I have spent some time thinking about lightbulbs. Probably at least partially due to the fact that I'm pretty cheap and loved the idea of the cost savings from LEDs. A few years after moving into my house, I decided to make all of the outdoor bulbs LEDs (recorded in this post). Part of my motivation was that I didn't want to change light bulbs anymore and I saw LEDs as a lifetime solution. I would joke to folks that I didn't get paid to change light bulbs.
Well, some of my outdoor LEDs have started to fail and I'll have to admit that I'm kinda bummed. Not because they weren't the right answer for my lighting needs, they definitely were. If my math was even remotely correct, I saved a boatload of money (on the order of $860) despite buying the bulbs for $36 each (and that was a good price - Costco - in 2013). The reason that I'm bummed is that I have to replace the lightbulbs at all.
When I installed the bulbs, I noted that I expected them to last for 7 years. That sounds like a very long time in the future, potentially approaching the perspective of "forever from now". And bulb lifetime, as estimated at that point in time, was going to be based on the light output degrading to only half of what it had originally been. Some of the bulbs, however, have not lasted 7 years. I just replaced two: one was flickering (spending more time off than on) and the other was just out all of the way. That wasn't the way it was supposed to be. They were supposed to last forever!
I've replaced the bulbs with new Feit bulbs that cost 1/12th the cost of the original LEDs, but I'm just a little bit sad that the LEDs are not lifetime bulbs.
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