I have a bathroom vanity light fixture with a row of exposed globe light bulbs. They had been burning up recently, and I was wondering if there are reliable CFL or LED globe bulbs available as a replacements.
I have searched for the globe lights, and so far it had been unclear whether there is a direct replacement. By which I mean a bulb with the same luminosity (which is important, as it is the only fixture in the room), and the same aesthetic quality (spherical glass globe all around).
As the question pertains to North America, it should be G25 bulb with the standard E26 Edison screw. Currently I have Feit Electric 60 Watt G25 incandescents.
If I am to switch to LED lights, options from major manufacturers seem scarce:
- GE 63013 G25 Energy Smart bulb rated at 2.3 Watts (at third party retailers it is rated as 10 Watt replacement) and producing only 95 lumens which seems very low.
- Feit Electric has G25 LED bulb which they bill as 25 Watt replacement though it is only supposed to consume 2 Watts. Its specifications state luminosity of 150 lumens and colour temperature of 3000K. At the same time they are only rated at 20000 hrs, whereas their own Decade series of incandescents last 15000 hours (regulars, however, only rated at 1500 or 4200 if 130 V bulbs used on 120 V line).
In CFL department Philips offers 9 Watt G25 bulb which is advertised to replace 40 Watt incandescent, Feit Electric has 40 and 60 Watt replacements in EcoBulb range (11, 12 W and 560, 640 lumens respectively, 2700K, 8000 hours), and GE has 47485 G25 Energy Smart (15 Watt (60 W replacement), 800 lumens).
The CFLs perform closer to the original, but why are there not more LED globe bulbs available? How do both technologies hold up in humid bathroom environment? Would more powerful LED lighting require heat sinks, and can it be detrimental in high humidity? Are there other manufacturers I could look at?
