Econergyworld Globe 6 W E50

Econergyworld has a wide range of LED lamps in different shapes and sizes.  This one is a 6 W E50 globe-shaped bulb.  The manufacturer claims that it can produce as much light as a traditional 40 W incandescent bulb.

We tested it in an E27 fitting.  Because of the powerful LEDs it contains, this round bulb (which should spread light evenly) has a series of fins round the outside to help keep it cool.

Lighting

This is our photo lab which has a black wall and the light intensity measured in lux at different areas.  The bulb is 1.86 m back from the wall.  We couldn't compare it with a 40 W incandescent bulb (which are very rare), so we used a 60 W bulb.  The difference is striking: this 6 W LED lamp was only half as good at lighting up our lab.  In the centre of this photo, we measured just 18 lux, compared to 36 lux using the traditional bulb.  And with an angle of just 200°, the LED bulb covers a far smaller area than its traditional counterpart.



Unlike with spots, the lighting power is relatively even.  Given how dim it is though, one of these lamps won't be enough to illuminate a room by itself.  As we mention in the inset, the minimum threshold is 100-200 lux, and you'd need six to twelve of these bulbs to do that.  As a result, we recommend you reserve it for occasional use or more confined spaces like cupboards and corridors.  When you're only a metro back, it produces 75 lux.

We were very surprised by the difference between this model and the 8 W bulb from the same manufacturer.  There really isn't very much between them, and the extra cost doesn't seem at all justified to us.

Energy Consumption

Econgergyworld bills this bulb as having an energy consumption of 6 W, and we found a value that was broadly equivalent: 6.1 W.

Spectrum

The colour spectrum produced by this bulb is one of the best we've seen so far from a LED lamp.  To compare it to other bulbs, you can refer to the spectra produced by an incandescent bulb, the fluorescent tubes used in our photography lab, an entry-level compact fluorescent bulb or a full-spectrum model from Viva-Lite.  We produced these spectra using an i1 Pro sensor from X-Rite.


The ideal colour spectrum should be even, with even intensity across all of the colours in the spectrum without any peaks and troughs.  In this case, only the left of the violet area and the cyan and start of the green are left out.

Here are our technical measurements for this lamp.  The closer the CRI (colour rendering index) and the FSCI (full spectrum colour index) are to 100, the better; the colour temperature is a matter of personal taste and depends on the type of light you're looking for.  There are no good or bad values for this figure.  We have more information about these measurements in this news piece.

• CRI: 80.2
• FSCI: 61.95
• Colour Temperature: 2798 K

Other Features

This lamp is available for a wide variety of fittings (E14, E17, B22, E26 and E27).  It's also compatible with dimmer switches, and comes in a variety of colour temperatures at no extra cost.  Note that these extra features can delay your order.