Sad to update you on this but the towns of Mont Vernon, Hudson, Candia, Pittsburgh, Kingston, and Francestown have all gone LED with the same terrible company. Mont Vernon and Francestown NH had incandescent! Kingston and Pittsburgh had decently old MV lights! All gone now to crap LED that won't last five years! There's only a few more towns with incandescent now, I feel like I must act to keep them up! I swear I don’t know what I should do but I’m really pissed off!

What brand did they use?

What brand did they use?

I don't think I even have to say.

My neighborhood was switched out with LED just last week (we had a few spot replacements before, but now it's all LED).  I'm constantly reminded how fringe the anti-LED views espoused here truly are.  As much as we might prefer conventional electric light sources, in the industry at large the debate ended long ago and LED has won.  I think it's been at least five years since I've seen any serious arguments outside of enthusiast forums that a HID/fluorescent/incandescent solution might be preferable choice for a given application.  Only inertia is keeping traditional sources in place, and given the momentum I expect most large-scale LED conversions will be complete or nearing completion by the middle of the decade.  I'm a little surprised more municipalities and utilities didn't demand easily serviceable fixtures, but with the limited exception of ornate fixtures containing screw-in retrofit lamps or replaceable modules, it seems they are content with swapping out lanterns entirely every 5-15 years or so.

I'm a little surprised more municipalities and utilities didn't demand easily serviceable fixtures, but with the limited exception of ornate fixtures containing screw-in retrofit lamps or replaceable modules, it seems they are content with swapping out lanterns entirely every 5-15 years or so.

I wouldn't be surprised if the demand for such a luminaire isn't high in the industry given how even during the tail end of the HID era, if a luminaire needed a anything more than a new lamp or a photocontrol, it was easier for the utilities to replace the luminaire rather than repair in the field. Even innovations made to simplify field repairs like tooless plug in ignitors and power doors/ballast bridges/ballast trays never really took off aside from a few utilities, much less taking a luminaire down and refurbishing it on the bench.

That being said, I do wish LED luminaires were more easily serviceable, especially the more premium decorative fixture or the indoor fixtures where a spot replaced luminaire of a different manufacturer or model would be more apparent. It DOES seem like the more decorative HID roadway luminaires will typically have a original manufacturer designed LED retrofit module available like from Holophane or King Luminaire but I wonder how the sales on those are compared to new luminaires.   

I don't think I even have to say.

Lemme guess, Affinity?

I get the need to save energy, but with incandescent installations, if their bygone era looks suit a certain area, then they should definitely try and use LED lamps that mimic incandescent!, or at least use 2700 K newer lanterns?

Lemme guess, Affinity?

Yup, what a surprise!

My neighborhood was switched out with LED just last week (we had a few spot replacements before, but now it's all LED).  I'm constantly reminded how fringe the anti-LED views espoused here truly are.  As much as we might prefer conventional electric light sources, in the industry at large the debate ended long ago and LED has won.  I think it's been at least five years since I've seen any serious arguments outside of enthusiast forums that a HID/fluorescent/incandescent solution might be preferable choice for a given application.  Only inertia is keeping traditional sources in place, and given the momentum I expect most large-scale LED conversions will be complete or nearing completion by the middle of the decade.  I'm a little surprised more municipalities and utilities didn't demand easily serviceable fixtures, but with the limited exception of ornate fixtures containing screw-in retrofit lamps or replaceable modules, it seems they are content with swapping out lanterns entirely every 5-15 years or so.

Yeah it's a pretty annoying truth. But it is truth nonetheless. I just try to keep the instalations near me around long as possible and I keep a stock of bulbs for myself.

Well an update here that I’m super thankful for these town officials in Francestown, apparently they only replaced the MH and HPS and kept the incandescent up! I’m not sure if they were retrofitted but it’s great to see some common sense in preserving history!

Let go of what you have no control over.  You'll live longer. 

The dreaded Affinity... 

Let go of what you have no control over.  You'll live longer.

The thing is that you do if you try hard enough.

I'm a little surprised more municipalities and utilities didn't demand easily serviceable fixtures, but with the limited exception of ornate fixtures containing screw-in retrofit lamps or replaceable modules, it seems they are content with swapping out lanterns entirely every 5-15 years or so.

The lack of standardized parts/form factor for most LED luminaires is something that bothers me a lot more than it should. Sadly, it seems like this is the direction everything, not just limited to light fixtures is going. Car manufacturers especially have been doing this for several decades now. I'm not really looking forward to the future at all.
I'll say, I really miss when lighting used to be a huge hobby of mine in the mid 2010s before everything had gone to LED around me. Now all I can really do is enjoy what I have in my own collection, which isn't much.

I get the need to save energy, but with incandescent installations, if their bygone era looks suit a certain area, then they should definitely try and use LED lamps that mimic incandescent!, or at least use 2700 K newer lanterns?

I was thinking the same thing, it's not like there aren't good screw-in LED lamps available now.

Yeah, in a similar vein, I don't like the obsession some utilities/automakers have with using 5000K LED. I suppose it makes sense for some commercial districts that are illuminated at high light levels but for a lot of night uses, 3000K and lower looks a lot better and is easier on the eyes compared to 5000K. The worst offenders are those cars that come with 5000K LED headlights from the factory. I'd argue that whatever safety benefit from 5000K you gain is offset from the effects you have on other driver's night vision from using bright 5000K headlights.

Fortunately it seems like utilities here are at least switching to lower colour temperatures in their newer installs. Now just do something about all the 5000K LED headlights out there.