Update, 11/14/08: Don’t buy these LED bulbs. Three of the four lights I bought in July no longer work. I suspect it must be a problem with whatever device converts the 120 V AC to lower DC voltage, that the LEDs need. I should take a hammer to these bulbs to see what’s inside. Does anyone else have experience with these bulbs? I was hoping to cut down on my energy usage and ended up generating more electronic waste. Yikes! Could they all have been from a defective batch, was that why they were being sold so cheaply?

Update 9/9/08 : I can’t recommend these lights. I eventually bought 4 of them. One has stopped working and one works intermittently. I suspect it must be a problem with the internal wiring of the individual LEDs. Possibly the transformer that converts the AC to DC. Whatever, at 13 bucks a pop and only lasting a couple of months they are not worth it.

I bought this LED light bulb today in one of those ubiquitous small lighting shops you find around town. It was $13, which is about a third of what I’ve seen the same item for on the web. The packaging is very strange, it doesn’t list a country of origin and the only marking on the bulb are the numbers 1129. It claims to be 1.8 Watts, and I can believe it, because it hardly gets hot at all. You can comfortably touch it, even after it has been on for several minutes. The light is a bit towards the blue, but it is not unpleasant. I think it will be a good reading light.

Is Par the brand name?