Product Review - ***** Sensibulb *****

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M

Maine Sail

Hi All,

First, I know sailors are a cheap lot and I can be too but...

Those of you who know me know that I will only tout or support a product that I have; #1 put through the paces, and #2 feel works and actually lives up to and goes beyond my expectations and the companies claims.

It's actually quite rare that I come across these products in the marine industry.

For a long while I have been experimenting with interior LED lights. Basically, they suck, and I've tried many, many bulbs from many, many manufacturers such as Super-Brite LED and others including some eBay junk.

A few years ago I purchased one Sensibulb. My initial thought was "holy crap these are expensive" but once I got it installed my entire thought process changed! that original bulb had six LED's in it. The folks at SS/SCAD have since pushed the envelope and the new bulb has only two LED's but is considerably brighter than my original with six. The warm incandescent color though has not changed and these bulbs are a pleasure!

In short these bulbs ROCK!! They are the ONLY LED bulb that has a color spectrum that compares to an incandescent. They are also brighter than my 10W halogen bulbs that are/were in my ABI lighting fixtures.

Every time I'd install a "cheap" LED bulb my wife would complain / bemoan that she couldn't read, hated the color and it was like a spot light, no beam width etc. so I'd switch back to halogens.

To make a long story short I ponied up and bought a bunch of Sensibulbs and WOW! I can run FIVE Sensibulb lights and not even break 1 AH of draw per HOUR!

In contrast five of my ABI overhead lights, running 20 Watts of halogens, was burning close to 10 amps per hour!!!!! My wife and I are big readers and often run cabin lights from 8:00 p.m. until late. Five of my ABI's running for five hours was burning almost 50 amp hours of my battery bank. I now burn five amp hours for the SAME amount of light output!

My wife never noticed the change over from Halogen to SensiBulb and fortunately never saw the credit card bill!

Alternator upgrades and battery bank upgrades are far more costly than a few Sensibulbs! think about upgrading your bulbs first as they can be a BIG draw!


I honestly can't speak highly enough of this technology and Sensibulbs. NO ONE else has it and Sailor's Solutions/SCAD developed it. Yes they are pricey at $39.95 each but sooooo worth every penny!

I have NO stake or interest in this company other than to help out fellow boaters!

Sailor's Solutions
http://www.sailorssolutions.com/
 

John

.
Jun 3, 2006
803
Catalina 36mkII Alameda CA
How?

Pardon my ignorance, but do you simply replace the incandescent bulb with the LED or do you need an entirely new fixture?
 
May 24, 2007
49
Catalina 350 Herrington Harbor
Another source, plus anchor light?

Good stuff.

I've been playing around with LED cabin lights and have found that the light output is usually much lower than claimed. I had some luck with the marinebeam.com 6-LED SMD Power Cluster which is quite solid and nearly equals the output of a 10 watt halogen. They are also very helpful folks.

Maine, have you found any good LED anchor light bulbs? I think that my C350 takes a BA15S. Considering that the anchor light can burn for 10 hrs, a 90% drop in current draw would be very helpful.

Gary
Even Keel II
 
M

Maine Sail

John..

Depending on your fixture they have adapters to fit many bases. They took me all of about 20 seconds to install into the socket. Nick will help you he's a great guy!
 
May 24, 2007
49
Catalina 350 Herrington Harbor
Model# of anchor light?

Oreana:

I couldn't seem to find 360 degree bulbs at SuperBright. What models have you used?

Thanx
Gary
 
M

Maine Sail

Oceana please let us...

Know the model number of the bulb that works as well as a Sensibulb from Super-brite LED and for less money.

I've ordered a fair number of bulbs from Super-Brite and NONE have worked anywhere near as well as the Sensibulb.
 
M

Maine Sail

Great deal for SBO members!!!

Hi Guys,

I spoke with Nick one of the owners of Sailors Solutions, and a great guy, this morning and I asked him if he would extend a 10% discount to members who read this thread and mentioned it when purchasing a Sensibulb.

So all you need to do is mention you read about Sensibulbs on Sailboat Owners.com and Nick will give you 10% off. Instead of $39.99 they will be $35.99. Better than nothing..!

BTW he ships USPS priority and it's very reasonable. When I ordered mine they were about $4.00 and change to ship..
 

jviss

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Feb 5, 2004
7,090
Tartan 3800 20 Westport, MA
Thanks again!

That's a good price, $2.00 less than Defender. How much for the bayonet adapters?

jv
 
M

Maine Sail

Nick said he'd..

Give 10% off your order so I guess bayonet sockets would count..
 

Jim

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May 21, 2007
775
Catalina 36 MK II NJ
Looks wierd....

where does the light come out. You have to be on the hook a lot for these to pay off.
 

Bob S

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Sep 27, 2007
1,813
Beneteau 393 New Bedford, MA
LED's

I bought my first boat last fall. Not knowing anything at all about electrical systems or what I had in my new boat, I began exploring and quickly realized with help from this forum and people like Stu (thank you) that my boat had 2 new 65 AH batteries and I planned on being on a mooring. As Stu put it "I'd be sorely disappointed unless I upgraded my house bank". A new house bank wasn't in my budget. Meanwhile I figured by changing all the light over to LED's and run my engine frequently I might be able to survive this season. I found this link to an LED source from this forum. I've been very happy with the color and output. I can't compare it with the sensibulb but the prices are very reasonable. The G4 sockets where .25 ea. (product code # 2008). I also put the Dr. LED anchor and steaming lights @ 49.95 ea. sold here in the Chandlery.
 
May 24, 2007
49
Catalina 350 Herrington Harbor
Interior vs. Anchor lights

Jim, this thread has gotten a bit confused between interior lights (which I believe Mainesail is talking about) and anchor lights. The bases are usually different.

A good LED anchor light would have 2 advantages that I think would make it worth the cost-- it should last nearly forever (fewer trips up the mast) and the amperage draw is very low. I'm interested in making the switch to minimize engine running time while cruising long-term. Would rather put the amps into keeping the beer cold....

Gary
 
May 24, 2007
49
Catalina 350 Herrington Harbor
How's this for an anchor light?

Oreana- Here's an interesting looking bulb for an anchor light. Is this anything like you have used?

http://anchor-light.com/Products/BA15ST18W.html

Gary
 

Dave Groshong

SBO Staff
Staff member
Jan 25, 2007
1,867
Catalina 22 Seattle
I believe you do get what you pay for...........

We offer the patented technology of Doctor LED replacement bulbs here:

http://shop.sailboatowners.com/detail.htm?fno=400&group=851
 

jimq26

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Jun 5, 2004
860
- - -
You do get what you pay for - no question.

Note that the Dr. LED bulbs meet coast guard requirements in their application. I didn't see any mention of coast guard compliance with the site posted before.
If there is an accident, and your lighting doesn't comply, guess who's gets nailed? Your insurance company won't help you - that's your negligence at fault.
 
Jun 19, 2004
512
Catalina 387 Hull # 24 Port Charlotte, Florida
Thanks for such a good review

Maine Sail. Based upon your recommendation, I don't need to question it a lot. If I recall correctly, I think your previous boat was a late model Catalina 310. Do you remember if your boat had the Comet 8710 Surface mount dome lights in it with the G-4 10W halogen bulbs? This is the light fixture in my 2004 Catalina 387.
Do you think this light that you are talking about would fit in these fixtures without a lot of modification? It sounds like a good bulb that would work pretty good and reduce my DC consumption, however I would like to be able to make a change without having to get new fixtures which could get expensive. Like you two, my wife and I both like to read a lot until rather late and like the place lit up like Fort Knox.

Thanks, Tom
 

RAD

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Jun 3, 2004
2,330
Catalina 30 Bay Shore, N.Y.
I've had these bulbs for a couple of seasons

And including the nav lights my amp load when the lights are on is nothing that I worry about,just came back from a five day mini vacation while hanging on the hook for three days I make full use of the led bulbs
I have lights fixtures inside the cabin that have 2 bulbs with a switch for either one or both and one bulb is standard and the second is LED while at dock and plugged in to shore power/battery charger the switch is set for both bulbs and set for LED position when on the hook.
well worth the money cause like MaineSail said the color of the bulb is a nice soft white and installation is a piece of cake
 

Tim R.

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May 27, 2004
3,626
Caliber 40 Long Range Cruiser Portland, Maine
Did you return them?

How was the warranty support?
 
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