By the time you think that your fluorescent tubes need replacing, they are long past their best! If you replaced them with new fluorescents you would be saying how bright they are!
LED lights are more efficient power wise and will probably last longer. But don't bank on it! I have been an all LED household for a few years now. I have worked in lamp manufacture so I keep records. The claimed lifetime of LED lamps has not been born out by my observation. It is shaping up that you get a little over half the claimed lifetime.
Not arguing that LED lamps are the way to go, but the reliability stakes are not as good as claimed. LED lifetimes are very sensitive to ambient temperature.Claimed lifetimes are usually made from tests on a single LED. As soon as they are placed together, the temperature goes up and the lifetime comes down! A fellow worker developed some machine ring vision luminaires using 20,000 hour guaranteed LEDs. The effective lifetime of the luminaires in service was 3000 hours before failed LEDs became a problem.
I will not be replacing my workshop fluorescents with LED versions anytime soon. I shall be waiting for a price drop and an improvement in lifetime before I change. I would guess a couple of years to wait before this happens.
Andrew.
Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 03/03/2018 14:21:54
Edited By JasonB on 03/03/2018 16:48:29