Why You Can Trust CNET GE 60W Equivalent Daylight LED review: The price is right for this middle-of-the-road daylight LED
With satisfyingly neutral, hot white light and more brightness than Cree, this $5 daylight LED isn't a bad pick.
- 10 years product testing experience with the CNET Home team
Among daylight LEDs, GE's 60W replacement sits in the middle of the pack. It isn't the brightest, it isn't the most efficient, and it isn't the best if you're looking for something that'll work well with dimmer switches. It isn't the worst by any of those metrics either, though, and at $5 a pop, it's about as cheap as dimmable daylight LEDs get. That makes it a solid if unspectacular choice if all you need is a quick replacement bulb that shines at a neutral white.
GE 60W Equivalent Daylight LED
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
For this roundup, I headed out to my local Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart and Target, picking up each and every dimmable 60W replacement daylight LED I could find. GE's was the heaviest, bulkiest bulb of the bunch, but also one of the cheapest, beat out only by the $4 Walmart Great Value Daylight LED.
Dimmable 60W replacement daylight LEDs
| GE 60W Equivalent Daylight LED | Walmart Great Value 60W Equivalent Daylight LED | Sylvania 60W Equivalent Daylight LED | Philips 60W Equivalent Daylight LED | Philips SlimStyle Daylight LED | Cree 4Flow Daylight LED | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lumens (measured/stated) | 711 / 900 | 709 / 800 | 738 / 800 | 738 / 800 | 670 / 800 | 625 / 815 |
| Watts | 11 | 10 | 8.5 | 9 | 10.5 | 10 |
| Efficiency (lumens per watt) | 65 | 71 | 87 | 82 | 64 | 63 |
| Yearly energy cost (3 hours of use per day) | $1.32 | $1.20 | $1.02 | $1.08 | $1.26 | $1.20 |
| Color temperature (measured/stated) | 4,575 K / 5,000 K | 4,562 K / 5,000 K | 4,781 K / 5,000 K | 4,645 K / 5,000 K | 4,758 K / 5,000 K | 4,561 K / 5,000 K |
| Dimmable range | 13.4 - 92.5% | 18.4 - 99.5% | 2.1 - 96.1% | 9.9 - 93.2 % | 13.4 - 94.9% | 5.0 - 100% |
| Dimmer switch flicker/buzz | Light | Moderate | Moderate | Very light | Light | Very light |
| Lifespan | 30,000 hours | 25,000 hours | 25,000 hours | 25,000 hours | 25,000 hours | 30,000 hours |
| Weight | 3.8 oz. | 2.9 oz. | 3.0 oz. | 2.3 oz. | 2.2 oz. | 1.9 oz. |
| Energy Star Certification | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Warranty | 10-year | 3-year | 5-year | 5-year | 3-year | 5-year |
| Price | $5 | $4 | $8 | $8 | $5 | $6 |
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The two are very, very similar, but GE might be worth the extra buck, thanks to its category-leading 10-year warranty. It also works better with dimmer switches than the Walmart bulb does -- though I still caught a slight flicker from GE when I dimmed the bulb down to minimum settings.
Those minimum settings came out to an average of 13.4 percent of the bulb's maximum brightness, which isn't a great result. Compare it with the Cree 4Flow Daylight LED, a bulb which dims all the way down to 5 percent, and flickers less than GE, too. It's a better pick if you like the lights down low.
That said, if you don't need to dim it, the GE 60W Replacement Daylight LED is a fine choice at five bucks, and a no-brainer upgrade over incandescents and fluorescents. Sometimes, good enough is exactly that -- good enough.