I think LEDs are fine as long as they keep the MV in service. Their ugly fixtures can go take a hike.

Like street lighting

I will agree to disagree because studies show that LED is far more efficient than any type of lamp for any purpose even street lighting. I found on reliable sources that it lasts 15 years instead of 6 and blue light from LEDs is more aligned with human night vision than High Pressure Sodium which is only aligned with our daytime version so you see how much more efficient LED is. Search up LED efficiency for more information.

I do not hate LED at all. If you do I can and will respect your opinion as long as you are mature about it. We can have a debate if you are not..

As is well known on this site, I detest L*D's, but it isn't just a blind hatred. The reasons are many and varied, but the main one is the way they are being forced on us and all other types of lighting have either been banned or soon will be. I believe in free choice; if you like L*D's and want to fit them in your own homes, then fine, go ahead and you won't get any arguments from me. But take away my choice to buy and fit what *I* want, and you will certainly hear about it, and loudly  

The other thing is street lighting. Here, we had no choice whatsoever; someone, somewhere decided that all street lighting would be L*D, like it or not. No debate, no questions, no nothing. They just came along (usually in the early hours of the morning, or some other time when there are few people about) and changed them. Street by street, all at once, whether the existing fittings were working or not. Streets full of perfectly serviceable HPS or MH, gone in an instant  

Then there is the alleged efficiency and lifespan of these things. I don't doubt there are some reasonably well made L*D fittings out there, but there are none in this area, nor in any other part of the UK that I have visited. They are simply flat panels of L*D with no optical control whatever and the light from them is simply awful, glare bombs doesn't even begin to cover it. They are terrible to drive under, and awful for pedestrians as  well, huge black spaces between the street columns.

Lifespan - some, in fact quite a few, of the ones here have failed within weeks of being fitted. The whole fixture has to then be replaced, instead of just a lamp. The materials used to make them are not "green" by any means and the disposal of the sometimes toxic materials used are a far cry from a sodium lamp or even the small amounts of mercury from an MV lamp. 15-25 years..? Don't make me laugh  

Ok, that's my view. You're entitled to yours, so please try to understand why mine is what it is.

Hugs & STUFF  

I understand your opinion on LED and I respect that. While I do prefer HID over LED for street lighting, I like LED because it is a very interesting technology. LED lasts 15 years instead of 6 and saves way more energy than any other type of lighting buy not being as pollutional because previous lights like HPS used cobrahead/decorative lights which had these refractors that spat light out everywhere not letting us see the stars because yellow/orange-ish colors were all over and you were even able to see the light source coming from an airplane window. LED is much more efficient because they come with flat lenses not spewing out lights and it displays color more accurately. HPS distorts certain colors slightly and it is harder to distinguish them because of its orange/yellow glow. LED displays colors much better because of a bluer white light. LED is also more aligned with human night-time vision, HPS is aligned with only our day-time vision. LED is also great for indoor lighting but you can choose and I respect your opinion if you do not like LED because that is fine and not a big problem.

BTW! I agree that banning lamps sucks.

@ Cooper OVX

I would be very interested to see the evidence that L*D lasts for 15 years compared to 6. See here for a lamp that's lasted a long time. The manufacturers of the L*Ds have made unsubstantiated claims about their longevity, and until they have been through life testing they just can't back those claims up. We've seen fixtures fail after a matter of weeks, plus with L*Ds you have two points of failure the L*D and the driver. With HID a magnetic ballast lasts pretty much forever.

The bluish light from L*Ds  play havoc with sleep patterns of humans and animals have their natural circadian rhythm disrupted.

You should have a look at this for light spill, and guess what the light source is.? There is zero chance of seeing the night sky in this case. As is the situation in most cities.

When it comes down to the cost of L*D versus HID, by the time you factor in the manufacturing and disposal costs, L*D is probably more expensive.

Finally you say we have a choice of what we light our home with, here in the UK that's no longer the case, it's very hard to find anything apart from L*D in the shops, we have to turn to ebay for buying incandescent lamps.

Lifespan - some, in fact quite a few, of the ones here have failed within weeks of being fitted. The whole fixture has to then be replaced, instead of just a lamp. The materials used to make them are not "green" by any means and the disposal of the sometimes toxic materials used are a far cry from a sodium lamp or even the small amounts of mercury from an MV lamp. 15-25 years..? Don't make me laugh  

Ok, that's my view. You're entitled to yours, so please try to understand why mine is what it is.

Hugs & STUFF  

I agree with you Ria, At my local costco (bulk wholesale place) They have the place littered with these weird led hi-bay things and a few weeks ago i spotted 5 dead ones. When i moved here a few months back one of them was already dead the first time i went. They replaced 4 of them The most resent time I was there but I spotted another one that was partially dead Its gonna cost way more to change a whole light out that probably weighs a lot more too then a 400w or 1000w MH lamp. Its very wasteful but in a weird way almost comical how people think cheap fixtures are more environmentally friendly.

I know that some LEDs do fail and not work well but I did not know that some LPS lamps lasted longer. I thought most LED manufactuers were being honest about longevity and efficiency of their products except for Leotek and maybe Cooper. @Mandolin I see the spillage from LEDs in your country. Are those LEDs Leotek or other bad quality lights?

Oops! Sorry for not realizing that UK had a lamp ban.

This is an interesting question to answer.
I suppose LEDs do have some uses still I don't think that they are the answer to replace all other forms of lighting.
I don't necessarily hate them what I do hate is how they are being forced upon us thereby causing the traditional forms of lighting to no longer be manufactured.
I mean really why do they need to be forced on everyone anyway?
When the average shopper goes to buy light bulbs they only care about two things energy savings and long life.
Once they see it right on the package it will be clear and they'll end up buying the LED anyway.
So go ahead and sell the LEDs but don't discontinue everything else as some of us are happy with the oldies but goodies.

I agree with you on how LED is forced on most to all people. People should have the freedom to buy what they want.

I don't hate them but they are certainly the main reason why I'm not into lighting much anymore.

I agree with you on how LED is forced on most to all people. People should have the freedom to buy what they want.

The 2008 ban on merc gear and fixture really Killed the  MV market and our window of chose is narrowing because of all these bans and cancellations partially due to leds. I also am starting to think that Lamp maker are purposely making other lamps worse to sentient people to leds as i have seen a sever drop in quality when leds came into play. I saw a ge halogen lamp that the inner capsule was knocked 30 degrees in one direction. QC needs to exist for the general public to buy lamps.

So go ahead and sell the LEDs but don't discontinue everything else as some of us are happy with the oldies but goodies.

Too late. Those that aren't already banned soon will be. The last SOX factory in the world here in Scotland closed last year and all the skillsets necessary to make them went with it. If there are any factories still making other discharge lamps, they probably won't be for long  

That's the real reason I hate L*D's, they have destroyed the rest of the lighting industry and taken away our choice to use anything else