Brighten things up with GE's Energy Smart LED (pictures)

The GE Energy Smart 60W Replacement LED is one of several high efficiency, low cost lighting options that have emerged in 2014. Click through for a closer look at what it has to offer.

GE's LED puts out 800 lumens at a color temperature slightly below 2,700 K. This gives it a warm, yellowish tone.

Those specs make it a worthy replacement for a typical 60W incandescent -- yet it uses just 11 watts. That adds up to significant energy savings in the long run.

GE's LED claims a lifespan of 15,000 hours, which comes out to 13.7 years at an average of three hours of usage per day. That's less than the 25,000 hours most competitors currently promise.

GE's bulb has a CRI score of 80 out of 100, which is very typical for an LED. Colors look more or less like they should, but they definitely won't "pop" quite as much as they will under a bulb with a higher CRI.

Still, as far as colors are concerned, we liked what we saw from GE. In this shot, the white bowl doesn't look yellowed out, the wooden table looks nice and natural, and the candy still looks colorful.

Here's the hard data on that CRI score, which is really just an average of several scores, each one for a specific color. Like most LEDs, GE struggles with red, but this score is actually pretty good. Many LEDs we've tested will post red scores that don't even show up on our chart.

The GE Energy Smart 60W Replacement LED is available for sale at Walmart, Target, and Sam's Club. It'll cost you $10, the same as the Cree 60W Replacement LED and a dollar more than the Philips SlimStyle.