Is using a 40 watt light bulb in a 60 watt rated light fixture safer than using a 100 watt light bulb in a 60 watt rated light fixture?

A19 refers to the bulb style which is a standard "Edison" incandescent style with a medium screw base. The bulb dimensions are very close to that of older incandescent "short" styles manufactured by GE, Sylvania, Phillips, and others in the past. This allows the Utilitech bulb here to easily fit fixtures designed to use the older style incandescent bulbs.

This bulb does not give off UV or Infra-Red radiation like is normal for incandescent, CFL, and Halogen bulbs. Compared to a standard 40 Watt incandescent, this LED is slightly "whiter" as it has a cooler 3000K (K=Kelvin) color temperature. The 2500K range is the warmer and standard color temperature rating for incandescents.

To the eye, looking at the bulb, the light is just slightly brighter than a "frosted" (white bulb) 40 Watt incandescent bulb. The A19 9 Watt CFL bulb, found in the GE 63498 9-Watt 475-Lumen A19 CFL Bulb, Soft White, 2-Pack, most closely gives the light of a 40 Watt incandescent (just slightly dimmer) - after they have warmed up for a few minutes and are operating properly. This CFL has a color temperature of 2700K.

However, in my experience the GE CFLs haven't been all that reliable - as I have had three die in use after aproximately only several months to 1 year of use in open bedroom ceiling fixtures. CFLs don't fare well with repeated power cycles - they prefer continual use for longer life cycles. Also, these Utilitech bulbs give instant full light in preference to waiting for a CFL to heat up to its full rated light output.As mentioned above, the Utilitech model here has a more of an electric white color and only appears slightly brighter than a standard 40 Watt incandescent.

It actually produces slightly less light in a room than using a 40 Watt incandescent. To most closely reproduce the 40 watt bulb incandescent light in rooms using 4-bulb bedroom ceiling fixtures, I found two of these LED 40 Watt Equivalent 7.5 Watt 430 Lumen A19 Dimmable Light Bulbs 3000K and two of the 15 Watt GE FLE15AG19/2/SW bulbs (60 Watt equivalent found in 3-pks, and advertised as 800 lumens each) lighted the rooms with the best approximation of four standard 40 Watt incandescent bulbs. I have a four bulb hanging fixture over my kitchen table with clear and white globes at each bulb.

The light dispersment from the globes, using these 7.5 Watt LEDs, gives my table and the ceiling a slightly "whiter" look, but it also makes the fixture stand out more clearly for a more appealing look to the eye - than is had with 40 watt incandescent bulbs or 2700K CFLs rated as 40 Watt equivalents.To date, I haven't had a single Utilitech dimmable LED fail in over a year of use. Use of these LED bulbs with dimmers is somewhat different due to their low power draw, which is to say some TRIAC type electronic dimmer switches such as X-10 designs do not work well with them. Older rheostat type dimmers have no problem with them and there are other electronic dimmer switches that will work fine with them.

These are good 40 Watt incandescent bulb replacements - not 60 Watt bulb replacements. The Utilitech bulb replacement for 60 Watt incandescent is the Utilitech #352216 (800 lumens). This bulb also appears slightly brighter, looking at the bulb, but it gives slightly less light than a standard 60 Watt incandescent.

Heat, and longevity - I have used these bulbs with standard table lamp bases, lantern style globes, and in recessed track lighting with open faces. None of my Utilitech bulbs have given any problem at any time. They heat up, but not nearly so hot as other bulb types.

All in all, the LED 40 Watt Equivalent 7.5 Watt 430 Lumen A19 Dimmable Light Bulb 3000K is a very good and reliable bulb, and a great value when found on sale for less than a Hamilton. Most should not find the color temperature and the amount of light given off by this bulb displeasurable - as can be the case with many other LED bulbs. Note:As others have done, I also purchased my LED 40 Watt Equivalent 7.5 Watt 430 Lumen A19 Dimmable Light Bulbs 3000K on sale at under $10 each from a local brick and mortar hardware superstore.

Want 25% more light from your Utilitech LED when used in recessed lighting fixtures? The 40 Watt equivalent (#0338802), and the 60 Watt equivalent (Utilitech #352216), have a small removable plastic reflector ring hidden behind the globe. This reflector is held to the LED plate by two very small Phillips head screws.

The reflector ring is only there to help redirect some of the light to the sides of the bulb. When the bulb is used in a recessed fixture, this light is lost. After the LED lights have been through some heat cycles of use, the globes will loosen - allowing them to be easily removed.

Simply discard the reflector ring and put the globe back on. At one foot from a recessed fixture, I saw the lux more than doubled (at this distance) by simply removing this ring and reinserting the LED bulb into the fixture.