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List Price: $26.99
Sale Price: $20.97
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This bulb is an "almost" perfect replacement for a "traditional" incandescent. Price is still a bit high and dimming is not perfect, but color, instant-on, brightness, and power usage are very good. These problems are not enough that I would ding it a full star in my rating a 4.5 stars if that was possible. More details are below.
This Philips model #423798 is the 65W replacement, 730 lumens, soft white (2700K) version of their BR30 floodlight line-up. It's typically used in ceiling floodlights alternatively with it's wider brother the BR40. The line-up of similar bulbs is:
BR30 Soft White (2700K), 730 lumens, 13w, Retail or Frustration-Free #423798 UPC#046677421946
BR30 Bright white (3000K) #420281
BR30 Daylight (5000K), 730 lumens, 10w, Retail #425306 UPC#046677425302
BR40 Soft White (2700K) 800 lumens, 14.5w, Retail #423756 UPC#046677420291
If you're decking out a whole area in flood lights, 2-packs and 4-packs of each are available. Unfortunately as of Aug 2013 Amazon's selection of other types and quantities still limited.
Packaging: If you can, get the frustration-free version. The retail package is very thick plastic and is completely fused together around the bulb. My mostly-sharp knife barely made a dent in it. Two-hands on scissors was the only way I could get it off and even then I made a sharp mess out of it.
Dimensions: The bulb size is close to that of a normal bulb and it looks like they tried to make the neck part as skinny as possible for compatibility with most fixtures. I had no problems installing it in mine.
Delay: When turned on from a cold state, there is very slight delay of about 1/3 of a second, during which it seems to turn on at half-brightness and then jump to full. Much better than the competing Sylvania model which can take up to a full second to come on. Once warmed up the delay is even smaller.
Color: I compared the color with another soft white incandescent and found it to be virtually identical. Maybe 2800K versus 2700K, but close enough to pass.
Lumens: Officially it is spec-ed at 730 which seems to be average for most incandescent 65-watts being sold today. They usually vary between 600 and 800 depending on efficiency. I have no way to objectively confirm this rating, but anecdotally it does seem a tad brighter than the 650 lumen bulb it replaced.
Power: Philips claims it uses 13-watts during operation. My tests with a Kill-A-Watt device actually showed only 11-watts being pulled at 123V, so if anything it's more efficient.
Heat: Even with it's efficiency, heat is surprisingly still a bit of a concern with these bulbs. After being on for an hour in an open BR40-rated can it was registering 123F on the face as measured using an infrared thermometer. Hot enough that you don't want to touch it immediately after it has been on, but not as bad as the burn you would get from an incandescent.
Dimming: I'm using a 3-year old Lutron Maestro dimmer that is not specifically rated for CFL or LED use. If the dimmer is turned on to the lowest setting from the off position, it starts at about 25% of full brightness. It then increases smoothly up to full brightness with no color-shift, flicker, or other abnormalities. Dimming it down from full power lets me get to about 20% of full, but that's it it will go straight to off at anything else. Useable? Yes, but it's not the gentle, romantic glow you might want from a lower setting.
Longevity: I will update this review if this bulb burns out. So far no early-death problems.
Price: As far as price goes, it's currently available for $30. Some local jurisdictions are offering subsidizing of the price down to $20, which makes it a really good deal. By my calculations, taking the US average of 11 cents/kWh, a use of 3 hours per day, $30 price tag, you'll break even with a ~$3 incandescent at about the 4 year mark. Not bad. Use it 5 hours a day and it'll take 2.5 years. Really what it comes down to is this: get it at a good price and only use it for fixtures that you know get a lot of use. That's where you'll see the most bang for the buck.
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The Philips 423798 13-Watt BR30 Indoor Flood LED Light Bulb, Dimmable replacement floods are what LED replacement floods should look like. Unlike many other competitors Philips has developed a near perfect replacement for incandescent flood bulbs. In most light fixtures you would hardly notice that there was an LED in place of a traditional bulb, and the fit and finish of the product makes this bulb gives it a contemporary design appeal that isn't in any other LED bulb on the market.
PERFORMANCE ***** : Compared to a traditional incandescent bulb it's replacing you'll gain greater luminous flux or lumens (brightness) 730 vs 580 (Damar 65W Flood in my case) at a 5th of the power consumption. I have found this suits my situation well because the areas my floods were lighting up always seemed a bit too dark for my liking. One unfortunate feature of LED is that it won't go nearly as dim as my incandescent, but it doesn't affect me as I don't need a light that is barely lit. I do not know if this is a by-product of my dimmer switch or the fact that overall, this LED is 150 lumens brighter than my incandescent. In either case, it dims to an acceptable "dim" level (about 15% of overall brightness vs 5% for incandescent) and for my use I do not need or use the extremely dim setting ever, so I did not remove a star or even half a star for this.
COLOR ***** : The light rendition is quite accurate at 2700K, nice soft warm light that won't make your space feel like an office with overhead florescent lighting or a warehouse with really harsh florescent or halogen lighting. G33kman's suggestion of the daylight (5000K) variation #425306 (that Amazon no longer carries) as an alternative is far to white-bluish and harsh, really harsh. I purchase one to test out compared to these from a famous national hardware store that begins with Home, and I found that the light produced was far too stark for home use, and it felt like a spotlight that you'd use in an operating room or dentist chair or oncoming xenon high beams. This light on the other hand has great color rendition performed some test photos with my DSLR and easily set 2700K as the white balance and images came out nearly spot on.
AESTHETICS & FIT ***** : As mentioned at the top of my review these LEDs are a perfect replacement for the BR30 form factor. I even placed my old incandescent floods in the packaging that these bulbs came in and it fit light a glove. So long as you are purchasing the correct bulb for the correct fixture you shouldn't have a problem replacing your old lights for these. Philips offers a BR40 variation that fits floods that are typical of 75W/100W or higher floods (longer neck and wider bulb). Unlike the other competitors on the market these lights don't LOOK like LEDs, and the diffusion lens in front of the LEDs is not at all transparent, just enough opaqueness to hide the fact that they are LEDs and allow for a good balanced wash of light (no harsh spots like some competitor LED bulbs). Some people have mentioned in their reviews that depending on your angle to the light you may see some glaring from LEDs which I do not believe to be true, these lights are 26% brighter than traditional bulbs they replace so that glare could be a byproduct of the higher light output. I can stand in various angles from my flood lights and I cannot see any flares, but as I have mentioned they are significantly brighter. If you have flood fixtures that the bulb is not enclosed these LEDs do not have the ugly heat sink design on the body of the bulb; the smooth white neck of the bulb and aluminum finish around the lens makes the Philips LED flood look very modern and pleasing to any home decor. If you have flood lighting fixtures that are position-able, you may have issues with the added weight of these bulbs, but that is likely the case with any LED replacement bulb. Just tighten your hinges and your lights should stay in place.
PRICE **** : At 12-13X the cost of traditional incandescent bulbs this might be a hard pill to swallow, as cost savings probably won't be offset for 2-3 years of use. So it's a bit more of an initial investment for most people. However, at a energy savings of 80% of a traditional bulb it's replacing you won't feel guilty if you left a light on when you leave the house. In one hour use of a traditional bulb you'll get 5 hours with this one and the added benefit of cooler operating tempurature (less A/C in the summer) and a brighter light. Look for these lights on a price dip and you'll gain even more cost savings benefit from switching and making your home more green. These have a 5 year warranty from the manufacturer but I suspect that like most other LED bulbs you'll get a 22 year life span from these based upon a 3 hour/day use. That's more than most people live in one place!
PACKAGING *** : I wasn't willing to wait for Amazon's frustration-free packaging option to ship to me (1-3 month wait) so I opted for the retail version. The packaging is made to show off the look of the light and deter people from stealing these from brick and mortar stores. The plastic clam-shell case that is used in the retail version requires a very sharp box cutter or utility knife to open, or a sharp pair of good quality scissors, maybe even a large wire cutter. Plastic shards will likely fly around when opening the packaging with scissors. I have found that using a box cutter and cutting an almost square box around the outside of the tabs of the packaging to be the best method of opening the plastic shell after removing it from the cardboard outer sleeve. You'll have to use a bit of force to get through one layer of the plastic but be careful not to press too hard else you will cut through both layers and potentially your other hand if you're holding it. I am going to omit packaging in my overall score because you're not buying this product for ease of opening the package, you're considering your purchase of this product for it's performance, cost and energy savings benefit.
OVERALL ***** : I couldn't be happier with my purchase of the Philips 423798 13-Watt BR30 Indoor Flood LED Light Bulbs. Philips has outdone themselves with this product and I hope this can translate to other lighting products in the market they sell. By 2015 it's going to be pretty difficult to find traditional incandescent lighting as there is a big push for replacements of more "green" alternatives, so whether you wait or pull the trigger now, you'll be pleased with the results you get from these in all aspects of your lighting and energy needs.
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Light color seems similar to incandescent, but the off-angle glare is worse on the face of the bulb than an incandescent. This is probably due to the light emitting diodes being right behind the white diffuser plate whereas an in an incandescent bulb the filament is recessed an inch or two back from frosted face. When you are off to the side of the light enough to see it in your field of view on the ceiling, in the incandescent case you'll only see indirect light off the frosted face, not directly be able to see the recessed filament. In the LED case you are seeing almost directly the LED light emitters behind the diffuser.
If your ceiling cans are deep enough this might not be a problem. Ours are shallow enough that the face of the bulbs are visible from most anywhere in the room. The extra glare is annoying enough that I might try to put up some sort of extra diffuser or shroud of some sort around the light. Since they run cooler than a bulb, I don't have to worry as much about melting or catching on fire.
Honest reviews on Philips 423798 13-Watt (65 Watt) BR30 Indoor Soft White (2700K)
I've tried several different replacements for our overhead flood lights. CFL's are fine, but turning them on and off multiple times a day lessens their life. Plus CFL's can take time to warm up and there's the mercury disposal issue. The early Philips LED floods were too heavy and caused my fixtures to sag down from the ceiling.
This bulb and its 12 watt "bright white" sibling are lighter and the quality of the light is high. Recommended. Now if only the price would drop!
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Philips 423798 13-Watt (65 Watt) BR30 Indoor Soft White (2700K)
Before I proceed, please note: The Amazon description, above, refers to a 13 Watt / 800 lumens bulb, while the title and accompanying photo refer to a 10 Watt / 730 lumens bulb. I've not purchased from Amazon until this is clarified. For the identical price ($31.97), one can purchase the 10 Watt bulb from Home Depot -that's where I got mine. Purchased through Amazon with Prime, there is free shipping and no sales tax -a slight advantage.
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This is a very nice looking bulb. I very much like the "Daylight" color -bright white. It also instantly turns on, even when dimmed, and exhibits no flicker. The bulbs I compare with are compact fluorescent dimmable BR30's. What I don't like about them is their color (yellow), warm up period (several minutes), and flicker (especially when dimmed). Plus, though they are low energy, they do put out quite a bit of heat.
This bulb (the 10 Watt) is cool to the touch, even after hours in use. It doesn't heat up our control room, even while throwing out a lot of light. The brightness and color are stable, and the bulb has no trouble lighting up when switched on with the dimmer engaged. Our compact fluorescents often will not come on when first powered up and dimmed, as they must first warm up.
My only complaint: price. $30+ for a light bulb is steep. As it is for a workplace and the cost is not mine, I find it extremely useful. White light, no heat, and easy to read under, even when dimmed. Also, no flicker or noise. I'm happy that we'll be saving energy, but the heat is the main thing in our space. Lower the price by half, and my bet is that no one will use the compact fluorescents!
