Cree 100W Equivalent Daylight A21 LED Light Bulb

EDIT: Burned out suddenly today after 1.5 years of very light use in my closet with no enclosure and thus no chance of overheating due to anything other than defect. It was left on for approximately 4 hours, was manually turned off, and will no longer turn back on in any fixture. Gently shaking the bulb produced a rattling noise. Although I really loved this bulb, the lifespan is simply unacceptable unless my case was simply a rare defect. It has lasted significantly shorter than a standard incandescent. I'm knocking off three stars for now, and will reevaluate after I attempt to claim a warranty.____________________A few years ago I switched my personal incandescent out for high-wattage "Full Spectrum" (5500k) Compact Fluorescent bulbs. The extra brightness, cooler color, lower heat, and greater (approximately double) lifespan were all great. I saved a bit of power (85w instead of 100) but the impact was rather negligible, especially considering I live in an apartment with included utility costs.This however is not a review of CFLs. About a week ago, I started switching out the (standard low wattage normal spectrum building supplied ones, not ones I personally bought) CF bulbs outside of my typical workspace (bathroom, hallways, etc) with "warm" (2700k) dimmable LED bulbs. Although I do not prefer the yellower/redder color (other family members insisted on an incandescent-like look) and lower brightness compared to my personal 5500k CFLs, they are still a clear improvement in both regards over the generic CFLs they replaced. The SIGNIFICANTLY lower power consumption, lower heat output, greater longevity, and the ability to dim the bulbs (with varying levels of success depending on the bulb) are all pretty awesome.This is still not a review of 2700k LEDs however. What this IS a review of, is the absolutely lovely 18W 5000k A21 CREE LED. This thing is simply amazing. The last batch of LEDs inspired me to try one of the purer white, higher wattage LEDs for my closet when it's bulb burned out a few days ago. CREE is a name I've heard a lot about in the flashlight world, and this bulb had all the specs I was looking for, so I gave it a shot. Despite the 5000k rating on this LED and the 5500k rating on my large CFL bulbs, this guy actually gives off a cooler, purer white. Despite the lower wattage (18 vs 20) compared to the next strongest LED from another company I've tried, it is actually a brighter bulb (or perhaps it just appears that way due to the whiter light, but we are humans, with human eyeballs, so what appears bright is what functionally is bright as far as I'm concerned). Despite the higher watt rating and smaller heatsinks compared to smaller LEDs from other companies, this CREE bulb is actually cooler to the touch. It isn't quite as bright as my ridiculously large and expensive 85W CFL bulbs, but it isn't far off either. It even comes in particularly well thought out packaging and has an excellent fit and finish to its build. The "glass" (plastic?) part of the bulb even has a nice rubberized coating on it that gives it a frosted look and soft grippy feel. To top it all off, it has a longer warranty than any of the other bulbs I've tried.The only downsides I can see to this bulb are the obviously high cost, and the slightly less evenly distributed light output compared to a few of the high end competitors I've tried (but honestly, you practically have to look directly at the lit bulb itself to notice.If CREE made this bulb in a higher brightness (25w perhaps?) model, I would gladly gobble them up and replace all of my remaining high watt CF bulbs.

The light is good, the failure rate is unacceptable.I actually like the light from these CREE bulbs. I use the "soft white" in the house and the "bright white" in my shop. Very good all around light, the dimming function is OK, although some of them buzz a bit at lower output (I've replaced these with Philips wierdly shaped tri-lobe bulbs (which I recommend)). It's nice that (unlike the Philips bulbs) these bulbs are "standard" shape so that a lampshade which clips to the bulb still works.I do not like the reliability at all. I have purchased around 20 of these bulbs from Amazon and Home Depot over the past few years. Three of them just "died". Five of them experienced a separation of the globe from the base. I can still use the bulbs in the shop and laundry room, but the light is harsh and the electronics are bare without the glass covering. And, yes, I did discover that the circuitry that is now laid bare is live and line voltage by brushing up against one.I hate CFLs for their harsh light and poor cold-weather performance and am excited about LED bulbs. I am willing to pay more for light source with quality on par with incandescent for 1/4-1/8 of the energy usage. After years of failures from CREE bulbs I have concluded that I did not just get a "bad batch" but that there is a systemic design or manufacturing problem. The first LED bulbs I purchased were Philips wierd-looking "tri-lobe" bulbs and I have not experienced any failures despite their being in service longer than my CREE bulbs. I am now replacing my CREE bulbs with Philips as the CREE bulbs fail.

10 YEAR WARRANTY works. I bought one from Home Depot, saved the receipt, and got a replacement from Cree. Replacement has been used daily for over a year now. This bulb seems to be brighter than 100 watts and is really clean light for a dressing area, so when you go out of the door you don't have surprises about the colors you chose to wear.MY PLAN: I am going to buy one bulb at a time from Amazon, capture the receipt to Pdf file, date the bulb when I get it so the receipt and date reference each other and exercise the warranty for replacements during the warranty period. That is until 2027 from now. I am saving a blister card package for reference which I will drop into a file cabinet warranty file. If you buy from Home Depot, scan your receipt to a Pdf and file in your computer warranty file.Exercise your warranty when needed and you will be much more satisfied with this outstanding bulb.

My bad, I needed Daylight versions. These are soft white.But they do work in outdoor sensor lights.Cree closed up shop, bummer