Why You Can Trust CNET EcoSmart 40W Equivalent Candelabra LED review: This imperfect candelabra LED gets enough right to earn our approval
This EcoSmart candelabra LED is cheaper -- and better -- than most of the competition.
- 10 years product testing experience with the CNET Home team
The EcoSmart 40W Equivalent Candelabra LED.
You'll find a variety of candelabra LEDs in the lighting aisle. But while they're all more efficient than incandescents and fluorescents, most of them aren't good enough -- or affordable enough -- for us to recommend.
EcoSmart 40W Equivalent Candelabra LED
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
However, this 40W equivalent from EcoSmart comes close. At $7 per bulb, it ties with Cree as the cheapest dimmable candelabra LED we tested. It was also one of the top performers in those tests, offering plenty of brightness, strong efficiency scores, and the steadiest heat management we could find from a candelabra LED.
The best move, though, might be to wait another year before replacing your halogens, fluorescents and even incandescents. Candelabra LED pricing hasn't come down as quickly as standard LED pricing has, and none of the bulbs we tested -- EcoSmart included -- had a perfect dimming performance.
I'm also not a fan of the way this bulb's heat sink blocks it from casting light downward, which is where you'll probably need it the most. The EcoSmart bulb is a worthwhile choice at this point, but your options seem bound to improve if you can wait for a better performer to come along.
EcoSmart's candelabra bulb makes no bones about the fact that it's an LED. Like just about every bulb in the category the bottom third or so is obscured by the white plastic heat sink. Right off the bat, that makes these bulbs look a little clunkier than the incandescents they're trying to replace. That's a problem, since these are decorative bulbs typically used in exposed, uncovered fixtures.
There's a bigger problem with this bulb's heat sink, though. It blocks some of the downward light. EcoSmart could have accounted for this with glass that bulges out beyond the heat sink (the other EcoSmart bulb we tested, a vintage-style filament LED, does exactly that). Instead, this bulb goes with a flush, torpedo-shaped build atop a particularly wide heat sink. Bad call.
From left to right, the EcoSmart LED, the EcoSmart "Vintage-Style" LED, and a GE Reveal incandescent. EcoSmart's standard bulb doesn't bulge out beyond the heat sink base, so it doesn't cast as much downward light.
Still, EcoSmart did a decent enough job of mimicking candlelight thanks to a clear spindle diffuser in the center of the bulb. That spindle is a flat-topped cylinder with a concave groove on top that funnels downward. It reflects the light up and in, creating the illusion of a pointy, flame-like tip of light towards the top of the bulb. It's a pretty neat trick.
Another neat thing: this bulb finished in first place in our thermal management test, where we check to see how much heat build-up affects light output. The EcoSmart bulb hit a nice, flat steady state at well over ninety percent of its initial brightness -- a very, very good result, and one that indicates that the bulb might be a good pick for enclosed fixtures where heat tends to build up.
The EcoSmart LED (red) nailed this test, managing heat better than any other bulb we measured.
At its steady state, we measured that the EcoSmart LED was putting out 388 lumens, well above the stated 325 lumens. At a 5W power draw, it's putting out about 78 lumens per watt -- an above average result in this category, if just slightly. By the way, the top finisher here? That vintage-style EcoSmart bulb. It put out an impressive 482 lumens from a 4.5W power draw, good for more than 100 lumens per watt. It costs a few bucks more than the standard EcoSmart LED, but it might be worth a look.
One final consideration is dimmability, and this is where EcoSmart's standard candelabra LED earns a few extra points. It dimmed down below 1 percent brightness on a majority of our test switches, though we did catch it flickering a little bit as we dialed the light up and down. A good result, but not a perfect one.
But none of these candelabra LEDs are perfect. Most of them are far from it. As I said back at the beginning, this is a category that has a lot of catching up to do in terms of both value and performance. Waiting for that to happen before buying in probably makes sense, even if it means sticking with halogens, fluorescents, or incandescents for a little while longer.
For more on candelabra LEDs, check out our full category overview.