CREE LED Bulb Review of Features

In this CREE LED Bulb Review, we talk about the several cool white CREE LED light bulbs scattered throughout our home. So far, even after five years, none have burned out. And if they last as long as CREE predicts, they’ll pay for themselves at least three times over by the time they burn out. Probably already have.

We’ve used one 9.5-watt (60-watt equivalent) unit as a night light in the bathroom for over two years now. This bulb has run in that time, constantly, without failure, and cost us only $13 at Home Depot in 2013. So far, that’s approximately 17,520 hours of continuous glowing; a conventional light bulb would have required placement over 17 times!

These bulbs operate with SOME heating. But they don’t become nearly as hot to the touch as the incandescent bulbs. They run silently, without buzzing, even when dimmed. On radios, they’re also very quiet; generating no detectable interference on the most susceptible frequencies. While a bit more troublesome to clean up, when used in enclosed fixtures, dust exposure can be minimalized, preventing overheating and premature burnout. But though still somewhat pricey, CREE LED lighting is fast-becoming the sensible lighting choice for small and large homes alike. Finally, we have a light bulb that you may never have to replace again. It’s good.

Picture of a CREE LED Light Bulb, 100 Watt, the Front of its original carton. — The CREE LED 100 watt light bulb, carton front.

CREE LED Bulb Benefits, Features, Advantages, and Pros

Popular Power Sizes Available

These bulbs come in 40, 60, 75, and 100 watt incandescent equivalent outputs. Note that this rating IS NOT the amount of power that this LED bulb actually draws from the mains. Rather, it expresses the amount of incandescent lamp light output that you get with this bulb.

The CREE LED Bulb Provides Way More Light Per Watt

For the CREE 100-watt bulb, you get the same amount of light that an incandescent light bulb emits. Yet you only pay for 13 watts! The 60-watt equivalent CREE gives 60 watts of “incandescent” light, while drawing only 9.5 watts from the mains.

Cooler Operation

With so much more of the consumed power going into actually producing useful light, and less to wasteful heat, LED bulbs radiate far less heat. CREE says that their bulbs can be up to 82 percent more efficient than incandescent bulbs.

Long Life

They rate these at 25,000 hours average life expectancy.

Durable Construction

Does not break easily when dropped.

No Warm-Up Time on the CREE LED Bulb

You get full brightness almost instantly upon LED turn-on.

Near Flicker-Free Light

At full brightness, we detect no perceptible flickers, no matter the ambient room temperature. Even when dimmed to very low output values, flicker is a bit noticeable but not severe. Further, how much the bulb flickers is also a function of the quality of the light dimmer itself. If your dimmer is cheap, or produces a very choppy power waveform, you’ll get more flicker.

Full Brightness, Even in the Cold

Like incandescent lighting, but not like compact fluorescent lamps, LED bulbs operate efficiently even in very cold temperatures. You get full luminosity even when the room is freezing cold.

Less light Output Drop Over Time

As incandescent bulbs accrue more hours of operation, the internal filament evaporates over that time, and the metal deposits itself on the inside of their glass envelopes. So, by the time the bulb burns out, its light output has significantly decreased due to the darkened glass that results from these metal deposits. However, LED bulbs do not experience this source of light output reduction. They retain much more of their new-state brightness, even when they’ve neared the end of life.

The CREE LED Bulb is Dimmable

This line of CREE LED bulbs is fully compatible with standard leading-edge type dimmers, remaining silent no matter how dim you make them.

More Constant Color Rendition Index (CRI) While Dimming

Unlike incandescent bulbs, whose color output changes from bright white to light yellow, to yellow-orange, to orange, to orange-red, and finally to deep read as you dim them down from full brightness, CREE LED bulbs do not change their color output nearly as much. Even when dimmed, you still get mostly daylight (5,000 K) or room light (2,700 K). With these LEDs you get just dimmer but same-colored light. The spectral output remains nearly unchanged, no matter how much dimming is applied.

Less Radio Interference

Even during dimmed operation, since these LED devices draw less current through the dimmer, any leading-edge switching interference normally produced when dimming incandescent lamps, is way reduced with LEDs.

Less Dust Buildup

With the lower heat output of LEDs, these bulbs attract less dust and dirt, the fine dust particles that do accumulate, do not stick as much to these, as they did on incandescent bulbs.

Omni Directional Light Pattern from the CREE LED Bulb

The radiation characteristics of these LED bulbs is very much like traditional incandescent lighting. They give off light in nearly equal amounts in all directions except for directly underneath the bulb, toward the socket.

Frosted Exterior

Softens shadows and helps spread the light more evenly.

Ten Year Warranty

Picture of a CREE LED Light Bulb, 100 Watt, back of original carton. — The CREE LED Light Bulb, 100 watt equivalent, carton back. CREE LED bulb review.

CREE LED Bulb Disadvantages, Cons, Problems, Limitations

May Not Fit in EVERY Light Fixture

The abrupt taper of the heat sink

Heavier Than “Edison” Light Bulbs

Due to the internal support electronics and the rather massive finned heat sink, these bulbs can weigh up to several times as much as a traditional incandescent bulb.

Cleanup Can Get Hard

Due to the tackiness on the bulb part, dust can be harder than simply wiping off, to remove. Also, the interior portions of the heat sink fins can accumulate dirt, particularly when these bulbs are deployed in dusty locations. Too much “clogging” of these channels can spell premature bulb failure because when dirty, the sink does not as efficiently dissipate the component-damaging heat. Improved heat sinking design (wider and fewer channels) may ease bulb cleanup problems.

Don’t Toss the CREE LED Bulb Into the Trash

These bulbs, due to the electronics they contain, should be properly recycled.

Expensive to Buy

Though CREE bulbs usually pay for themselves several times over throughout their entire lives, the initial cost of over $10 per bulb still turns away many consumers. However, over the past few years, prices have fallen, with quantity deals becoming widely pushed. So, we expect the higher single-unit prices to be temporary.

Picture of an LED Lamp, 60 Watt Equivalent, Cool White 5000 K, Glowing at full brightness. — The CREE LED lamp, 60 watt equivalent, cool white 5000 K, glowing at full brightness.

Suggested Improvements for the CREE LED Bulb

Get Rid of the Heat Sink Fins

Removing dust and debris from the small heat-flow channel spaces between each fin can be grueling. Wider channels, or no channels, would allow for more complete and probably more frequent cleaning. Hopefully however, increasing LED efficiency will reduce the need for such heavy metal radiators in future generations of this product.

Remove Exterior Tackiness

This would facilitate rapid bulb wipe down.

Lower the Price

Our Rating on the CREE LED Bulb

We’re pleased that CREE has created an affordable yet highly energy efficient product. It’s now possible for the average consumer (our biggest population segment) to go green, without breaking the bank. With the decade-long warranty, sub $12 price tag per unit, and shock-resistant construction, we’ve found the CREE bulbs highly durable. Plus, given that warranty, we fear little over accidental failure due to excessive vibration.

The bulbs provide a decently full, natural-looking daylight in most situations. Or for the 2,700 K version, you get an accurate, incandescent-looking luster.

It’s great to see LEDs finally moving into mainstream lighting markets (they sure took their time getting there). We believe that CREE has done an outstanding job ushering this technology into mass consumer markets. They’ve helped convince many, by offering such a great product, that it really is worth the cost to upgrade from filament- and fluorescent-based lights to LED. They certainly seem to be right about this product. Therefore, we rate this LED light bulb line at 94 out of 100. If the price drops several more dollars per bulb, our rating will certainly rise.

References for this CREE LED Bulb Review

Revision History

2020-04-11: Added tags.
2019-03-07: Added more tags, subheadings, and keyword targeting.
2017-02-01: Updated tags list. Changed post title to: CREE LED Bulb Review.
2016-01-16: Added more appropriate tags.
2015-09-27: Added tags.
2015-07-26: Originally published.

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