Reviews of QTY 4 / Cree Cr6 Ecosmart LED 6 " Recessed Light 9.5w 35,000 Hours

Customer Ratings:

These lights are great. I acutally went and bought one of each of all the competitiors and put them in the room and then my wife and I both rated them. These were the run away winnersit wasn't even close.

I installed them as a repalcements to incandesceants. We do use them with dimmers. We can virtually not tell a difference in either the light they provide or the way they work with the dimmers (I had previously replaced lights in the house on dimmers with CFL's and other LED's and not gotten the same results).

I like new technology, but recognize that it can take a while before the price gets where you want it to be and the function is really 100%. Price is a personal decision, but in terms of functionality and performance, these are the grail of category. If you are waiting for a low operating cost alternative to your incandescentsit has arrivedin my opinion for the first timein this product.

I put these in high use / high profile areas of the house where I had been previously unable to find low operating cost light that I was satisied with both the light and the dimmer function. The changed that opinion and I have installed 8 in the house so far.

I gave them 4 stars not 5 because the installation could be easieronce I figured it out it was OK but it took a while and they simply did not fit in some fixtures in the house.

Additionallyover the last year I have replaced nearly all of the light bulbs in our house with CFLs or LEDs. We are seeing a very noticeable reduction in our electric bill$25-$35 a month.

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I purchased these to replace both some Incandescent and CFL floods mounted in recessed ceiling cans. I ran a test using a Kilawatt Meter, a Photographic Light Meter, and my Canon EOS 5d MKIII. I measured watts consumed, light output in EV (Exposure Value) at 1 meter, and Color Temperature in Kelvin. I measured Color Temp by photographing a Neutral Grey Card and checking it after with Adobe Lightroom. I suspect the results are slightly high or cool but as I mention below, good for comparison.

Keep in mind I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any one device but all bulbs were tested under exactly the same conditions, so at the very least the results are relative. For example I think the Kilawatt is under reading a bit on the lower end, and my Color Temps are a tad high, but again think relative. Also when measuring light in EV think Richter Scale, it's logarithmic, an increase of 1.0 is a doubling of light. Also EV is comparable to LUX or luminous flux(Lumens/sqft) and NOT Total Lumens. Total Lumens is a measure of the total light output, which would depend on projection angle, and light intensity from edge to edge of projected surface. However if the bulbs have similar projection characteristics we can make a mild comparison of light output using Lux.

Also note that there are two versions of the Cree floating around, a 9.5W and a 10.5W. I went to Home Depot and dug around and found a 10.5W for comparisons. The boxes give exactly the same performance specifications with the exception of Wattage. I'm not sure what the difference, I can only assume one precedes the other.

My house line voltage is 121.5V

65W Incandescent R30 Flood

Power Consumption= 63.6 Watts

Light Output EV = 6.9

Temp = 2850K

14W Warm White CFL R30 Flood

Power Consumption = 14.0 Watts

Light Output EV = 5.8 (WOW! Half the light of a 65W Incandescent?)

Temp 2800K

10.5W CREE Cr6 LED 6"

Power Consumption = 9.2 Watts

Light Output EV = 6.7 (Same as 9.5W?)

Temp 2700K (The warmest light by a small amount)

9.5W CREE Cr6 LED 6"

Power Consumption = 8.0 Watts

Light Output EV = 6.7 (Same as 10.5W?)

Temp 2900K

75W R30 Incandescent

Power Consumption = 72.5 Watts

Light Output EV = 7.2

Temp 2850K

Conclusions?

The light output of the LED was not quite the same as the 65W incandescent, but not bad. I'd say it is closer to a 55 or 60W equivalent. Again in terms of light output think of it like a 6.9 earthquake versus a 6.7. There is a difference, but for me the real difference was with the 75W Flood, it offered up noticeably more light. Unfortunately that is the majority of what I am replacing and when unfairly compared to the 75W, there is substantially less light with the CREE. I think that a CREE LED of higher wattage and light output would be welcome in those situations where you really want a 75W equivalent. As for the 9.5W versus 10.5W? Light output was basically the same for the 10.5W and 9.5W, with the exception being the 10.5W was slightly warmer than all bulbs in the comparison. I would seek out the 9.5W version since it used 1.2W (13%) less power for basically the same light output.

My biggest surprise was the CFL. It performed very poorly in my opinion, much worse than I expected. With basically half the light output, the slow start up, you have a light that is not very desirable. I will search around to see if I have some other examples as this one may have been an especially poor performer.

Overall I was impressed with the amount of light that could be produced for under 10W. I would say we have passed the point at which LED's can be competitive, we just need the prices to come down a bit more, and a few more options for greater light output. The CREE is a good replacement for 60 Watts of R30 Flood Light, not quite the Standard 65W, but close. So close that the power saved is just too hard to ignore. Say you have a finished basement with a dozen R30's. Flip the switch on with the Incandescent floods and your Electricity Meter is going to spin noticeably faster. With the LED's it's doubtful you could even detect the difference. 12 R30's x 8 Watts = 96 Watts. Wow, that is a big jump in efficiency.

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Definitely brighter than the 65 watt bulbs they replaced.

Very easy install if you have the standard Edison base already; after the first one it took me about 90 seconds each to change out the rest.

Using them with the Lutron DVWCL-153PH-WH (or DVCL...no plate) dimmer; full range dimming with no problems and no buzzing.

Honest reviews on QTY 4 / Cree Cr6 Ecosmart LED 6 " Recessed Light 9.5w 35,000 Hours

I have purchsed about 50 Cree lights over the years. The Cr6 is a great light, very pleasing color and distribution. The Cr6 is an improvement over the Lr6 in terms of dimability and price.

This seller keeps shipping 1 instead of 4 as advertised. Tried 2 times. Amazon has no way of telling you when inventory error is resolved. 0 for order experience this time. First significant issue with Amazon in ~500 orders. Unless you want a hassle don't buy until the inventory is fixed.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for QTY 4 / Cree Cr6 Ecosmart LED 6 " Recessed Light 9.5w 35,000 Hours

These are a great way to seal off can lights for energy conservation. They provide more light than the CFL's that they replaced. They were easy to install and are "instant on".