Finally Light challenges LED lighting with induction replacement lamp

The Finally Light Bulb Company has announced the induction-based Finally replacement lamp due this summer at a retail price below $ 8.00 for a 60W-equivalent product. The company claims that the lamp more closely mimics incandescent bulbs than do led street lighting Manufacturer or compact-fluorescent (CFL ) replacement lamps while still providing considerable energy savings and much longer life relative to legacy incandescent bulbs.
Finally Light challenges LED lighting with induction replacement lamp
Finally calls their technology Acandescence, playing off the incandescent legacy. But while the company describes the approach as new and innovative, in reality the company is simply applying well-known induction technology in a light-bulb form factor.
Induction lighting is closely related to fluorescent technology. In both cases, electrodes stimulate a gas to produce ultraviolet (UV) light. In fluorescent lighting, the electrical energy is passed via conductors into the lamp. In induction lamps, the energy is magnetically coupled to electrodes that are electrically isolated inside the lamp. In either case, phosphor is required to convert the UV photons to usable light.
Induction sources
Induction lighting has been fairly broadly used in outdoor applications and in some industrial indoor applications. Induction has been described as generating a "blob of light," as we covered in an outdoor lighting article. That characteristic has meant that induction fixtures have found some success outdoors in applications such as post-top lighting for pedestrian-centric areas and less so in, say, street lighting where precise beam control is required.
A blob of light, however, can be good match for an application such as an omnidirectional bulb. Indeed, John Goscha, founder and CEO of the Finally Light Bulb Company, asserts that the induction design is the first incandescent alternative to accurately mimic the original in performance and form factor.
Goscha claims that consumers are generally dissatisfied with both CFL and LED lamps including what has become a complex buying process. He notes that some retailers have added concierges in the lighting department to help consumers choose a bulb. Goscha added, "I do not think that you should have to rely on a concierge to buy a light bulb. "

The Finally lamp has the inherent iconic shape of the Edison lamp without question and a nice omnidirectional beam distribution. Goscha is quick, however, to also tout the warm light produced by the lamp. But in the case of the induction lamps, CCT is a design choice just as it is with LED or CFL lamps. The 60W-equivalent lamp that Finally intends to ship this summer delivers 2700K CCT based on the phosphor used to coat the inner globe of the lamp. And as with LED and CFL lamps, such design choices impact other operational aspects such as the power consumption and the CRI of the lamp.
Moreover, the initial Finally product features a CRI of 83, according to Goscha. Incandescent lamps have a CRI of 100. The initial Finally lamp is also not dimmable. Lack of such a feature is not an indictment of the product as many LED and CFL lamps are not dimmable, but of the claim that consumers can choose a Finally lamp just as they did an incandescent which is inherently dimmable. Clearly, the led street light wholesale is little different from CFL and LED products in that ultimately consumers will need to choose the features that they desire in a lamp.
Compare to LEDs
Still, the question remains as to how the Finally lamp compares to the top LED lamps on the market. The 60W-equivalent Finally lamp is most easily compared to the Cree 60W equivalent lamp. The Finally product delivers 800 lm from 14.5W. The Cree 2700K, 800-lm lamp consumes only 9.5W.
Finally was not willing to discuss the power consumption in detail. But generally induction technology lags LED in efficiency. Moreover, the induction technology requires a significant amount of red phosphor to deliver the red spectrum required for 2700K-CCT light. That red phosphor also generates energy in the infrared spectrum that is lost as heat. LEDs that use much smaller amounts of red phosphor suffer related but far lower losses. Indeed, the Cree TW (TrueWhite) model that delivers 93 CRI uses only 13.5W, still more efficient than the Finally lamp and higher CRI inherently impacts efficiency. Moreover, the Cree lamps are dimmable.