Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This bulb is an "almost" perfect replacement for a "traditional" incandescent. Price is still a bit high and dimming is not perfect, but color, instant-on, brightness, and power usage are very good. These problems are not enough that I would ding it a full star in my rating - a 4.5 stars if that was possible. More details are below. This Philips model #423798 is the 65W replacement, 730 lumens, soft white (2700K) version of their BR30 floodlight line-up. It's typically used in ceiling floodlights - alternatively with it's wider brother the BR40. The line-up of similar bulbs is: - BR30 Soft White (2700K), 730 lumens, 13w, Retail or Frustration-Free - #423798 UPC#046677421946 - BR30 Bright white (3000K) #420281 - BR30 Daylight (5000K), 730 lumens, 10w, Retail #425306 UPC#046677425302 - BR40 Soft White (2700K) 800 lumens, 14.5w, Retail #423756 UPC#046677420291 If you're decking out a whole area in flood lights, 2-packs and 4-packs of each are available. Unfortunately as of Aug 2013 Amazon's selection of other types and quantities still limited. Packaging: If you can, get the frustration-free version. The retail package is very thick plastic and is completely fused together around the bulb. My mostly-sharp knife barely made a dent in it. Two-hands-on-scissors was the only way I could get it off and even then I made a sharp mess out of it. The frustration-free is a thick cardboard box with the bulb suspended by more cardboard inside. Very easy to take out. Who needs the fancy packaging anyway? Dimensions: The bulb size is close to that of a normal bulb and it looks like they tried to make the neck part as skinny as possible for compatibility with most fixtures. I had no problems installing it in mine. Delay: When turned on from a cold state, there is very slight delay of about 1/3 of a second, during which it seems to turn on at half-brightness and then jump to full. Much better than the competing Sylvania model which can take up to a full second to come on. Once warmed up the delay is even smaller. Color: I compared the color with another soft white incandescent and found it to be virtually identical. Maybe 2800K versus 2700K, but close enough to pass. Lumens: Officially it is spec-ed at 730 which seems to be average for most incandescent 65-watts being sold today. They usually vary between 600 and 800 depending on efficiency. I have no way to objectively confirm this rating, but anecdotally it does seem a tad brighter than the 650 lumen bulb it replaced. Power: Philips claims it uses 13-watts during operation. My tests with a Kill-A-Watt device actually showed only 11-watts being pulled at 123V, so if anything it's more efficient. (UPDATE: Philips is now shipping the latest version with 10.5W written on the base, which confirms my reading) Heat: Even with it's efficiency, heat is surprisingly still a bit of a concern with these bulbs. After being on for an hour in an open BR40-rated can it was registering 123F on the face as measured using an infrared thermometer. Hot enough that you don't want to touch it immediately after it has been on, but not as bad as the burn you would get from an incandescent. Dimming: I'm using a 3-year old Lutron Maestro dimmer that is not specifically rated for CFL or LED use. If the dimmer is turned on to the lowest setting from the off position, it starts at about 25% of full brightness. It then increases smoothly up to full brightness with no color-shift, flicker, or other abnormalities. Dimming it down from full power lets me get to about 20% of full, but that's it - it will go straight to off at anything else. Useable? Yes, but it's not the gentle, romantic glow you might want from a lower setting. Longevity (Updated): I've had 6 bulbs running for several hours a day for up to 13 months with no problems. So far no early-death problems. Remember: this bulb is rated for 25,000 hours, so theoretically this one purchase could last you well over a decade. Price (Updated): The current price on Amazon is down to $20 from $30 when I initially reviewed this in Jan 2013, which is a really good deal in my opinion. By my calculations, taking the US average of 11 cents/kWh, a use of 3 hours per day, you'll break even with a $1.50 65W incandescent at about the 2.5 year mark. Not bad. Use it 8 hours a day and it'll take just under a year. Really what it comes down to is this: get it at a good price and only use it for fixtures that you know get a lot of use. That's where you'll see the most bang for the buck.