Disclosure: I received a free box of GE Reveal 75W halogen bulbs to review. All opinions are my own based on the personal outcome of the product I have reviewed.
Good lighting in my home is pretty important to me. I feel it changes my mood and the way I feel physically. When I have dim light, I feel tired and drained, but when I have a nice well lit room, I feel energetic and seem to find many things I can do. Especially when it comes to finding something to clean. You really can see much more when you have better lighting in your home. Sometimes bad lighting can make your home appear dull and dreary, and I think that could be what our problem was. We have always had very dim lighting in this house. The landlord put in LED lights in some of the rooms and incandescent lights in others. They have always appeared to me to not be clean enough. Call me crazy, but after trying these new bulbs, my bedroom gave me a different impression.
I was lucky enough to be able to review a package of halogen bulbs from GE, and I am pretty excited to tell and show you all the difference they made.
The new GE Reveal 75w halogen bulbs are not only energy efficient, but they really do give off clean, beautiful light, as their packaging claims. I have always been a GE fan, but I have always stuck to the cheaper priced items. I did that because I honestly never thought it really mattered. I felt a light bulb was a light bulb, plus I didn't care for the fluorescent lights that you find in many stores and kitchens. I thought that many of these new bulbs were just that, fluorescent. Little did I know, there is quite a difference between a halogen bulb and a fluorescent bulb.
The GE Reveal Halogen Bulbs look very similar to the incandescent bulbs. So, in January 2014, when manufacturers will be phasing out the 60 watt and 40 watt incandescent bulbs, the transition won't be so difficult for those who have stuck to the basic incandescent bulbs. Don't let the darker appearance fool you though. These 75w bulbs are not only brighter than the incandescent bulbs, but they only use 53w. They estimate the energy cost of these bulbs to $6.38 per year! That is 28% less energy than that of a 75 watt Incandescent bulb from reveal.
I had to try out these bulbs and wanted to try them in different rooms. The first room I chose was my living room. We have a table that is near my reading chair where I will read or play on the iPad before bed many nights. The lampshade is dark, but gives me a fair amount of light to read and also displays light to some of my pictures on the wall. I wanted this to be my first "test" area for my lighting makeover.
Before: After:
This is my before and after photo for my reading table. You can click on the photo to see it larger. The lighting is very subtle. With such coloring in my living room, it is almost difficult to see the difference. As you can see the after photo is a bit brighter than the before photo. You can hardly tell that the after photo doesn't contain an incandescent bulb as the before photo does. Many people such as myself will look at the bulb and notice the darker color and assume that it will give off a tinted light, but that is surely not the case.
Just looking at the bulb brightness through the the shade shows a huge difference. The bulb that I used in the before photo was a 60 watt incandescent bulb, and the after photo is a 75 watt GE Reveal halogen bulb, but there are some differences. You can tell right off by the extra brightness that shines off the table, as well as the bulb which looks much brighter but not as blurry looking through the shade as the before photo bulb is.
My next makeover was my bedroom. I replaced the bulbs in my overhead light as well as my bedside lamp, and here, the difference is absolutely stunning!
Before: After:
Here are my before and after photos for the bedroom. I was amazed at the difference in color. In the before photo I used a 40 watt ecosmart led bulb which was extremely expensive and paid for by my landlord prior to us moving in. And in the after photo I used the 75 watt Reveal halogen bulbs. The photos say it all. The Reveal shows a much cleaner, beautiful color, where the old bulb I used made everything appear more yellow in color.
I have to admit, I will be purchasing GE Reveal 75 watt Halogen Bulbs next time I need light bulbs. The difference in lighting is absolutely amazing and the fact that it will cost me less in the long run is just another perk.
There is also a great video you can watch about lighting and the affects it can have:
GE reveal Presents: A Tastemaker Show & Tell on How Lighting Affects Their Craft
As many of us enjoy saving money, GE was nice enough to provide a few discount links for my readers to use to purchase their own GE Reveal Halogen Bulbs. You can find some links below:
· Home Depot - available through Oct 27, 2013, enter GEREVEAL at check out when you shop for GE reveal® at The Home Depot to rack up some extra savings! http://thd.co/196tlvb
· Amazon - discounts online through October 27
I also did a little snooping through my favorite coupon database and ran across the following coupons to use:
$2/1 GE Reveal Light Bulb Target printable
$1/1 GE Reveal Light Bulb (RA Video Values, Oct)
$1/1 GE Energy Smart, Reveal CFL, Energy Efficient Reveal or Energy Efficient Soft White Lighting Product, exp. 11/13/13 (SS 09/15/13)
To find out more about GE Reveal Lighting, you can visit their website at: www.gelighting.com/reveal
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