Ecobulb MR16 CFL

[reedbr]

I've been playing with LED's on the boat and CFL's at home for several years.  Overall, things are getting better as far as options and performance.  The first SuperBright LED's MR-16 replacements for my MkII eyeball lights were really poor.  They only drew a 1/4 watt, but the dim blue light was only borderline useful. Two years ago I picked up a DrLED 1 watt bulb that had a nice warm white color and reasonable brightness.  I was impressed, but the price was $30/each.  There is a 3 watt DrLED version I have found since then, but I haven't tried it yet.  The trouble is, it is hard to beat the overall light provided by the 20 watt stock halogen lamps supplied by Catalina (in a 10 watt fixture I might add).

Recently while at Home Depot, I saw a compact fluorescent MR16 mount bulb for less than $10.  This was an unusual sighting.  The manufacturer is FEIT Electric and it is called an "ecobulb".  The package said "replaces up to 50 watts, uses only 5 watts, 12 volts".  I didn't get my hopes up, but it was worth $10 as an experiment.   I just tried it last weekend.  Here is the product on Amazon's site:

http://www.amazon.com/ECObulb-MR-16-Track-Light-BPESLEXN/dp/B001ACVJIE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1254248405&sr=8-1

It isn't perfect, but it is pretty good.  Like most CFL's, this one takes 60 seconds to really warm up and provide full output.  The initial output isn't bad though.  The light color is listed at 3500K, but it matched the stock halogen I had running on the opposite side of the same cabin.  Before I had one halogen and one low draw replacement in each cabin, giving me (well, my crew) the option of reading light (halogen) or just a find your bag/way light (LED's).  You can definitely read by this CFL.  With the combination of price and performance, I think I'll swap all forward and aft cabin lights for these, and half the eyeballs in the main salon.  I'll keep one or two key halogens, but that is it.  5 watts isn't nearly as low-draw as the LED's either, but it is significantly less than 20 watts, and it adds up if you are running 2 or 3 at a time. 

I just thought I would pass the product and a mini-review along in case anybody else wants to try.  If you do, post your own opinion here. 

[Stu Jackson]

Brain, thanks for that great report.  For those interested in thsi subject, there was an earlier comprehensive topic posted earlier this year, see reply #4 here: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3736.0.html