In March we wrote about Cree breaking the $10 barrier in an A19 LED bulb.  Now several other manufacturers are following suite. 

Green Tech Media has a great article on the new LED bulbs from Philips, GE and Wal-Mart that are also right around the $10 mark. From the article:

"The incumbents were watching and have answered. Last month, Philips partnered with Home Depot and utilities to bring the price of its 60-watt LED equivalent to $9.97 after utility rebate. For regions without a utility rebate available, its 10.5-watt A19 will be offered for $10.97.

Philips also started offering instant utility rebates for its LED bulbs at many Staples stores last month. Ikea was early onto the LED bandwagon. The Swedish retailer said last year it would only sell LEDs after 2016.

On Wednesday, the world’s largest retailer also got into the game. Wal-Mart is selling its line of Great Value LEDs for less than $10. Wal-Mart rolled back prices all the way down to $8.88 for a 60-watt-equivalent, soft-white bulb that is not dimmable. Wal-Mart will also offer a new dimmable 60-watt equivalent by GE for $11. GE is also selling its Reveal LED for about $20 at other retailers. 

“GE and Wal-Mart have worked in close concert for more than a decade to pioneer new applications for commercial LEDs,” John Strainic, GE Consumer Lighting General Manager, said in a statement. “We’ve taken the good collaboration we’ve made with Wal-Mart to increase the energy efficiency of their facilities, and are beginning to make the same inroads in the consumer lighting aisle.”

Seeking Alpha also has a pretty good article of the Cree bulb vs. Wal Mart bulb.

Aside from price, make sure you compare color temperature, wattage, lumen output and if the bulb is dimmable or not. 

Still waiting to upgrade from your incandescents to LED?  Why?  If you keep your lights on 3 hours/day and you pay around $.10/kWh, then one of these new LED bulbs will cost you around $18 (initial bulb cost and electricity) over 5 years.  An incandescent is going to cost you $34.21 over that same time period!!! 

Play around with our calculator below to see the economics on different options.