Daylight or Soft White Bulbs?

1,576 Views | 13 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by outlawag
easttexasaggie04
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AG
As my conventional light bulbs go out I'm replacing them with LED's. I can't decide if I like the soft white (yellowish look) or the daylight (white) light the best. What do yall use in your house? I've gotta pick one and stick with it because I think it looks funky with different light gradients in a house.
Dandy 76
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AG
I definitely like the bright white better. I switched to CFL's several years ago and started out using the soft white bulbs, but now can't wait for them to burn out so I can switch to bright white (I'm too cheap to replace them before they burn out). Of course, now that LED's have become less costly I'm going that direction.
histag10
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AG
The Daylight LEDs I have are REALLY bright and white. Im okay with them in most areas, but they do not look good in my dining room or entry way light fixtures, which have tea stained glass type looks.
jakelew04
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AG
I bought some daylight LEDs once and hated them. I like a warmer looking light inside, especially at night. I felt like I was living an operating room with the daylight ones.
toolshed
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AG
3000K color for the win, in my opinion. 2600K is too yellow for me, and above 3000, into the 4-5,000 is to white/ blue. I like the 3000K option and use a dimmer to lower the level when desired.
Dr. Venkman
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AG
CRI is more relevant. I like the closest to an incandescent as i can get. It has a warm, home feel. A 2700K "warm" LED won't necessarily do that unless the CRI is high. Nothing will match an incandescent. 93 is as high as I've seen in an LED. Incandescent is 100.
Olag00
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AG
Daylight
SJEAg
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AG
The daylight is way too harsh for me. The operating room comparison in the earlier reply is a good way to picture it.

I agree there is a too yellow as well...there is a sweet spot. Think I usually get the "bright" white, which is in between the daylight and the soft/yellow white. And even then I had to try a few brands.
sanitariex
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AG
I'm with the above, daylights feel like having fluorescent everywhere and aren't comfortable. Great in closets, garage, etc, but I'll take 3000K all day long for indoors and landscape/outdoor.
Waterski02
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AG
Daylight or 4000k+ has its places. I strongly believe the interior of a residential building is not one of them. Most good LEDs will have a high enough CRI you won't notice the difference from Incandescent. We basically don't buy anything non led or that still requires a ballast.

Olag00
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AG
I started thinking about this more and i think it is actually the design and color scheme of the space being illuminated. We have white quartz countertops so the soft white color would make it look yellow so we went with daylight. In our media room it is a darker scheme so we went with the soft white color. I can see the soft white being used when there are more earth toned cabinets/counter color scheme. Just my 2 cents.
YellAg2004
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AG
Another vote for "bright" white (3000K). 2700 is too yellow and 5000 is too sterile.

It also drives me nuts that lights from different manufacturers all labeled as 3000K will give off different shades of light. I finally realized I had to pick a brand and stick with it in the whole house.
aezmvp
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The other thing to remember is that the brighter white generally has more blue light which will help keep you awake. You want to keep that in mind and experiment with softer in the bedroom and brighter white elsewhere.
The Fife
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toolshed said:

3000K color for the win, in my opinion. 2600K is too yellow for me, and above 3000, into the 4-5,000 is to white/ blue. I like the 3000K option and use a dimmer to lower the level when desired.
This + what Dr. Venkman said.

I tend to buy 2,700-3,000K LEDs with as high a CRI as I can get. No regrets after doing nearly the whole house.
outlawag
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AG
I have 3000K in the bedrooms and living room, 4100K in the kitchen, dining and bathrooms.

I like the brighter white for the kitchen and bath where you are doing tasks so to speak.
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