I realize it's not a whole lot of liquid, but it strikes me that electricity+water=accidents waiting to happen. Assuming the bulbs are assembled perfectly, what happens when you knock a lamp over with one of these bulbs in it?
@Frizzaper: From TFA - "Not to worry, if you drop/break it - the liquid inside is harmless paraffin oil that has been tested and certified safe to UL and ROHS standards."
@Jonhy: The average CFL is a foolish purchase. Manufacturers use cheap electrolytic capacitors that overheat (in the usual bulb-down mounting position) and burn out long before the rated lifetime of the bulb--usually within a year, in my experience, especially for the crappy CFLs that Costco sells and many people buy. I replace those caps to revive the lights, but I doubt that most folks would want to do that. So, the cost of electricity isn't the most important factor in the economic calculation. On the other hand, I have six 18W Panasonic EFT18LE-T compact fluorescents for which I paid $10 each in 1992, and they're all still working just fine in daily use (bulb down, too). Vastly more economical than these LEDs!
Very little normally, but it's one of the problems with room lighting bulbs - they can make them very bright, but they heat up, dramatically shortening the life of the LED. That's why most lightbulb replacements have cooling fins (well, that and the power adapter built in!)
so, these put off less light then a 25w bulb? The problem I have with my CFLs, is I just can't get the room to fill with light in the same way, and this is even dimmer? I'd love to save even more energy, but not at the cost of even more light.
@shockwaver: That's still a big problem with LED lights, they just aren't available very bright. Even the ones that say they replace 60W bulbs are usually "exaggerating" quite a bit.
I don't know how useful liquid cooling is. It will delay the bulb from heating up, as the liquid absorbs the heat, but you're still producing the same heat and eventually it will be hot. In a 4W bulb it may not be relevant in the time the bulb is on, but scale up to a 12W or 20W and it's going to get hot, and stay hot when you turn it off, unless you add radiator fins like every other LED bulb already has.
Though daylight white is kind of bluey and weak, I suppose it would work great as a bedside light in the morning (blue lights are better at waking you up)
Is it the water than aids with the natural colours or does the water just mean you can unscrew a cool light bulb straight away (their example)
what does it mean when the line that says 'other LED lights, cool to' overlaps the picture below it? Is it just formatting on gawker media's part, or is firefox 3.5 rendering things wrong? just curious, i'm not trying to be a peckerwood.
@AlexSea: "..the touch thanks to the.." though the writing does overlap the picture in Chrome. Then finishes the rest of the sentence beneath the images
Daylight White does not look good in a home. But I would love to be able to turn all my lights in the home into LED. I did so with the Christmas lights already. But at $35 a bulb, that's a little to much for redoing my whole house.
OMG, the video on their site is SO trippy, watching the liquid swirl around like a half-filled snow globe! You really can't appreciate the "liquid cooling" from the still pictures above, go check out the video.
Wow! I didn't even see the water in the pictures, but the video really shows that it's a lightbulb with water in it. That's insane! ...and wicked cool! Not to mention ultimate money savers. I can't wait to get my hand on some of these.
Mistype. 10 times longer than an incandescent? These last 3 times longer=more buying bulbs, more making bulbs, less consumer/environment friendly.
If you complain about CFL warmup time, light output, or color temperature, you're buying the wrong CFLs. They come in ones that warm up instantly, same color temp as incandescent, and put out as much light, if not more, as you can put a higher wattage (equivelant) CFL in the same fixture.
@TheCrudMan: "If you complain about CFL warmup time, light output, or color temperature, you're buying the wrong CFLs."
Can you please post a link to said correct CFLs?
I don't mean to be a jerk, but I've tried most every brand and model of CFL and read lots of reviews looking for an incand. replacement, and it's just not in the stars.
I finally settled on Halogena, which has a modicum of energy savings and better light than an incandescent (IMO, of course).
CFLs do last a very long time, though. I have a few in my house that were installed by the previous homeowners when they remodeled -- in 2002.
@elitesoulman: incandescent light is simply better than florescent light, and any improvements made to its efficiency are good things, to complain about this is asinine.
When I was a kid and [regular tube] fluorescent bulbs burnt out in our house, my dad and I would smash them in the garage so they could fit into the garbage can. And I turned out TV.
Seriously though, everyone suddenly being up in arms over a bit of mercury in CFLs is absurd. We've had fluorescent bulbs for DECADES. Now that they're miniaturized they're more dangerous?
I should point out that my dad was no idiot, and would break the bulbs in a garbage bag, with the garage door open for ventilation, and move away from it right after breaking. Because he knew 25 years ago that mercury was bad if it got into your system. But he never called hazmat on our garage.
When it comes to lamps I am quite a bit more flexible with crazy artistic designs.
I myself started to put the pieces together for my own homebrew techpunk lamp, but that project got sidelined when another extremely cool lamp came my way that gave me that effect with minimal modification and a cool bulb from Spencer's Gifts of all places.
I absolutely LOVE the three bulb designs.
It's where I originally intended to go with my own design and it's done really well here.
I've recently come to the conclusion that every man-cave should have at least one really cool and unusual lamp.
07/16/09
07/16/09
07/16/09
07/16/09
07/16/09
07/15/09
07/16/09
Very little normally, but it's one of the problems with room lighting bulbs - they can make them very bright, but they heat up, dramatically shortening the life of the LED. That's why most lightbulb replacements have cooling fins (well, that and the power adapter built in!)
07/15/09
07/15/09
I don't know how useful liquid cooling is. It will delay the bulb from heating up, as the liquid absorbs the heat, but you're still producing the same heat and eventually it will be hot. In a 4W bulb it may not be relevant in the time the bulb is on, but scale up to a 12W or 20W and it's going to get hot, and stay hot when you turn it off, unless you add radiator fins like every other LED bulb already has.
07/15/09
Though daylight white is kind of bluey and weak, I suppose it would work great as a bedside light in the morning (blue lights are better at waking you up)
Is it the water than aids with the natural colours or does the water just mean you can unscrew a cool light bulb straight away (their example)
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
Wow! I didn't even see the water in the pictures, but the video really shows that it's a lightbulb with water in it. That's insane! ...and wicked cool! Not to mention ultimate money savers. I can't wait to get my hand on some of these.
07/08/09
07/08/09
07/08/09
Mistype. 10 times longer than an incandescent? These last 3 times longer=more buying bulbs, more making bulbs, less consumer/environment friendly.
If you complain about CFL warmup time, light output, or color temperature, you're buying the wrong CFLs. They come in ones that warm up instantly, same color temp as incandescent, and put out as much light, if not more, as you can put a higher wattage (equivelant) CFL in the same fixture.
07/08/09
Can you please post a link to said correct CFLs?
I don't mean to be a jerk, but I've tried most every brand and model of CFL and read lots of reviews looking for an incand. replacement, and it's just not in the stars.
I finally settled on Halogena, which has a modicum of energy savings and better light than an incandescent (IMO, of course).
CFLs do last a very long time, though. I have a few in my house that were installed by the previous homeowners when they remodeled -- in 2002.
07/08/09
07/08/09
07/08/09
07/08/09
07/08/09
07/08/09
Seriously though, everyone suddenly being up in arms over a bit of mercury in CFLs is absurd. We've had fluorescent bulbs for DECADES. Now that they're miniaturized they're more dangerous?
I should point out that my dad was no idiot, and would break the bulbs in a garbage bag, with the garage door open for ventilation, and move away from it right after breaking. Because he knew 25 years ago that mercury was bad if it got into your system. But he never called hazmat on our garage.
07/08/09
07/08/09
"If mercury is such a pain in the ass"
you mean Freddie Mercury?
02/20/09
I myself started to put the pieces together for my own homebrew techpunk lamp, but that project got sidelined when another extremely cool lamp came my way that gave me that effect with minimal modification and a cool bulb from Spencer's Gifts of all places.
I absolutely LOVE the three bulb designs.
It's where I originally intended to go with my own design and it's done really well here.
I've recently come to the conclusion that every man-cave should have at least one really cool and unusual lamp.
(whether it's a major award or not.)