LEDs vs. incandescent

[Spoonman]

I see many suggestions to go with LED lights when replacing lights. In my limited experience with LED lights I find that they don't provide very good light. They are spotty and don't spread light very well. Yes, they save on amps and don't burn out, but I think I'd rather have good light quality.

What do others think?

Spoon

[eryka]

Spoon, the newer LED lights are very much improved in color quality; though pricey - you get what you pay for. Try these: LED lighting, soundproof, Sailor's Solutions Inc. or these: LED lighting, soundproof, Sailor's Solutions Inc.
Another very low power use light with pleasing color is: Alpenglow Lights

[Spoonman]

Thank you. I'll look into them.

Spoon

[RobertKWFL]

Dr. Led has a number of good bulbs and fixtures, including bulbs that can be used in traditional incandescent fixtures. Hella Marine also makes a lot of good marine fixtures. There are many other sources.

For interior lighting, I always look for "warm white" LEDs. They are harder to find and usually more expensive, but they have a much more pleasing color temperature, closer to the warm glow of an incandescent bulb and not the harsh, bluish white of many LEDs.

[donradclife]

My favorite is marinebeam.com which has a large variety of incandescent replacement bulbs which use warm white LEDs. I've used them to replace both interior and nav lights.

[Spoonman]

Wow. Thank you everyone. I hadn't realized there were so many options for replacement bulbs in the LED market. Just yesterday I pulled to nav light bulbs out and now am extra pleased to see that there are LED replacements with 2nm brightness I need for this big boat. Now that I've had these great replies, I realize that I can keep my existing fixtures as some are quite old and match the character of this old boat while simply replacing the bulbs with some LEDs. It gives me a chance to try a couple of different types, too, before I decide what to use around the whole boat.

FYI - I'm enjoying my SailNet experience!

Spoon

[nickmerc]

When looking to replace nav lights with LED's make sure the LED is USCG certified in the fixture. If not, it may be worth keeping the incandescent or upgrading to pure LED fixtures.

[mdbee]

This has been discussed many times on here. I believe you will find that the USCG does not "certify" anything. They produce guidelines that the manufacturer certifies to meet those guidelines. Since the replacement bulbs are going into another manufacturers fixture, this can be a problem if you really want to get sticky about it. (like in court) Just depends on how paranoid you are, or how careful you want to be.

I haven't researched to see if those bulbs have been "certified" or not.

My information may be faulty, so check it our yourself.

Originally Posted by nickmerc

When looking to replace nav lights with LED's make sure the LED is USCG certified in the fixture. If not, it may be worth keeping the incandescent or upgrading to pure LED fixtures.

[oceanscapt]

The Lopolight is approved for worldwide use.

Lopolight Navigation lights LED based info@lopolight.dk tel: +45 3248 5030

[negrini]

Spoon, in my previous experience I fully wired my boat with LED. It was terrible after some time as it lost the warmth of incandescent light. The spotty factor you can live with, just pointing to the right direction and providing enough points. The hard thing to live with was the temperature color. I know that nowadays LED are really improved, but as my preference, I'm wiring new boat with plenty of both, so I can save power when needed and get the charming when I desire, on selected spots in cabin.