Event: Great American Bulb Swap

I spent part of Friday with a friend at the Great American Bulb Swap at Eastern Market in Washington DC.  I had heard about the event from the blog Gadgeteer and planned to go, then I received an invitation to attend as a blogger-- yay!

If you've read other posts in this blog, you know that I can be cheap frugal. So while the idea of spending $15/bulb is unappealing, I am certainly interested in bulbs that last 20+ years.  I also found myself with a lack of good energy efficient options for the fourteen recessed lights in our kitchen and living room.  I've bought many CFLs for these fixtures and relegated each one to little used fixtures because the light was so unpleasant.  We stuck with halogen floods for these constantly used fixtures...  not cheap at $5/bulb and VERY hot, but at least I like the light.

In a fit of energy efficiency, I broke down and bought six LED bulbs for the kitchen in summer 2013. They were a mere $10/bulb at Costco (gulp!).  They are slow to come on, and two of the six have had intermittent flickering, requiring a warranty claim and return to Costco.  Not the best experience, but the light is pleasant and they're not as hot as halogen.

Enter Cree Bulbs.  I first encountered Cree bulbs at a local energy conservation event this past summer.  I used one Cree bulb when the kitchen LED bulb started blinking, immediately noticing that it came on faster than the ones from Costco and gave off an equally appealing light.  When the other company came through with replacement bulbs, I put the Cree back in the closet in order to have a matching set in the kitchen.

Me, Bulby and Elaine at Eastern Market DC

At this event, I learned that my Cree bulb is behind the curve compared to the new ones.  The newest ones are plastic, which makes them shatterproof and less expensive to make.  They dim better than previous versions, and kept the instant-on feature I noticed in the first one.  If there's a problem, Home Depot will swap them out under warranty.  And, drum roll please.... they are only $7.97 at Home Depot.  That's 20% savings over the ones I got at Costco, and they are better bulbs.  Score!


The price is right, the energy savings is there, and most importantly, the light looks right in my house.  Time to head to Home Depot and switch to Cree!

Disclaimer: I received Cree bulbs and gift cards as a part of this event, but was not asked to write about the event or the bulbs. All opinions are my own.