The GE Bright Stik used to be one of the most popular LED bulbs. They used to be everywhere like 10 years ago. Now you rarely see them still in use. What happened?

You don’t even see them on store shelves anymore, and I don’t think most would throw out perfectly good LED bulbs, so what happened?

Did every Bright Stik fail or something? Because I only occasionally see them in use still, but I see plenty of older technologies (CFLs, incandescents) still in service.

I thought they were good bulbs. I’m assuming a lot have failed since they seem to now be rare. Yes, I know they still make Bright Stiks but the only place you can get them now is online, and the newer ones seem to be redesigned quite a bit.

I still see plenty of other older LEDs still in use (even the 5,000 hour Utilitechs), yes I don’t see those Bright Stiks often anymore?

I didn't know they still made those. I had three in my bathroom, after several years they got a little noisy for some reason and eventually they failed. I haven't seen this happen to other LEDs so it could have been a bright-stik specific failure, or maybe not. Maybe they all failed by now, not sure. It is definitely an interesting design, I wonder why they still make them.

The Bright Stik (LED) was GE’s attempt at an economy product to compete with the Philips “Basic Bulbs” and others at the time sold in multipacks. Given how it wasn’t dimmable and had a shorter lifespan they were marketed towards consumers who were directly transitioning from CFLs. It seems production stopped around ~2019.

Due to their non-standard appearance and the cost of snowcones coming down, there wasn’t much sense in continuing production.

I recently explored the former Toll Brothers headquarters near me, which had these in nearly every fixture that could accommodate them.

They felt... cheap. Most had cracked and yellowed bases (I found two in a walk-in refrigerator that were completely toast), and the ones in a bathroom vanity fixture weren't much better. I wanted to snag one (considering their "nostalgia" and not finding them in the wild anywhere else up until that point)... but decided otherwise because of their evidently cheap construction.

It seems that they are indeed all failing now. It seems that they indeed had a shorter life than advertised.

Guessing because of how small the bulbs were, heat didn't dissipate very well. Older GE LEDs are mostly good bulbs, but I guess the Bright Stiks weren’t so good. I still see the regular snow cone GE’s still in use. GE still makes decent snow cone lamps if you don’t put them in enclosed fixtures. The newer ones aren’t nearly as good as the older ones and are more prone to premature failures. Referring to the 13-year lamps, the Basic lamps were junk and those failed constantly. GE’s glass lamps also aren’t good and they never were (the older SMD style ones were notorious for dimming over time, and eventually turning a dim purple glow), and the newer ones with true LED filaments are prone to usual failures (not working, flickering, or going dim).

GE wasn’t quite as good as Philips but they were still good bulbs. Most older LED bulbs were good quality (with an exception for Lights of America, first Gen Crees, and the cheap COB lamps from Amazon), which all were questionable quality. Even Feit used to be good but during the late 2010s thr beyond, Feit went very downhill and now Feit bulbs are no better than EcoSmart or Great Value.

Sylvania’s older LEDs were decent quality. Not sure about the newer ones.

I do recall seeing some GE Bright Sticks used in driveway lanterns at people's houses in the past, with some being VERY dim which is a testament on how cheap they were. I'm not sure why they would choose those particular lamps for that application but they were pretty common, at least around here, a few years ago. I do not know of any more that are still being used though. I'll have to pay more attention driving around now to see if there's any still hanging on just out of curiosity. I kinda forgot about them until now.

The Bright Stik (LED) was GE’s attempt at an economy product to compete with the Philips “Basic Bulbs” and others at the time sold in multipacks. Given how it wasn’t dimmable and had a shorter lifespan they were marketed towards consumers who were directly transitioning from CFLs. It seems production stopped around ~2019.

Due to their non-standard appearance and the cost of snowcones coming down, there wasn’t much sense in continuing production.

My grandparents have 'em at their house in MN!