Today we have decided to show people the top 5 reasons to avoid cheap LED lights.

We took some pictures of the products as an example so you can actually see what we talk about rather than using your imagination.

Our Test Samples - Brightgreen DR700 (left) CREE MT-G (middle) eBay MR16 (right)

Our 3 test samples above include the DR700 from Brightgreen, an MR16 with CREE MT-G chip and a 10W MR16 which we got from a high feedback eBay seller.

DR700 10.5W 720lm- $69

CREE MT-G 10W 720lm – $58.50

eBay 10W MR16 860-920lm – ~$25

Here are the results….

CREE MT-G, we found has a very nice warm white colour (3000K) and quite a nice wide beam and was VERY bright as well.

The DR700 also has a very bright output and nice consistent beam and colour, but wasn’t as warm as the MT-G, but the bonus of the DR700 was that it is 100% compatible with existing dimmers and transformers, which ultimately wins.

The eBay globe, was…. well…. unimpressive. Whilst it was bright, the colour and light quality was very poor and the narrow beam was only useful if we had 4m height ceilings and you wanted to look like the green goblin (which the low CRI allowed)

Top 5 Reasons to Avoid CHEAP LED Lighting:

1. Low colour rendering index. (IE. it makes your skin look green and other objects off colour)

2. Colour Temperature is usually far from perfect. In this case we opted for a warm white, which turned out to be yellow.

3. Narrow beam angles to make it look brighter. The 10W MR16 globe was in fact stated as a 60 degree beam. In my opinion this was more like 20.

4. Size of the globe, the eBay globe didn’t actually fit into any of the downlight fittings we had except those which were fixed and did not have a heat hood. This may not always be the case, but be careful about the size.

5. Build of globe… when we first received the eBay globe, the lens and metal ring holding the lens in literally just fell off. This doesn’t show that the globes are really “safe” to use, so chances are the electronics inside are not very good.

This article is in no way having a go at any manufacturer or retailer, but rather just trying to show the facts as to why it is important to buy quality.