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The Great LED Debate

Steve

Steve

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Joined
Jul 21, 2011
Messages
774
Location
Maldon,Essex
I'm debating converting to LED's whilst rebuilding my IJ, not for the look as I actually don't like the look of LED's, but they are 'kinder' on the machine regarding heat etc.

My last IJ had LED's and I took them out as they were too bright and put me off playing, but has LED technology moved on since then?

Does LED light now look more like conventional bulbs?

Who sells the best quality LED's? as there is a load of cheap crap out there?

have you gone over to LED's and if so how do you rate them?
 
I think the premium cointaker LEDs are pretty good and I think they can even mimick the decay (fade out) of incandescents so the on/off state isn't as harsh.
 
In my experience you've got a couple of choices for top quality LED's:

Give David a shout at Pinball-LED.co.uk, mention your from the forum and I think he does a 10% discount :)

http://www.pinball-led.co.uk/

I went with a full set of Non Ghosting Premiums for the inserts on BSD and they look great.

You can also mail The Legend about TrueLEDs, designed by Sir Squires. These look very close to incandescent bulbs (and are very high quality) if thats what your after:

http://www.pinballmania.co.uk/trueled.htm

I used a full set of these when I shopped out a STTNG last year and they looked awesome.
 
IMO Anything pre stern doesn't suit the full LED treatment. The likes of CFTBL can look good with a few choice LEDs though. Dredds mods are good
 
I don't like LEDs. You can forget the benefits of heat and electricity for a home use game, so unless you like the way they look, leave well alone.

LEDs tend to strobe, are often very bright, they glare and they just don't look the same as the bulbs these older games were designed with. Why change a great design?
 
I WILL eventually be carrying out this review between the different types of LED's - My last 6 months have been hell, however things are in a better place now :)

Watch out over the next few weeks :)
 
For me I think it depends on the game.

I think they suit my R&B but there's plenty of other tables out there that I wouldn't consider using them on.
 
I think the condition of the game makes a difference, if you are cleaning your inserts underneath and fitting a new bulb, then the brightness is fine. If your not inclined to go to that level of cleaning, then an LED will brighten up a dullened insert nicely.
 
I have the cheap superbrights from pinball heaven under all the inserts on both my pins ( anti ghosting ROM installed...thanks Paul ) and think they look awesome. I don't like LED's as GI though, I've tried a few types and go straight back to regular lamps. In the back box it depends on the position, for instance they look great behind the headlights on my Getaway and in a few other places that need highlighting but I don't like them in my shadow back box at all, too spotty.

Actually thinking about it I do have frosted green LEDs under the playfield plastics on my Getaway and it works great as the plastics are mostly green trees so it highlights that.
 
OK, I'm in the minority. I like LEDS but there again I still like fairy lights on a Christmas tree :)

Think it does make a difference depending on the game. Really like them in DM, not so keen on JY and may take them out.

Not a fan of using them on GI. Some machines are good to use them on semi-hidden roll overs. Stuck three in ID4 just for the roll over lanes at the back and the biggest difference is that you can now see them where as before they we're way too pale.

Wouldn't stick them in TAF or WH20 or in any backbox.
 
Agreed. A few choice LEDs can work on inserts, but for the GIs I don't think they look good.
 
Just my opinion but I have used LEDs on all my machine inserts (TAF included) as I think it really sharpens them up and the whites look really white(if that makes sense) but I don't like them on GI or back box. I have heard the no flix LEDs look amazing on GI but I have not tied them yet but I intend to.
Some may think they look s**t but for me i'm happy with them.
 
Amount of flicker seems to vary quite dramatically between bulb types. I tried a superbright in my backbox for GI just to see how it looked and it flickered like hell.

The #555 frosted domes i've just given a go seem much better.

Still not convinced on using them in the backbox. It's hard to tell with just a few in there. For the moment the next thing on my list is to replace the lamps under the inserts with super-brights.
 
I can detect flicker more than most and do not like playing LED' machines in anything other than daylight. In a home use machine, I am really struggling to find the benefits for LEDs over original fit bulbs.
 
Interesting comments guys, and unless I see something at the Pinball Party to change my mind, I think I'm going to stick with conventional bulbs for now.
 
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