GU10 Bulb help

[Elvish]

I'm hoping someone can help me avoid an expensive mistake.

We have flush to ceiling spotlights in our Kitchen and Bathroom and they have energy saving bulbs in them which where in place when we moved in (2.5 years ago).

Most have now blown and need to be replaced. We have put in some normal/cheap (£1 each) bulbs but they blow very quickly.

In our last house I bought some energy saving bulbs - I think they were LED - but the light from them was blue-ish and not nice to live with.

The current energy saving bulbs are very slow to warm up which is a pain in the bathroom as you can be in and out without the light really coming on properly.

So, can anyone advise which GU10 light bulbs I can buy to give a nice warm light, that come on quickly and will last for several years but which won't cost me £100s??

We need 12 for the kitchen and 6 for the bathroom so the wrong choice could be expensive as some I have looked at are £10 each.

Thanks!

the old ones would have been CFLs if they were slow to warm up. CFLs are now much quicker than they used to be, but I have some miniature spots in the kitchen that are quite slow. The Osram ones light faster than the GE. Maybe because the base is so small they do not have such good circuitry. LEDs are immediate.

Spotlights are IME always more troublesome and shorter-lived than ordinary bulbs, and small ones are worse than full-sized. I made a point of choosing a spot bar with SES (Small Edison Screw) bases and miniature CFL spots because it is an industry standard, very easy and cheap to get from numerous makers, and is never difficult to put in or get out. I am not a GU10 enthusiast. Before you spend a lot of money on bulbs, see what it would cost to change to spots that take a less rare fitting.

Warm White (2700 Kelvin) is considered a comfortable colour. "Daylight White" looks a bit bluish.

More on here www.philips.co.uk/e/led-lighting/warm-white-led-lighting.html

p.s.

I am seeing improved-efficiency LED lamps in the trade press, so within a year I expect you will be able to get better than you can now, and the price will drop. So don't spend lots of money on LEDs thinking you are making a 25-year investment.

GU10 bulbs are evil . had in last rental. popped all the time, couldn't get half of them out. cheap ones expensive ones made no difference they didn't last.

Thanks PigletJohn. The light fittings are flush to the ceiling type things so I assume we can't do much with them? We can only just get the bulbs in!

I wouldn't take this approach to lighting, I can't see how having 12 spots in the kitchen is anything other than a waste of money!

I agree Cest, but replastering ceilings is more evil!

bought led gu10 replacements on eBay, from china, for about 1.90 each. Only 4w each, great light.

Aldi were doing LED GU10 bulbs last week. I much prefer the light from them. They're the ones that should last for years

We bought some fantastic LED GU10s on eBay. They were about £5 each but it was well worth it as we have twelve in our kitchen, so they have paid for themselves. We put them in about 18 months ago and none have blown yet. Warm White was the perfect colour.

Thanks all for the advice

I have bought LEDs in warm white from a local independent supplier and the kitchen is dazzling

The shop owner calculated that each of the halogen bulbs I was replacing used £45 of electricity per year, and so x 13 = £585. The LEDs should use about £50 for all 13 of them, so the £60 they cost me will pay itself back very quickly.

Not sure if his calculations are right, but I have come away happy I've saved myself money in the long run

I calcualte that it'd cost 394.20 to have 12 lights on for 12 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

12 lights = 0.6 kw (assuming 50w bulbs)

12 hours a day = 7.2kw (I know that's awful right)

7.2 x 365 (days of the year) = 2,628kwh

2,628 x 0.15 (assuming 15p per unit) = 394.20

Of course it's unlikely you'd have the lights on for that long!

I'm now going to leave and see if I can't find a life.

Malice you're my hero