LED bulbs

Hurry up and bring down the prices! I know it's going to take a while for this to happen to due market supply and demand, but I really wish the uptake would be faster and more companies would jump on board. Enough with fluorescent lighting already- Mercury-lined tubes that disrupt sleep patterns and are unsafe to dispose of without effort.

3.8 watts for 2890 yen is way too expensive.

Not sure if this comment will pass or not, but Sharp has a bit more interesting LED light. Like above, but comes with a remote that can control all the lights in your house, switching light modes between warm and cold color temperatures.

wow a $30 lightbulb...what WILL they think of next

These look really nice, Ive seen them in the stores. It'll be great when they are half price or less.

wow a $30 lightbulb...what WILL they think of next

Yes, but how much electricity are you saving over the life of the bulb? 3.8W vs a 60W incandescent bulb - the latter will burn out faster and use much more energy.

I think sharp says they cost a few yen a day to run... power is so expensive in Japan, so these LED lights ( when they get a bit cheaper...) will start to pay for itself soon.

in other countries where power is MUCH cheaper, they will need to drop a lot more to compete with fluro lights

incandescent bulb you can't even buy those in Australia anymore, should be banned here in Japan too!

Most of these bulbs will last about 20 years with normal household usage, so you save money by not having to replace the bulbs for a longer period of time, and power consumption is only a fraction of regular bulbs, so they will pay for themselves very quickly...Problem is that they may not provide any UV light, which can promote mold growth, and be a contributing factor to people prone to winter depression. Make sure you get full spectrum LED's...

LED bulbs are the future of lighting. Low heat, nice light, very low power consumption. They're growing food on the International Space Station right now using LEDs. Let's embrace this technology, and encourage local businesses to switch to LED lighting. Sometimes I think Japan is too bright, too lit up. Ever walk into a 7-11 at night and get your eyes burnt out by the store lights? Maybe LEDs could help Japan's light pollution problem. Too bad all the city dwellers can't see the amazing stars in the sky at night. It's beautiful.

And keep in mind that barely a year ago, the cheapest LED bulbs of this sort on the market were going for more than 8,000 yen each. These are a good investment (not necessarily better, from a recycling point of view, than fluorescents, except that they require replacement less frequently), and I plan to start replacing my existing incandescent bulbs with LED versions as each one burns out...

**Like LED a lot, but still pricey!

This LED bulb from Green House can be plugged into standard incandescent lamp sockets.

Misleading. I got ones like these, and they don't work with the dimmer switch in my lamp. They're on or they ain't. No middle ground.

Looks like it's back to the candles for those romantic evenings.

yes can be plugged into standard light fitting yes... wow surprise yes consumes 3.8 W yes.... so what.. its an LED yes colour rating etc.. yes check

What about the important bit... what about the amount of light output??? Like the bit about how well it does it function?... its primary job?... Yes I can also save electricity by turning off the lights and getting eye strain. Quite a lot of people elsewhere know how bad (CFL)Compact Fluorescent Light "green" bulbs are compared to the (more popular in other countries) incandescent bulbs ( now outlawed in some places). I know Japan likes bright lights... so is safe to to presume that this is?

Dimmable lights.. yep have to shop around for those in the various "green dflavors": CFL, Green Halogen, LED

in the states they are 3 bucks. Japanese always screw themselves.

LED lights are about as efficient as the best compact flourescents. A 3.8 watt bulb will be about the same light (or possibly even less) than the same wattage of compact flourescent (i.e., very dim). You're going to want 15-20 watts for most applications. Where you gain is in longevity. Compact flourescents are not good in situations where you turn them off and on often. They really have to be on for 20 minutes a stretch otherwise they will burn out prematurely. So an LED is good in the bathroom or closet or hall. LEDs last for 100,000 hours of operating time. Probably you won't have to change them until you're just sick of it and want something else. The light doesn't drop off over time either. It makes sense in places that are really inaccessible and you only want to change the light every 20 years. Finally, because there is no need for a ballast, you don't need the mercury.

Eventually, everyone will move over to LEDs for everything. But for now, most of your needs are still better met with compact flourescents. Having said that, I now of at least 2 places in my house that would be better served with LED lighting. But I won't be buying these ones as they are too dim.

These are nice, but I'm still hoping for flexible OLED light panels. Not holding my breath, though.

A 3-watt LED bulb is about the lumens-equivalent of a 25-watt incandescent bulb.

The biggest advantage of LED over flourescent is there is no hazardous waste issue. A broken LED bulb doesn't release mercury into the environment like broken flourescents do.

One of the disadvantages is something we as consumers don't have much control over. If the power feeding your house is spikey, the life of LED bulbs can be noticably reduced.

A $30 light bulb? I was in KS Denkodo the other day and they only had a few cheap ones like that. Most of the LED bulbs were in the $50 to $75 range. These are a great power saving idea and if they ever come down in price I'm sure the public will embrace them 100%.

Do not worry just within 5 years these led's will fall down to 1000yen. Compare it with LCD tv prices how they have fallen within less than 10 years and these bulbs are far more life essentials so price reduction will be even more fierce.

"Price: approximately 2,890 yen." That's a pretty exact figure for approximation.

Angelo at 08:49 AM JST - 3rd February "Price: approximately 2,890 yen." That's a pretty exact figure for approximation.

Yes, the probably should have said, "Suggested Manufacturer's Price"

And Japanese always pay "Suggested Manufacturer's Price" It's funny.... They really do.

in the states they are 3 bucks.

They are not, I just checked online.

Much better than fluorescents... Most Japanese people don't seem to understand that fluorescent bulbs use a LOT of energy to turn on, and then use pretty well no energy while running. Consequently at work the fluorescent bulbs are constantly being turned on and off to save energy (which is a funny paradox.)

I just found a listing for a 5 watt LED bulb which is similar and it is said to be the equivalent of the 30-40 watt incandescent bulb. For comparison, a fluorescent bulb of 40 watt equivalence is 9 watts, not quite as efficient. I think the point that others have made about mercury is a good one; I look forward to when I can get 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs.

PS Glad to see at least one person responding knows how to spell "fluorescent".

Most Japanese people don't seem to understand that fluorescent bulbs use a LOT of energy to turn on, and then use pretty well no energy while running. sirgamble

have you any study / tests that backs up your claim ?

I remembered this from an old "mythbusters" (I don't think they're always right, but it's food for though...)

light on/off myth busted :

http://tinyurl.com/fluroMYTH