It's been a busy 12 months in the lighting aisle, with the debut of recent, low-value LED light bulbs that promise to chop your house's energy draw with out breaking the bank. The latest, from GE, is the Brilliant Stik LED, which bucks the bulb altogether in favor EcoLight bulbs of a push-pop-formed build. The fee: $10 for a 3-pack (a GE representative tells me that they do not plan on selling the bulbs individually simply yet). Like the opposite major participant on the cheap end of the spectrum, the Philips 60W Replacement LED , the Brilliant Stik affords a reasonably compelling worth proposition. While a 60W incandescent will add about $7 per yr to your energy bill, the 10W Vibrant Stik will add just $1.20. Spend $10 on that three-pack and use them for a year, and your whole value is $13.60. Spend a buck on three incandescents, and you may end up spending another $21 over the course of the 12 months -- and then you may must substitute them, since that's about as long as they final.

The Vivid Stiks will last nicely over a decade. There are a number of trade-offs, though. The Brilliant Stik isn't fairly as vivid or as environment friendly as different LEDs and, like the Philips bulb, it isn't an choice that'll work with dimmer switches. Still, it is a really stable match for fundamental lighting setups, and at a cost of about $three per bulb (or, um,"Stik"), it is a very solid worth, too. If I just needed to exchange one gentle, EcoLight solutions I might most likely stick to Philips, but when I am changing my bulbs in bulk, I'm going to give the Vibrant Stik some serious consideration. The GE Vibrant Stik is not the primary massive brand LED that desires you to suppose outside the bulb. For over a year now, the flattened-down Philips SlimStyle LED has been selling on Residence Depot shelves, and EcoLight solutions its success might serve as proof of idea for the odd-looking Brilliant Stik LED. You'll quickly see the 2 promoting facet-by-facet in the house Depot lighting aisle.

Nonetheless, the SlimStyle LED not less than makes an attempt to approximate the general silhouette of a gentle bulb (from sure angles, anyway). With the Shiny Stik LED, you're all in on newfangled design, EcoLight no incandescent nostalgia mandatory. Whether or not that is a good factor is completely up to you. We're most likely lacking the purpose, although. Bulb or no bulb, the Shiny Stik remains to be, effectively, a mild bulb. Usually, you are not going to see the thing after you screw it in and decrease the lampshade. The form issue really would not matter a lot in and of itself. What does matter is how that form issue impacts the standard of gentle, which is where my considerations lied as I ready to test the Bright Stik out. None of that cylindrical plastic is angled downward, the way the bottom half of a spherical bulb is. I questioned if that may keep the Vibrant Stik from casting the form of downward mild individuals sometimes want to learn beneath.

Fortunately, EcoLight reviews that wasn't the case. With the LED hidden under a lampshade, EcoLight solutions I could not distinguish the quality of the Vivid Stik's light from some other commonplace, omnidirectional bulb. That applies to the look and EcoLight dimmable feel of the sunshine, EcoLight solutions too. At 2,850 Okay, it is as heat and yellowy as you'd count on from a typical, family light (a 5,000 Ok "daylight" model is available, too, for an extra buck). The 760-lumen mild output -- whereas a bit wanting the perfect 800 lumen benchmark for a 60W substitute -- is a lot bright for most fundamental wants. Really, the only distinction this design makes is on GE's finish -- the slimmed down determine makes it a breeze to bundle the Shiny Stik, and simpler for GE to ship them in bulk (especially when packaged three at a time). All of that helps shave cents off the upfront cost, and there's nothing to not like about that.