LED lighting undermines visual performance unless supplemented by wider spectra

Re:LED lighting undermines visual performance unless supplem... by Rebelgecko on Monday January 26, 2026 @01:57PM (#46769958)

tl;dr: Just buy Philips UltraEfficient (I think these are roughly equivalent to the infamous "Dubai Bulbs"[1]) or Ultra Definition bulbs. They cost a little bit more but will probably pay for themselves over the years.

Buy name brands with a history of putting out decent bulbs instead of the Amazon alphabetsoup brands that won't be around in 5 years (although TBF some of my cheap BogAo bulbs are still going strong after 8 years). You can get a good feel for the light's "quality" by looking at the CRI and color temperature.

For CRI, anything 90+ is good.

For temperature, IMO around 3000k is the sweet spot. go higher if you want sterile operating room vibes or lower if you want super yellow/orange cozy hobbit hole vibes.

[1]: https://hackaday.com/2021/01/17/leds-from-dubai-the-royal-li...

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Re:LED lighting undermines visual performance unless supplem... by kelnos on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @07:57PM (#46789563)

Heh, funny how personal preference differs. I find 3000K to be just slightly too harsh on my eyes, and prefer 2700K for everywhere except perhaps the bathroom mirror lights.

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Re:LED lighting undermines visual performance unless supplem... by Rebelgecko on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @02:43PM (#46800544)

2700-3000 are honestly both fine by me. I just feel bad for people who go to Amazon, search "light bulb" and buy some random sponsored result that's 5000K

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Re:LED lighting undermines visual performance unless supplem... by quickthrowman on Thursday January 29, 2026 @07:35AM (#46809337)

If you buy dimmable lamps, Philips makes some variable color temp lamps that go down to 2200K from 2700K as you dim them. Very nice effect.

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