We have a lot of spotlights in our home. 41 in fact.
I told you it was a lot. It's not as bad as it seems though, as the 41 are split between our main living room, kitchen, master bedroom, two bathrooms and my craft room (which MOH still refers to as our study).
Most of them - thirty - are halogen spotlights, but the newer ones - just eleven - are LED spotlights and it's easy to tell the difference. Even for a novice spotlight spotter like me, and yes, you can still be a novice spotlight spotter with over forty in the house.
Halogen or LED?
Halogen
LED
See - the LED spotlights on the right, are easy to identify.
Halogen
It's likely that older (but not ancient) spotlights are halogen. When we bought our house in 2002 one of the first jobs we did was to have the whole house rewired and the spotlights fitted. At that time halogen spotlights were the thing and they've served us well.
Most of our halogen spotlights, but not all, are fitted with dimmer switches which I personally think helps their life time. Typically a halogen light would have a 2000 hour life time, and I assume this is calculated for a maximum output. I prefer a much lower level of lighting and MOH and I regularly have "discussions" about what's too bright and what's too dim, but that's a whole 'nother blog post (if I'm feeling brave enough)!
But it means we've rarely changed a bulb in all that time, and despite what MOH may tell you we don't sit in the dark.
LED
Our newer spotlights, like these from LED Hut, are LED spotlights. We have them as downlighters to our new wardrobes in our bedroom and under-cupboard downlights in our kitchen. LED spotlights are environmentally friendly and the latest form of low energy light bulbs and easily distinguishable by their almost bobbly texture. The light too is different, some people say it's more natural looking I'd describe their light as whiter. By comparison research suggests their life time can be as much as 40,000 hours which clearly makes them extremely durable and cost efficient.
So will we swap our halogens?
In reality we won't be swapping them over wholesale until we think about changing how we light a room. But if we are adding new spotlights then, as we've already done we'll look at the newer and more efficient LED spotlights, which makes a lot of sense to me. Don't you think?
Do you have spotlights, which sort do you have?
PS MOH has just told me that we have another six "star lights" to add to that total of 41, so I stand corrected. We have 47!
This is a collaborative post with LED Hut, but all opinions and words are my own.