Personally, I like the 2700k more. It's a warmer light which (to me), makes the room more inviting. Not trying to knock the 3500k. I've had customers use them and like it. But it does make an area a little more hospital like.. rather than what I would think a home should feel.

The LR4 is probably going to start shipping at the end of the month. It's a great looking unit.

lightguy,

Do you have any links that show a room in both colors?

I don't. At least nothing more than Cree might have on their site.
Not that it's that much of a difference, but the warm white does have a slightly higher CRI. I think it's actually 95 now.

We put the 2700K in our kitchen, and are very happy with them. It's slightly yellower/warmer than pure white, which is what most people expect from lighting.

Lightguy, why would one use the LR4 vs. the LR6

The LR4 is more of an 'architectural' style. That means that the bulb is recessed a bit more into the trim making it less visible. It has a higher CRI than the LR6 but is also more expensive. It puts out a little less light as well.
It's also nicer to look at....

As to why someone would use it over the LR6, I would say it's mainly for the look and slightly smaller size.

In my researching the CREE LR6 light, I found a website that also sold the LR4 and its price was $250/each! Best price I found for the LR6 was $93 from "Lighting on the Net.com"

Anyone find a better price?

If I am not mistaken, the LR4 is the whole shebang (lamp, housing and reflector) and the LR6 is just the screw-in module for a standard can. It will still be cheaper to go with the LR6, but the cost of a can and reflector should be figured into the differential between the two.

Based on the lumens per watt output, these LED lights from Cree don't seem any more efficient than a common dimmable CFL. Is there any reason why I should go with these LEDs instead of CFL? The LEDs are not dimmable and cost 15 times more per bulb. I realize that the LEDs should technically last longer but CFLs have a relatively long life span (at least 3 years) too. Why would people buy these if there is no advantage? Am I missing something?

Practically speaking, most R-CFLs don't seem to live up to their lifetime rating when used in an ICAT can. I can only get about a year with most of them. If you are using a standard can with some ventilation, then 2-3 years lives are reasonable.

The Cree LED lights are a perfect match to ICATs, and seem to deliver the rated lifetimes.

The Cree bulb is dimmable- with any regular dimmer.
At 5 hours a day, that's 27.5 years. So realistically you can expect 30 years or more of life out of these.

Fluorescent numbers are way overblown. They don't last as long as claimed. And that's mainly because every time you turn a fluorescent on and off, it diminishes the life of the bulb.

This is true for LED manufacturers as well. Some claim huge lumens, only to be proven wrong. In this case though, the Department of Energy has approved of the numbers which Cree gives as their comparisons.

I'm not sure about the 15 times the cost though. I just did a quick look. But on 1000bulbs.com, a screw in dimmable compact fluorescent is $18.00. And an LR6 is not $270.00. There is one for $10.00. But again, the Cree isn't $150.00. They generally go for about $110.00 on down.

This of course is leaving out the superior color temperature and CRI. And the fact that it isn't poisonous to you or the environment.

This is a very interesting conversation. We are master electricians in Dallas, and most of the cans we install are equipped with IC floods. Now, very simply, we will install what ever our clients prefer but we have not had any requests for LEDs. We do make them aware of dimmable CFLs but again most folks seem happy with IC floods. They are cheap and easily dimmable. Obviously they are not very effecient but it still doesn't bother most folks.

As I mentioned in another posting that I started, I am planning on using the LR6 lights in my kitchen remodel. My local lighting store, which is listed as a local distributor on the Cree web site, has been discouraging me from using them because "...they are untested technology; designed by computer people, not lighting people; etc., etc." The only person who even sells the product for them sells in the commercial space. I almost feel like I am begging them to take my money (and this is not a cheap product.) They have been extremely difficult to work with; I can't even get them to agree to review my plans to help me finalize my purchase. At this point, they have probably lost my business.

I understand the need to be market-driven, especially for brick-and-mortar merchants, but it is this attitude, a general lack of familiarity with new products and technologies, and the unwillingness to help consumers who do want to go down this path that makes this forum so valuable; especially because people are so willing to share their experiences and expertise.

By the way, in response to an earlier question whether there were any pictures of the two temperatures, I did find one site; environmentallights.com that at least has a picture of two bulbs side by side. Follow the link to LED ceiling cans, then click on one of the pictures. I don't know if you can tell anything from it, but having seen both in a live environment, I think lightguy's comments are accurate.

Well, as is no surprise, I disagree with their assessment of it. I'm brick and mortar as well and do just fine with the LR6.

Now in California we're forced to find technologies like this since the state forces us to use energy efficient bulbs. Incandescent and halogens will not pass inspection for a kitchen or bathroom (without fluorescent to offset them).

The original creator of the LR6 is LLF. They specifically set out to make a usable LED bulb to be used by the masses. And the succeeded. Cree loved them so much- they bought the company. ;)

As for color temperature. At the risk of repeating, go with the warm white for your kitchen. You sacrifice nothing but get a much more relaxing feel to the room.

Women tend to favor 2700 and some men prefer 3500. Women tend to prevail in discussions about hue. That's why the 2700 outsells the 3500 2 to 1 for us.

Here is a link that might be useful: LR4 and LR6 from Cree

I saw both of these lights installed in a home and like the 2700 much better. The light is warmer and tends to be less "blue". I notices a difference in the way granite, tile, etc. looked with each color light. The 2700 kept the colors more "true", if that makes sense. The 3500 ones tended to change or "flatten" teh colors in the stone. HTH

This is my first post on the GardenWeb forums, but I've been a frequent reader. I know that I'm responding to an older post, but I'm hoping that my response might help someone else down the line who's facing the same dilemma that I was.

We remodeled our kitchen a few months ago, and I had been struggling to find lights that my wife liked and that used reasonable amounts of electricity. The kitchen has 10 six inch Halo Air-Tite recessed cans, and a hanging halogen fixture over the kitchen table.

I finally settled on the Philips Maraton dimmable CFLs in R40 size. My wife complained because they take about a minute or so to reach adequate brightness. Also, when using the dimmer, you have to be careful to let them come up to full brightness and then dim them, to extend the bulb life. Between the $12 each bulbs and the very modest Halo Air-Tite trim kits at $15 each, there's a $27 investment in each fixture, and the bulbs are not "forever".

About a month after I installed them, we had two of the bulbs drop their lenses in the same day, causing a huge mess of glass, and breaking an object on the counter. The lights were off at the time, and had been off for at least an hour. When I checked, six more of the reflector housings were loose or just on the verge of dropping. Philips refunded our money and paid for the damaged item.

We were back to square one, and I reinstalled the 65W R30 incandescents we used during construction, and I decided to look into the CREE LR6 unit in 2700K. I sampled one from an online merchant and my wife liked it. She really liked the instant on. I loved that it produced way more light than the R30, only used 12 watts, and should outlast the CFL by many times. The CRI is also much higher that the CFL bulbs. The best part is that you CANNOT tell that the light is coming from discrete LEDS. It is completely "smooth". Also, the built-in trim ring is perfectly acceptable, and actually quite substantial compared with the old trim.

After using a 10% off coupon included with the sample, the bulbs ended up costing just about $84 each, shipped, when I bought the other nine. That's not cheap, but when you take into account the high cost of the dimmable CFLs and the trims kits (particularly the better ones), it's really not that much more.

I'm so happy with them, I'm planning to replace many of the other CFL bulbs we have in 6" fixtures, many of which are over bathroom vanities, where you really want the light at full brightness right away. I would love to do our basement, as well, but we have sixteen of them down there, so I may wait until the current ones burn out or the price of the CREEs come down a bit more.

The 2700K color is very white in these bulbs. I think that there's no reason to go with a higher color temp in a residential setting.

I am looking for advice with a similar situation, except that I also will have MR16 lamps in the same kitchen, and wonder whether the 2700K or 3500K will work best. My kitchen is 28' x 15' with 11' ceilings. I plan to use 6 ea. LR6 in the center and 6 ea. MR16 recessed in the soffit over the counters. I will be using MR16 in adjacent rooms with ceiling at the soffit level, so I want to continue them into the kitchen. I have samples of both the 2700K and 3500K installed, although no MR16s, and my wife is leaning to the 3500K. However, I wonder which will look best in combination with the MR16.

Thanks,
Matthew

For those interested in color temperature...

Here is a comparison I did of different temps for my pool table light.
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For a cheap, easy way to test out both colors, put standard incandescent or 2700°K compact-fluorescent (CFL) bulbs in your kitchen, and then switch to GE Reveal incandescents (or similar blue-coated bulbs from Philips or Sylvania) or 3500°K CFLs (often labeled "bright white"). Fluorescent tubes in these colors are also available, at least in the newer T8 configuration. Try them both, and see which you like better.

In my experience, 2700°K looks better with woodgrain cabinets, and the slightly cooler/whiter 3500°K looks better with white, gray, or gray/blue cabinets and/or floor and wall tiles or paint.

You also have to consider that warmer light is much better for food. Nothing looks worse than a steak under 4000K+ lighting. That is why restaurants use warm lighting, sometime even pinkish light, where they serve the food. Oh, and funeral homes use the same lighting to make their client look good too.

Bottom line is unless you like the clinical/industrial look, go with warm white bulbs.

I prefer 3500K light to 2700K light. It makes me feel happier without that yellow overcast.

I am in the minority too, preferring the 3500k to 2700k but then again I am a male.

Tubeman, I am a female and I prefer the 3,000K to 3,500K range in the light spectrum since it makes me feel happier to be around light that is not so yellow and is brighter if the lumens are more.

A higher color temp could also give the perception that a light source is brighter than what it really is.

By the way, what color is the pool table supposed to be since it looks different in each light spectrum?

The 2700K looks the best to me.

It is always astonding me to the number of folks in my neighborhood using 5000K-6500K CFLs in their outdoor fixtures. It is amazing how bad it looks.

I just put a Cree LED in my kitchen, and I love it. It is 2700K - the same color as an incandescent light. I used an LBR30, part number LBR30A9250D, which is a 50 degree flood. Although it worked out perfectly for me, you would want to check that it fits in your light fixture (it is 4.25" wide and 5.5" long).