamp I used to use to compare Soraa lamps to, it’s now beating Soraa and many of the other more expensive MR 16 LED replacement lamps out there… Thank you.
This was one of the most useful videos I have ever seen on TH-cam, and I am so grateful that he posted it, it has made a huge difference to how comfortable we feel in our house. I really appreciated that he provided solid evidence on the results of his tests, that he explained the evidence in a way that we non-electrical-engineers can understand, and that he had a useful recommendation at the end. We replaced every bulb in our prior house with the Philips Ultra Definition LED bulbs, and did the same thing again when we moved into another house a few months ago, and the quality of the light is so much better, it made the spaces much more comfortable and livable, thank you so much for posting this!! I have never posted a TH-cam response, but I have continued to be really impressed with this video, and have sent a lot of people to it 🙂
Be prepared to replace them all again within the year. I did exactly as you did, replaced nearly every lightbulb in my house and nearly all of them have died in less than a year. I just replaced another one today which made me finally come back to this video to say something about it.
Fantastic comparison you did there. Very detailed and thorough. I love the fact that no light bulbs were supplied to you by lighting companies, and you expressed your own honest opinion. And now looking through your channel, you have very interesting stuff! I just subscribed.
Techtuber that gives me the answer up front and then explains it so well. Instant sub. Just bought a house so it’s time to start thinking about these things
Man, this was absolutely incredible content man. Couldn't have done a better comparison video. Short, accurate, well explained tests with bite-sized and easily compared data on 1 large graph. I'm sensitive to light flicker and am ready to go nuts on some high quality bulbs, and this was exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I was right on the edge of buying some waveform bulbs to test but the price had me hesitating about buying multiple color temperatures to let me adjust my office feel throughout the day and night. Huge thanks again man, your work is greatly appreciated!
For the lifetime of those lamps i can only say i don't think they last nearly as long as they claim. The early LED lamps were heavy and bulky, had cost a lot but still work. But many of the bulbs i bought 5 years ago have already been replaced - some of them were Philips, and originally none were the cheap ones. Now i am only using the cheap ones. On the other hand - i still did not have a single halogen lamp fail on me. Granted i don't have many, but my old desk-lamp is now nearly 30 years up and running. it is used daily, switched on/off a few times a day, and is running for a couple of hours each day. no clue why that one decided to become immortal.
Thanks so much for this video! My wife has major issues with LED flicker and I'll be picking up some of these to test ASAP (using your links of course)!
I too notice the flicker of LED bulbs and it drives me CRAZY and it gives me headaches. I prefer halogens or incandescent bulbs everyday of the week, but the foolish Biden DOE has decided to ban them.
Thanks a lot for this video and the extensive testing! I hate how my kitchen light flickers and I'm definitely going for the Philips Ultra Definition. They don't seem to be available in Europe yet, instead I find the "Philips Ultra Efficient" type, the normal versions labeled just "EyeComfort", and dimmable ones labeled "Warm Glow". I don't think any of those are the same as Ultra Definition.
Your no BS approach and statement in the first thirty seconds earned a like. The rest of the informative content earned a subscription. Thanks I look forward to what you release in the future! I've been a bit of a nerd since I found a company named "switch" who started making led bulbs 10 - 15 years ago. I believe that the interior of the bulb is actually filled with silicone and the base is cast aluminum. Insanely overbuilt and I haven't lost a single bulb since purchasing them. Thanks again.
I didn't even know I wanted this video but now I'm very glad I have it. Very thorough as usual! Strange to not see any CREE bulbs on the list. I'd like to see how they rank.
I watched this video last year and ended up buying Philips bulbs for my whole house. WOW WHAT A DIFFERENCE! The Blue Spike was itching my brain and I didn't even know it! Once I got all the new bulbs installed, it seems like my eyes were viewing lumen butter. So smooth and creamy and pleasant. Today, a year later, I watched this video again and wondered if any bulb mfgs upped their game any. Not that I'm unhappy with my Philips bulbs, I'm just curious.
This is an excellent and comprehensive review! But I've been aiming for consistent 3000K through all of my bulbs and fixtures - which seems to be the advice of most lighting people nowadays. Would love to see a follow-up for 3000K bulbs only; 2700K is a pretty large visual difference.
Thanks for doing this, I've thrown away so many awful led bulbs that fail in less than a year, great for the environment since they don't draw any 💡 electricity in the landfill.
Finally, somebody else who's experienced what I have. Half of the LED bulbs I buy end up failing in less than a year, and few people are talking about it! I took a few apart, and the majority of them had 1 LED that failed. I bypassed that LED with a resistor, and guess what; a different LED fail soon after! Guess he's right; it's the heat that's killing them.
This is really great. One thing I've love to get more data on is how LED bulb brands dim over time. All blue LEDs get dimmer before they fail, and I'd be curious how well each holds up. Many times I'll replace a failed build and then notice just how dim the adjacent bulbs have become.
I've experienced similar dimming, but upon inspection of the dimmer bulb I found that a bank of LEDs had actually failed, and that it was running on 1 of 2 parallel circuits. On the flip side my SK6812 RGBW LEDs on my desk have dimmed significantly, which I can tell because they are addressable and I only have half the strip on. When I turn on the whole strip the ones that have been on 24/7 for 3 years are about 50% of the brightness of the ones that are off all the time.
There actually is a rating system for reduction in light output over time called L70, which is when the light output reaches 70% of it's original output. Some manufacturers of bulbs use this rating to determine the bulb's end-of-life. For the Philips Ultra Definition bulb, on it's spec sheet, it says 15k hour nominal life at 70% lumen maintenance factor (L70 rating). I don't know if there is a standardized way to measure the lumen drop over that period of time to see how linear the degradation is.
SEE, this is how a video is done!! Tell me the answer to the question right now. Awesome job my friend. I'm going to watch the rest of this video right now, but I'm so so so tired of people thinking these need to be suspense videos that never match the build up. THANKS
Thanks for the video Rob, great timing. I don't know why but it seems like I'm replacing my LED bulbs just as often as I used to replace incandescent bulbs. I'm going to start buying the Phillips. Another pro of the Phillips for me (not sure if you mentioned this) is that they look like "regular" bulbs as they're all glass, and not plastic on the bottom.
High wattage LEDS in small enclosed lamps overheat, giving much shorter service life than advertised. Provide better airflow or use more lamps at lower power each or LED tubes.
@@larslindgren3846plus, the cheaper bulbs use less LED chips and drive them harder, so they get more hot even when the bulb is consistently hot. Those metal base cheap ones after they removed the heat sinking are no good, the early ones I remember had nice heatsink fins. The glad bulbs are filled with a heavy heat transfer gas that helps conduct the heat away far better
Would love to see "bright white" bulbs tested in this fashion, as I don't much care for soft white and only use "daylight" bulbs in the bathrooms or outside. Definitely appreciate the coverage of different factors and providing the data for the tests.
Great testing! Curious about the Cree led bulbs. They have become harder to get as the home improvement stores have started limiting non house brands Have noticed that color temperature changes on LED bulbs when dimmed, becoming cooler as they get darker
@@JT-lq4yd- I replaced all the lights in my home about 6 years ago with Cree LED's which cost about $15/each at the time. Unfortunately quite a few of them have failed or started flickering, especially the 100 Watt equivalent bathroom lights due to running really hot. I kept exchanging the bad ones at Home Depot (they hated me for it lol), and seems like the latest versions are much better now. I didn't like the Philips color scale back then, but might try it in the future. At my work shop I replaced all the florescent lights with cheap Halco brand ones, which are simple plug and play without having to rewire the existing ballasts. Besides the price, the reason I went with Halco is because they are the only ones with 4K color spectrum which I love, all the other brands are either 3k (too red) or 5K (too blue). Color rendition is quite subjective and takes trial and error to find the right one. ]
@@JT-lq4yd I can also say this. The CREE has been bad for me also. I don't trust them at all. I had about 200 of their bulbs, they stopped honoring their warranty despite having 40,000 hour warranty on the version I had. After 8 months they died, they replaced them 2 times, and on the second time they said it was the last time with would replace them. They always send back different bulbs, soso had a hard time matching the bulbs to be the same in the same room, some fixtures were 5 bulbs per so I ended up having to buy new bulbs to get them to match and move bulbs around. I am done with them, when they don't honor warranty, they knew they had issues.
@@drone_video9849 I did not warranty the Cree bulbs as I did not have as many as you, I would say about 10, and some working bulbs were moved to non critical light fixtures. I just cut my losses and only use Phillips, GE(built-in battery backup]) or Sylvania. The Cree bulbs were disappointing, I am saying that because I have some Phillips going in the garage door opener since 2015, where its cold, hot and in high vibration without issues.
maybe on your next round of testing you could include the home center stuff like homedepot eco smart, lowes Utilitech , and walmart great value, even feit electric. i know there's a never ending list of bulb brands, but store bought stuff is pretty common.
I went out and bought the bulbs on your recommendation. They have been fantastic. They dim like the old incandescents do, the light is warm and inviting. I went and replaced every bulb in every living space. I even bought the big globe version for the bathrooms.
This is really great work, thanks! I'd love to see you take a look at LED light bulbs for recessed ceiling can lights. It's a challenging environment and I'd love to find some bulbs that can better survive the thermal environment.
This is absolutely amazing/fantastic information! I see someone else has already suggested repeating this testing with wafer lights and I'd like to second that as I've been replacing most of our fixtures with recessed wafers.
Actually that's a good idea. I did already put in Halo brand pseudo-canned LED's in my kitchen and they are iiiiinfinitely better in every way compared to the ugly quad ballast of 4ft fluorescent tubes that were there originally. CRI, dimming, color temp, less of an eyesore, etc. The model I went with also has adjustable color temp to match your other lighting better which is nice. That being said, it would be interesting to know which brand and model is really living up to the spec sheet and under what scenarios certain models fall short. I still have other areas where I might want to swap to this style lighting and if there's a better option it'd be good to know.
OMG! What a nerd. I am so impressed 👏. I had no idea that these things even existed. I only knew about flickering, but other things are crazy. Loved it.
Great video and appreciate your very methodical approach to testing these. I've found that the Cree Pro Series bulbs also seem to perform really well and would be interested to see how these stack up in your testing. Additionally, I've found that the dimming curves of LED bulbs can function very differently depending on whether they are attached to forward or reverse phase dimmers. Do you have information on the Shelly dimmer you used and which method it utilizes?
You missed the best light, Seoul Semiconductor's SunLike LED. It uses violet dies to provide a very close match to natural sunlight. SunLike Series LEDs are an advanced technology that has achieved the highest level of eye safety certification from the International Commission on Illumination as a safe light source with no photo-biological risks and is the only LED certified as Diamond Color Rendering Class by Underwriters Laboratories. It provides healthy and comfortable light, improving the environment for living, reducing eye fatigue, and displaying colors and textures more accurately with CRI 97 and TM30 = 100 for any CCT from 2200K to 5000K range.
2 weeks ago, I started using Queker dusk to dawn in outdoor porch socket. Just leave light switch on. Amazon $17- 6 pack. Claimed 100 watt brightness with 12 watt usage. So far I am Amazed. Extra bright and great on/ off performance. Time will tell.
Dude, this is a phenomenal video! Thank you for the in-depth testing and the accurate information of the full CRI ratings (not just the first eight), the flicker testing, and other light metrics. I’m building a new home and this is invaluable.
Succinctly efficient and highly informative as always. Would love to see Philips Hue lights compared to these as well since they seem to be so popular.
In the winter, incandescent bulbs are more efficient since the heat is enjoyed in the room that is presumably being occupied. So the furnace thermostat can be kept at a colder temperature.
The failure point of LED bulb is most often the capacitor, and not the LEDs themselves, but temperature is the killer of electrolytic capacitors too, so your assessment still makes sense :)
😊🙏 The Hook Up is the one channel that gives us the Real Good Testing Results in the shortest period of time without bullshits! I subscribed! Thank You So Much The Hook Up channel for your great appliances testing tutorials! Stay safe , stay healthy & stay humble! 😊🙏🌷🌿🌎✌💜🕊
Phillips Ultra HD burn out in under a year, they've been dropping like flies for me over the past 3 months, starting from about 10 months after install. Usually LEDs last about 2-3 years for me in these fixtures. Ultra HD may look good, but they have some design flaw in the electronics. I've been using GE Relax for about 6 months on a Lutron Diva LED+ dimmer in my kitchen. 6 bulbs on the same fixture and no failures or noticeable dimming or flicker so far. Hopefully these will get 2-3 years as I expect from a typical LED bulb.
Great video. You should also have tested for flicker while dimming and test for noise level while dimming. Some cheap LED bulb "whine" while being dimmed.
The fact you respected your audience enough to tell them the result from the beginning, is enough to deserve a thumbs up
Project Farm also does fantastic reviews with very low BS
This is so true. I don't need lead on to results. If I'm respected and not talked down to in a video, I'll rewatch it a few times just to make sure I've got out of the video all I can. That means multiple views.
Amen 😊
Im commenting to say thanks for this and to help the video spread around
Maybe because he is an Amazon Affiliate?
sharing your conclusion within the first 20 seconds earned you a like within the first 20 seconds
Yep. Just subscribed because of it. 👍
Me too! I’m 30 seconds in and liked, subscribed, and went to comments to compliment creator because of it. 😅
Man, you nailed it, and I mean that you know what viewers want right from the get-go. It was so refreshing to see the final conclusion and test result at the beginning of your video. You are awesome, keep it up.
Yeah, hiding the results doesn't protect anything. I use Revanced to watch TH-cam and someone marks the important bit by the time I watch and I would skip to it anyway.
Having the hook (end result) at the beginning makes you want to watch to see just by how much and why. Thank you!
I agree! I am a big fan of his videos. He even taught me how to create permanent LED holiday and architectural lighting on my house.
Agreed! Love the straight forward data and video. I'm now a subscriber haha and I wasn't even looking for a video about light bulbs!
I like that it leaves watching the rest of the video as a choice, rather than the current carrot on a stick trend.
The LED filaments like in the Phillips bulb are not individual LEDs. They're a series string of about a dozen emitters mounted on a rigid substrate, then coated with phosphor. So, the Phillips bulb doesn't have 4 LEDs, it has something like 48. If you remove one of the filaments from a bulb and slowly increase the voltage across it with an adjustable power supply, you'll be able to see the individual emitters when they begin to light up.
Correct: and the separation between the actual LEDs plus the higher number helps keep them cool
Yup, Philips made a killer slimline version before with the same type of tech. Had them for over a decade, zero issues, and they draw 7.2 of the listed 8W while emitting the listed lumen count.
They also make their Hue line, which is just absurdly nice ARGBW for your home.
This is probably why the failure mode I've been experiencing with them seems like a string or two of the LEDs are flickering then dying. While some of the light still works, which results in a bulb that flickers between bright and dim and eventually just stays dim.
My Phillips, on a dim setting, brighten a bit when I run the microwave or toaster. Go figure!
I found this video recommended on the migraine subreddit talking about how amazing these Phillips bulbs are for people like us. Bought a pair to use in my bedside lamps and WOW. No migraines. Truly flicker-free, even plugged into dimmer switches. Life-changing. Thank you so much!!!
Awesome, glad to hear it!
But those 2600K...isn't it too low ?
@adamwalter2573 it may be a bit low for daylight, but very calming for the latter part of the day as well as for anyone with migraines probably throughout. With that said, on the strength of this video review I bough about 20 of these Phillips Ultra Definition LED bulbs, and 3 of them have failed so far (i.e. within a year of ~50% daily use.). One just quit, but the other two started badly flickering (even with no dimming applied).
@AlexKarasev Sorry to hear that! Mine are still running no issues 9 months later! Love them just as much as day one.
@adamwalter2573 that's nothing compared to candles & lanterns. ahh the good old days...
You did something I've always wanted to see in a review: the answer in the first 20 seconds with a follow-on to see why that one was the top pick. What's surprising is how well it worked and even more surprising is the reaction to it. Respect. I've had that idea floating around in my head for years and its great to see it in practice and also nice to see it didn't run people off - you have nearly 300,000 views on this. Well done sir!
Curtis Judd is someone else that does this, for audio gear reviews. His videos are similarly very informative.
Look man, Immediately gave me the answer, and THEN proceeded to explain things that I have been wondering my whole life, even as a complete LED lightbulb fanatic. absolutely incredible!
This is the most extensive and up-to-date comparison I've watched. Rob tests the essential features and provides measurements that matters to me, an average consumer. It's also a great plus that he explains his methodologies in an understandable manner. I also appreciate that Rob starts of with the conclusion, but I continue to watch the rest of the video for the comprehensive comparisons.
If you find value in his videos, please consider tapping the $Thanks button.
I appreciate the kind words (and thanks)!
My secret is that these videos are also super interesting to me. After I came in from collecting data in the garage I said to my wife "I can't wait to get into this spreadsheet".
@@TheHookUpI data gathering aspect is what I appreciate the most! I'll definitely keep a couple of screenshots of the graphs for future reference and review them when I go to Home Depot
@@TheHookUp Thank you! My EMF groups will be very interested in the results of your tests. Limiting blue light and flicker are very important and hopefully, less harmful to our eyesight.
@@Growmap This has nothing to do with EMF, partially because EMF has not been proven to be harmful
@@lawabidingcitizen5153 🤔 Surely that would depend on frequency, amplitude, duration of exposure and countless other factors? Exposure limits for RF radiation have been established by various organizations around the world. So the reason that EMF doesn't cause us any harm _in practice_ is because we apply those standards.
I'm still desperately searching the Philips equivalent reference for Europe : "Ultra Definition" range is unknown there. Instead Philips have a 50year lifespan product.
Thanks you so much for your work, integrity and for still dealing with a web site !
I think this is the European (240V) equivalent: MAS VLE LEDBulb D5.9-60W E27 927 A60 FRG
I was going to ask how the flicker statistics translate to 230 V, thank you for making me aware that the winner is not even available for us.
Great video even if not applicable to me.
@@helvettefaensatan There's no difference in flicker between 120 & 230 vac bulbs, the amount of flicker is dependent on the frequency, not the voltage. As explained in the video, US is 60 Hz or cycles / second while Europe and much of the world runs at 50 Hz which will result in a slightly slower flicker rate of 100 Hz vs 120 Hz in the US.
@@nervousbreakdown4506 the technical data dont match.. cri.. lm..
@@nervousbreakdown4506 No, that only has a CRI of 90.
I have epilepsy, and I am very sensitive to flicker. The incandescent ban really freaked me out because there are MILLIONS of people with epilepsy and I knew LEDs messed with my head, so testing these really really helped! Thank you so much for this test! Whenever my bulbs die I will definitely look back on these tests!
I paid ~$60 for a single Phillips Endura over ten years ago when LEDs were brand new and squiggly bulbs were popular. Actually I bought six. They’re still working with moderate use. Most of the other no-name models, and even Sylvanias, made between 2010-2020 have been replaced and never lived up to their long life claims.
A reminder that back in the day all the light bulb manufacturers literally got together and determined to stop making light bulbs so good because people weren't having to keep buying light bulbs.
I bought 4 3W LED bulbs from some rando brand back in 2011, and only one of them failed last year. Granted that one was used about 30% of the time, and he other much less so. Since then I've purchased 3W leds from other brands but these randos outlived all of them.
@@JZStudiosonline Well there's a little more to that; with incandescents, the trade-off was efficiency & color temperature vs lifetime and it was based on the physics of filament temperature. Yes there definitely was a cartel deciding the lifetime but they weren't really screwing anyone over except in the case where bulbs were difficult to reach to swap out. In that case one might elect to spend more on electricity to extend the change interval.
However, these days, it's possible to make light bulbs that will outlive the buyer without technical compromise and there is some business motivation to not do that.
th-cam.com/video/zb7Bs98KmnY/w-d-xo.html
Spending $60 per bulb is the perfect definition of a "tool" but you took it to the next level by sharing it with us.
This blew me away: you tested everything I would have thought of and some I wouldn't; you didn't insult your audience; and, best of all, you didn't waste time, which so many TH-cam technical presenters do. (If anything it was slightly _too_ fast, but then I can always pause - that's easier than skipping through waffle.)
From a UK (50 Hz mains!) reader. (I probably can't get most of the bulbs you mention, and would need a 230-240 volt version anyway, but you showed me the sort of things to look for. Though I don't think most of the bulbs available here have anything like the amount of information you found - I think they'd mostly only have watts, lumens, and maybe colour temperature.)
Geez, I’m an experienced 10:47 electrical engineer and I’m not sure I could have been as thorough as this video was. Very well done!
He did not test for RFI/EMI.
I thought it was gonna be clickbait. But the fact you told the result at the start had me watch everything and thumbs up.
Thanks for this, I am angery at the LEDs due to shit dimming and flicker and all
Kudos for covering all aspects of lighting a room, not dumbing it down, speaking quickly and offering the bottom liner first! You sir are a legend !
You are becoming like the project farms of digital and smart devices (and if you’ve ever watched project farms, you know that’s a compliment).
Now if only I could replicate his view counts :)
I'm disappointed to see how many Amazon reviewers experienced early failure with the recommended Philips Ultra Definition bulbs. As I write this, 16% of 1049 customer ratings were 1-star, with almost all of the customer-documented discontent relating to failed bulbs. Just a word to the wise that besides even the best of expert reviews, the wisdom of crowds should also be taken into account.
The dirty little secret about LED bulbs that I learned from the technology connections youtube channel is that they are specified to operate at a certain temperature range, for this Phillips bulb it’s 104° maximum temperature. So the problem is when you put these bulbs inside of a for example of domed ceiling light where the heat gets trapped in there, it will get above that temperature and the bulbs will fail. I’m not sure if Phillips sells the bulb that’s rated higher than 104.
I’m one of those people with a bad story. Of the 33 Philips 60W equivalent Ultra Definition bulbs I’ve installed in my home, 32 have failed. I documented my experience in a separate comment.
With the conclusion at the beginning of the video, it still encourages to watch the entire video to figure out why and if some people are in a hurry and trust you they can just get the info instead. Thank you!!
This is probably the most useful video I've seen this year. Incredible work, and thank you so much for testing the 5000k version.
I recently got some Waveform bulbs to test before biting the bullet and upgrading my whole house. They really do have incredible quality light. But one advantage you didn't mention that the Philips has over the Waveform is that the light is better diffused. My current bulbs are ~6 yr. old Philips Glass LEDs, and it turns out that the full glass bulb actually changes the light output significantly. The plastic enclosure on the waveform means the light is overly directional - not great in, say, a chandelier. Even in bathroom lights, this reduces the ambient light going up toward the ceiling, making the room feel darker at the same lumen output. I've been on the fence due to the expense, but these FAR cheaper bulbs look like the way to go!
FYI waveform does actually sell dimmable bulbs, but only in extra warm soft white. They are excellent.
Bought these bulbs before watching this video and think they are great. They don’t look weird like other LED bulbs with no obnoxious fins and plastic exposed and the light looks much better than my old LED bulbs. Great Recommendation.
Phillips was my conclusion as well. The others, even if they're fine when purchased, will eventually flicker. I initially chased my tail checking for wiring issues with a digital scope, but realized it was the bulbs. Forums indicated that manufacturers use cheap regulators, even on high-end bulbs, and they degrade over time. They all recommended Phillips as having a quality regulator. We switched to those LED bulbs, and haven't had a flicker since.
I did the same thing with a scope and a Fluke power analyzer! 😀
Thanks for this info!
What is your take on the Ikea Solhetta led light bulbs?
That is what I always wanted to know is which actual component was causing led bulbs to not reach anywhere near their life expectancy! Because I knew the Chinese manufacturers will always cheap out on electronic components and . not build to last. Always just designing for cost per unit and sell to suckers in other countries!
Amazing video! Thank you so much for your thorough work! CRI/RA is the absolute most important for me, and my rule of thumb is: If a bulb states 'minimum 80 RA' or similar it means: not good enough. Always go for CRI/RA of minimum 90.
Probably gonna be the norm relatively soon, with Philips just pushing it first. I cannot find these on the German market, though, and I only tolerate high CRI, too, and I am still wondering how well these emulate the natural light spectrum as a whole. Because daylight bulbs are frickin' expensive, and the LED based ones don't even provide UV anymore, which is weird, since you can generate UV via LEDs. (And not having vitamin D generation anymore is especially an issue for office spaces and thus societal health.)
Agreed!
@@Dowlphin I'm almost certain these are called "Master Value LEDBulb" in Europe. They state >90 CRI, dimmable and are of the same full-glass bulb style. 5,9W (60W equivalent) matte finish would cost €3,50 in NL.
Exact product ID: MAS VLE LEDBulb D5.9-60W E27 927 A60 FRG
Enjoy!
@@nervousbreakdown4506 I find nothing. There is UK, Russia, Lithuania, and the only Germany Philips links are dead, and some GErman Amazon listings only show very weird designs and only in warm white. This is the big plague. High CRI for 2700K is the damn easiest thing. And despite that, in hardware stores and such 95% of all bulbs offered are 2700K CRI >80. And unlike Osram, Philips doesn't even print CRI on the box.
Unfortunately, the producers are gaming the system again. A lot of the CRI > 90 bulbs have a strong green-yellowish cast. They exploit the rating, as it doesn't measure the whole spectrum. Then, certain reds are very weak, giving an unbalanced overall impression.
Phillips (Signify) is good though, I have a lot of their dim to warm products, within a certain range, they are very close to incandescent bulbs.
The Hook Up is the most trustworthy household electronic device evaluation channel on TH-cam. The attention to detail and in-depth explanations are just outstanding.
Adding a comment to boost engagement because you gave me the answer in the first 10 seconds
This is the only kind of hook up that I appreciate. Thank you for getting to the point right away and for giving us the evaluations after. Then going back to give us the choice bulb along with others that ranked behind it the most. I hope that you will be the example for other content creators with your honesty and straightforwardness. Thank you.
Having previously worked in the lighting industry, I'm quite impressed with how much technical knowledge you have on the subject. I'm sure doing this video included a certain amount of research, but you were quite thorough and I'm impressed you bought a flicker meter. One of my biggest complaints at my house is I seem to have somewhat "dirty" power that causes cheaper bulbs to fluctuate in brightness on a regular basis, likely due to inferior capacitors used for surge suppression. As mentioned by someone else, I would have liked to see more Big Box house brands tested, like EcoSmart, since most people I know pick up their bulbs at the local hardware store.
Also, I'd like to see more people start using the lumen output to refer to bulbs these days. Saying "60W equivalent" will eventually mean nothing, when the younger generations have never bought an incandescent 60W bulb. I recommend people look for 800 lumen bulbs instead of 60W. And for the life of me, I don't understand people who install "daylight" or 5,500K color temp bulbs in their living areas at home. I understand it seems "brighter" but it also makes your living room look like the interior of a self-storage building.
I'm lucky to have a lot of base knowledge to fall back on at this point, so learning a new topic is fun and not too daunting. I did note smoothing capacitor sizes when I was doing my teardowns. The GE bulbs use 47uF, Philips is 33uF, and the Waveform uses a massive 150uF cap which explains its super low flicker value.
@@TheHookUpmakes one wonder if it might be worth buying a bunch of larger capacitors and replacing the ones that come on cheap bulbs
They are exceptionally difficult to get to without damaging the bulb since they are mounted under the PCB.
@@TheHookUp Ah, I see.
Here in India, everyone uses the actual wattage to refer to LED bulbs. 9W is standard for retrofits, 20W for fluorescent tubes.
If you think 5500K is too cold, welcome to India, where we have 6500K "cool daylight" as the bog standard. Warmth is not a particularly valued property here in the tropics.
This is fantastic, better than anything I’ve seen on Consumer Reports! Thank you for all the hard work. This inspired me to join with a Patreon subscription.
TH-cam beats Consumer Reports any day of the week as long as you can find unsponsored content (which can be difficult sometimes depending on the topic).
I have bought loads of the Philips Ultra Definition bulbs in all sorts of sizes and find them every bit as good as you say. The icing on the cake (and the reason I bought them) is the "warm glow" dimming effect, which you didn't mention.
yeah, i was also wondering why the warm glow effect had not been mentioned. it is the most important thing when it comes to dimming, creating a comforting effect of a sunset. i just dont get why almost nobody cares about this, manufacturers included. there were some around a couple of years ago, but nowadays they seem to be extremly rare. i wished these had become a standard to replace incandescent bulbs just 1:1, but obviously it seems to be something like rocket science oO ..... (and i just dont want those super fancy RGB smarthome bulbs which at least require an app on the smartphone etc... and CRI is also said not to be the best... )
I was absolutely surprised to hear the answer in first few seconds of the video. No cheap tricks, no mincing water in cup.
Still watched entire video and liked :) Great informative video! Thanks
Man wish everyone was as honest, thorough and no-nonsense as you are! Great job!
Respect for giving us the conclusion right off the bat. Legend.
Great info. I'm an electrician and have been waiting for someone to make a bulb with these attributes. The wait is over. Thanks a bunch
Well done mate. In Europe I can reccomend Philips Master ExpertColor spots in GU10 97CRI in 25 and 36 degrees - perfect with a Shelly Dimmer. Also Philips Master DimTone E27 with 1500 lumens and CRI90.
bookmarked
It does not have EyeCare mark- do you know if it was built for comfort (low flicker etc.)?
Thank you for literally "putting your money where your mouth is" and doing the actual testing to get real world results. With all those light bulbs, you should be full of bright ideas! :)
As others are saying - thank you for the recommendation up front! I stayed for the whole video because it was extremely informative as well.
I have been waiting for someone to do something like this for years. I did my own tests, definitely not as thorough and landed on Philips bulbs 8 years ago at nearly $22 per bulb. Fast forward to a few years ago, I added more lights to my house, I wanted something that had better CRI and better dimming performance on smart dimmers. I went with Philips again in 2019ish and... they were horrible. They had a very noticeable light output fluctuation below 60% and dimming performance seemed stepped. I was able to get some old stock Philips Warm Glows which were pretty good, but not great.
Once again, about a year ago I got the bug again and tested 10 bulbs across Zooz, Inovelli, GE, and Homeseer dimmers. The Philips Ultra High Definition came out so superior that I actually thought I had a few defective bulbs from other highly respected brands like Cree. Nope... These Philips bulbs really are that amazing. It wasn't even close. I bought 6 extra boxes this time just in case Philips decides to do something stupid again and mess up their amazing design. Awesome video! Thanks for scientifically validating what I found. I feel that much better with my decision.
Keep it up! I'm going through your back catalog now to pick my next camera. Such great content.
The origin story of this video is actually very similar. I bought a set of the Philips Ultra Def bulbs in May and when I installed them they were so much better than anything else I'd ever used that I assumed there had been some breakthrough in technology. I wanted to know if every new LED bulb was that good or if it was just the Philips. So I did what any reasonable person would do and bought $1500 of lightbulb testing equipment and $600 of bulbs to know for sure.
@@TheHookUp agreed - perfectly reasonable. And we thank you for it.
@@TheHookUpand this is why we are thankful for you.
What about testing LED wafer lights since you've got the gear now? I'm specifically interested in the capability of the newer "warm dimming" or "dim to warm" options being created.
@@TheHookUp the dry humor is a nice bonus 😂
Didn't bigclive do a similar evaluation?
FYI, I was all set to order the Philips Ultra Definition bulbs. However, people on Amazon are saying, while they look great, they fail very prematurely. And not just a few people. Many. 🤷️
I bought 40 of them from Amazon, and 25 have failed in less than a year. I haven't even used them all! Most failed within days or weeks. When I finally burn through them all, I'm going to have a party.
I have a lot of respect for the amount of work that supports your conclusions. Great job!
Got the info i needed within 20 seconds. But I watched the rest of the video so I could understand how you reached the conclusion. 10 out of 10 for this youtube experience!
This video is a masterclass on a technical review/comparison video, no faffing or wasted time, comprehensive testing, actual electronics knowledge, used a spectrometer, perfection, subscribed
Very nice testing! Perhaps this is hard to test, but I would say the light output pattern makes a noticeable difference to most people, i.e. how narrow or wide the beam is.
The bulbs that use those COB LEDs have the most omnidirectional light output, so this is especially great in enclosed areas such as in most light fixtures that have covers or shades.
Most of the bulbs with plastic bases tend to have light that shines up at 180°, and only a small amount of light is reflected or scattered in other directions because of the frosted glass (or plastic) cover.
I would also rank the different metrics with different weights. Efficiency is nice, but all LEDs already draw so little power that I would focus much more on CRI, flicker, and lifespan. I would say CRI and light output pattern are the two most important aspects for me because a higher quality of life for me is well worth the few extra pennies in my electric bill.
Thanks!
This is actually a big benefit of filament-style LED bulbs like the Philips, the light shines as much or more out the sides than out the end. They are far more omnidirectional, similar to the cob LEDs. Very nice when you are trying to light a room from a central source!
As a decorator I love warm lighting. Incandescent forever. I’ll get these. Thank you. Keep us up to date as lighting is rapidly changing.
I like warm lighting too.
This is a fantastic set of tests! But I'd love to know if the brands that specifically sell HIGH CRI, but don't break the bank (like Waveform Lighting do), have the CRI that the really claim.
For instance, TCP (which you tested) also sell a 92 CRI version of their bulbs, which is only a few bucks more expensive. "PLT" and "90+" are other brands that *claim* to have high CRI, at minimal extra cost.
It would be really fantastic to know once and for all if their claims for CRI (and R9 in particular!) are to be trusted.
Wouldn't it be great to have a DATABASE of actual measured CRI values?
100% agree would love to see waveform added to the lineup!
@@Tess.terday waveform is in the current lineup. My point is that it breaks the bank 🙂
There are other bulbs marketed as high CRI that are not as expensive. Premium, but not 600% more expensive than the Phillips 😂
He literally tested the CRI of all the bulbs in this test and listed their measured CRI, against their listed CRI(if stated)…..
This. People don’t know how important R9 is.
@@benwhittle7204 yes, and I'm asking him to do a few more 🙂 cheeky, yes, but there are quite as few specifically "high CRI" bulbs out there that are relatively cheap that he didn't test. It's really cool that he has spectrometer! Those are not easy to come by
Thanks! I’m surprised you didn’t include the GE “Sun Filled LED”.
Next test ideas:
* 75w equivalent LEDs
* 100w equivalent LEDs
* BR30 shape LEDs
* 3000K LEDs vs Halogen
I wasn't expecting much when I clicked on the link to this video on a reddit post, but man, this video was perfect! Very helpful!
Awesome job with the test setup and analysis! Since you've already invested in the test gear and developed a methodology, it'd be interesting to see other products. Smart bulbs, BR30/BR40, higher lumen A19, etc. Since I installed dimmers nearly everywhere I prefer to run 100W equiv LEDs and run them at 50% normally, but can crank it up if I need to clean and want to see all the dirt and grime.
If this video does well I'll definitely follow up with recessed/can/wafer lights, then possibly smart bulbs.
@@TheHookUp looking forward to that, I hope you do! I have never commented to a TH-cam review, buy you really do an amazing Job. I needed this last review 6 mo before I wasted hundreds of dollars! I’m not sure how I am to ask you questions, just getting into this instead of Consumer Reports. Enough People like you, I would put my $45 a year to reviewers that help me out instead. I asked a question on your best projector reviews from a year ago. If you have a chance to reply 👍🏼
@@TheHookUp Would love to see a smart bulb test video!
I too would like to see brighter bulbs.
@@TheHookUp Brighter bulbs recomendations?
If you plan to do any more testing, I'd love to see an audio spectrum for each bulb as it dims. Many of them create a high-pitched whine at certain dimming values. It drives me crazy, and has caused me to give away a lot of bulbs I've tried to people with less sensitive ears. Flicker testing while dimming would also be amazing. Some bulbs become dang near to strobe lights at lower values.
I did have the flicker meter running during dimming tests. The Philips flicker did increase significantly at the lowest level (4 lux), to 0.13 flicker index. Above 100 lux (still very dim), flicker dropped to 0.00, and there was no whine or hum at all.
@@TheHookUp Good info to add. Thanks!
@TheHookUp 100 lux is basically like a 10w bulb right?
@@TheHookUpcould you tell us what flicker meter you used?
Wyze and govee both are great at low light and high. Surprised the hell out of me actually. More than worth the money are sigled i think the name is. I have about 5 of them and they are the cheapest best led bulbs around. I've tested allot. Mercury brand doesn't seem all that horrible either
I used to sell LED light bulbs and l used the Philips Lamps as the “what not to buy” comparison… I currently concur with your conclusion. They have come so far and have done so well in their design and commitment to quality. I would also suggest to check out their new MR 16. It is phenomenal and despite being the lamp I used to use to compare Soraa lamps to, it’s now beating Soraa and many of the other more expensive MR 16 LED replacement lamps out there… Thank you.
Thanks for the MR16 reference. I have a ton of Soraas and am getting tired of the price of replacing them every two years...
Thanks for the hard work and great video!
This was one of the most useful videos I have ever seen on TH-cam, and I am so grateful that he posted it, it has made a huge difference to how comfortable we feel in our house. I really appreciated that he provided solid evidence on the results of his tests, that he explained the evidence in a way that we non-electrical-engineers can understand, and that he had a useful recommendation at the end. We replaced every bulb in our prior house with the Philips Ultra Definition LED bulbs, and did the same thing again when we moved into another house a few months ago, and the quality of the light is so much better, it made the spaces much more comfortable and livable, thank you so much for posting this!! I have never posted a TH-cam response, but I have continued to be really impressed with this video, and have sent a lot of people to it 🙂
Thanks. Glad it was helpful to you!
Be prepared to replace them all again within the year. I did exactly as you did, replaced nearly every lightbulb in my house and nearly all of them have died in less than a year. I just replaced another one today which made me finally come back to this video to say something about it.
Fantastic comparison you did there. Very detailed and thorough. I love the fact that no light bulbs were supplied to you by lighting companies, and you expressed your own honest opinion. And now looking through your channel, you have very interesting stuff! I just subscribed.
Techtuber that gives me the answer up front and then explains it so well. Instant sub. Just bought a house so it’s time to start thinking about these things
Man, this was absolutely incredible content man. Couldn't have done a better comparison video. Short, accurate, well explained tests with bite-sized and easily compared data on 1 large graph.
I'm sensitive to light flicker and am ready to go nuts on some high quality bulbs, and this was exactly the kind of info I was looking for.
I was right on the edge of buying some waveform bulbs to test but the price had me hesitating about buying multiple color temperatures to let me adjust my office feel throughout the day and night.
Huge thanks again man, your work is greatly appreciated!
For the lifetime of those lamps i can only say i don't think they last nearly as long as they claim.
The early LED lamps were heavy and bulky, had cost a lot but still work. But many of the bulbs i bought 5 years ago have already been replaced - some of them were Philips, and originally none were the cheap ones. Now i am only using the cheap ones.
On the other hand - i still did not have a single halogen lamp fail on me. Granted i don't have many, but my old desk-lamp is now nearly 30 years up and running. it is used daily, switched on/off a few times a day, and is running for a couple of hours each day. no clue why that one decided to become immortal.
I put 16 Phillips bulbs in my house based on your recommendations. They are comparable to the bulbs I spent 5x as much for. Thanks.
This is the most incredible light bulb video I have ever seen. By a long shot.
Thanks so much for this video! My wife has major issues with LED flicker and I'll be picking up some of these to test ASAP (using your links of course)!
I too notice the flicker of LED bulbs and it drives me CRAZY and it gives me headaches. I prefer halogens or incandescent bulbs everyday of the week, but the foolish Biden DOE has decided to ban them.
Thanks a lot for this video and the extensive testing! I hate how my kitchen light flickers and I'm definitely going for the Philips Ultra Definition. They don't seem to be available in Europe yet, instead I find the "Philips Ultra Efficient" type, the normal versions labeled just "EyeComfort", and dimmable ones labeled "Warm Glow". I don't think any of those are the same as Ultra Definition.
Your no BS approach and statement in the first thirty seconds earned a like. The rest of the informative content earned a subscription. Thanks I look forward to what you release in the future! I've been a bit of a nerd since I found a company named "switch" who started making led bulbs 10 - 15 years ago. I believe that the interior of the bulb is actually filled with silicone and the base is cast aluminum. Insanely overbuilt and I haven't lost a single bulb since purchasing them. Thanks again.
Excellent video! You're providing the information that really isn't out there anywhere else. Now PLEASE do one with recessed/can lighting!
Now that is a super helpful review to all, not just home automation enthusiasts. Thanks for continuing to crank out great content.
I didn't even know I wanted this video but now I'm very glad I have it. Very thorough as usual! Strange to not see any CREE bulbs on the list. I'd like to see how they rank.
I selected the bulbs based on popularity on Amazon. Looks like the CREE are $10/ea and only claim to be 85 CRI.
@@TheHookUp Ah, ok. I got mine from HD and they were $4.25 a bulb. Sounds like the Philips is still the better choice.
Came here comment this. Really shocked to not see CREE which is industry leader in this space. They make a A19 Pro series bulb with 90+ CRI
@@Max-jv3yg Yeah, for 8-15 bucks a bulb.
I believe Cree bulbs can be found at Costco. They’re especially inexpensive there when they go on sale every few months.
Wow... a lot of time, commitment, intelligence and energy went in to this video. You've earned my subscription.
I watched this video last year and ended up buying Philips bulbs for my whole house. WOW WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
The Blue Spike was itching my brain and I didn't even know it!
Once I got all the new bulbs installed, it seems like my eyes were viewing lumen butter. So smooth and creamy and pleasant.
Today, a year later, I watched this video again and wondered if any bulb mfgs upped their game any. Not that I'm unhappy with my Philips bulbs, I'm just curious.
This is an excellent and comprehensive review! But I've been aiming for consistent 3000K through all of my bulbs and fixtures - which seems to be the advice of most lighting people nowadays. Would love to see a follow-up for 3000K bulbs only; 2700K is a pretty large visual difference.
Same! I used to use 2700K everywhere, but now I'm a 3000K guy
Another request for 3000k from me too. Also for BR30
can you explain to me why 3000k instead of 2700k?
2700k is much closer to the old style lightbulb
@@no-damn-alias it might not seem like much but I like it a lot more. 2700 is too yellow. 5000 is too blue.
@@ajma Oddly the lamp with 2500k was the closest to an old incandescent
Thanks for doing this, I've thrown away so many awful led bulbs that fail in less than a year, great for the environment since they don't draw any 💡 electricity in the landfill.
It's still junk. It can never touch the look of GE Reveal. The whites are crap and the yellows make everything look like pale mustard. Horrible.
Finally, somebody else who's experienced what I have. Half of the LED bulbs I buy end up failing in less than a year, and few people are talking about it! I took a few apart, and the majority of them had 1 LED that failed. I bypassed that LED with a resistor, and guess what; a different LED fail soon after! Guess he's right; it's the heat that's killing them.
@@theclearsounds3911I buy the glass ones. They fail less
This is really great. One thing I've love to get more data on is how LED bulb brands dim over time. All blue LEDs get dimmer before they fail, and I'd be curious how well each holds up. Many times I'll replace a failed build and then notice just how dim the adjacent bulbs have become.
I've experienced similar dimming, but upon inspection of the dimmer bulb I found that a bank of LEDs had actually failed, and that it was running on 1 of 2 parallel circuits.
On the flip side my SK6812 RGBW LEDs on my desk have dimmed significantly, which I can tell because they are addressable and I only have half the strip on. When I turn on the whole strip the ones that have been on 24/7 for 3 years are about 50% of the brightness of the ones that are off all the time.
There actually is a rating system for reduction in light output over time called L70, which is when the light output reaches 70% of it's original output. Some manufacturers of bulbs use this rating to determine the bulb's end-of-life. For the Philips Ultra Definition bulb, on it's spec sheet, it says 15k hour nominal life at 70% lumen maintenance factor (L70 rating). I don't know if there is a standardized way to measure the lumen drop over that period of time to see how linear the degradation is.
Good info, thanks!
Thanks for letting the people know the results early on video and also for the variety of tests and products, that’s awesome fr
SEE, this is how a video is done!! Tell me the answer to the question right now. Awesome job my friend. I'm going to watch the rest of this video right now, but I'm so so so tired of people thinking these need to be suspense videos that never match the build up. THANKS
Thanks for the video Rob, great timing. I don't know why but it seems like I'm replacing my LED bulbs just as often as I used to replace incandescent bulbs. I'm going to start buying the Phillips. Another pro of the Phillips for me (not sure if you mentioned this) is that they look like "regular" bulbs as they're all glass, and not plastic on the bottom.
High wattage LEDS in small enclosed lamps overheat, giving much shorter service life than advertised. Provide better airflow or use more lamps at lower power each or LED tubes.
@@larslindgren3846plus, the cheaper bulbs use less LED chips and drive them harder, so they get more hot even when the bulb is consistently hot. Those metal base cheap ones after they removed the heat sinking are no good, the early ones I remember had nice heatsink fins. The glad bulbs are filled with a heavy heat transfer gas that helps conduct the heat away far better
I always used to run my incandescent bulbs slightly dimmed, and I never had to replace them in 20 years. I plan the same for newer LED bulbs.
Incredible as always. I would love to see the same tests but with the most popular smart LED bulbs and smart downlights
I tested a couple of them and their white quality is always awful. Some barely reach Ra 80.
Bulbs? Or RGB Downlights or CCT Downlights?@@MetalheadAndNerd
Would love to see "bright white" bulbs tested in this fashion, as I don't much care for soft white and only use "daylight" bulbs in the bathrooms or outside. Definitely appreciate the coverage of different factors and providing the data for the tests.
You have no idea how much I enjoyed this video. Exactly what I needed. Thank you!
Best Light bulb video ever. Everything I wanted and needed to know.
Great testing!
Curious about the Cree led bulbs. They have become harder to get as the home improvement stores have started limiting non house brands
Have noticed that color temperature changes on LED bulbs when dimmed, becoming cooler as they get darker
I bought Cree led bulbs, they were all plastic and failed fairly quickly.
@@JT-lq4yd- I replaced all the lights in my home about 6 years ago with Cree LED's which cost about $15/each at the time. Unfortunately quite a few of them have failed or started flickering, especially the 100 Watt equivalent bathroom lights due to running really hot. I kept exchanging the bad ones at Home Depot (they hated me for it lol), and seems like the latest versions are much better now. I didn't like the Philips color scale back then, but might try it in the future.
At my work shop I replaced all the florescent lights with cheap Halco brand ones, which are simple plug and play without having to rewire the existing ballasts. Besides the price, the reason I went with Halco is because they are the only ones with 4K color spectrum which I love, all the other brands are either 3k (too red) or 5K (too blue). Color rendition is quite subjective and takes trial and error to find the right one.
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@@JT-lq4yd I can also say this. The CREE has been bad for me also. I don't trust them at all. I had about 200 of their bulbs, they stopped honoring their warranty despite having 40,000 hour warranty on the version I had. After 8 months they died, they replaced them 2 times, and on the second time they said it was the last time with would replace them. They always send back different bulbs, soso had a hard time matching the bulbs to be the same in the same room, some fixtures were 5 bulbs per so I ended up having to buy new bulbs to get them to match and move bulbs around. I am done with them, when they don't honor warranty, they knew they had issues.
@@drone_video9849 I did not warranty the Cree bulbs as I did not have as many as you, I would say about 10, and some working bulbs were moved to non critical light fixtures. I just cut my losses and only use Phillips, GE(built-in battery backup]) or Sylvania. The Cree bulbs were disappointing, I am saying that because I have some Phillips going in the garage door opener since 2015, where its cold, hot and in high vibration without issues.
maybe on your next round of testing you could include the home center stuff like homedepot eco smart, lowes Utilitech , and walmart great value, even feit electric. i know there's a never ending list of bulb brands, but store bought stuff is pretty common.
I stopped buying the eco smart home depot bulbs because they would go bad every few months.
Heck, even include Dollar Tree which now sells LEDs.
I've been using the Home Depot ecosmart for long time. No issues at all. Very happy with them.
Would've loved to see the Ikea bulbs, otherwise great video
I went out and bought the bulbs on your recommendation. They have been fantastic. They dim like the old incandescents do, the light is warm and inviting. I went and replaced every bulb in every living space. I even bought the big globe version for the bathrooms.
This is really great work, thanks! I'd love to see you take a look at LED light bulbs for recessed ceiling can lights. It's a challenging environment and I'd love to find some bulbs that can better survive the thermal environment.
Well done and really appreciate the thoroughness.
This is absolutely amazing/fantastic information! I see someone else has already suggested repeating this testing with wafer lights and I'd like to second that as I've been replacing most of our fixtures with recessed wafers.
Actually that's a good idea. I did already put in Halo brand pseudo-canned LED's in my kitchen and they are iiiiinfinitely better in every way compared to the ugly quad ballast of 4ft fluorescent tubes that were there originally. CRI, dimming, color temp, less of an eyesore, etc. The model I went with also has adjustable color temp to match your other lighting better which is nice.
That being said, it would be interesting to know which brand and model is really living up to the spec sheet and under what scenarios certain models fall short. I still have other areas where I might want to swap to this style lighting and if there's a better option it'd be good to know.
OMG! What a nerd. I am so impressed 👏. I had no idea that these things even existed. I only knew about flickering, but other things are crazy. Loved it.
I have some bedside lamps with dimmers than haven’t worked with any LED bulbs I have tried until this bulb - thanks so much for pointing em out!
Great video and appreciate your very methodical approach to testing these. I've found that the Cree Pro Series bulbs also seem to perform really well and would be interested to see how these stack up in your testing. Additionally, I've found that the dimming curves of LED bulbs can function very differently depending on whether they are attached to forward or reverse phase dimmers. Do you have information on the Shelly dimmer you used and which method it utilizes?
$25 in Dubai 😭
Kudos! This is THE definitive LED (& filament) bulb review, IMO. Incredibly informative, yet understandable; perfectly succinct.
Dubai has a specific edition of the Philips lamp which is supposed to be better. Impossible to get outside Dubai.
@@andychow5509 Yes, you mean the Dubai Lamp, which I am aware of, thanks. :)
@@inferKNOX2 Right. So why are you complaining? I'd rather get that then what OP is talking about.
@@andychow5509, my reference is to relative costs, not availability.
You missed the best light, Seoul Semiconductor's SunLike LED. It uses violet dies to provide a very close match to natural sunlight. SunLike Series LEDs are an advanced technology that has achieved the highest level of eye safety certification from the International Commission on Illumination as a safe light source with no photo-biological risks and is the only LED certified as Diamond Color Rendering Class by Underwriters Laboratories. It provides healthy and comfortable light, improving the environment for living, reducing eye fatigue, and displaying colors and textures more accurately with CRI 97 and TM30 = 100 for any CCT from 2200K to 5000K range.
Get back to us when they actually have light bulbs that someone actually sells.
2 weeks ago, I started using Queker dusk to dawn in outdoor porch socket. Just leave light switch on. Amazon $17- 6 pack. Claimed 100 watt brightness with 12 watt usage. So far I am Amazed. Extra bright and great on/ off performance. Time will tell.
Dude, this is a phenomenal video! Thank you for the in-depth testing and the accurate information of the full CRI ratings (not just the first eight), the flicker testing, and other light metrics. I’m building a new home and this is invaluable.
Succinctly efficient and highly informative as always. Would love to see Philips Hue lights compared to these as well since they seem to be so popular.
In the winter, incandescent bulbs are more efficient since the heat is enjoyed in the room that is presumably being occupied. So the furnace thermostat can be kept at a colder temperature.
This video is a home run
The failure point of LED bulb is most often the capacitor, and not the LEDs themselves, but temperature is the killer of electrolytic capacitors too, so your assessment still makes sense :)
😊🙏 The Hook Up is the one channel that gives us the Real Good Testing Results in the shortest period of time without bullshits! I subscribed! Thank You So Much The Hook Up channel for your great appliances testing tutorials! Stay safe , stay healthy & stay humble! 😊🙏🌷🌿🌎✌💜🕊
How about the dirty electricity?
I have always used Philips LED bulbs in my house. Glad to know I made the right decision.
Dang this was really well done. Every question I had was answered just a few sentences later! Thanks for the great information :)
Phillips Ultra HD burn out in under a year, they've been dropping like flies for me over the past 3 months, starting from about 10 months after install. Usually LEDs last about 2-3 years for me in these fixtures. Ultra HD may look good, but they have some design flaw in the electronics. I've been using GE Relax for about 6 months on a Lutron Diva LED+ dimmer in my kitchen. 6 bulbs on the same fixture and no failures or noticeable dimming or flicker so far. Hopefully these will get 2-3 years as I expect from a typical LED bulb.
I've been buying Phillips for a few years. They are indeed the best, at least the best I've found.
Wow. Your efforts to inform your viewers is much appreciated.
Great video. You should also have tested for flicker while dimming and test for noise level while dimming. Some cheap LED bulb "whine" while being dimmed.