[yetanotherloser]

I'm surprised so many people's experience of LED bulbs is short lifetime. Most of the LED bulbs I ever bought have lasted many, many years. I only had one type ever fail and those looked clearly inferior in build to all the other types. ("free" with some light fittings, not my choice). Took one of those apart, no capacitors in the design any more but dodgy wire connections that creep with the hot-cold on-off cycle in an under-ventilated fitting. So am I a statistical outlier, or are most people getting the very worst dreg-quality bulbs, or are there a lot of very enclosed fittings out there cooking the lamps?

[wccrawford]

I've got a lot of different brands of LED light bulbs and I think maybe one has "burned out" over the years. I have to wonder if maybe the power in their house is less "clean" than it should be, or if their area has a lot of power spikes or brownouts and they just don't realize it.

[yetanotherloser]

That's an interesting possibility I hadn't considered. I don't really have a handle on how robust these things innately are but I'm sure there is no room in the average bulb's bill of materials for any special handling for rough power.

[fzzt]

Recessed lighting fixtures are a common cause of problems with LEDs due to poor heat dissipation. But a lot of newer homes have recessed lighting, and in at least some parts of California, the fixtures are now required to be sealed (I guess for overall house energy efficiency).

[ChoGGi]

My friend had about ten led potlights installed (by an electrician) two years ago, must've had a bad batch as one died and another is dim.

[Dma54rhs]

Same for me. Using random cheap leds, most of them 5 years old and zero failures.