Philips 409904 Dimmable AmbientLED 12.5-Watt A19 Light Bulb

by Philips

Product Description

Philips AmbientLED Energy Saving 12.5-Watt A19 household light is ideal for use in kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms and hallways. The orange appearance of the lens is a result of Philips' patented color technology. When lit, this bulb produces a beautiful, soft white light similar to incandescent. The unique shape of this bulb enables its long life, comfortable light and energy saving benefits. ENERGY STAR® certified and fully dimmable, this medium base A19 replaces your current 60-Watt incandescent A19, saving you up to 130.62 in energy costs.Philips AmbientLED Energy Saving A19 household light can be used in the following fixtures: Table and floor lamps Pendant fixtures Ceiling fixtures Personalize your home with stylish accent or ambient lighting.Philips advanced LED bulbs can enhance your home with bright, white light, while reducing your carbon footprint and your electric bill. The elegant design provides increased life when compared to less-efficient incandescent and are ideal for decorative fixtures, table lamps and recessed lighting.See what light can do for your home.Philips LED lighting can improve ambience, energy-efficiency and comfort in your home while delivering performance you can count on. Switching to higher efficiency LED lighting can help reduce your electric bill, preserve our environment and create the perfect lighting for your home.Lower operating costs means reduced energy bills.Longer life reduces the hassle of replacing bulbs so often.Better for the environment because they reduce greenhouse gases and shrink your carbon footprint.Easy to use because they are designed in traditional bulb shapes and fit easily into existing fixtures.With bulb shapes available in PARs, R, MR16 spots and floods, A-shapes, candles and specialty bulbs, Philips' family of LED light bulbs offer a wide range of solutions for household applications.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.4 x 4.1 x 7.1 inches ; 6.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B004IUMGV4
• Item model number: 409904
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)
  • #3 in Home Improvement > Electrical > Light Bulbs > LED Bulbs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

134 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pricey nondirectional bulb replacement, March 25, 2011

By 

Glenn R. Howes (Nashua, NH) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips 409904 Dimmable AmbientLED 12.5-Watt A19 Light Bulb (Tools & Home Improvement)

First things first. Yes this bulb is yellow when off, it is also plenty white when casting light. The package even has a big label to let you know it doesn't throw yellow light.

This bulb aims at addressing three of the four knocks on LEDs. One is that they are only good for spotlights, as traditionally the light from LEDs only go one direction. The second is that LEDs aren't good with dimmers. The third is that LEDs have retina searing glare because the light comes from pinhead sized elements instead of the larger, more diffuse, areas of competing technologies. And the fourth is that LEDs are expensive. Well 3 out of 4 isn't bad. The light comes out in a decent angle that would allow you to replace the bulb in most any table or floor lamp, and definitely any ceiling fixture. The light is a pleasant warmish sort, not the stark white we normally associate with bare LEDs, but more like the setting sun. This might be too warm for some applications where a harsher contrast is wanted. It claims to be dimmable but I don't have a dimmer. The light is diffuse and not glaring like a bare LED would give out.

And it's darn expensive, but it does claim 15 years of service, so you'll have plenty of time to pay off the loan needed to equip your house. I had been buying them from Home Depot, but now they are just as expensive and shipping is no longer free.

I bought another one of these, my third, and am trying it as a bare bulb in the ceiling of the laundry room. It might be a bit bright for this task but it fills the space nicely with light as long as I avoid looking at it directly, it doesn't feel like I'm being interrogated, so I am reasonably happy even in the case of bare bulb usage, so this bulb really can replace an incandescent of the same brightness in all in home circumstances. [Update: I should say that in all cases except in enclosed fixtures as LEDs do have a tendency to cook themselves like they were in an Easy-Bake oven, although I haven't cooked any of these Ambient LEDs, I did cook another brand in a glass bulb fixture in about a month].

My plan is to replace bulbs and CFL lamps in my house in order of daily usage as LED bulbs become more affordable. I've come to despise CFL lamps with their phony longevity claims, long warm up times and ghastly light. Cheap, instant on, long lasting LEDs can't come quick enough.

Recommended only for lights you leave on for most of the day, but highly recommended for those.

68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Light Bulb -- Some Problems, May 7, 2011

By 

Dean Ferreyra - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips 409904 Dimmable AmbientLED 12.5-Watt A19 Light Bulb (Tools & Home Improvement)

I love these LED light bulbs. I've got 9 installed throughout the house in high use areas. The light is pleasant and bright. The bulb is dimmable. In high-use areas the bulbs pay for themselves in energy savings in three years, and the savings increase when you consider the price of replacing burned out incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs.

That said, there are still a few problems I've encountered with these bulbs that I thought I'd share.

* Slight delay on turn-on

There is a slight delay between the time you flip the switch and the light turns on; maybe about 1/3 of a second, if the bulbs have been off for some time. It comes on at full brightness, so this is a great improvement over compact fluorescents, but the delay takes a little getting used to.

A minor observation is that if you have fixtures with, say, three of these bulbs in it, the bulbs tend to come on at slightly different times. So when you flip on the switch there's a little stepped effect in the lighting as one bulb turns on and then another. It all happens very, very quickly, but it is noticeable.

* Problems with Lutron Maestro switches

In one room we have Lutron Maestro switches. In one fixture, the Lutron switch would not turn on this Philips light bulb and the little LED indicators on the Lutron switch would flicker randomly. I was able to use these bulbs in two other fixtures with the same Lutron Maestro switches and I think it is because that switch also switches other, non-LED fixtures. Even there, in low-dim situations, the Philips LED lights can get into a mode where they rapidly flash on and off, and bringing the brightness back up doesn't help; I have to turn them off to reset them. This only happens occasionally.

UPDATE: In the comments section, Christopher reports they haven't had any problems with their Lutron Maestro fan/light dimmer switch and these bulbs. The Lutron Maestro switches specify a "load type"; for example, "low voltage magnetic", "low voltage electronic", etc. It may be that we don't have the right Lutron Maestro switch for these bulbs.

* Slight buzzing

When dimmed these bulbs can give off a slight buzzing sound. The buzzing sound is very faint, but in very quiet situations I can hear it.

* Non-uniform lighting of fixture and nearby walls

The light on these light bulbs comes from three distinct areas. I've noticed that when they're behind the frosted glass of a fixture, the glass is not uniformly illuminated. Also, if the bare bulb is close to a wall, the wall near the bulb will not be illuminated uniformly; it will be bright near the lighted surface of the bulb, and not as bright near the unlit split in the bulb. This doesn't affect the general room lighting; it is just an aesthetic concern. In some cases I've been able to minimize this effect by slightly rotating the bulb in the socket until the problem is less noticeable.

Again, overall this is a great replacement for 60 watt incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescents.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Closest to perfect 60W replacement bulb, June 8, 2011

By 

Lazy Spanish Student (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philips 409904 Dimmable AmbientLED 12.5-Watt A19 Light Bulb (Tools & Home Improvement)

I tried a lot of LED bulbs and I like Philips products, including this one, the best. I hate harsh blueish color of most CFLs and LEDs, but this one gives a very pleasant light, about as warm as from an incandescent. Dimming is not very important to me - but I happen to have it on a dimmer, and it works great. I also like the futuristic look of the bulb. Price stinks, but as volume increases, they should become cheaper. Please note that LEDs should not be used in fully enclosed fixtures. Even though they are much cooler than incandescents, they may and will overheat when fully enclosed. It is because their tolerance to heat is also much lower (incandescent won't mind if you put it in the oven, but not LED).