Customer Reviews

GE 74439 7-Watt LED Medium Base 200-Lumen Indoor Lighting Directional PAR20 Light Bulb

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First the good news. This is one of the first really practical LED lights for home use. It uses high power LEDs instead of a bunch of little LEDs. The three LEDs each have their own optics, making for a nice beam shape, tighter than a flood but not quite a spot. The color quality is excellent. I won't use a CF bulb in the kitchen because of what the color does to my food, but I've got this one over the sink and it's great.

The problems with this bulb are, first, it's too expensive. Not in comparison to other LED lights, but compared to CF or halogen, or even to the price of the components. Within a couple of years you'll be able to buy these for under $10 so unless you're an early adopter, wait.

Second, it's not as efficient as it should be. At 28 lumens per watt it's twice as good as a halogen, but only half as good as a CF. That's puzzling because the LED emitters are much more efficient than this. I suspect GE cheaped out on the electronics.

Finally, it's not as bright as it should be. Most PAR20 bulbs, at least around here, are rated at 570 lumens / 50 watts. Replace this with a 200 lumen bulb with a narrower beam and you will be disappointed.

LEDs are on the brink of replacing tungsten and CF, but are not quite there yet. Wait a year or two, and you'll be able to get a LED PAR20 that puts out 570 lumens, consumes 10 watts, and costs $10. I hope.

As part of a current remodel we've replaced 100% of the lighting in our home with LED modules. The vast majority of these are 2700K Cree LR6 modules which are absolutely fantastic, but in some areas we needed task lighting. The Cree LR4 modules are insanely priced, so given that the task lighting application doesn't require dimming we decided to give these a try. They're a perfectly serviceable replacement for 50W PAR20 halogens, slightly warmer (I'd guess ~3000K) and surprisingly bright. One thing they do NOT do is play nicely with Lutron dimmers; while other reviewers have indicated that these things are benign on dimmer chains the Lutron dimmers appear to put some minimal amount of current even when "off", which results in these things going into disco light mode.

Why the low rating? Because the things have been dropping dead like flies after about a year in part-time service. I finally took one to bits and found failed caps in the encapsulated electronics packages. As per usual, a part costing a few cents is responsible for the death of something costing tens of dollars.

Not going to repeat what everyone else has already said, just to say I got two of these at Walmart, and its an LED bulb that FINALLY works as advertised. Replaced a 40 watt bulb. Provides white, rather than red or blue tinted light. Only downside is the light is VERY directional. At 6 feet the spot is about 2 feet across. Will buy more of these in the near future.

Really glad I bought one, its bright white. Great for reading. Its very narrow flood lighting, its focus only in a narrow beam, wish it was a wider beam of light. Can't use in enclosed fixture, but was able to remove my glass enclosed fixtures to use this LED bulb in. It ran fairly cool overall, its still warm to the touch but won't burn your hands. Very heavy duty feel, I like the design of the swirl style heat sinks. Compared to my Philips LED bulbs, Philips has a slightly wider beam of light, but wasn't as bright as this GE LED bulb. Prefer the GE over Philips. Haven't tested any other LED bulbs. Its great by using so little energy to run, no waiting to warm up like fluorescents and not burning hot and energy consuming like incandescents. Highly recommend using this GE LED bulb, like most flood light LED bulbs best to use upside down, not sideways in dining room fixtures. Best to shine beam of light straight down, like directly onto your kitchen or bathroom sink. Suppose to last just over 10 years. GE has 3 LED's inside, compared to Philips has 4 LED's inside bulb.

I purchased this bulb to replace a 50W Par20 halogen bulb mounted in a small double spotlight unit over my kitchen sink. In a side-to-side comparison with the halogen bulb, it provides the rough equivalent of a 40 watt halogen bulb, with a much whiter cast. It is about 3/4" longer than the halogen bulb, which results in it being clearly visible at the end of the fixture (the halogen bulb is recessed enough to be hidden) so that it's slightly more narrow beam is not restricted by the fixture as is the halogen bulb's. The net result is a beam that is almost exactly as narrow as the original halogen bulb's beam.

Finally, the exterior vents in the plastic casing provide a grip that makes this bulb exceptionally easy to insert and remove. I've had to use large forceps to remove some of the replacement halogen bulbs. As task lighting mounted 4 feet from my sink and kitchen counter, this is perfectly adequate. I've now ordered another for the other side of the fixture so I'll have on overall savings of 86 watts.

I used this light in my kitchen chandelier (over the kitchen table); the beam was much too narrow, making a bright spot in the center of the table but casting very little light at the table edges. The bulb failed within a year which was particularly disappointing given its high cost. This technology is clearly not competitive with CFL yet. Don't waste your money.

tried using these for overhead kitchen table lighting in place of halogens. weak light, narrow beam and one of three failed within 200 hours. technology is not there yet

Seems to be well built, and its size is a bit smaller than other competing LED bulbs, which makes it easier to fit it in tighter lighting fixtures.

However, there's no getting around the somewhat pinkish tint to the light it outputs. It's not as badly pinkish as some competing LED bulbs, but it's pinkish enough to be readily and undeniably noticeable.

I bought one of these to try as a replacement for my narrow beam 50W halogen recessed lights in my kitchen. It has worked out well since I installed it a few days ago. I purposefully wanted a narrow spread light to give more dramatic lighting effects in my kitchen. I don't think this is as narrow as my narrow halogens but is narrow none the less. This is why I stay away from CFL's. Overall, you can't beat the value of a CFL. $37 is a steep premium over a $2 CFL. The bulb is much blue or whiter than a halogen if that matters to you. I installed it on a dimmable fixture. The light obviosly doesn't dim but when I dim the other lights on the circuit this one stays at full intensity. Not sure how dimming will effect the life of the bulb.

This is the first LED buld I ever saw on the market. It's innovative, and creates a natural, warm color. It's also dimmable. It isn't a bad choice at all. But after discovering the 7 Watt Philips Ambient LED R20 (NR-63) Light Bulb Cool White 4200K, I am convinced that the Philips is the brighter bulb, and therefore, the better choice.