Replacing just one 50W Halogen will save you £60.00 in electricity and over £11.00 in replacement halogen bulbs

Energy Saving GU10 Catalogue

• 15,000 hour life lasting over 7 x longer than a standard halogen bulbs
• Warm White matching the colour of a standard halogen bulb
• Energy Saving Trust Recommended Products
• Class A Rated for Energy efficiency
• Lampbase: GU10

The Megaman 11W Energy saving GU10 is the runaway winner in this 50W Review. Featuring thier patented Ingenium technology (Fast starting) .Megaman Energy saving GU10's carry a reputation for being the best low energy bulbs on the market and this bulb will not disappoint. As with all of the 11W GU10's on the market they are an additional 18mm in length. This can pose a problem with some bullet fittments but in most ceiling fitments will still sit flush by pushing further back in the holder. If there is an issue they offer bulb and fitment packages to combat this. In terms of speed of turn on these bulbs turn on instantly but we would estimate at about 50% light ouput for the first 10 seconds and upto about 100%in 25 seconds. They give a nice warm light output (3000K) and replicate a 50W halogen better than any other low energy GU10. The life expectancy of these is about 15000 Hours which puts them at nearly double everything else on the market. The construction is of silver & Clear plastic and was the most solid of any in our tests. An Energy Rating of Class A and recommended in independent tests by the Energy Saving Trust mean that this is the greenest energy saving gu10. A price of only £8.98 makes it the most expensive bulb in the test but with nearly double the life of the other products and the best light output and performace. This bulb is now available with a smooth dimmable option at extra cost. Only let down by the slight additional length this would be the bulb of choice if fitment is not an issue

Pros: Light Output, Turn on time, Reliability available as a dimmable version, Energy Trust
Cons: Price, additional length
Cost: £8.98 (£12.25 Dimmable)
Savings Over the life of Bulb: £58.50

The Aurora 11W Energy saving GU10 is our number two rated bulb in this review. As with all of the 11W GU10's on the market they are an additional 18mm in length. This can pose a problem with some bullet fittments but in most ceiling fitments will still sit flush by pushing further back in the holder. In terms of speed of turn on these bulbs can only be classed as average they still turn on instantly but we would estimate at about 25% light ouput for the first 15 seconds and upto about 50%in 25 seconds. To reach a 100% can take about 60 seconds They give a very nice warm light output (2700K) and replicate the warm glow of a halogen better than other low energy GU10. Gives a slightly warmer glow than the Megaman bulb. The life expectancy of these is about 8000 Hours which is the average expected form a low energy bulb. The construction is of solid white plastic with a diffused front cover. Reliability on this bulb seems to be very good with a solid performance in consistent light output over the life of the bulb. An Energy Rating of Class B means it is one step down from the Megaman. A price of only £8.28 makes it cheaper than the Megaman version but bearing in mind it only has half the life and a few other negatives the saving of £0.70 seems negliable for a bulb that will be in the home for 10 years. This bulb is also available in a daylight version of 6400K . To sum up a good quality bulb but that does what it says on the packaging, but up against the Megaman offerings was always going to rate second best.

Pros: Warm Light out put, Price
Cons: Length, Turn on time, life
Cost: £8.28
Savings Over the life of Bulb: £31.20

The bulb we had for our test is a Lumineux version but this really covers all the non brand varients of this style. We have tried many over the last couple of years. In 3rd place we rate these non brand low energy GU10 bulbs. They are the cheapest versions on the market but for good reason. Being a full 20mm longer than a standard halogen bulbThis poses a problem with some bullet fittments but in most ceiling fitments will still sit flush by pushing further back in the holder.
In terms of speed of turn on these bulbs were by far the slowest in our test. Turning on at about 10% light output these took well over a minute to reach full power.They did give a nice warm light output (2700K) But had a very uneven beam pattern creating a lot of shadow. The life expectancy of these is about 8,000 Hours which seems a bit hopeful as they had a tendancy to get quite hot and then simply stop working during our tests. The construction is of silver and white plastic and seems to be very flimsey with a tendancy to humm during use. At best we would estimate that this give an equivelent to about a 40W halogen once up to full power Energy Rated Class B. A price of only £5.86 makes it the most cost expensive bulb in the test to purchase but factor in replacing it 3 or 4 times and it becomes the most expensive. This type of non brand cheap Far eastern bulb tends to appear on Ebay as most distributers have moved away from suppling them (us included) due to their reliability issues

Pros: Price
Cons: Turn on time, Construction, reliability, on going costs
Cost: £5.86
Savings Over the life of Bulb: £31.20 (Based on full life being reached)

LED GU10 are really not on option for the replacment of Halogen GU10's as main room lighting, so it is no suprise they came lst in our tests. AS an accent light they are a viable option but due to there nature they cannot supply sufficient light to reall be deemed as a Halogen 50W replacment. Yes they offer 50,000 hours lamp life but the fact that they offer about 15W light ouput really means they are a non starter in this field. Takinging in to account the most modern developments such as the Luxeon star LEDs these are the type that have either one or a combination of upto three LEDs and can give up to a maximum of about 20W. But even at this level the carry of light is very poor and will leave your room in shadow. As an accent light or other more specific type of bulb, LEDs can be fantastic and we believe that in 5 years or so they may provide a viable option but till then they cannot be used to replace main room lighting in respect of GU10 Halogens.

Pros: Price, Life, Colour options
Cons: Do not have the light output

The first thing to note about this low energy GU10 is that is 100% the same size as a conventional Halogen GU10 bulb. This and the Prolite version both manufactured in the same factory are the only energy saving GU10's available that are 100% like for like fitting.
In terms of speed of turn on these bulbs turn on instantly but we would estimate at about 25% light ouput for the first 10 seconds and upto about 75% in 25 seconds. Reaching a full light output with in 30-45 seconds. They give a nice warm light output (2700K) and replicate a 35W halogen very well. The life expectancy of these is about 8000 Hours which is about avery for this type of low energy bulb and from field tests this has shown to be realistic. The construction is of white plastic very sturdy and with a solid diffused front cover. An Energy Rating of B could be better but is rated our number one low energy 7W gu10 based on its solid performace, a price of only £6.38 makes it the most cost effective but most importantley its sizing.

Pros: Size, Price, Reliability
Cons: Slower start up, Class B Rated
Cost: £6.38
Savings Over the life of Bulb: £22.40

Megaman Energy saving GU10's carry a reputation of being the best low energy bulbs on the market and this bulb will not disappoint. Piped to being number one by the fact it is 9mm longer than a standard halogen bulb. This poses a problem with some bullet fittments but in most ceiling fitments will still sit flush by pushing further back in the holder.
In terms of speed of turn on these bulbs turn on instantly but we would estimate at about 50% light ouput for the first 10 seconds and upto about 100%in 25 seconds. They give a nice warm light output (300K) and replicate a 35W halogen better than any other low energy GU10. The life expectancy of these is about 15000 Hours which puts them at nearly double everything else on the market. The construction is of silver plastic and was the most solid of any in our tests. An Energy Rating of Class A and recommended in independent tests by the Energy Saving Trust mean that this is the greenest energy saving gu10. A price of only £7.59 makes it the most expensive bulb in the test but with nearly double the life of the other products and the best light output and performace we were hard pushed not to rate this number one in our survey. Only let down by the slight additional length this would be the bulb of choice if fitment is not an issue.

Pros: Class A, Energy Trust Recommended, Reliability, Gurantee, Performance, Life
Cons: Length, Price
Cost: £7.59
Savings Over the life of Bulb: £42.00

The bulb we had for our test is a Lumineux version but this really covers all the non brand varients of this style. We have tried many over the last couple of years. In 3rd place we rate these non brand low energy GU10 bulbs. They are the cheapest versions on the market but for good reason. Being a full 20mm longer than a standard halogen bulb is a bit of a problem for these 7W items as all other manufactures manage to get a 11W from the same dimensions. This poses a problem with some bullet fittments but in most ceiling fitments will still sit flush by pushing further back in the holder.
In terms of speed of turn on these bulbs were by far the slowest in our test. Turning on at about 10% light output these took well over a minute to reach full power.They did give a nice warm light output (2700K) But had a very uneven beam pattern creating a lot of shadow. The life expectancy of these is about 8,000 Hours which seems a bit hopeful as they had a tendancy to get quite hot and then simply stop working during our tests. The construction is of silver and white plastic and seems to be very flimsey with a tendancy to humm during use. Energy Rated Class B. A price of only £5.86 makes it the most cost expensive bulb in the test to purchase but factor in replacing it 3 or 4 times and it becomes the most expensive. This type of non brand cheap Far eastern bulb tends to appear on Ebay as most distributers have moved away from suppling them (us included) due to their reliability issues

Pros: Price
Cons: Turn on time, Construction, reliability, on going costs
Cost: £5.86
Savings Over the life of Bulb: £22.40

LED GU10 are really not on option for the replacment of Halogen GU10's as main room lighting, so it is no suprise they came lst in our tests. AS an accent light they are a viable option but due to there nature they cannot supply sufficient light to reall be deemed as a Halogen 35W replacment. Yes they offer 50,000 hours lamp life but the fact that they offer about 15W light ouput really means they are a non starter in this field. Takinging in to account the most modern developments such as the Luxeon star LEDs these are the type that have either one or a combination of upto three LEDs and can give up to a maximum of about 20W. But even at this level the carry of light is very poor and will leave your room in shadow. As an accent light or other more specific type of bulb, LEDs can be fantastic and we believe that in 5 years or so they may provide a viable option but till then they cannot be used to replace main room lighting in respect of GU10 Halogens.

Pros: Price, Life, Colour options
Cons: Do not have the light output