The lighting aisle's LED part is getting increasingly crowded with reliable values, so it shouldn't come as a shock that manufacturers are trying for brand new methods to stand out. Enter the Philips SlimStyle, a low-price LED that sets itself apart with an unusual, flattened design. This two-dimensional spin on fashionable, excessive effectivity lighting guarantees to replace the best features of a standard incandescent while saving cash on your month-to-month energy bill. It also prices simply $9, which converts roughly to AU$10, or EcoLight lighting £5 in the UK (Philips says it has no plans to expand the SlimStyle beyond North America at the moment, however will not rule it out, either). That price point is a dollar less than you'll spend for the properly-reviewed Cree 60W Substitute LED , and considerably lower than Philips' own customary 60W equal . Although it is not a flawless light, or fairly as low cost because the bargain LEDs that you'll find at Ikea , the accessible SlimStyle nonetheless gives glorious worth, making it a very good go-to bulb for common family lighting needs.

The choice to make a flat LED wasn't an arbitrary one. With a flat design, Philips was in a position to distribute the diodes around the bulb's perimeter, away from the heat at its base. This eliminates the necessity for aluminum heat sinks, which makes the bulb too much lighter, and more importantly, lots cheaper to supply. The question is whether or not the flat design compromises the SlimStyle's capability to gentle like a typical mild bulb. For probably the most half, the reply is not any. With a light output of 800 lumens and a really correct colour temperature slightly below 2,seven-hundred K, it's a superbly worthy replacement for a 60W incandescent. As for efficiency, the 25,000-hour lifespan and the 10.5W energy draw put it proper on par with other solid LED options. The color rendering rating of eighty is in line with what you'd count on from most other LEDs, too. The flat design does introduce a small problem with directionality, though. Like lots of the LEDs out there in the present day, the SlimStyle guarantees omnidirectional mild output, which means it claims to provide gentle evenly in all instructions.

This is mostly true -- apart from the left and proper sides of the bulb's profile, where you will find dim spots. These get especially noticeable if you are utilizing the SlimStyle under a lampshade. Whether or not this is a deal breaker is as much as you. Personally, I am unable to say that the dim spots would bother me all that much, as they don't finally affect how a lot mild the SlimStyle places out. I'd certainly notice them, though -- and that alone could be sufficient to get me to spend the additional buck on a Cree LED. Extra more likely to encourage my buying choice would be the distinction in warranty between the 2 bulbs. The SlimStyle is covered for 3 years, in comparison with 10 years from Cree. That's a pretty substantial distinction for such a small value increase, and doubtless nicely value it for anybody who would possibly doubt LED longevity claims. One thing else value contemplating before settling on a bulb is whether or not you'll be using it with a dimmer swap.

Most of the present LED choices from major manufacturers claim dimmer compatibility and the SlimStyle is not any exception, however as we discovered in our latest round of exams, EcoLight lighting not all dimmable EcoLight smart bulbs are created equal. Which LEDs flicker the least? In those tests, the SlimStyle showed the poorest efficiency. Whereas it was appropriate with each change that we examined (even an older one designed for incandescents solely), it also buzzed noticeably when used with each, a results of electromagnetic interference in the bulb from the switch's dimming mechanism. The SlimStyle additionally showed a reasonable amount of flicker, one other widespread drawback with dimmable lights. After we published the results of those exams, Philips despatched us some additional bulbs, telling us that the most recent variations of the SlimStyle may carry out better with dimmers than the release-day bulb we had tested. If there is a performance difference, it is a fractional one, and not one which we had been able to detect. On our dimmer switches, the newer SlimStyles still buzzed, and so they nonetheless confirmed a gentle quantity of flicker, identical as earlier than.

rhenium.com

Edit

Pub: 07 Aug 2025 18:47 UTC

Views: 16