Is It Lights Out For Vizio?

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vizio-led

A year after announcing intentions to bring their high tech, low cost approach to home lighting, Vizio has yet to deliver on their LED promises:

The company’s eco-friendly line of High Efficiency LED bulbs are recyclable, do not contain mercury and boasts a glass-free design to prohibit shattering. With the longest lifespan of any source, including incandescent and CFL, VIZIO’s LED light bulbs last up to twenty-five times longer than incandescent bulbs. While LED light bulbs are known to be efficient, long lasting, cooler running, silent and do not emit UV rays, VIZIO’s new High Efficiency LED lighting line will boast additional benefits. The High Efficiency LED give off a warmer hue of light, reminiscent of a natural source, compared to many other LED options. Additionally, VIZIO High Efficiency LED lighting has tripled the lifespan of CFL bulbs, with up to 25,000 usage hours.

The line of bulbs was expected to launch in mid- to late-2011 at “a Vizio price” but has yet to materialize. Vizio’s press representative will neither confirm nor deny the initiative is dead, responding with “we have no update at this point.” A bummer really, as we’re posed to re-enter the housing market this summer with plans t0 geekify the new pad. Any reasonable alternatives to suggest?

11 thoughts on “Is It Lights Out For Vizio?”

  1. That is a bummer.

    Home Depot has some store brand LED bulbs that are decent. The 40-watt equivalents are around $10 and we have a few in the house. Color temps may be better from more expensive ones I hear, like the Phillips, but $10 is a good deal right now. Our front door bulbs are almost a year old and still running strong, even after 12+ hour nights during the winter.

  2. I tried cheap LED bulbs from Costco and was disappointed. I then paid for good LED bulbs from EarthLED, and they work great. The only problem is that I have the older model of EvoLux, which have a soft but noticeable noise from the cooling fan. I think the newest model doesn’t have them. They’re expensive but totally worth it – they run cool, and they are much brighter than other LEDs I’ve found.

  3. I picked up four Ecosmart ECO-575L Downlights from Home Depot. Work fantastic and well reviewed since they are rebadged Cree. Not sure if they fit in all recessed fixtures though.

    Prices need to drop in half on these bulbs for me to load up on anymore and get any sort of real payoff. Power prices in my state are too low for me to go too crazy.

    Haven’t replaced any traditional style bulbs yet with LEDs due to cost. I mostly use CFL for that purpose since they’re so cheap at 25 cents a bulb and warrantied for 9 years. The new Philips L prize bulb is $50 a piece, but it’s not widely available so prices aren’t realistic yet.

    I think in the next few years, these LED bulbs should start crashing in price. Especially with power company subsidies thrown in.

  4. LEDs are still way too expensive – you’d might as well pay for electricity and use cheap incandescents.

    I bought CFLs on sale at Lowe’s when we moved in our current townhome 2 years ago for $1 each in 6 packs. They’ve saved us a bunch on electricity.

    Some jerk stole the 2 CFLs I had in my outside lights so I replaced them with CFLs I spray painted yellow! Much cheaper than buying yellow CFL insect bulbs.

  5. I haven’t seen an LED light that I like the looks of *and* aren’t insanely priced. It seems like they’re cheap and sickly or look great and are priced like a supercar. The trends are in the right direction, but I’m still sitting it out.

    I have been using CFLs for years now though. There are still a handful of incandescent bulbs in my home, because I wait for them to burn out and then replace them with CFLs. Some of the less-used lights are still the old bulbs.

    I also have a couple of ceiling fixtures that take a single 100W bulb, but the bulb is horizontal and the length of the slot is too short for the 100W-equivalent CFLs I’ve found. It seems like the higher the W-rating the more spirals there are in the glass, thus making it longer. Most of the time this isn’t an issue, but in these fixtures there just isn’t enough room for the bulbs I’ve found. A 60W or 75W CFL will fit, but then the light is too dim. I keep my eyes out for newer bulbs – I’ve been seeing more models with thinner tubes, tighter spirals, etc.

    Though it is moot, as both fixtures are in our two bathrooms and I’m signing a contract this week to have them remodeled – so those fixtures are going away. :-)

    I have a couple of LED bulbs but they’re down-shoot reading lights on a couple of IKEA lamps we have. The main light comes from a couple of CFLs, but you can use just the aim-able LED if you don’t need all the light.

  7. So if good LED lights remain mostly out of reach, are there any good CFLs that get bright quicker than others? Before we sold our home a few months back, I had tried a pair in the garage door opener and it was too dim for too long. Same with the laundry room. In my office area I think I had dimmable, recessed CFLs (installed by the former owners) – is that even possible? Hm. (My experience is similar to Adam’s…)

  8. There are good LEDs out there, but as others have suggested, you need to pay real close attention. There are dimmable bulbs out there, but if you aren’t careful you’ll buy ones that aren’t dimmable or that flicker like crazy or that emit a high frequency noise when dimmed. There are warm colored LEDs out there, but again if you aren’t careful you’ll end up with shocking white LED bulbs that make everything look like a crime scene. Or you’ll buy a bulb and find it doesn’t fit into a standard socket or space for a standard bulb. Or they just won’t dim down that low, even when you cut the power to almost nothing.

    Toshiba was making some very nice bulbs for a while, at reasonable prices, but now seems to be gone from the market. Not sure why.

    If you want PAR30 indoor floods I like the ecoBrites:

    http://www.ecobrites.com/

    They come on immediately, dim without issue, have acceptable color and no noise.

    Want something for a bedside lamp? The Philips AmbientLED A19 60W equivalent is dimmable, has nice color, fits in a standard socket and comes on quickly. Its typically available at Home Depot.

    Need 100W in a ceiling fixture? These work fine, though they’re bigger than you think and MIGHT not fit:

    http://www.agreensupply.com/dimmable-general-household-led-light-bulb-100w-replacement-bright-warm-white/

  9. I swapped out the incandescent bulbs in our bathroom vanity for the 40W LEDs ($15/2 pack @ Costco)

    They look fine, but are not as bright as the 60W bulbs that were there.

    I replaced them due to heat issues w/ the incandescent bulbs (CFL globes would not fit, and CFL spiral would look bad)

  10. @Dave

    There are dimmable CFLs out there, but I wouldn’t recommend them for important areas. They don’t really dim and instead have a few different light levels. Whereas a good LED bulb will dim the full range evenly just like incandescent.

    If you’re going to try LED, I suggest getting a better known brand and maybe just starting with one room where you have high usage. Then you can see what you like and limit the expense.

    There are faster starting CFLs out there and labeled as such, but I haven’t tested any yet. I think there are even some hybrid bulbs now.

    The CFLs i like right now are the Ecosmart one’s at Home Depot. Local power company occasionally subsidizes them down to $1 per 4 pack for the basic soft white. I use them in lamps, ceiling fans, basement, utility rooms, closets, and outdoor enclosed fixtures where they are subjected to freezing temps. I’ve probably picked up a few dozen of these bulbs over the last few years.

    In some rooms like the garage, i’ve put in 100W CFLs for higher brightness since we have so few bulbs there. The benefit is that they have higher brightness at startup, but still only consume about 23 watts.

    You can check local pricing and variety on the HD website. I save the receipt and one package insert since it has a 9 year warranty for many of the Ecosmart CFLs. That way I can exchange at local HD as needed (especially if prices go back up).

    Sometimes, it’s a bit of a trial and error on CFLs and LEDs to get what you like. Especially since every brand and variety seems to differ a lot.

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