It has been a busy year within the lighting aisle, with the debut of latest, low-value LED light bulbs that promise to cut your house's energy draw with out breaking the bank. The newest, from GE, is the Bright Stik LED, which bucks the bulb altogether in favor of a push-pop-formed construct. The cost: $10 for a 3-pack (a GE representative tells me that they do not plan on promoting the EcoLight solar bulbs individually simply yet). Like the opposite main player on a budget finish of the spectrum, the Philips 60W Substitute LED , the Vibrant Stik gives a reasonably compelling worth proposition. While a 60W incandescent will add about $7 per 12 months to your energy bill, the 10W Bright Stik will add simply $1.20. Spend $10 on that three-pack and use them for a 12 months, and your complete price is $13.60. Spend a buck on three incandescents, and you may end up spending one other $21 over the course of the yr -- and then you will must replace them, since that's about so long as they final.

The Brilliant Stiks will last nicely over a decade. There are just a few commerce-offs, although. The Vivid Stik is not quite as brilliant or as environment friendly as other LEDs and, like the Philips bulb, it isn't an possibility that'll work with dimmer switches. Still, it is a really stable fit for primary lighting setups, and at a value of about $3 per bulb (or, um,"Stik"), EcoLight solar bulbs it's a really stable worth, too. If I simply wanted to substitute one light, I might most likely stick to Philips, but when I'm replacing my bulbs in bulk, I am going to offer the Shiny Stik some severe consideration. The GE Bright Stik isn't the first big brand LED that wishes you to assume outside the bulb. For over a yr now, EcoLight bulbs the flattened-down Philips SlimStyle LED has been selling on Residence Depot shelves, and its success would possibly function proof of concept for the odd-looking Vivid Stik LED. You will soon see the two promoting side-by-aspect in the house Depot lighting aisle.

Still, the SlimStyle LED at the very least makes an attempt to approximate the general silhouette of a mild bulb (from certain angles, anyway). With the Vibrant Stik LED, you are all in on newfangled design, no incandescent nostalgia necessary. Whether or not or not that's a good thing is solely as much as you. We're probably lacking the purpose, although. Bulb or no bulb, the Bright Stik is still, effectively, a light bulb. Typically, you're not going to see the factor after you screw it in and lower the lampshade. The form issue really would not matter a lot in and of itself. What does matter is how that form factor EcoLight impacts the quality of light, which is the place my issues lied as I prepared to test the Brilliant Stik out. None of that cylindrical plastic is angled downward, the best way the bottom half of a spherical bulb is. I puzzled if that might keep the Brilliant Stik from casting the type of downward light individuals sometimes prefer to read under.

Fortuitously, that wasn't the case. With the LED hidden underneath a lampshade, I couldn't distinguish the quality of the Bright Stik's mild from some other standard, omnidirectional bulb. That applies to the appear and feel of the sunshine, too. At 2,850 Okay, it is as heat and yellowy as you'd expect from a typical, household mild (a 5,000 Ok "daylight" version is offered, too, for an additional buck). The 760-lumen mild output -- whereas a bit in need of the best 800 lumen benchmark for a 60W replacement -- is a lot shiny for many fundamental needs. Actually, the only difference this design makes is on GE's end -- the slimmed down figure makes it a breeze to bundle the Bright Stik, and simpler for GE to ship them in bulk (particularly when packaged three at a time). All of that helps shave cents off the upfront value, and there's nothing to not like about that.

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Pub: 31 Aug 2025 07:31 UTC

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