GU10 LED v 50w Halogen GU10 Bulbs. The Truth.

Right, first of all I need to point out that most lighting professionals refer to bulbs as "Lamps" but for the rest of this article we'll refer to them as bulbs as that's what they're commonly known as.

Here at The Lighting Superstore we're bombarded on what feels like a daily basis by companies who claim to have the latest and greatest replacement for the 50w Halogen GU10 light bulb. Maybe I've become a little sceptical, cynical even but I'm beginning to think that I've heard it too many times before and sadly most of them don't even live up to half of the manufacturers claims on the side of the box.

Due to the pace at which LED Lighting Technology is progressing it's a brave area to enter in to and I think it's commendable that so many manufacturers are committing such a significant investment in this 'New' Technology.

One of our aims at The Lighting Superstore is to continue to keep abreast of the latest trends and technologies in lighting

Naturally we are investing a lot of time in to our own research on the many GU10 replacements currently available.

So, what are we, as lighting professionals looking for in a GU10 Halogen replacement? We've listed the main points below and whilst most may seem obvious, during our research it's reinforced to us that it's safe to assume nothing.

In no particular order a Retrofit LED GU10 bulb has to;

• Perform as expected with a decent light output
• Have a good colour rendering
• Fit most GU10 Halogen Spot Light Fittings
• Produce a decent beam width (The most common being about 36 degrees)
• Have a good build quality and good lifespan
• Be efficient
• Ideally be dimmable
• Be cost effective and pay for itself within a reasonable time scale

Maybe we expect a lot but we are aiming to find one that ticks all 8 boxes comfortably.

We've already discovered that what's on the side of the box and in the pre-sales literature does not always fully reflect what's inside the box, so the only way to be sure is for us to ignore the box and do our own testing and reviews.

Now, we could send all the samples away to a lab for thorough scientific testing and get back all kinds of lovely data and share some pretty and colourful charts with you. This type of analysis is useful and informative but in my opinion, is totally unnecessary in this instance. What we'd like to see is how well these perform in the real world.