Reviews of Feit Electric Br30 Flood Dimmable 13w/65w LED Light Bulb 750 Lumens

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Several year ago, I replaced all the incandescent floodlights in my living room with energy-efficient Feit 15W R30 CFL Dimmable Floodlight. Those bulbs saved me a bundle in electricity cost over the years, but I was never completely satisfied with them. They take too long to warm up, have limited dimming range, and buzz when dimmed. Recently some of them started failing, so I took the opportunity to test this Feit Electric BR30 Flood Dimmable 13w LED Light Bulb. Here are my findings:

First, I measured the power consumption of this LED floodlight using my Kill-A-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor. It shows 13W as advertised. The power factor is quite high at PF=0.88, which is a sign of good engineering design.

Next, I compared this 13W LED floodlight with my old 15W CFL and 65W incandescent floodlights, on a dimmer-controlled light fixture. At full power, they all appear to have similar brightness and color temperature of 'warm white' (2700K). The main difference is that the LED bulb comes on instantly, while the CFL bulb takes 2-3 seconds to light up dimly, and gradually increases to full brightness over the next few minutes.

When I turn down the power to minimum, the difference becomes very obvious:

The incandescent bulb dims down to a faint red globe

The CFL bulb flickers as the power becomes too low, then cuts off completely

The LED bulb dims down smoothly to (maybe) 10% of its original brightness, while maintaining its color temperature.

(See the pictures I uploaded to 'Customer Images' section for comparison at full and minimum power)

So far I'm very happy with the performance of this Feit BR30 LED floodlight. Its only drawback right now is the higher inital cost per bulb. But since those LED bulbs are rated for 25,000 hours, compared to just 6,000 hours for CFL bulbs, the cost difference is actually not that significant. Plus I can enjoy high-dimming ratio, buzz-free lighting in my living room for the next 10 years or so. In that sense, making the investment for LED bulbs is definitely worthwhile.

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I'm comparing the Feit Electric Br30 Flood Dimmable 13w/65w LED Light Bulb 750 Lumens 120° Degree (017801435016) and Philips 420554 13-Watt BR30 LED Indoor Flood Light Bulb, Dimmable (82283402 = 9290002197 = 420554) from HD and used 65W GE Miser BR30 that came with my 12-year old house remodel. Also would like to try the GE 65388 and Phillips 420562 (14BR40/END/F90) and Philips DimTone 13BR30/END/F90 if they didn't cost twice as much. I used a Nikon D4 digital camera, WhiBal color reference card, Lightroom 4.3, and a Sekonic L-358 light meter.

Light color & output @ full dimmer brightness:

GE Miser 65W: 2600 Kelvin, 6.4EV @ 1 meter distance

Philips 13W: 2550 K, 5.9EV

Feit 13W: 2700 K, 5.6EV

Light color & output @ dimmer dialed about ½ way:

GE Miser 65W: 2250 Kelvin, 4.2EV @ 1 meter distance

Philips 13W: 2500 K, 4.1EV

Feit 13W: 2700 K, 4.1EV

Angle:

The deal with this is that centerline light output measurement does not give you a real idea of the total light output... the angle on the Philips is the most narrow, next is the GE Miser and the widest is the Feit. The Feit is wide to the point where it illuminates the sides of the fixture can.

Size:

These all match size to each other within a millimeter or two.

Sound:

The Feit makes a small hum when dimmed down below halfway. I don't detect any sound from the Philips or tungsten.

Asthetics:

The old 65W has the best asthetics.... Maybe because it's what we are all used to, but maybe the red color at low light is desirable. It also has a good angle of fill such that it doesn't illuminate the recessed can but distributes light across the bulb front well. Although the color of the Philips is a tad nicer than the Feit, the Philips also projects light from a more synthetic front disk surface. None have any annoying hot-spot glare. The Philips has a teeny power-on delay and the Feit power-on delay is a little bit longer but still maybe ½-second. As others have noted, the LED bulbs dim low but not ultra-low like the tungsten.

Conclusion:

The hum of the Feit is probably a deal killer.

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(Update below)

I purchased 11 of these FEIT bulbs to replace incandescent BR30s in bathrooms (no dimmer) and kitchen overheads (with dimmer).

Likes:

* Low energy (main motivation for purchase) Measured at 12.5 watts.

* Great light when full-on, subjectively seems even brighter than the incandescents.

* Seems about the same color as full-on incandescents.

Neutral:

* As it is dimmed, it retains its white light coloring in contrast to incandescents, which get yellower as they dim. Good for a kitchen or work environment, but for a room where I'm watching TV, etc. I prefer the incandescent dimming effect more for a softer background light.

Dislikes:

* Buzzes when dimmed lower than about half way. I replaced my older kitchen dimmer with an LED-compatible dimmer (Lutron Skylark CL Dimmer), and it made no difference. The buzzing is not real loud, but depending on your hearing sensitivity to higher frequencies it may or may not be annoying. In my particular kitchen application, we thus have to make the choice between buzzing and excessively bright light.

* Takes about a half second to turn on. Yes, faster than some CFL bulbs, but compared to incandescent it's definitely not "Instant On". This short turn-on delay is easy enough to get used to, and it mostly bugs me because the packaging proclaims "Instant On", misleading IMHO.

In conclusion I think these are great for a non-dimming application, but I'm disappointed with the dimmer performance.

Note: 1 of 11 bulbs failed intermittently after a few minutes of initial use.

(I purchased these in January 2013 from a discount warehouse at a better price, but they seem to closely match the specs and packaging shown here on Amazon.)

UPDATE Sept 9, 2013:

I purchased CREE 65W BR30 bulbs, recently available from HD for $20, so comparing the Feit bulbs:

* The CREE bulbs are really instant on. In one overhead array with both the CREE and the Feit bulbs, I can see the CREE bulbs light up well before the Feit bulbs at power on.

* The CREE bulbs have no buzzing at dimmed levels, in contrast to the Feits.

* Both bulbs dim to about the same minimum level.

* The CREE bulbs worked fine with an existing analog dimmer; seems to be no need to replace the dimmer with a new LED-compatible dimmer.

I dropped the Feit bulbs by a star, now that I have a comparison product with better performance.

Honest reviews on Feit Electric Br30 Flood Dimmable 13w/65w LED Light Bulb 750 Lumens

I purchased this at Costco for $15. It claims to be 2700K, and it certainly is somewhere in that color range, but it has a somewhat low CRI of 80 and this means that objects illuminated by its light have a somewhat ghostly quality where they don't quite appear to "be there."

Also, the light does have an annoying 1-2 second delay in turning on, so the claim on the packaging of "instant on" is not correct. I have other LED bulbs that DO turn on instantly, so I know it can be done.

So, high marks for the price, average marks for the low CRI, and low marks for the delay in turning on.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Feit Electric Br30 Flood Dimmable 13w/65w LED Light Bulb 750 Lumens

Great bulb, mine says that it uses 13 watts. Great bright light. I replaced GE 23 watt CFL BR30 spot lights and this LED blows them away. They are instantly bright, unlike the CFLs (compact fluorescent light) I replaced. A bit more bright than the 23 watt CFL that they replaced. About half the watts of the CFL, but the same nice even light, but I've noticed these LEDs do not bother my eyes like the CFLs did. Great warm color, not blue or green. They are cool to the touch too. 750 lumens. They were $15.99 at Costco in MD.