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Comment by umvi | Hacker News Reader

LEDs last a long time. Apparently some other critical supporting component inside LED bulbs fail within 1-2 years.

Nearly every brand I've tried started flickering or dimming or failing in some way after 2 years of use despite the box touting 10+ years of life. Disappointing to say the least.

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I’ve had excellent results with Phillips LED bulbs. Been using various models for years and I don’t think a single one has failed.

Also, the IKEA ones seem fine.

Speaking of Philips, I had a compact fluorescent bulb from them last me 8 years. This was used as an open garage bulb that would usually be on all night and sometimes all day if someone didn't turn if off during the day. This was in the 90's when compact florescent were not cheap in my country but we got tired of regular incandescent bulbs blowing due to the number of hours they were being left on.

Same here. Multiple other brands have high failure rates in a short amount of time. In my case I think it is because of the poor quality mains power which suffers frequent spikes and outages during storms. Philips seems more robust to those conditions. They used to cost a good deal more but have come down to price parity with other brands.

I had the opposite experience. I have been using LED lighting for 20 years now.

Are you sure your brands are original? Be careful if you buy in places like Amazon, at prices too good to be true, because they will be Chinese clones.

Yes, I've only bought LED bulbs at brick-and-mortar stores. I've tried GE, Walmart-brand, and Costco-brand. I have not tried Phillips which others here are recommending, so I'll have to give those a try.

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