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5 things you need to know before buying LED bulbs

If you haven't switched to LED bulbs, now is the time. The reasons why are compelling. For starters, LED bulbs last much longer than incandescent bulbs, and they put out the same amount of light using significantly less energy. That's great for the environment, and it can save you money on your electricity bill in the long term.
 
If you're smart home-inclined, LEDs open the door to many interesting and worthwhile features, including bulbs that change colors and bulbs that sync with your security system or voice assistant of choice. Besides, several incandescent bulbs -- including the 100-watt incandescent -- are being phased out, so you'll need to make the switch eventually in any case.
 
Buying the right LED is different from buying incandescent bulbs. Before you go shopping, though, there are some things you need to know.

Lumens, not watts

Forget what you know about incandescents -- your watts are no good here.
 
When shopping for bulbs, you're probably accustomed to looking for watts as an indication of how bright the bulb will be. The brightness of LEDs, however, is determined a little differently.
 
Contrary to common belief, wattage isn't an indication of brightness, but a measurement of how much energy the bulb draws. For incandescents, there is an accepted correlation between the watts drawn and the brightness produced, but for LEDs, watts aren't a great predictor of how bright the bulb will be. (The point, after all, is that they draw less energy.)
 
For example, an LED bulb with comparable brightness to a 60W incandescent is only 8 to 12 watts.
 
But don't bother doing the math -- there isn't a uniform way to covert incandescent watts to LED watts. Instead, a different form of measurement should be used: lumens.
 
The lumen (lm) is the real measurement of brightness provided by a light bulb, and is the number you should look for when shopping for LEDs. For reference, here's a chart that shows the watt-lumen conversion for incandescents and LEDs.
 
As you can see in the chart above, an incandescent can draw up to five times as many watts for the same number of lumens. Get a sense of the brightness (in lumens) you need before heading to the store, and throw away your affinity for watts.

Choosing the right color LED

Incandescent bulbs typically put out a warm, yellowish hue, but LEDs come in a range of colors. LED bulbs are capable of displaying an impressive color range, from purple to red, to a spectrum of whites and yellows. For the home, however, you're likely looking for something similar to the light that incandescents produce.
 
The two most popular colors available for LEDs are soft white (also called warm white) and bright white (also called daylight). Not confusing at all, right?
 
Soft white and warm white will produce a yellow, candle-like glow, close to incandescents, while bulbs labeled as bright white or daylight will produce a whiter light, closer to daylight and similar to what you see in offices and retail stores.
 
If you want to get technical, the color of light on the white light spectrum is called color temperature, and it's measured on the Kelvin scale. The lower the number, the warmer (yellower) the light. Your typical, soft white incandescent is somewhere between 2,700 and 3,500K, so if that's the color you're going for, look for that range while shopping for LED bulbs. Want something daylight toned? Look for bulbs rated at 5,000K or higher.