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I've had four of these clear Switch 60 bulbs installed in a ceiling fan application for over a month now and these things absolutely rock! The light output from the clear lens bulb ia absolutely beautiful! The output is most definitely in the soft white warm light range, but not too brown which is my typical complaint with most incandescents and many other LED bulbs. At 4.4 inches in length, this bulb is just ever so slightly longer than the incandescent bulbs it replaced, but for the majority of applications, I don't believe this will be a problem. One of the more impressive aspects of this LED bulb is it's virtual "instant on" performance, even when starting at a dimmed setting. Other LED bulbs I've tried to date have had much difficulty achieving this feat, but not this one!
When this bulb is on, it's absolutely stunning; however, its appearance may take a little getting used to when it's off. From the aesthetic appearance point of view, I've been playing around with both the clear and frosted versions of this bulb and I can definitely say that which one looks best definitely depends on the application. For the clear cyrstal light fixtures on my ceiling fan, the clear bulb looks best... it's just a little "alien egg thing" looking during the daytime when it's off! Fortunately, the ceiling fan is up pretty high, so you're generally not starring at it when it's off; however, when it's on you can't help but stop and gaze in awe at the awesome display this LED arrangement puts on. So far, I've generally chosen the clear lens version of this bulb for applications in light fixtures with clear glass/crytal shades (both exposed bulb and totally enclosed); however, the frosted version just seems more appropriate to me in more opaque shade applications where the bulb is exposed to view. Though I havent' verified my suspicion yet, I'm thinking I'll be going with the clear bulb for totally enclosed opaque shades as well to optimize efficiency as the frosted bulb dissipates more power for the same lumen output as the clear. Again, the frosted lens seems best for exposed bulb applications where the frosting results in a bulb outline illumination when it's on and helps hide the alien nature of the internals when it's off.
By the way, the ability to use this bulb in totally enclosed light fixtures is one of the features that sets this bulb apart from others. Many other LED bulbs may only be used in limited orientations or in open/ventilated fixtures. Per the manufacturers instructions, this bulb is "Suitable for use with dimmers," "Suitable for damp locations," "Suitable for use in enclosed luminaires (fixtures)." The box states that this bulb "Operates in any direction and in any fixture: open, recessed, or enclosed."
As with most LED bulbs, this one is somewhat heavy and thus weight may be of concern for some more fragile light fixtures.
Other equivalent wattages (40, 75, and 100) should be along soon as well...
Actually, some of the others are already out and here are some product links:
SWITCH SWITCH60 13.5 Watt 2700K Warm White Frosted LED Light Bulb 800 Lumen
SWITCH SWITCH75 20 Watt 2700K Warm White Frosted LED Light Bulb 1100 Lumen
SWITCH SWITCH75 18.5 Watt 2700K Warm White Clear LED Light Bulb 1100 Lumen
SWITCH SWITCH40 8 Watt 2700K Warm White Frosted LED Light Bulb 450 Lumen
FYI: The Switch 40 and 60 are both supposed to be around 4.4" in legth while the switch 75 and 100 are supposed to be around 4.9" in legth... so the higher output bulbs will increase the bulb size which may be a concern in some applications.
Now, if you happen to be in the market for a good non-dimmable vanity globe type LED bulb, the Tuwago LED Globe Bulb has got to be the one to beat. They're ever so slightly larger in diameter than the typical globe type bulb, but they're absolutely awesome. Here's the product link:
Tuwago 9.5W Globe CREE® LED Bulb Warm White 2700K
UPDATE 26 JAN 2013:
Reading B. Greenstone's review comments on the searing intensity of the LEDs in the clear Switch60 bulb, I thought it might be worth a quick update to my review as I, myself, have pondered this same issue. The individual LEDs are indeed quite intense and will certainly leave you seeing spots for a short period after staring directly at them, so applications where these bulbs are exposed in a close proximity manner in which you can't help but look directly at the bulb may pose something of a concern. As I noted above, the four clear Switch60 bulbs I have are in a ceiling fan application. What I failed to note is that this ceiling fan is located such that the bulbs are probably 10 feet or so above the floor so that they would not naturally be in your line of sight. Even at this height though, looking directly at these bulbs will leave you seeing spots, so I did play around with replacing these with the frosted version to diffuse the intensity a bit. Unfortunately, the frosted bulbs simply don't produce the same dramatic flair with the fancy clear crystal shades on this ceiling fan as the clear Switch60 bulbs do. So, after swapping back and forth between clear and frosted a couple of times, I did settle on the more dramatic clear bulbs which have been in place for about a month now. What I have noticed over this time is that as the "newness/novelty" of these bulbs has worn off, I find myself looking directly at the bulbs less and less often which brings me to this question: How often in our daily lives do we really stare directly at the bulbs in the majority of our lighting fixtures? For overhead applications in particular, I'd guess the answer is very rarely... generally, we muddle on through the evening with little thought of the bulbs producing the light in the room and, thus, are rarely inclined to look directly at them. So, seemingly, it's the very novelty of these bulbs that initially attracts one to stare directly at them, subsequently noting how bright the LEDs are. Anyway, I had come to this conclusion some time back and more or less put the issue out of mind... that is, until I read B. Greenstone's review which reminded me of my early days with these bulbs. So, again pondering this question, I came up with one more question: Since plain old incandescent bulbs aren't much of a novelty and don't generally attract one to look directly at them, could I even recall what it was like to stare at my old clear incandescent bulbs directly? The answer I came up with was that I honestly couldn't remember what it was like to stare directly at my 60W clear incandescents... so, I decided to go do just that with one of my other ceiling fans that still has clear incandescent bulbs in it. Guess what? Staring directly at the filament of the clear incandescent bulbs also leaves me seeing spots. So, I went back and forth between the clear Swith60 bulbs and the clear incandescent bulbs trying to determine if staring at one was really much worse that staring at the other. In the end, I think I can say that the LED output is indeed somewhat more intense than the exposed incandescent filament output on the bulbs I was looking at; however, it's not terribly fun staring at either as they both leave you seeing spots. I'm also not sure how fair a comparison this is as the incandescent bulbs themselves are somewhat old and I don't know how their current output campares to when they were new. Anyway, I'm certainly not trying to dismiss the output intensity concern as it is one which I myself did have, but I just wanted to put these thoughts out there. Definitely, if you are going to place these bulbs in a location that you simply can't help but stare directly at, then you should put some consideration into whether these bulbs are appropriate or not. I will say that for the majority of the eye level lighting in my home where the bulb is exposed, I do prefer the frosted version of this bulb instead to diffuse the intensity somewhat and, mostly, because I think the frosted bulbs tend to look better in these fixtures which, in my home at least, tend to have more opaque types of shades anyway. Additionally, the frosted lens bulbs do tend to provide something of a "bulb outline glow" which seems more normal when you are used to seeing the glow of soft white bulbs whereas there is all but no such bulb lens glow with the clear bulbs. Now, for fully enclosed fixtures where there is some sort of diffusing globe/shade then I would most certainly go with the clear bubs. Anyway, think carefully about your applications and, if you've got applications for both clear and frosted bulbs, then perhaps consider purchasing one of each initially and trying them both in your different applications to see what you really think before you make the investment to purchase all the rest of the bulbs you might need.
Beyond that, I will say that one of my other concerns with LED bulbs in general is with the ability of any company to consistently produce bulbs over time with consistent output quality/color as eventually these companies will likely be compelled to try different LED sources and/or to make small design changes in their bulbs which may well affect the output quality/color of their bulbs over time so that the "same" bulb purchased from the same company a number of years later may not match up well with the originally purchased bulbs. This is particularly true for companies who drastically alter the design of their LED bulbs over time. One would like to hope that the basic bulb design would at least stay consistent over time so that you don't end up with an odd mixture of bulb designs as you have occassional failures over many years and need to replace one bulb here and there. This is one big plus of the traditional glass candescent bulb where they pretty much all had the same/similar look... which isn't at all true of the vast variety of LED bulbs out there today. Here's hoping that Switch stays in business for a long time and that their design remains pretty much consistent from here out.
Also, as noted by one of the other reviewers, the multiple independent LEDs located within this bulb do cast ever so slighly different shadows from eachother due to their varied positions within the bulb. Personally, I don't particularly find this to be a problem, but some folks just might. Combined with etched/fancy clear glass/crystal shades, I actually think this effect makes for an even more dramatic affect. Anyway, to each their own... and hopefully this expanded review will better assist others in making their purchasing decision. After all, LED bulbs are a somewhat pricey investment which make potential disappointment in such a product that much more of a concern.
UPDATE 02 FEB 2013:
As I noted before in my other review, one of my primary concerns with LED bulb adoption has been the inability of companies to provide a consistent product in both form and function over time. In an exposed bulb application, I'd at least like all my bulbs to look the same and at some time in the future when one of my LED bulbs fails, it would be nice to know that I'll still be able to get a replacement to match my original bulbs in which I'm heavily invested. Given the history of the LED bulb industry to date, I'm concerned that this is a long-shot bet given the rate at which products have been appearing and disappearing. In the case of Switch Lighting's bulbs, I'm hoping that they invested heavily enough in their initial design so as to need little physical design change down the road; however, only time will tell whether that's truly the case. Of course, I also have to hope that the company manages to make a sucessful go of this and stay in business... or, if not, at least sell the design off to another company who will continue with the design. Beyond formfactor though is the realm of functional performance which I believe will be a challenge for all LED bulb companies, including Switch.
One would like to hope that a company can produce a consistent product with consistent performance; however, there are many technical complexities such as maintaining consistent LED sources, component sources, and so on. Unfortunately, I think evidence of this concern can already be seen in inconsistencies I've already found with Switch Lighting's initial product offerings. Specifically, there already appears to be two different Switch60 bulb designs in circulation. In purchasing the Switch60 frosted bulbs whose packaging declares a 13.5W power consumption, I've discovered that some of the bulbs are actually marked as 14.5 Watt on top of the bulb itself... and these bulbs do seem to produce a slightly different light output color than those appropriately marked as 13.5W. And a quick comparison on one of Batteries Plus's power meters does show a watt or more difference in power consumption between the two Switch 60 frosted bulb designs. Additionally, in my experience, the 14.5W marked version of the Switch 60 produces a slighly more "brown" output than the approprately marked 13.5W version... which is how I discovered the existence of the two different design versions. In fact, you can see the 14.5W version of the bulb yourself by simply taking a close look at the bulb pictured on EarthLED's website... zoom in on that picture of the bulb-top labeling and you can clearly see that the pictured bulb is actually labeled as 14.5W instead of the advertised 13.5W... all of which leads me to question exactly which version you would receive if you were to order one. Again, you have to get the picture directly from EarthLED's site to see this as the picture posted here on Amazon is too low resolution to be able to make out the labeling. Same sort of thing is apparently going on with the clear bulb as well.
The Swith 60 clear bulb is advertised as 12W power consumption; however, as with the frosted bulb, there is also a version floating around with a higher 13W rating. I can't really comment on any output color difference between these bulbs as I've not really had them in close proximity; however, I can verify that both the 12W and 13W versions exist as I went back reviewing my prior purchases of clear bulbs for inconsistencies as well and guess what? My original purchase of four clear bulbs I used in one ceiling fan application are all labeled as 13W while three additional bulbs purchased later for another ceiling fan application are labeled as 12W. Though I no longer have the packaging for these bulbs, I'm pretty sure their packaging advertised a 12W power consumption, not 13W. I've also since seen the 13W clear bulbs in BatteriesPlus stores with packages that state 12W. Unfortunately, the store didn't have both bulbs available at the same time to allow me to perform a similar power consumption comparison, but I'm betting I would likely have seen an actual 1W or better difference as noted in the frosted version. Ironically, you can also see this 13W version of the clear Switch 60 bulb pictured on EarthLED's website which advertises them as 12W. Just zoom in on the clear bulb-top labeling currently pictured on their site as you will readily see the 13W labeling. Again, I believe the Amazon version of this picture is too low resolution to be able to do the same with it.
Is this really a big deal? Well, that's up to you to decide, but I personally feel the "inconsistent" product labeling and inconvenience of having to run around trying to get all my frosted bulbs to match so that they produce the same colors in same fixture applications is worth deducting one star from my original 5-star review... and it certainly doesn't ease my concerns over future product consistency... or over which product I'll actually receive when ordering any more for that matter...
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I'm in the middle of changing all of the light fixtures in my house to energy efficient bulbs. I mostly skipped using CFLs except in closets and other rarely used locations because I was never satisfied with the color quality.Now that LED bulbs have become bright enough and affordable enough I've begun using them in applications where I was never willing to use CFL bulbs. The SWITCH series of lights has become my primary bulb of choice for enclosed fixtures. Most LED bulbs are only recommended for use in open fixtures. Although LED bulbs generate far less heat than incandescent bulbs, the LEDs are much more sensitive to heat. While any LED bulb can be installed in an enclosed fixture if it fits, it is more likely to age and dim prematurely instead of lasting it's full rated lifetime (usually somewhere above 20 years at 3 hours a day) if it is not rated for use in enclosed fixtures.
The SWITCH bulbs with their liquid cooling technology are rated to be used in enclosed fixtures. I have found that they get warm all over when on for a long period of time. The glass bulb gets noticeably warm whereas other LED bulbs seem to emit heat primarily from the heat sink fins, rather than uniformly everywhere. I take this as an indication that the SWITCH bulb design is more efficient at distributing heat throughout the device, and therefore is probably also more efficient at keeping the LEDs cool enough to operate well.
Besides energy efficiency, the most important characteristics to me about an energy efficient light bulbs are light distribution and light color. This bulb has very good light distribution. It distributes light in almost the same way as a traditional incandescent: in all directions. It is slightly brighter around the "equator" of the bulb, mostly this is only noticeable when looking at the bare bulb. I'm less satisfied with the color of the light emitted by the SWITCH. To my eye this bulb is slightly more "brown" than my preferred bulbs. It isn't as unpleasant as CFLs, but it is not as pleasing as an incandescent bulb or other models of LED bulb. For this reason I am going to be using this bulb only for recessed fixtures where I have fewer choices.
The SWITCH bulbs turn on very quickly. The delay is almost unnoticeable, even when compared to an incandescent. Some LED bulbs have a noticeable delay that can be especially annoying when combined with other types of light sources on the same switch.
The SWITCH bulb is quite heavy. Heavier than any other LED bulb I have encountered. They seem to be sturdily built. I accidentally dropped one from standing height onto a hardwood floor and no damage occurred. The weight may be a concern in certain fixtures. In one of my flushmount fixtures intended for incandescent bulbs the bulbs droop several inches because of the flimsy and flexible metal tab that supports the socket. I used a zip tie to reinforce the socket mount so it could support the weight of these bulbs.
PROS:
Rated for use in enclosed fixtures
Instant-on
360 degree light distribution pattern
Similar size to a 60 watt incandescent
CONS
Expensive
Heavy
Average color quality
For reference, I prefer the color from Philips AmblientLED bulbs as well as CREE LR6 and CR6 cans.
Best Deals for SWITCH Lighting A22131CA1-R Classic A19 LED Light Bulb with 60-watt
We have several of these bulbs throughout our house, in frosted and in clear, and at various output levels (40, 60, 75). They are gorgeous to look at and put out beautiful, warm, consistent light. One of the things that I didn't anticipate was the way the multiple points of light emitting from the ring of LEDs creates scattered shadow features, which we really like. We chose the 60 clear bulb for fixtures where the bulb is enclosed or at least recessed, and especially for fixtures that are hard to access we know we won't need to change them for a very long time. For truly exposed bulb situations, the frosted bulb (http://www.amazon.com/SWITCH-SWITCH60-2700K-White-Frosted/dp/B00AHFOMVQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) is a better choice. You lose a bit of the jewel-like quality of the clear bulb, but it's less intensely focused light.The one thing that did surprise me about these bulbs is that they are fairly substantial in terms of weight. The only place where they didn't really work for us was in our Tolomeo desk lamps. Other than that, we've gone Switch-crazy and have them all over the house. We even replaced the old "candle" style bulbs in our old-school sconces with some Switch40 frosted bulbs. They make me happy every time I see them. So cool. Warm, I mean :-)
Honest reviews on SWITCH Lighting A22131CA1-R Classic A19 LED Light Bulb with 60-watt
I won't attempt to outdo Demanding Customer, who has given an extensive review of this bulb. I will say, however, that I'm extremely pleased with this bulb. It works in any orientation, and the liquid cooling allows it to safely operate in enclosed fixtures. The placement of the LEDs does create a bright ring around the bulb -this may or may not be an issue with your application (for us, it isn't). The light does evenly disperse from the bulb, however.One caveat is that color rendering is not as optimal as with incandescent or halogen lamps. It's far better than the typical CFL and its white temperature is close to halogen. But colors do lose some intensity -which is why I've rated it as 4 stars instead of 5.
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