Downlights - advice please!

[BlackAlys]

I'm looking at a screw fix brochure and one type of downlights can be dimmed from cool white to a warm white at the flick of a switch.

Does anyone have this? Are they any good?

We have ones like this in our garden room. We didn't choose them tbh as we gave guidance on Chrome Vs plastic Vs brass etc but didn't think about the lights themselves.

They're really great from the pov of different uses. I like the warm light for relaxing and DD uses cool white when doing art stuff.

That's good. I don't always want a Heathrow airport style landing strip in my kitchen and I always thought I'd have a few wall lights as softer options. I didn't realise that we could have softer white downlights as well. They're more expensive per unit though...

I have Hive bulbs in mine so I can do that anytime, plus, I can make it look like I'm home when I'm not, ask Alexa to control my lighting for me, change warm to cool and vice versa...and I don't have them equally spaced across the ceiling because I don't want to feel like I live in a petrol-head's garage

I don't like downlights, but when buying lamps, I'd recommend one that you can put replacement bulbs into, in one of the common base sizes (BS, ES, SBC, SES).

Quite a lot of lamps have integral sealed-for-life LEDs, and if one fails, you end up having to buy a whole set of new matching light fittngs.

Dimmable and colour-changing lamps are a fad fashionable idea and might not be compatible with next year's fashions.

Which particular downlights are you considering? We have the Aurora switchable type but the switch is actually on the top of the light fitting and is hidden in the ceiling, you need to pull them out to switch from warm white/cool white/daylight. It's handy if you cant' decide which type of light you prefer so can buy without the worry of making the wrong choice.

@Canyerjustfixthis

Which particular downlights are you considering? We have the Aurora switchable type but the switch is actually on the top of the light fitting and is hidden in the ceiling, you need to pull them out to switch from warm white/cool white/daylight. It's handy if you cant' decide which type of light you prefer so can buy without the worry of making the wrong choice.

I hadn't realised that they'd have to be manually adjusted to change them to a warmer light! I thought it could be done at the flick of a switch. The electrician reckons I need 20 in my kitchen/diner, so maybe I'll not bother- too many to manually change!!

@PigletJohn

I don't like downlights, but when buying lamps, I'd recommend one that you can put replacement bulbs into, in one of the common base sizes (BS, ES, SBC, SES).

Quite a lot of lamps have integral sealed-for-life LEDs, and if one fails, you end up having to buy a whole set of new matching light fittngs.

Dimmable and colour-changing lamps are a fad fashionable idea and might not be compatible with next year's fashions.

I'm not hugely a fan I have to admit - but the renovation project is quite cottagey with low ceilings and small windows so I need to flood certain rooms with light. That said, I don't want to flick a switch and experience a 'whooomph' blast of light neither.

Good info re lamps - I have bought a few small ones here like that and the whole unit is binned when the bulbs fail. I'll choose my lamps wisely.

Ate integrayed LED's better than the GU10's?

I did have some that did this, and never ever adjusted them. I'd just get standard fittings with GU10 bulbs. That way, you can easily just replace a bulb when one dies, rather than the entire unit.

Thank you.

I would get ones with replaceable GU10s, not fully integrated.

I wouldn’t be interested in these personally, as cool white is not nice in a home IMO. It’s very bright white like in a supermarket or office. I would always pick warm white (3000k) or even better, very warm white (2700k). And I like them all dimmable too.

If you get warm white in a high wattage, and a dimmer, then you have the option of bright (but warm toned) light or lower warm toned light.

If you want dimmable you do need to be careful to choose dimmable fittings and bulbs, and a good “trailing edge” dimmer module inside your dimmer switch (the varilux v pro is good).

We have Aurora Enlight downlighter fittings and Philips ExpertColor GU10 bulbs.

@minipie

I would get ones with replaceable GU10s, not fully integrated.

I wouldn’t be interested in these personally, as cool white is not nice in a home IMO. It’s very bright white like in a supermarket or office. I would always pick warm white (3000k) or even better, very warm white (2700k). And I like them all dimmable too.

If you get warm white in a high wattage, and a dimmer, then you have the option of bright (but warm toned) light or lower warm toned light.

If you want dimmable you do need to be careful to choose dimmable fittings and bulbs, and a good “trailing edge” dimmer module inside your dimmer switch (the varilux v pro is good).

We have Aurora Enlight downlighter fittings and Philips ExpertColor GU10 bulbs.

Thanks loads minipie!