1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:04,612 I have something like five video topics that  have half-baked sorta-started scripts 2 00:00:04,612 --> 00:00:06,388 and it’s driving me up the wall a little bit 3 00:00:06,388 --> 00:00:10,167 so here’s a hastily thrown-together script brought to you by a disappointing tript to home depot, 4 00:00:10,167 --> 00:00:11,320 he quipped. 5 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:16,975 Philips, and this is not sponsored in any way which will become increasingly clear as I get more and more upset with them, 6 00:00:16,975 --> 00:00:21,504 makes what is to me the holy grail of dimmable LED light bulb. 7 00:00:21,504 --> 00:00:25,536 They call the feature I’ve grown to love the “Warm Glow effect” 8 00:00:25,536 --> 00:00:33,529 and the idea is that these can rather faithfully mimic the shifting color temperature of an incandescent light bulb as it’s dimmed. 9 00:00:33,529 --> 00:00:35,072 Here, take a look; 10 00:00:35,072 --> 00:00:36,676 Dimmer, warmer! 11 00:00:36,676 --> 00:00:38,517 Brighter, less warm. 12 00:00:38,517 --> 00:00:40,104 Kinda dim, kinda warm. 13 00:00:40,104 --> 00:00:42,306 Really dim, really warm. 14 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:49,260 I know I’m old fashioned, but this is exactly  the sort of thing I want my light bulbs to do.   15 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:52,794 See, back when hot glowy wires were the norm, 16 00:00:52,794 --> 00:00:59,213 a dimmer switch would cause the light output of a tungsten lamp to shift downward from its 2700 kelvin 17 00:00:59,213 --> 00:01:03,186 (or maybe 3000 kelvin in the case of halogen) color temperature 18 00:01:03,186 --> 00:01:07,120 into a progressively warmer-looking color as brightness was reduced. 19 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,253 This happened because the filament was  in fact getting cooler, 20 00:01:11,253 --> 00:01:18,137 and yes the fact that we describe cooler literal temperatures as  warmer color temperatures does rile some folks up a bit 21 00:01:18,137 --> 00:01:20,987 but language doesn’t have to be scientifically precise. 22 00:01:20,987 --> 00:01:22,614 Except, of course, when I say it does. 23 00:01:23,150 --> 00:01:28,110 Anyway, in an incandescent lamp, the apparent  color temperature is a result of the filament’s   24 00:01:28,110 --> 00:01:35,074 literal, actual temperature because the fantastically hot  filament is essentially a blackbody radiator. 25 00:01:35,074 --> 00:01:43,094 We call this a 2700K color temp because that filament  is 2700 kelvins hot, 26 00:01:43,094 --> 00:01:45,550 or 2462 Celsius hot, 27 00:01:45,550 --> 00:01:48,296 or 4400 Fahrenhot. 28 00:01:48,296 --> 00:01:51,826 When you run one on a dimmer  switch and limit the power going to the lamp, 29 00:01:51,826 --> 00:01:58,224 the filament gets less hot, resulting in not only  less light but also warmer-looking light. 30 00:01:58,224 --> 00:02:03,547 Because again, the color temperature is a function of the  filament’s actual temperature. 31 00:02:03,547 --> 00:02:08,790 At very low light levels, the color is almost an amber, not far  off from candlelight. 32 00:02:08,790 --> 00:02:12,235 And when I want to rest my eyes in a dimly-lit environment, 33 00:02:12,235 --> 00:02:15,242 that’s exactly the sorta thing I’m looking for. 34 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,529 If you know anything about my Christmas light shenanigans, 35 00:02:18,529 --> 00:02:24,480 it probably won’t surprise you to learn that my biggest issue with LED lighting  as it was first hitting the scene was that,   36 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,556 even once we got dimming pretty-well figured out 37 00:02:27,556 --> 00:02:31,452 the dimming experience always seemed wrong to me. 38 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,856 Side-note, this isn’t a video on how dimmer switches work, 39 00:02:34,856 --> 00:02:40,081 but as a brief summary dimmer switches repeatedly chop up the AC sine wave as it goes through them 40 00:02:40,081 --> 00:02:44,421 because that’s really the only efficient way to throttle output power. 41 00:02:44,421 --> 00:02:47,726 While that approach was fine for incandescent lamps, 42 00:02:47,726 --> 00:02:53,760 when dimmable CFLs and LEDs appeared, which both  have electronic drivers to control the glowy bits, 43 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:58,738 well it required some careful circuit  design in order for these new lamps to 44 00:02:58,738 --> 00:03:02,562 A) work correctly with that gnarly chopped up power 45 00:03:02,562 --> 00:03:07,570 and B) interpret its relative choppiness as a desired brightness output. 46 00:03:07,570 --> 00:03:14,269 The fact that dimmable LED bulbs manage to work at all on this wacky power is pretty impressive if you ask me, 47 00:03:14,269 --> 00:03:22,145 although lots of older dimmer switches themselves couldn’t handle the strange load characteristics of these newfangled lamps 48 00:03:22,145 --> 00:03:26,759 and that’s why the dimmability of LEDs is still a sore spots for some folks 49 00:03:26,759 --> 00:03:30,985 as you may have needed to replace some dimmer switches if you had a flickerfest. 50 00:03:30,985 --> 00:03:33,195 If you haven’t looked into this in a long time, 51 00:03:33,195 --> 00:03:39,115 LED-compatible dimmers are pretty cheap these  days and so long as you’re comfortable swapping one out, 52 00:03:39,115 --> 00:03:43,342 I promise the energy savings are gonna  pay for that new dimmer switch pretty quick. 53 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,640 Uh, right, so even once we got dimmable  LEDs working well with dimmer switches,   54 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,440 they never looked right to me at low brightness  levels because, 55 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,732 without getting warmer like an incandescent bulb does, 56 00:03:55,732 --> 00:04:02,637 a warm-white balanced LED starts to look almost… grey when you get down below 25% brightness or so. 57 00:04:02,637 --> 00:04:10,501 It’s nice that it’s less light, but there was no way I could rewire my brain to accept that as anything but “wrong.” 58 00:04:10,501 --> 00:04:15,355 So it was a glorious day when I first laid eyes on the “Warm Glow” packaging, 59 00:04:15,355 --> 00:04:18,127 saw the little picture Philips put together and realized 60 00:04:18,127 --> 00:04:21,341 “Holy crap they’ve done it. This I’ve gotta try!” 61 00:04:21,341 --> 00:04:24,685 and I bought a couple, took ‘em home, and was hooked. 62 00:04:24,685 --> 00:04:30,096 Finally, an LED light bulb that truly looks and behaves like  an incandescent lamp, 63 00:04:30,096 --> 00:04:34,390 bringing all of the tech’s advantages with virtually none of the downsides. 64 00:04:34,390 --> 00:04:37,949 While you weren’t looking, I put a Warm Glow bulb in here. 65 00:04:37,949 --> 00:04:38,819 That’s right. 66 00:04:38,819 --> 00:04:39,735 This guy. 67 00:04:39,735 --> 00:04:40,664 Is. 68 00:04:40,664 --> 00:04:41,684 Not. 69 00:04:42,752 --> 00:04:45,020 Incandescent. That was a really smooth reveal. 70 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:47,424 That was quite some time ago. 71 00:04:47,424 --> 00:04:51,624 Philips has been making these for… gosh close to a decade now I think, 72 00:04:51,624 --> 00:04:56,935 I know for a fact I bought a bunch back in  2016 including this one right here. 73 00:04:56,935 --> 00:05:00,737 And I had a pretty good guess into how they worked - 74 00:05:00,737 --> 00:05:07,367 it seemed like there were probably two sets of diodes, perhaps balanced at 3000 kelvin and 2100 kelvin, 75 00:05:07,367 --> 00:05:12,453 and at full brightness they mixed together to make what looked like 2700 kelvin. 76 00:05:12,453 --> 00:05:17,181 Then, as the bulb dimmed, it would first lower the output of the cooler LEDs, 77 00:05:17,181 --> 00:05:22,341 gradually shifting the color temperature down, until finally only the warm set was lit. 78 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,920 It could then still get a bit dimmer  but that’s as warm as it’ll get. 79 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:32,080 Lately they started producing filament style  bulbs with the warm glow effect which reveal that,   80 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:34,911 sure enough, that’s exactly how this works. 81 00:05:34,911 --> 00:05:41,943 You can even see when the bulb isn’t lit that two of the filament sticks are a bit paler than the other two. 82 00:05:41,943 --> 00:05:47,980 In case you weren’t aware, modern white LEDs are actually not too far off from fluorescent lighting tech 83 00:05:47,980 --> 00:05:53,907 as the diodes emit blue light - or, as is increasingly common,  near-UV light - which is then converted 84 00:05:53,907 --> 00:05:58,813 by a phosphor mix sitting on top of the diodes into  other wavelengths of light. 85 00:05:58,813 --> 00:06:05,212 When that's all combined it produces a white light - at least, one  that’s good enough for our eyes, anyway.   86 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:10,080 Generally, LEDs with a warm color  temperature have a very deep yellow,   87 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,663 almost orange phosphor coating, 88 00:06:12,663 --> 00:06:18,686 and as you move up the color temperature scale the phosphors become an increasingly pale yellow. 89 00:06:18,686 --> 00:06:24,409 Take a look at one of these video lights, which have a matrix of warm white, cool white, and RGB diodes 90 00:06:24,409 --> 00:06:26,771 and it’s obvious which diodes are which. 91 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:32,044 So, as predicted, at full brightness all of the filament sticks are lit. 92 00:06:32,044 --> 00:06:39,387 And as the light is dimmed, at first only two of the filament sticks (the cooler-looking ones) start to get dimmer.   93 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:47,397 Since, as that happens, an increasingly greater proportion of the total light output is coming from the still-bright, warmer filasticks, 94 00:06:47,397 --> 00:06:50,460 the mixed light output appears progressively warmer. 95 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:52,448 At least, to a point. 96 00:06:52,448 --> 00:06:58,165 Once the cooler filasticks are completely extinguished, it can’t get any warmer but it will get dimmer. 97 00:06:58,165 --> 00:07:01,622 In fact these will just barely glow if you want them to. 98 00:07:01,622 --> 00:07:06,383 At first I thought this idea would be a poor fit for these  filament-style bulbs, 99 00:07:06,383 --> 00:07:12,175 and it does look a little weird to have only half of them doing anything at low brightness, 100 00:07:12,175 --> 00:07:18,054 but given how this style of bulb isn’t exactly easy to stare at anyway, I think it’s fine. 101 00:07:18,054 --> 00:07:25,280 And actually, once they started making these the last meaningful differences between  incandescent and LED were all but eliminated. 102 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:31,008 I have been extremely pleased with these LED  lamps since I first discovered them. 103 00:07:31,008 --> 00:07:35,934 They’ve performed excellently and flicker-free on nearly  every dimmer switch I’ve tried, 104 00:07:35,934 --> 00:07:42,560 although I have had some flickering on certain switches but it generally  happens only at very specific brightness values.   105 00:07:43,363 --> 00:07:49,888 Also, they have a great light quality to them; not exceptionally good but certainly better than average. 106 00:07:49,888 --> 00:07:54,978 And in all this time, if memory serves,  I’ve had exactly three failures: 107 00:07:54,978 --> 00:07:59,314 The worst one was a bule that just died about a year after I started using it. 108 00:07:59,314 --> 00:08:01,277 And then there's this one. 109 00:08:01,277 --> 00:08:07,910 Uh, this one seems to have some sort of wiring problem because at full brightness, it can get a little flickery. 110 00:08:07,910 --> 00:08:14,434 And I just discovered (literally just now) that at low brightness settings, it's not doing the dimming effect correctly. 111 00:08:14,434 --> 00:08:17,563 All of the filmanet sticks are working together. 112 00:08:17,563 --> 00:08:22,991 And then the other failure, I think, was just a hilarious manufacturing boo-boo. 113 00:08:22,991 --> 00:08:28,322 I have a frosted glass bulb version of this bulb and it works absolutely fine but… 114 00:08:28,322 --> 00:08:29,695 it doesn’t get warmer! 115 00:08:29,695 --> 00:08:38,311 It's just a wee bit cooler-looking than the package mate it came with so I think that one got made with all-cool filasticks. 116 00:08:38,311 --> 00:08:41,048 I’d show it to you but I can’t find it. 117 00:08:41,167 --> 00:08:41,667 Oops. 118 00:08:42,156 --> 00:08:50,490 Aside from those three failed lamps, there is literally just one other problem I’ve ever had with these and it’s, again, minor. 119 00:08:50,490 --> 00:08:52,661 But… weird. 120 00:08:52,661 --> 00:09:00,833 I have a few of these PAR20 lamps in recessed cans and all of  them handle the transition from cool to warm a little bit wrongly. 121 00:09:00,833 --> 00:09:03,471 If you start out at full brightness, they’re perfect! 122 00:09:03,471 --> 00:09:10,356 But if you dim them down to a certain point, even though it starts out mixed correctly the bulbs will slowly just… 123 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:15,384 stop outputting any light from the cool diodes and go full-warm. 124 00:09:15,384 --> 00:09:19,920 It took me a while to realize this was happening because  it occurs over a period of several seconds 125 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:25,040 and they all do it in precisely the same way - I have four of them on the same switch   126 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,016 and they behave identically. 127 00:09:27,016 --> 00:09:33,492 In fact I’ve got another pair on a different switch from a different manufacturer and yep, same exact thing. 128 00:09:33,492 --> 00:09:41,415 In fact that assured me it wasn’t the switch drifting a bit as I thought, it’s definitely a flaw in that bulb’s driver design, 129 00:09:41,415 --> 00:09:47,179 but since it’s really only a problem around a relatively narrow dimness band, I’ll give it a pass. 130 00:09:47,179 --> 00:09:50,048 It’s just… pretty weird. 131 00:09:50,048 --> 00:09:54,000 Now, I said that I’m making this video  thanks to a disappointing trip to Home Depot. 132 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:57,114 In my area, and maybe this is nationwide, I dunno, 133 00:09:57,114 --> 00:10:02,704 the different hardware stores seem to have exclusive deals with certain lighting brands. 134 00:10:02,704 --> 00:10:08,908 My Mostly Midwestern Mega Merchandise Mecca, Menards, doesn’t sell Philips bulbs at all. 135 00:10:08,908 --> 00:10:12,080 They sell mainly Sylvania - and they’re gonna come up later. 136 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:17,288 I think Lowe’s sells mainly GE bulbs from  what I remember. 137 00:10:17,288 --> 00:10:22,847 And wherever else you might find a light bulb tends to have a mishmash of whatever, really. 138 00:10:22,847 --> 00:10:30,480 Anyway, the important thing is that the Orange Store has been the place I needed to go to get these or really any Philips lighting products.   139 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:35,565 And I made a trip to the Orange Store to get a few of these for some new lamps of mine 140 00:10:35,565 --> 00:10:38,385 and there were none to be found. 141 00:10:38,385 --> 00:10:44,335 No shelf space in that entire store was devoted  to my favorite, fantastic Philips flight bulbs. 142 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,010 No matter, I have Internet. 143 00:10:47,010 --> 00:10:51,366 That was pretty fruitful but the pickin’s are getting increasingly slim. 144 00:10:51,366 --> 00:10:55,742 There are nowhere near as many varieties available as there used to be, 145 00:10:55,742 --> 00:10:58,557 and a ton of what shows up is out of stock. 146 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:03,760 Not long ago Philips was putting this tech into  pretty much any kind of lamp you could think of, 147 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,868 from your basic A19 things, to candelabra-type  bulbs, 148 00:11:07,868 --> 00:11:10,066 frosted floods and PAR lamps, 149 00:11:10,066 --> 00:11:13,437 and even GU10 halogen replacements! 150 00:11:13,437 --> 00:11:20,095 In fact, they even sold those fancy LED trim retrofits meant to go in can lights with the Warm Glow effect. 151 00:11:20,095 --> 00:11:22,276 I’ve got some of ‘em and they’re great! 152 00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:27,063 But these days? Well, they seem to be an  endangered species. 153 00:11:27,063 --> 00:11:30,409 Even Philps’ own website isn’t helping things. 154 00:11:30,409 --> 00:11:35,846 Yeah, they still have a page for  the product, but you click on the link to browse and… 155 00:11:35,846 --> 00:11:37,513 well this is useless. 156 00:11:37,513 --> 00:11:43,297 Lots of these are clearly not Warm Glow capable - anything daylight balanced surely isn’t, 157 00:11:43,297 --> 00:11:49,408 and looking through the filters on the left - yep, there’s nothing there specifically for this feature. 158 00:11:49,408 --> 00:11:52,256 So what in the heck is goin’ on? 159 00:11:52,256 --> 00:11:55,615 It can’t just be you weirdos who like daylight-balanced lighting, 160 00:11:55,615 --> 00:12:01,569 I mean plenty of soft white bulbs are still for sale and any remotely nice one will be dimmable. 161 00:12:01,569 --> 00:12:04,400 It’s pretty much just  the contractor grade stuff that isn’t these days. 162 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:06,664 Well, I don’t know. 163 00:12:06,664 --> 00:12:08,065 But I can guess! 164 00:12:08,065 --> 00:12:14,408 There is of course the whole global supply chain stuff we’re still dealing with but I don’t think that can quite explain this. 165 00:12:14,408 --> 00:12:18,151 As recently as January I ran into  a couple of Home Depot stores 166 00:12:18,151 --> 00:12:20,346 and they both had a solid selection. 167 00:12:20,346 --> 00:12:26,778 Although I’ll be honest I got inklings of trouble since I couldn’t find a ceiling fan bulb with Warm Glow 168 00:12:26,778 --> 00:12:28,694 which was why I went in there in the first place. 169 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:33,360 I feel as though since the Orange Store  had just six months ago committed a good   170 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:38,220 section of the light bulb aisle to these  bulbs that supply chain stuff is unlikely. 171 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:45,146 What I think is far more likely to be the case  is that dang smart stuff all the kids are into these days. 172 00:12:45,146 --> 00:12:47,567 I think it was an inside job. 173 00:12:47,567 --> 00:12:50,253 [whispers angrily] Hue did this! 174 00:12:50,561 --> 00:12:57,865 Philips has definitely been pushing their Hue line of smart whatevers (and plenty of non-Hue smart whatevers it seems) 175 00:12:57,865 --> 00:13:02,957 and while they coexisted in harmony with Warm Glow for quite a few years, 176 00:13:02,957 --> 00:13:08,094 I’m thinking Philips is gonna make the folks like me who are just a little bit too anal about our lighting 177 00:13:08,094 --> 00:13:11,337 invest in something like their “tunable white” bulbs. 178 00:13:11,337 --> 00:13:15,338 Actually, I can’t tell if they get any warmer than 2700K, 179 00:13:15,338 --> 00:13:20,717 so I might even need to get one of those full color  ones and get all fiddly with an app or some junk. 180 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,868 Now lest you think I’m going into  this future all kicking and screaming…   181 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,259 well I am. A little bit. 182 00:13:27,259 --> 00:13:32,542 But I actually have a lot of smart lighting stuff and have for years, 183 00:13:32,542 --> 00:13:37,924 but I am on team “smarten the switches, not the bulbs.” 184 00:13:37,924 --> 00:13:42,400 I have bought a grand total of two Smart Bulbs in my entirely life, 185 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:44,279 one of which never got used. 186 00:13:44,279 --> 00:13:50,383 You can find a really old video of mine where I went into home automation stuff back in like 2017 - 187 00:13:50,383 --> 00:13:52,240 oh actually it was December of 2016, 188 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:53,990 holy cow. 189 00:13:53,990 --> 00:13:59,417 And in it I talked about my Z-wave dimmer switches, all of which I’m still using by the way! 190 00:13:59,417 --> 00:14:06,646 Z-wave and Zigbee are two communications protocols  made specifically for home automation stuff, 191 00:14:06,646 --> 00:14:14,692 and the really neat thing about those protocols is that none  of my smart switches or sensors even know what the Internet is. 192 00:14:14,692 --> 00:14:20,820 My entire smart home has one device connected to the internet, not counting smart speakers, 193 00:14:20,820 --> 00:14:25,280 and that’s the hub which actually  processes commands and coordinates all those switches. 194 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:32,933 That’s the last I’ll speak on the... matter, though as the smart home landscape is in the process of changing, 195 00:14:32,933 --> 00:14:35,437 and hopefully to something simpler and better. 196 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:42,999 I just wish Z-wave and Zigbee were more  widely understood as the internet-optional ecosystems that they are. 197 00:14:42,999 --> 00:14:48,449 Needing a hub is actually a very good thing, especially when it comes to network security, 198 00:14:48,449 --> 00:14:50,738 but nobody ever communicated that very well. 199 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:54,678 Still, I’m not anti-smart bulb, for what it’s worth. 200 00:14:54,678 --> 00:15:00,708 Installing a light switch can be intimidating and most smart switches need a neutral wire to function, 201 00:15:00,708 --> 00:15:04,504 which many older homes didn’t run through the switch boxes. 202 00:15:04,504 --> 00:15:08,556 And indeed some rather new homes as I’ve recently discovered. 203 00:15:08,556 --> 00:15:13,282 But all I’ve ever wanted with my home automation, at least in the realm of lighting, 204 00:15:13,282 --> 00:15:16,085 is to have control over brightness. 205 00:15:16,085 --> 00:15:20,622 And since a light switch is usually in control of at least a few light sockets, 206 00:15:20,622 --> 00:15:26,465 it was MUCH cheaper for me to install smart switches than it was to buy smart bulbs. 207 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:33,120 Anyway, while I don’t care to have  control over the color of my light bulbs or anything like that 208 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:37,360 I do want them to mimic incandescent  lights as closely as possible,   209 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:42,880 and the Warm Glow bulb was an elegant - and also pretty cheap! - means to that end. 210 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:48,971 The new tunable white options are interesting… but here’s the thing. 211 00:15:48,971 --> 00:15:52,814 I never want daylight balanced lighting in my home. 212 00:15:52,814 --> 00:15:55,166 I know that lots of people find it useful, 213 00:15:55,166 --> 00:15:59,573 and I can see the value of a light bulb  which shifts the color temp throughout the day; 214 00:15:59,573 --> 00:16:03,867 being daylight balanced when the  sun’s up, and nice and warm when it’s not. 215 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,647 For me personally, though, that just doesn’t  have much value to me. 216 00:16:08,647 --> 00:16:13,178 I know not everyone has enough natural light in their home to do this but, 217 00:16:13,178 --> 00:16:16,759 I generally don’t need the lights on at all when the sun is up. 218 00:16:16,759 --> 00:16:24,948 And to be honest, on dismal overcast days I actually find the warmth of incandescent-balanced light to be soothing and cozy. 219 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:31,028 For that reason, a bulb with daylight and  soft white diodes would be half wasted on me.   220 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:37,920 I suppose if it had a super-warm set of diodes, too, and  could still do a warm-glow-like effect 221 00:16:38,323 --> 00:16:44,320 that would be neat, but once you get that complicated you  might as well just make the thing a smart bulb.   222 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,446 And that’s why I appreciate these so much. 223 00:16:47,446 --> 00:16:52,173 It’s a cheap, simple, and elegant tweak to the dimmable LED concept, 224 00:16:52,173 --> 00:16:57,680 adding that subtle but very important  effect back into a modern, efficient light bulb. 225 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:00,595 That’s all I was ever asking for, 226 00:17:00,595 --> 00:17:06,473 and dangit if we’re gonna lose this option to smarter, connected light bulbs I’ll be upset. 227 00:17:06,473 --> 00:17:09,293 And that's why I bought all these and stocked up. 228 00:17:09,293 --> 00:17:09,868 Philips, 229 00:17:09,868 --> 00:17:11,680 YOU ARE NOT TAKING THIS AWAY FROM ME 230 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:13,851 Oh, right, Sylvania. 231 00:17:13,851 --> 00:17:15,720 I said they were gonna come up. 232 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:19,705 For a short while, Sylvania was copying this idea. 233 00:17:19,705 --> 00:17:25,167 They called it “premium dimming” or something like  that; I only remember seeing them a few years ago, 234 00:17:25,167 --> 00:17:28,671 and I never bought any to compare to Philips. 235 00:17:28,671 --> 00:17:31,503 There are a few new-old-stock options out there, 236 00:17:31,503 --> 00:17:34,286 but it doesn’t look like they’re still in production. 237 00:17:34,286 --> 00:17:35,222 Again. 238 00:17:35,222 --> 00:17:36,730 Boo! 239 00:17:36,730 --> 00:17:42,400 I’d be curious to know if people just don’t understand what  this feature is or knew to look out for it. 240 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:47,392 There are enough people that just don’t care about  color temperature at all - I mean, 241 00:17:47,392 --> 00:17:51,966 if there’s one thing that offends me more than a daylight-balanced  light bulb in a bedroom, 242 00:17:51,966 --> 00:17:56,783 it’s mixed color temperatures in the same room (or worse, fixture) 243 00:17:56,783 --> 00:18:01,214 Yet there’s a ton of folks out there who truly don’t care about that. 244 00:18:01,214 --> 00:18:02,974 Maybe they can't see it. 245 00:18:02,974 --> 00:18:08,016 I dunno, I don’t know how they can look past a fixture riddled with a  hodgepodge of different color lighting in it but oh well. 246 00:18:08,016 --> 00:18:08,852 They do. 247 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:11,468 Are these light bulbs for everyone? 248 00:18:11,468 --> 00:18:16,021 No. If you don’t like warm lighting, they’re definitely not for you. 249 00:18:16,021 --> 00:18:20,560 But for those of us somewhere in  between fuddy-duddy and smart home enthusiast, 250 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:22,776 they’re great. 251 00:18:22,776 --> 00:18:26,772 Philips, if you're listening, please don’t stop production of these. 252 00:18:26,772 --> 00:18:29,828 I hope this is just a supply chain hiccup, but 253 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:32,513 I’m honestly not holding my breath. 254 00:18:32,513 --> 00:18:37,111 Whoever was first responsible for these, thank you so much for your efforts. 255 00:18:37,111 --> 00:18:40,620 I truly have never been happier with a lighting product. 256 00:18:40,620 --> 00:18:47,157 And, I’ve converted a fair share of LED skeptics by  convincing them to try a Warm Glow bulb. 257 00:18:47,157 --> 00:18:51,752 These are really so close to incandescent dimming in their behavior and appearance, 258 00:18:51,752 --> 00:18:54,320 and if that’s your jam these are your bulbs. 259 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:56,432 Anyway, that’s all. 260 00:18:56,432 --> 00:19:03,648 These bulbs have come up in the past a few times on the channel but I’ve never bothered making a video specifically about them. 261 00:19:03,648 --> 00:19:06,348 And frankly, I wasn’t planning on it. 262 00:19:06,348 --> 00:19:12,065 But now that it looks like they might be an endangered  species, well I mean I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing! 263 00:19:12,065 --> 00:19:18,436 I suppose it’s very possible that dimmer switches are just far more of a niche thing than I realized. 264 00:19:18,436 --> 00:19:21,647 Certainly I can think of plenty of environments without them. 265 00:19:21,647 --> 00:19:26,789 And, uh, now that I think about it, I imagine most rental apartments don’t offer them. 266 00:19:26,789 --> 00:19:29,001 So maybe that’s what’s going on here. 267 00:19:29,001 --> 00:19:33,280 Smart bulbs are a nice way to add dimming,  remote control, and more with little hassle. 268 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:39,079 Still, Philips was putting this tech in to such  a wide variety of products not that long ago 269 00:19:39,079 --> 00:19:42,529 that I think dimmers can’t be *that* niche, can they? 270 00:19:42,529 --> 00:19:49,080 Oh, and I didn’t even mention the really irritating thing which is that, now that I mostly have to buy these online, 271 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:54,338 I’m not getting those great time-of-sale rebates my utility offers on LED bulbs. 272 00:19:54,338 --> 00:19:57,269 It’s a good thing these have proven to be so reliable overall. 273 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:02,100 Oh and might I suggest, if you’re looking to add  some dimming in your life, 274 00:20:02,100 --> 00:20:04,727 you should look at these plug-in dimmers for lamps. 275 00:20:04,727 --> 00:20:07,694 Sure, they don’t help with any permanent lighting in your home, 276 00:20:07,694 --> 00:20:11,104 but a few lamps here and there can  make a big difference to a space. 277 00:20:11,104 --> 00:20:13,480 Plus, lots of these have smart functions! 278 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:17,257 I’ve been using a Z-wave enabled dimmer for this video. 279 00:20:17,257 --> 00:20:20,320 Usually I try to think of some sort of real ending before I c 280 00:20:21,221 --> 00:20:23,763 ♫ endangeredly smooth jazz ♫ 281 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:28,961 They call the feature… that’s the wrong box! 282 00:20:28,961 --> 00:20:30,276 You did this to yourself. 283 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:35,400 We call this a 2700K color temperature because… (laughs)   284 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,371 You gotta pick it up a little higher there, buddy! 285 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,183 That’s exactly how this happens. 286 00:20:45,183 --> 00:20:49,811 You can even see when the bulb isn’t lit… why did I say “happens?” 287 00:20:49,811 --> 00:20:51,778 That’s not what the s… that’s not what it says. 288 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,880 And in all this time, if memory serves, I’ve had exactly two failures.   289 00:20:58,000 --> 00:20:59,765 I just remembered a third one. 290 00:20:59,765 --> 00:21:04,572 And as I made a trip to the Orange Store to get a few for some new lamps of mine. 291 00:21:04,572 --> 00:21:08,325 Well… that’s not the words that are there. 292 00:21:08,539 --> 00:21:09,074 [fart sound] 293 00:21:11,138 --> 00:21:14,516 Man, I forgot to move the frame for that blooper where I bonked the lampshade. 294 00:21:14,516 --> 00:21:17,430 That's gonna haunt me forever. 295 00:21:17,430 --> 00:21:19,748 OK, well not for that long. 296 00:21:19,748 --> 00:21:22,551 But I hope this video haunts Philips execs forever! 297 00:21:22,551 --> 00:21:25,123 Unless of course they keep this product line going. 298 00:21:25,123 --> 00:21:26,218 Then I will revoke the haunt.