Marinebeam LEDs

Just a thumbs up for Marinebeam. I bought some bayonet style replacement bulbs from them and decided they didn't put out enough light so I returned them and got some G4 style side mount LEDs with a bayonet adapter; much better. The bayonet adapter rotates so you can orient the LED correctly.

The nice thing is they offer a thirty day money back guarantee. I returned the bayonet bulbs and they even credited back the original shipping charges.

The only thing about the LEDs is the light is not as warm as the original incandescent bulbs. It has a very slight greenish hue that makes the interior woodwork look a little washed out. I am thinking of getting some color correction gel filter that is used for motion picture lighting to put inside the fixtures to see if that helps.

They are also coming out with a new white/red switching LED that works in a regular on/off fixture; turn the light on/off/on and it changes to red. There is a video of it on their website.

Just got an email from Marinebeam. The video on their site shows a prototype version. The production version starts in red mode when turned on. It remains red until the switch is quickly toggled off/on (within 3 sec.), then the light switches to white. So the light always comes on in red mode initially; better for night vision scenarios. Currently comes in a 15-LED cluster side-pin G4 format for $29. A smaller version is in the works...

Check out Sensibulb. They have nice warm LEDs. Good brightness too. Excellent customer service.

I did look at the SensiBulb product and Maine Sail's comparison. Being on a budget I opted for Marinebeam at $10 to $15 less per bulb. Maine Sail quotes a Practical Sailor comparison that lists the SensiBulb output at 150 and 130 lumens which is comparable to the Marinebeam bulbs I purchased at 140 and 120. Both products contain RF filter circuitry.

$10 to $15 per bulb may not sound like much, but when replacing 7 or 8 bulbs it adds up.

Also, I'm not shilling for Marinebeam; I just had a pleasant experience dealing with them. It remains to be seen how the product performs in the long term; so far I am pretty happy.