Do you still use fluorescent lightbulbs in 2026? Or any other bulbs that aren't LED?
The one pictured is my bedroom light.
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i have a couple holdouts holding on still.
I still use an incandescent bulb for my front door light, because I've gone through like 5 LEDs and they always start flickering when it's cold out. I don't usually have this light on long enough to warm up properly, so a CFL's warm up time is also a no-go.
Everything else I have is color-temperature selectable LEDs (One of my biggest annoyances I've seen people have, is mismatched color temperatures in the same room). I have them controlled by Zigbee at the outlet rather than having the bulbs themselves have wireless antennas.
I have incandescent bulb for a filament drying box project. Think easy bake oven. I have it turn on when a temp drops to a certain level and off when it reaches a certain level. I guess im effectively using it as a heating element.
I want to use sodium-vapor lamps one day.
Surely not as a primary source of light in your home?
OMG. As an old (Gen x) lighting designer who lives in CA, may God help you if you asked me this question at a party. In order not to bore you to death I'll try to spit it out before you fall asleep. Never ask me "What is Power factor?", All would be lost. Or for god's sake, "What is Dark Bastard Amber?"( Rosco 03)"Are ellipsoidal fixtures most accurately called Lekos or source four?". You could die of regretful boredom within 9 seconds". At least you'd have someone to talk to for the duration of the party
Yes. I have a handful of very beloved, non-LED bulbs and fixtures. I have to trouble the out of state family to help me smuggle these into my home. For example, "Halogen" bulbs. I have a floor standing, up firing, dimmable lamp that will transport any room immediately to the surface of the sun. Cleaning? Look out dust. It would be easy to accidentally start a fire with this lamp using the bulbs I put in it. I use it every day in my office, which is so much brighter than any room in average people's houses. A home tour of my house always results in an "OMG It's so bright in here, I love it!". Me too. I think it's sad that normies can't have good lights or good drugs.
What colors are your go to pairing for a wash? I usually had ambers like 16 or 321 for my warm and 60 or 68 for cool. I have also been limited to what's available for most of my work.
For years I did work for events that had an audience, stage video recording, Imag and a couple times even film. Rosco 03, with an absurd amount of light and power. You can beautifully white balance the cameras and display and it looks great and matched to an audience in a dark hall. I like to pair R60 and R51. If you've got the circuits, add some lee 202 .5 correction, but careful not to lose white balance in scene changes.. Does anyone actually use gels/poly anymore? I moved on years ago to commercial AV installation. I assume it's all LEDs now right? The last time I did stage lighting was 2005. My memory might be failing me here, so if the colors sound crazy, I've probably forgotten or mixed up. I have actually designed a bunch of installations using LEDs (S4, ETC, etc lol). The technology we are discussing is ancient history now right?
True, most professional spaces are using LED now. The colors are usually programmed for Rosco, though. Not everyone has the budget to update yet. They usually start by adding motion lights a little at a time. You don't really have follow spot operators anymore. When I was working for television it was all about filters for temperature instead of colors. I preferred theatre. I find special effects are more fun on older boards.
Ok, what are power factor and dark bastard amber?
My thumbs will fall off if I answer that. I sort of answered in another response you can read about Dark Bastard Amber (Rosco 03). Power Factor is why it's stupid to ban Halogen's and why LEDs are not as efficient as has been claimed. A Halogen bulb has a much higher CRI and power Factor of 1, a cheap LED has a Power factor of half of that (.5). That means the cheap LED uses twice as much current as the Halogen and can't come close to the Halogen's CRI. In commercial applications ( Like a stadium, for example) the power company charges on Kva demand and charges extra for Power Factor. That's because in real energy terms and on a commercial building's bill, a building full of cheap LEDs is way more expensive than the light it provides should be. So they often have to install capacitor banks on commercial buildings. And the LED needs just as much or more copper (Wire gauge/ breaker capacity) as the Halogen. All for a much shittier quality. Sure, encourage the USE of LEDs, go for it. But that old Twaine quote applies here: "don't ban steaks for men just because babies can't chew them".
No, but literally every bulb in my home (except the one in the oven) is an LED smart bulb with ZigBee or Matter support controlled by Home Assistant. Wouldn't have it any other way.
That said, years ago I installed four bulbs like the ones in the picture - two warm tone, two cool tone - in an outdoor light fixture with a Shelly controller at a friend's house. The controller uses GPS-provided time to work out the position of the sun and turns on the cool bulbs when the sun's low on the horizon (pretty much all day during the Winter) and switches over to the warm bulbs at night. That's been in place for at least ten years and those bulbs are still going strong, though they take a long time to start up.
We have an addition built in the 1990s and there are these, I don't know what they are called but like high shelves with uplighting? They have those long flourescent tubes and I guess when they die we will have to remodel. The actual light from them is so nice, diffuse and soft.
And on the old side of the house the bathroom fixture only works with incandescent bulbs.
So yeah. We have a mix.
You can get LED replacement tubes for those fluorescent lights, there's 2 different kinds that work with or without the old ballast in place. If you're replacing all of them you could switch to ballast-less LED replacement tubes.
No
The one in my oven and those in my car
I despise fluorescent light. It is vile. If I found one today, I'd bring it to the toxic waste dump and get a warm LED. I think the only incandescent I have is a red one in a 3 bulb lamp.
Until they burn out, yeah.
We've got some in the bathroom that are still chugging along, but we replace everything with led as they fail
Edit: in the house.
Car lights aren't led because the ones available for my car suck.
I have flashlights that aren't led, but only some old and cheap ones that never get used.
I have some CFLs that are still hanging on. One in a closet, another in the bathroom. Oven light is incandescent bc it's an oven light. Finally car headlamps are incandescent bc, in my car, they provide more photons where I need.
General purpose lighting is largely LED and then special purpose lighting may be something else.
I hate the light temp. Just the picture is enough already.
I have sensory issues and photophobia, led lights really mess with my eyes. Flulorescent bulbs are similarly triggering. I moved into a new place last year and it still has the old incandescent bulbs in some of the lights, it's much better. I know it sucks for energy conservation, but to me it's worth it.
LED technology changes constantly. Look out for professional LED, because they also address issues occuring in office spaces. CRI/RA value might have an impact on you. Also the glare amount might be something worth to look at.
Fwiw, you should probably try out some of the newer, nicer LED bulbs - there's a good chance the sensory issues were caused by (near-)imperceptible flickering, which is much less common in newer hardware.
ETA: make sure they aren't hooked up to old-style dimmer switches, too. Even LEDs that say "dimmable" need an LED-compatible dimmer.
I'll give it another shot
Another thing you may want to talk to an optometrist about, especially if your photophobia causes headaches or migraines, is the FL-41 coating for glasses which filters out blue wavelengths that tend to be more triggering of sensitivities.
It made a big difference for me just with the lightest tint. Feels like glare reduction. The darkest one looks like the apocalypse, though, can’t recommend it unless you actually need that much blue block.
If you look around you can find some reviewers who will get into the details on the spectrum coverage, CRI and similar indices, and flicker at different brightness levels.
I think this might be the site I spent the most time on when I was last shopping for bulbs. I got a bunch of bulbs from IKEA of all places that work via zigbee and have really good light quality.
https://optimizeyourbiology.com/light-bulb-database
Sweet thank you!
This is why we have global warming - it's because you won't switch away from incandescent lights. Not the oil industry or the private jets or the data centers or the billionaires... it's your fault. Why are you like this?
Your comment reminded me of this exchange from 30 Rock:
🤣
You should look up Edison Bulb LEDs. You can basically get the same lighting from an LED you'd get from incandescent. You want warm ones. Yellow lighting.
I'll check those out, thanks!
I use home made lamp covers i make from brown paper to change the light colour of led bulbs, i dunno if that's helpful for you
i dont think you using a couple old incandescent globes is going to be the straw that breaks it, considering how many jets the usa is flying around dropping bombs on kids :/ be kind to yourself
I wish I could still find incandescent bulbs. They were so much better
They really were not.
They did have some features that were better than led. Like a continuous black body emission spectrum with no wird gaps and irregularities. And they all did, you didn't need a review or a test device to know.
Mind you, I'm really not saying we should bring them back. But they did have something going for them.
I have a big pile of bulbs still, both 60 and 100 watts, because I knew they were going out of stock. What do you need?
The last 10 years, I've only bought a couple of incandescent bulbs for my lava lamps - and those are, thankfully, still available.
Our lighting setup (rented accommodation) is a hodge-podge of mixed fittings, including fluorescent tubes and halogen. All of the actual screw (and Edison) fittings have led bulbs in though.
Part of me wishes for the good old days of cheap incandescent bulbs though. The decent LED bulbs are still 10x the price we used to pay for incandescent, so we buy "cheap" ones (4x the price) which don't last any longer than the old tech. Of course you can't get incandescent bulbs anymore..
If your LEDs are only lasting 1000 hours, you either have electrical problems or should be getting different bulbs. Mine last 5-10 years apiece, with some at 15 years. These were not chosen for their longevity, although color temp and CRI were primary factors.
I told myself I was going to replace them with LEDs once they break. The problem is that they never do. The ones in my grandparent's house are around 40 years old and I think only one went out in all those years.
Kinda relevant Veritasium Video about how older lightbulbs were better
It completely ignores the reason for the 1000 hour decision. You could always make bulbs that last forever. You just had to make the filament thicker. As it thickens, the efficiency drops, and by a lot.
1000 hours was decided as an even balance between longevity and efficiency. Some utility companies would even give away 1000 hour bulbs just to keep people from connecting 2500 hour bulbs, which would've used a bunch more power.
For a much deeper dive, obligatory Technology Connections video on the subject: https://youtu.be/zb7Bs98KmnY
I just replaced the one in my stove hood. It was a weird specialty.
I think there's one in my basement that rarely gets used.
For my sauna I have an oven-style filament bulb. Newer stuff can't take the heat.
No, except my lava lamps take a specific filament bulb, as the heat is needed to melt the wax. And those just get used for parties. Even my oven lights I replaced with LED.
Are the oven LEDs specialty?
I've definitely seen melted bulbs before...
I took an old bulb to a store that only sells light bulbs, so they have an extensive inventory. They gave me these LED equivalents. Been a few years and still working. Oven has glass covers that seal over the bulbs.
Right? When mine went, I found an LED bulb for like a dollar and a half thinking, this can't possibly hold. But so far, it's held up for 2 years.
Replaced all of those about 10 years back. These days, the choice is between dumb LED bulbs and smart LED bulbs.
Garage door motors use normal bulbs for some reason. Explicitly says to.
Certain types of lighting can interfere with the radio signal to open/close. It's kind of like how microwave popcorn always says to not use the popcorn button.
Try it and see. I've had a CFL and an LED in mine for years, no issues.
Incandescent bulbs are not "normal" any more by any definition of the word. Anything that still uses them is simply outdated.
Healthy light supportive of human biology.
https://www.blockbluelight.com/collections/sleep-enhancing-lighting
We’ve completely switched to LEDs right when they became available. Taken together with all the other electricity savings that we have been doing, our electricity bill is 75% below what I hear from friends.
Yes, but only in locations the original hasn't broken or is in a place can't get the led replacement in (damn you super high ceilings)
There's an incandescent bulb in the fume hood in my kitchen, i think maybe my microwave too? I have some flurescent bulbs kicking around, but they're phasing them out where i live, i think from next year you wont be able to buy them new in australia (good riddance)
I have a case of assorted Edison base incandescent bulbs. They’re good for lots of little things like the lamp over the record player to illuminate the strobe dots on the edge of the platter.
They’re also invaluable as parts for a dim bulb tester. You really can’t do that as quickly or effectively with any other technology.
My favorite reading lamp is a tiny little 7.5w incandescent that puts out a cozy light.
Until recently we had some CFLs in the light fixture in our rarely-used guest bathroom. I just painted that bathroom so while I had the fixture off the wall I went ahead and replaced the bulbs with LEDs
I suppose my car headlights and such are still halogen and I think the dash lights are mostly incandescent. The interior dome light has gotten an LED upgrade though.
The maglite I keep in my car emergency kit is still the incandescent or halogen bulb it came with when I bought it for my first car 15+ years ago, and I probably have a few more incandescent flashlights floating around in various toolboxes and such.
I think I have one string of incandescent Christmas lights still in use during the holiday.
And the light in my oven is incandescent.
I use exclusively Philips Hue color bulbs. Cant tolerate that kind of light nor lights that arent customizable by palette
Hell, most if not all of the lighting in my apartment is LED.
Between 8 rooms (counting the hallway and both bathrooms), theres only 5 fixtures that accept 'bulbs'. 4 table lamps and the light in the vent hood over the stove. Everything else is 'non-servicable' lighting like LED boards built into full fixtures (celing lights), LED tape lights (under counter/shelf lights), and some string lights that nobody can be bothered to take down after xmas.
I haven't had to replace a dead light in at least 8 years though.
Got a few, flourescents like that, and t4s. The t4s are slated for conversion. The only incandescents left would be a couple of appliance lights, and one old nightlight. I have quite a few incandescents floating around that aren't in use, as well as a box of t4s.