LED Edison Bulb Buying Guide

You must read this before buying any Edison Vintage LED bulb.

The most misleading information given on LED vintage bulbs is the wattage equivalent.  Every web site out there which sells LED vintage bulbs and all the manufacturers making those bulbs have this piece of information listed on their bulbs.  What they don't tell you is whether it is equivalent to Vintage Edison Incandescent bulb or a standard incandescent bulb.  There is a big difference between the two.

Here is the deal:

Vintage Edison incandescent bulbs like we sell here produce far less light (lumens) per watt.  This means that a 60-watt vintage bulb will give you about 300 lumens when a standard incandescent 60-watt bulb will give you 800 lumens.  

Do you see what I'm getting at here?

So, when you read the description of LED vintage bulbs and it states that this bulb is 60 watts equal or 40 watts equal you really don't know what are they comparing it to.  One thing I can tell you for sure is that every manufacturer or web site does it differently.  This is the reason you should only look at the lumens and know lumens equivalence.  Here at nostalgicbulbs.com, we show wattage equivalence to the standard incandescent bulbs and not Edison vintage incandescent bulbs.

Below is the wattage equivalent chart for replacing standard incandescent bulbs.   

 LED Vintage bulb color

When choosing an LED vintage bulb you now have different options on the color temperature.  This is the color of light the light bulb will emit.

This chart shows you the different color temperature range. 

 Keep in mind that the LED Vintage Edison bulbs currently are available in a range from 1800K to 3000K.  As you can see in the chart if you want your LED bulb to look like the incandescent Edison bulb you will choose a color temp of 2200K -2400K.  If you don't want the light to be as warm or yellow as the Edison bulbs then you should choose 2700K - 3000K.  

Using LED Edison bulbs in enclosed fixtures:

To use Edison LED bulbs in enclosed fixtures you need the bulb to be rated or approved for enclosed fixtures.  Many of them are not and most consumers do not know that they should be looking for a feature. Using the wrong LED bulb will unquestionably shorten the life span and increase the likelihood of premature dimming of the LED bulb.

When shopping for LED bulbs for enclosed fixtures make sure to read all the bulbs' features. If it does not state listed or approved for enclosed fixtures then it is not. View our collection of Enclosed Fixtures Approved LED Bulbs.