I find that LED bulbs have a much higher failure rate than advertised, even though I am buying a selection of what I think are quality brands. (Strangely, the only kind I have not had die are some weird Chinese brand I can only find on Amazon.) I haven’t done the math but given I’m replacing at least one bulb a month I’m skeptical the efficiency makes up for the price, especially since I prefer 100w equivalent bulbs.
Maybe my power sucks but I don’t have this problem with incandescent and that’s what consumers care about. I have power filtering for my desktop though and the reporting doesn’t show any issues. CFLs were much worse, I’m glad those are done with. It feels like I’m paying more for inferior quality.
I’m skeptical the efficiency makes up for the price
This might feel intuitively plausible but it really isn't. In the lifetime of a 60W incandescent bulb here (1000 hours) it would use £15 of electricity whereas an LED which produces significantly more light would cost about £2.25 over the same 1000 hours. So even if incandescent bulbs were literally free and the LED lamp costs £10, the LED lamp is a significant saving even if it didn't last longer.
If your LED lamps die much sooner than you expected, consider overheating. Unlike the incandescent which is designed to run hot because it's literally incandescent lighting, it is so incredibly hot that it glows white, LEDs don't like heat. If you have a fixture where the hot air is trapped next to the lamp it will reduce lifespan, consider different fixtures when they're next replaced, or placing lamps where heat would naturally be drawn away. Flaky power can be a problem but (presumably) there isn't much you can do about that, whereas overheating is very much an interior design choice that you can influence.
The LEDs don't just not last as long as advertised, they don't even last as long for me as the approximate incandescent average. There does seem to be sort of bathub curve factor, though: if they make it past a certain point they seem to last longer. Lower power ones also seem to last longer. Sometimes they just go out, sometimes they begin rapidly flickering.
Maybe then it is heat related as you suggested; I'd lend more credence to that too because the bulb-population I have not had a single one go bad in despite years of use now is SANSI, which have weird-looking ceramic heatsinks. It does also seem to be worse in some fixtures than others (worst: bathroom vanities.) But even that is pretty damning: LEDs should have been designed for the fixtures people actually have. (I find the habit of creating LED fixtures also pernicious - there's a lot more waste when they go bad.)
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I find that LED bulbs have a much higher failure rate than advertised, even though I am buying a selection of what I think are quality brands. (Strangely, the only kind I have not had die are some weird Chinese brand I can only find on Amazon.) I haven’t done the math but given I’m replacing at least one bulb a month I’m skeptical the efficiency makes up for the price, especially since I prefer 100w equivalent bulbs.
Maybe my power sucks but I don’t have this problem with incandescent and that’s what consumers care about. I have power filtering for my desktop though and the reporting doesn’t show any issues. CFLs were much worse, I’m glad those are done with. It feels like I’m paying more for inferior quality.
This might feel intuitively plausible but it really isn't. In the lifetime of a 60W incandescent bulb here (1000 hours) it would use £15 of electricity whereas an LED which produces significantly more light would cost about £2.25 over the same 1000 hours. So even if incandescent bulbs were literally free and the LED lamp costs £10, the LED lamp is a significant saving even if it didn't last longer.
If your LED lamps die much sooner than you expected, consider overheating. Unlike the incandescent which is designed to run hot because it's literally incandescent lighting, it is so incredibly hot that it glows white, LEDs don't like heat. If you have a fixture where the hot air is trapped next to the lamp it will reduce lifespan, consider different fixtures when they're next replaced, or placing lamps where heat would naturally be drawn away. Flaky power can be a problem but (presumably) there isn't much you can do about that, whereas overheating is very much an interior design choice that you can influence.
The LEDs don't just not last as long as advertised, they don't even last as long for me as the approximate incandescent average. There does seem to be sort of bathub curve factor, though: if they make it past a certain point they seem to last longer. Lower power ones also seem to last longer. Sometimes they just go out, sometimes they begin rapidly flickering.
Maybe then it is heat related as you suggested; I'd lend more credence to that too because the bulb-population I have not had a single one go bad in despite years of use now is SANSI, which have weird-looking ceramic heatsinks. It does also seem to be worse in some fixtures than others (worst: bathroom vanities.) But even that is pretty damning: LEDs should have been designed for the fixtures people actually have. (I find the habit of creating LED fixtures also pernicious - there's a lot more waste when they go bad.)