Features and differences between fluorescent lamps and LED lamps. LED lamps or energy saving - what to choose

Every person who creates lighting in his home immediately begins to ask the question: which light source to choose? Typically, people choose between LED and energy saving bulbs. However, many do not understand how they differ and which are the best. Therefore, in this article, we decided to compare LED and energy-saving lamps, recall the main characteristics, talk about economy, pros and cons.

Comparison of LED and energy-saving lamps: pros and cons

Power consumption

When buying a light source, each person first of all thinks about their efficiency. Let's take a standard incandescent lamp as a basis and imagine that it consumes 100%. Energy-saving light sources consume 20%, and LED 10% at the same brightness.

Output! LEDs consume less electricity and produce similar lighting. Accordingly, they are seriously winning here.

Glow brightness

Pay attention right away! The brightness of the ice glow is several times better than the energy-saving analogue.

If we talk in more detail about fluorescent lamps, then they do not correctly transmit the light spectrum, and many shades also correspond. LEDs in this regard are more stable and versatile.

Look at the photo to see how the luminous flux differs.

Which lamp is the most economical - a clear example

Environmental friendliness and safety

Led lamps and here seriously benefit, this is due to the fact that they do not contain mercury. But in ordinary housekeepers there is mercury, it belongs to the first class of danger (the most dangerous). We even considered an article on how to dispose of fluorescent lamps, so when buying them, you should clearly understand that you still need to properly dispose of them after use.

The second major problem with fluorescent lamps is that they emit harmful infrared radiation, which can cause many diseases. LEDs do not have such disadvantages, so in modern realities it is better to buy them.

Shimmer

Every light source flickers. If we speak for economical lamps, then they flicker 50 times per second. This flickering can cause eye fatigue and irritation. However, here you still need to understand that a lot depends on the build quality. If a good driver is installed, then the flicker will not be too harmful to the human body.

Speaking of LEDs, they really stand out. Since they do not emit flicker and fill the room with only high-quality light. But, a lot also depends on the quality of the lamp, if we speak for Chinese manufacturers, then their quality begins to suffer seriously and flicker may appear.

How long do they serve

Here's a list:

1. Energy saving lamps last up to 10,000 hours.
2. LEDs boast a lifespan of 50,000 hours.

The indicator differs by more than 5 times! The advantage here is significant, even though LEDs are a little more expensive (if we speak for expensive manufacturers).

Who turns on faster

The fluorescent lamps turn on in one second. This is due to the fact that the driver needs time to warm up, it is also necessary to heat the mercury. Accordingly, it takes more time to heat up.

Pay attention! After one year of use, energy-saving lights may turn on even longer.

LEDs have no problems here either, they come into operation instantly and do not lose their glow brightness even after a certain time.

Which lamp is better: LED or energy saving

Warranty

It is also very important to look at manufacturers' warranties:

• manufacturers give a three-year warranty for Ice;
• the energy efficient ones only boast a one or two year warranty.

Conclusions here should be done independently.

Heating temperature during operation

The housekeeper heats up to 50 or 60 degrees during her work. This is not much, but over time it can heat up even more, as the main elements of the driver wear out.

The LED generally shows stable performance and never overheats. Accordingly, they can be used in any premises.

Price

The average cost of both lamps in our territory is 220 rubles. So, we can call it an honest draw. However, it should be clearly understood that much depends on the manufacturers. We strongly recommend choosing only high-quality light sources, because it is better to pay once and use it for a long time. Cheap Chinese counterparts will almost immediately fail, and you will have to buy new ones, as a result you will have to overpay.

Related Videos

We found several more interesting videos on the network, from which you will learn:

• advantages and disadvantages;
• life time;
• design features;
• light spectrum and more.

These videos will help each person understand the basic subtleties of the choice.

Conclusion

This is the end of our comparison between LED and energy saving lamps. As you may have noticed, LEDs are ahead in all respects, so we recommend that you stop your choice on them. However, at the time of purchase, try to look only at high-quality models, where there are quality guarantees.

You pay a lot of money for electricity and think about how to save money. For economic benefits, you need to decide which lamps to install in your home and office - LED or energy saving. Incandescent lamps may not be considered at all, since they are already a thing of the past. The main thing is to understand what is the difference between LED lamps and energy-saving ones, so that they become a cost-effective and safe solution for your health.

1 difference - economic benefit

You will save about 100 rubles per month when installing an LED lamp. At the same time, the energy-saving option will save only 22 rubles in the family or business budget. Imagine how much you can save in a year!

On average, an energy-saving light bulb costs 200 rubles and pays off in 1 year. At the same time, its LED alternative costs 600 rubles. It pays off for 2.5 years. Do you think you need to stop at the first option? You are wrong! The service life of lamps of the first type is only 5,000 - 6,000 hours, and of the second type (more progressive) - 50,000 to 100,000 hours.

2 difference - safe use

Unfortunately, energy-saving light bulbs contain substances that are toxic to humans - mercury and phosphorus. At the slightest damage to the bulb, when you turn them on, they begin to release mercury vapor into the closed space. If the room is not ventilated every 20-30 minutes, the concentration of mercury will gradually exceed the maximum permissible norms by 120-160 times. If you break such a light bulb, leave the room immediately, but before that, open the window for ventilation.

LEDs do not contain chemical compounds, therefore they do not cause severe poisoning. They can be completely recyclable and disposed of with normal waste. Whereas fluorescent lamps must be disposed of in special factories.

This is a safe solution for three reasons:

• they do not buzz during operation and do not create background noise;
• do not flicker and do not strain the muscles of the eyes, so you will keep your sharp vision;
• work at the lowest temperatures and can be left outside, summer cottage and cottage.

3 difference - reliable performance

LED bulbs withstand voltage fluctuations and do not break during surges - from 110 to 270 volts. Therefore, they serve for so long to those who chose them.

The "Energy Saving Alternative" does not start at all and refuses to operate at low voltage. Summer residents will confirm these words. They complain that you won't see any savings with such lighting equipment. We have to buy new lamps, because they quickly deteriorate due to a complex and frail design.

You will be adjusting the lighting level when you install the LED lamp. It will adapt to your needs and preferences. You will never regret having bought it for your home or office if you are not deterred by its high cost. Think back to how much money it will save for you.

Thanks to technological advances in the field of electrical and electronic, the modern range of lighting products is very wide. It is extremely difficult for a consumer who has not yet touched on this topic to understand among a huge selection of various solutions. With the aim of the two pillars are fluorescent and LED energy saving lamps. This article is intended to compare their characteristics and provide an adequate understanding of the advantages and disadvantages, which will help the buyer navigate what is better to choose. Next, we will provide a comparison of LED bulbs and energy saving bulbs.

Electricity consumption

Electricity consumption for fluorescent lamps is about 20 percent of standard and familiar incandescent lamps. LEDs are even more economical - the relative power consumption of Ilyich's bulbs is about 10 percent. Thus, the power consumption of a light source based on semiconductors and LEDs will always be 2 times less at the same brightness.

Light flow

The color of the spectrum for a gas-discharge energy-saving light bulb is somewhat less qualitative than its LED counterpart. Fluorescent lamps do not quite correctly transmit the light spectrum with respect to some shades. In comparison with gas-discharge, the LED version is more stable in this regard.

The table below summarizes the characteristics of the lighting sources under consideration:

Working temperature

A gas-discharge fluorescent lamp during long-term operation has a temperature indicator of about 50-60 degrees Celsius. It is not able to burn the skin and, moreover, cause a fire, but it is still a fairly solid indicator. But it should be borne in mind that if the electronics malfunction, the temperature indicator may increase by 3-4 times. This risk is unlikely, but exists. LED lamps are completely safe in terms of high temperatures due to their semiconductor technology based on LED chips. In any case, a comparison of both those and other light sources shows that it is permissible to use them with any type of holders for chandeliers, sconces and other lamps, since they do not exceed the maximum permissible heating with correct operation.

Environmental factor and harm to health

Fluorescent lamps, which are located on store shelves, contain about 5 milligrams of mercury in the flask. Mercury is a metal, due to its harmful properties, which are harmful to the human body, it is assigned to the first (highest) hazard class. along with the rest of the garbage is prohibited, therefore a conscious user must take the failed lamps to specially designated collection points.

It should also be noted that UV and infrared radiation emitted by a fluorescent lamp can cause some diseases. The disadvantages listed above do not apply to LEDs, their use is completely safe.

Flicker index

Fluorescent energy-saving lamps flicker 50 times per second. The naked eye is not able to notice this phenomenon, but there are people for whom this effect can cause an exacerbation of nervousness, or the appearance of a melancholic state. Fluorescent light sources equipped with high-quality electronic ballasts do not have this effect. In this case, LED lamps compare favorably with their gas-discharge counterparts due to the absence of such a problem.

Efficiency

In this case, it speaks about how much the energy-saving lamp gives out light energy in relation to electricity consumption. For housekeepers, this figure is about 30 percent, while LEDs are again at a height - about 80 percent and above.

Life time

Fluorescent lamps, on average, last 5 times less than LED lamps. On the box with the product, as a rule, there is a table with the corresponding data. According to manufacturers, the lifespan of an LED lamp can be up to 50 thousand hours, while energy-saving bulbs last no more than 10 thousand hours. The comparison in terms of service life is obvious - LED products wins significantly in this indicator.

Comparison by other factors

The fluorescent energy-saving lamp turns on for 1 second, which is associated with the operation of its electronic circuit. At low temperatures, due to the drop in gas pressure inside the flask, the brightness decreases significantly. This is due to the fact that mercury loses its volatility and is forced to heat up for a longer period of time. High humidity also adversely affects the performance of a fluorescent light bulb. It causes a film to form on the surface of the flask, which is an interfering factor for its stable operation and rapid heating. The LEDs start working instantly and have an impressive temperature range for stable performance.

Another important comparison criterion is the warranty period. For LEDs, it is on average 3 years, while for energy-saving light sources 1-2.

Price range

If you compare LED and fluorescent lamps by price, then there is definitely a draw. To date, both versions cost from 200 rubles per piece, if we talk about more or less high-quality manufacturers. A few years ago, energy-saving lamps could still beat LED products due to their lower price, but now (2017) the cost of LEDs has significantly decreased due to high competition and the appearance of budget Chinese manufacturers on the market.

Output

Guided by the above information, when comparing energy-saving and LED lamps for home, office or any other premises, the decisively best solution would be a model that works on the principles of LED technology, that is, it is LED. In support of this, we attach several useful videos.

As the name suggests, the light source in LED lamps is miniature electronic devices called LEDs. In the usual incandescent lamps, the light is emitted by a red-hot metal spiral. In energy-saving lamps, light is emitted by a phosphor that is applied to the inner surface of a glass tube. In turn, the phosphor glows under the action of a gas discharge.

Before moving on to the actual LED lamps, let's briefly consider the features of each type of lamp.

Incandescent lamp The structure is very simple: a spiral made of refractory metal is fixed inside a transparent glass bulb, from which air is evacuated. Passing through the spiral, the electric current heats it up to a high temperature, at which the metal glows brightly.

The advantage of such lamps is their low price. However, it is compensated by an equally low efficiency: less than 10% of the electricity consumed by a light bulb is converted into visible light. The rest is uselessly dissipated in the form of heat - the light bulb gets very hot during operation. In addition, the service life of the device is very short, approximately 1,000 hours.

Compact fluorescent lamp, or CFL(this is the exact name of an energy-saving lamp), at the same brightness of light, it consumes about five times less electricity than an incandescent lamp. CFLs are more expensive and have several disadvantages that are significant for the consumer:

• for quite a long time (several minutes) flare up after switching on;
• the lamp with its curved glass bulb looks unaesthetic;
• cFL light flickers, which is exhausting for eyesight.

LED lamp represents several LEDs mounted in the same housing with a power supply. You can't do without a power supply: LEDs require 6 or 12 V DC power to operate, and 220 V AC power in a household power supply.

The lamp body is most often made in the form of a familiar "pear" with a screw base. Thanks to this, LED lamps can be easily installed in a regular holder.

Depending on the LEDs used, the emission color of LED lamps can be different. This is one of their advantages.

Advantages of LED lamps:

• very low power consumption - on average eight times less than incandescent lamps of the same brightness;
• very long service life - they work 25–30 times longer than incandescent lamps;
• almost do not get warm;
• radiation color - at choice;
• stable illumination brightness when the supply voltage fluctuates.

The main advantage of LED lamps is economy. It is assumed that due to low power consumption and long service life, LED lamps will significantly reduce lighting costs.

The price of LED lamps at the time of this writing was about three times higher than that of conventional lamps. Consequently, in monetary terms, they turn out to be 50-100 times more economical. These savings will, of course, be achieved provided that the lamp reaches its promised life and does not burn out prematurely.

Disadvantages of LED lamps limit their scope:

• uneven light distribution - a power supply built into the body shades the luminous flux;
• a matte bulb looks ugly in glass and crystal lamps;
• the brightness of the glow, as a rule, cannot be changed using a dimmer;
• unsuitable for use at very low (frost) and high (in steam rooms, saunas) temperatures.

Things to consider when choosing an LED lamp

LED bulbs have many characteristics. This makes the task of doing the right thing more difficult. Let's see what exactly the various characteristics mean.

Supply voltage

If there is an unstable voltage in your apartment or house, you need to choose lamps that can work in a wide range of voltages. This is always indicated on the packaging. Unlike incandescent lamps, LED lamps at reduced voltage burn as brightly as at normal voltage.

Radiation color

Color is characterized by a color temperature, which is measured in kelvin: as the color temperature rises, the light changes from yellow to blue. In most cases, the color of the radiation is indicated on the packaging and lamp housing in degrees and in the words:

• warm (2,700 K) - approximately corresponds to the radiation of an incandescent lamp;
• warm white (3,000 K) - considered optimal for residential premises;
• cold white (4,000 K) - for industrial premises; close to daylight.

There are lamps with a changeable color: when you switch the mode, the emission spectrum of such a lamp changes.

It should be borne in mind that many people perceive the blue part of the spectrum poorly, so the cold light of the lamps will seem dim to them. So, if you decide to install lamps with a cold spectrum in your home, choose them with a margin of power.

Power

The packaging of LED lamps indicates their luminous flux and power of incandescent lamps of similar brightness. The real power consumption of LED lamps is on average 6–8 times less. For example, a 12W LED light bulb glows as brightly as a regular 100W light bulb. This ratio can be used when choosing an LED lamp to replace an incandescent lamp.

However, an unpleasant surprise may lie in wait for you: the declared power may not correspond to the actual one, and the lamp will shine weaker than expected.

In addition, the brightness of the LEDs decreases over time. It is possible that the light bulb will have to be replaced long before its expiration date due to the fact that it began to shine too weakly.

Other important points

• Dimensions. LED lamps are slightly larger in size than similar incandescent lamps. Therefore, small lampshades may simply not fit.
• If your lamp is dimmed, you need appropriate bulbs. The packaging must indicate that the lamp is adjustable.
• The color rendering index of LED lamps is low, which means that they somewhat distort the visual perception of colors. In some cases, such as when photographing with LED light, this can be important.

LED transition strategy

The potential shouldn't make you lose your head. Do not rush to run to the store and buy bulbs for all the lamps in the house at once. It is advisable to be guided by two principles.

1. Replace only bulbs with high wattage - 60 W or more. The savings from replacing low power bulbs will be small and the cost of a new bulb may not pay off.
2. Replace lamps in lamps, the burning time of which is the longest during the day: for example, in chandeliers in living rooms. It makes no sense to change a light bulb in some back room, the light in which is lit from time to time and for a short time.

Do not expect that power consumption will decrease significantly.

The main consumers of electricity in everyday life are various kinds of heating devices: an iron, an electric kettle, a washing machine, and especially an electric stove. According to several people interviewed, the electricity bill after switching to LED lamps decreases by about 15-25%.

Another tip: do not buy many lamps of the same brand at once, first take one or two for a sample. The fact is that lamps with the same color temperature from different manufacturers can vary greatly in their emitted light. What if the spectrum of these particular lamps will be unpleasant to you? Better to try.

Conclusion

LED bulbs, compared to traditional incandescent bulbs, are a fundamentally new lighting solution.

A few years ago, they were a very expensive technical novelty, but today their price is already comparable to the price of other types of lamps. As for the characteristics, the LED lamps are noticeably superior to the previous lighting devices. The verdict is unambiguous: the transition to LED lamps is quite justified.

Conventional light bulbs shine well, but they are very energy inefficient - 95% of their energy is converted into heat. Fun fact: after the ban on the sale of bulbs more powerful than 100 W, manufacturers, as if nothing had happened, continue to produce them, but they are called not bulbs, but "heat emitters" and in fact they are right.

Modern LED lamps consume in 8-10 times less energy than incandescent bulbs with the same luminous flux, which means that when illuminated with LED lamps, it will be possible to pay 8-10 times less for lighting.

I made a calculation of the cost of lighting a two-room apartment with conventional and LED lamps.

Of course, the calculation is very rough. Nevertheless, 3-5 thousand rubles a year is a very real saving for an average apartment. Pay attention to the lamp burning time. Manufacturers promise 1000 hours of incandescent lamp operation (in reality, the bulbs often burn out much earlier), but even if the lamps run for 1000 hours, they will have to be changed in the hallway and room twice a year, and once in the kitchen and bedroom. With an average cost of a lamp of 30 rubles, it will take another 690 rubles.

LED bulbs don't need to be replaced every six months. Manufacturers promise 25-50 thousand hours of work. This is more than 11-22 years with a daily use of 6 hours.

A set of LED lamps for this average apartment will cost 4,380 rubles (7 E27 6W lamps for 280 rubles, 11 4W candles for 220 rubles) and they will pay off in less than a year.

Good LED bulbs provide the same comfortable light as incandescent bulbs and you won't be able to tell the difference between them and incandescent bulbs.

When the mains voltage drops to 207 V, a 60-watt incandescent lamp starts to shine like a 40-watt one, and if the voltage drops to 180 volts (which is often the case in rural areas), a 60-watt lamp "turns" into a 25-watt one. LED lamp shines at any voltage with the same brightness and is not afraid of jumps.

Unlike incandescent bulbs, LED bulbs are slightly hotter. Lamps do not heat the room when it is already hot. The child will not get burned by the light bulb in the table lamp.

And also LED bulbs give freedom and comfort. You no longer need to worry about saving electricity: when a light bulb consumes 6 W instead of 60 W, you can just don't turn off. Before, I always turned off the light in the hallway, now it is always on when I am at home. It's more convenient this way.

And one more, last argument in favor of buying LED lamps. Do not treat them like consumables. You buy them for a long time. Treat them the same way as the chandelier or lamp in which you install them, because most likely someday you will replace them together, because the LED bulbs will never burn out.

2. Are LED bulbs and energy saving bulbs the same? And if not, which is better?

LED lamp much better CFL for several reasons:

• the LED lamp does not contain hazardous substances, and any CFL bulb contains mercury;
• lED lamp consumes less energy for the same luminous flux;
• the LED lamp instantly lights up at full brightness, and the CFL smoothly gains brightness from 20% to 100% per minute at room temperature and much slower at low temperatures;
• CFLs have a poor spectrum with multiple peaks. The spectrum of an LED lamp is much closer to natural light and incandescent light.

3. What's shining there?

In 1923, Soviet physicist Oleg Losev discovered the electroluminescence of a semiconductor junction. The first LEDs using this principle were called “Losev Light” (Losev light). The first was the red LED, followed by the yellow and green LEDs in the early 70s. The blue LED was created in 1971 by Yakov Panchechnikov, but it was extremely expensive. In 1990, Japan's Suji Nakamura created a cheap and bright blue LED.

It was believed 20 years ago that it was impossible to create a white LED, however, after the advent of a blue LED, it became possible to make white light sources with three crystals (RGB).

In 1996, the first white phosphor LEDs appeared. In them, the light of an ultraviolet or blue LED is converted to white using a phosphor.

By 2005, the luminous efficiency of such LEDs reached 100 lm / W or more. This made it possible to start using phosphor LEDs for lighting, because LED is one of the most economical light sources.

4. What kinds of LED bulbs are there?

LED bulbs are available in different housings with different base types. These are ordinary "pears", "candles" and "balls" with E27 and E14 sockets, and "mirror" lamps R39, R50, R63 and spotlights with GU10 and GU5.3 sockets, capsule lamps with G4 and G9 sockets, lamps for ceilings with GX53 base.

Various types of LEDs are used in LED lamps. The first LED bulbs used conventional LEDs in a plastic housing.

Currently, high-power LEDs in housings are used only in some lamps.

Most modern lamps use unpackaged LEDs and LED assemblies.

Recently, COB (chip on board) LED emitters are increasingly used. In them, many LEDs are covered with a single phosphor.

A variation of COB is LED filament. In them, many LEDs are placed on a glass strip coated with a phosphor.

In the most recent generation of Crystal Ceramic MCOB lamps, the emitters are located on round transparent ceramic plates.

LED lamps are available with different color temperatures of light: 2700K - yellow light, like incandescent lamps, 3000K - slightly more comfortable white light, 4000K - white light, 6500K - cold white light. In my opinion, lamps with a color temperature of 2700-3000K are more suitable for home.

5. Is it always possible to simply screw an LED lamp instead of a regular one?

No not always. There are two problems you can face:

• Work with a switch with an indicator. A large number of LED lamps cannot work with switches that have an indicator. They flash or light dimly when the switch is off. This is because a weak current is constantly flowing through the lamp. There are two ways out of this situation: either use lamps that work correctly with such switches or turn off the indicator inside the switch.
• Dimming. Most LED lamps cannot work with dimmers (dimmers), but there are special dimmable LED lamps (as a rule, they are much more expensive than conventional ones). Unlike incandescent lamps, when the brightness decreases, the LED lamp does not change the color of the lighting (it turns yellow in a conventional lamp). Many dimmable LED lamps do not dim to zero, but only to 15–20% full brightness.

6. Are all LED bulbs good and if not, how are good ones different from bad ones?

In ordinary incandescent lamps, everything is simple: a bulb and a tungsten filament. The LED lamp is much more complex and its quality depends on the quality of LEDs, phosphor and electronics.

There are three important parameters that affect the quality of light that a lamp gives:

• Ripple of light. Many low-quality lamps have a high level of light ripple (flicker). Such light is visually uncomfortable and a person quickly gets tired of it. When looking from one object to another, a stroboscopic effect is visible (as if several objects are seen instead of one). The human eye perceives a pulsation of more than 40%. There are two ways check for pulsation of light - pencil test (we take an ordinary long pencil by the tip and begin to quickly and quickly move it in a semicircle back and forth. If the individual contours of the pencil are not visible, there is no flicker, if you can see "several pencils" - the light flickers) and check with the camera smartphone (if you look at the light through the smartphone's camera, as a rule, when the light flickers across the screen, stripes will appear, and the brighter they are, the stronger the flicker). Lamps with visible pulsation must not be used in residential areas.
• Color rendering index (CRI). The light spectrum of an LED lamp differs from that of sunlight and the light of a conventional incandescent lamp. Although the light looks white, it has more color components and some fewer. CRI shows how even the level of different color components in light is. With a low CRI of light, shades are less visible. Such light is visually unpleasant, and it is very difficult to understand what is wrong in it. For incandescent and sun lamps, CRI \u003d 100, for ordinary LED lamps it is more than 80, for very good lamps it is more than 90. Lamps with CRI below 80 it is better not to use in living quarters.
• Lighting angle. There are two types of LED pear lamps. In the former, the protective cap has the shape of a hemisphere having the same diameter as the body. Such lamps do not shine back at all and if they shine down in the chandelier, the ceiling will remain dark, which may be visually ugly. In the second type of lamps, the transparent cap has a diameter larger than the body and the lamp shines a little back. LED filament or transparent disc lamps have the same wide illumination angle as conventional incandescent lamps. Halogen spotlights emit a narrow beam of light with an illumination angle of about 30 degrees, while most LED spotlights shine with diffused light at an angle of about 100 degrees. Such bulbs in the false ceiling are "blind" due to their too wide angle. Only a few LED spotlights have lenses and the same narrow illumination angle as halogen lamps.

And three more problems that can often be encountered with LED lamps:

• Inconsistency between the luminous flux and the equivalent to the declared values. Unfortunately, often on the packaging of LED lamps, overestimated values \u200b\u200bof the luminous flux and equivalent are written. You can find lamps that indicate a luminous flux of 600 lm and that the lamp replaces a 60-watt incandescent lamp, but in fact it shines only like a 40-watt lamp.
• The color temperature does not match the declared one. Very often there are lamps whose color temperature of light differs from what the manufacturer promises. Instead of 2700K, you can find 3100K, and instead of 6000K, even 7200K.
• Premature lamp failure. Manufacturers indicate the lifespan of LED lamps from 15,000 to 50,000 hours, in fact, the lamps sometimes break after several months of operation.

7. How to choose high quality LED bulbs?

There are several dozen brands of lamps on the Russian market. Most of them are Russian brands that manufacture custom-made lamps in China. Many people think that since the lamps are Chinese, it is better and cheaper to buy them in Chinese online stores, but this is a big mistake. Unfortunately, the vast majority of bulbs from Chinese shops are of very poor quality. Their power and luminous flux are much lower than promised, the color rendering index (CRI) is low, many lamps have ripple, sometimes reaching 100%, the color temperature is not standardized (the Chinese often write "warm white light 2700-3500K" and what will happen in fact no one knows), there is no guarantee for such lamps, and if they fail, they will not be replaced. I tested several dozen lamps from Chinese online stores and there was only one good one among them, while it cost more than similar lamps in Russia.

I know of only four brands that do not overestimate the luminous flux and the equivalent on the package. These are Ikea, Osram, Philips and Diall, therefore, when buying lamps of all other brands, it is better to take lamps "with a margin". If you need to replace a 40-watt light bulb, take the one that says "60 W incandescent bulb equivalent."

If upon purchase it is possible to turn on the lamp, make sure it doesn't flicker using a pencil test or smartphone. Even brands such as Osram have lamps with unacceptable pulsation.

If the flicker was found already at home, feel free to return the lamp - according to Russian laws, LED lamps can be returned to the store within 14 days from the date of purchase.

Pay attention to the warranty periods (lamps are warranted from one to five years) and keep receipts. Lamps must be exchanged at the point of purchase.