Five Tips on Choosing LED Bulbs

Like any new technology for your home, there are a few things to know about LED light bulbs before you buy. Get five tips on choosing LED bulbs in this Ace Hardware video:

1. Find the Right Wattage: You’re used to looking for watts, but the brightness of LED light is now referred to as lumens. Instead of memorizing conversions, some brands make it easy for you to find the right wattage equivalent by including it right on the label.

2. Get Dimmable or 3-Way: If you’re buying a bulb for a fixture that’s dimmable or a three-way lamp that produces low, medium and high light, make sure you check the package to get the right bulb.

3. Choose the Light You Like: LED bulbs come in different color temperatures. Soft white light casts warmer light and is good for creating ambience in whole room or accent lighting. The cooler light of day light bulbs can make details more visible, so they’re good at your bath vanity and utility areas and for task or reading lamps.

4. Pick the Right Light Distribution: If the label doesn’t say “omnidirectional”, the light may cast more of a spotlight effect. While that’s OK for closets or utility areas, you want omnidirectional bulbs for your overhead lights, table lamps and floor lamps. They cast light evenly in all directions.

5. Replace in Batches: When you have a set of lights it’s convenient to replace all the bulbs at the same time, so look for multi-packs. They tend to be a better value over replacing bulbs one at a time.