Cringe. I don't WANT to do this, but if someone wants a vintage street/area/yard light but does not want HID (needs energy efficiency, good CRI and instant on, no restrike time), do any of you have recommendations on the best lamp to use?

Ideally, I'd like to use a LED filament-style lamp of 4000K-6500K color with enough lumens to get a color and lumen output similar to 100w MV - though I'm not sure such a lamp exists. I'm not fond of the corn-cob lamps but that might be the only way to get higher output, or use a splitter for two lamps but that will mess up the light distribution. Possibly, since this is a dark property, I can get away with under 2000 lumens, MAYBE even as low as 1200.

I have a 60w equivalent 5000K filament LED from Walmart that seems darn bright indoors & that might be a candidate, but am not sure that'll be enough lumens. I haven't seen filament lamps over 100 watt equivalent (which would be roughly 50w MV equivalent).

Feit Electric makes a 150w equivalent LED filament lamp that puts out 2,650 lumens and only uses 18 watts. It's not available in my area anywhere but some Home Depot stores now have them available. Here's the lamp in question. I'd take a look at the Home Depot website and see if it shows up as available anywhere near you. (I really want one but none of the stores within a 100 mile radius of me have any for whatever reason.) I think that kind of bulb would be your best bet, it's available in 3000k and 5000k and it's probably the closest you are going to come to an HID replacement while keeping an authentic look. Feit does also have A21 shaped snowcone LED bulbs that are 33w and put out 4,060 lumens which is equal to a 100w mercury lamp but they wouldn't look as good in a street light.

I've said this before and will say it again , I'd rather see a vintage fixture converted to LED than see it end up in the scrapyard !

^ I agree. Much as I don't like LED, I'd rather see a conversion than a whole new fixture. Nice to save the old fixtures even if it means an LED conversion.

I've said this before and will say it again , I'd rather see a vintage fixture converted to LED than see it end up in the scrapyard !

Sorry Tim, much as we love you, we have to disagree. It ruins a fitting putting LED's in it. If I were a light fixture I'd rather end up in a scrapyard than have an LED stuffed into me 
At least in a scrapyard there is a chance someone will rescue it and restore it to its former glory 

Sadly, a scrapyard means that it'll get melted down for the metals. Only what I would guess is around a 5% chance an employee with a heart will save it or let someone buy it.

Honestly responsibly retrofitting a vintage fitting to LED is not bad at all. Most of the time it looks good still and the fixture design still fits in with the look of the room its in. Scrapping a whole fixture is just wasteful and selfish.
Also the fixture can be converted back at any time. I'm always hoping that I'll find someone selling a vintage lights, even with LED in it because I can just put the original hardware back in. Its part of the fun  

With fluorescent lights,  T8 LEDs are available here that look completely like a T8 fluorescent end caps and all, put one of those in a fixture and can tell if its a fluorescent on IS or LED

Well, I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree

My personal opinion has been better retrofitted than scrapped. I have no problems with the people that use retrofit LED products that do not significantly alter the appearance of a luminaire and are easily reversible (so no drilling or hacking up parts). Examples would be screw in LED lamps and drop in LED tubes.

Examples of a poor LED retrofit would be hack jobs like this and this.

My personal opinion has been better retrofitted than scrapped. I have no problems with the people that use retrofit LED products that do not significantly alter the appearance of a luminaire and are easily reversible (so no drilling or hacking up parts). Examples would be screw in LED lamps and drop in LED tubes.

Examples of a poor LED retrofit would be hack jobs like this and this.

Ah yes, that picture of those butchered louvre fixtures. I will never forget the moment of pure shock and disgust I felt when I first saw them.

Anyways, I will admit that I have "retrofitted" my streetlights to use LED filament bulbs in the past, but ONLY because I wanted to run them dusk to dawn and 12w vs 100 or 175w is a no brainer, especially during the summer when you need air conditioning and aren't the one paying the electric bills.

Ah yes, that picture of those butchered louvre fixtures. I will never forget the moment of pure shock and disgust I felt when I first saw them.

Anyways, I will admit that I have "retrofitted" my streetlights to use higher power LED filament bulbs in the past, but ONLY because I wanted to run them dusk to dawn and 12w vs 100 or 175w is a no brainer, especially during the summer when you need air conditioning and aren't the one paying the electric bills.

I see nothing wrong with what you did, so long as no permanent alterations were done  . The lights I have in service all have LED T8 in them (the T8 ballast powered kind) to save energy and to prevent my fixtures from aging from UV damage over time.

Someone should design an LED filament bulb for HID fixtures. Like a BT shaped lamp with one large super  LED filament in it. (which could be made from about 8-10 normal filaments put together as a tube)

Ah yes, that picture of those butchered louvre fixtures. I will never forget the moment of pure shock and disgust I felt when I first saw them.

Anyways, I will admit that I have "retrofitted" my streetlights to use LED filament bulbs in the past, but ONLY because I wanted to run them dusk to dawn and 12w vs 100 or 175w is a no brainer, especially during the summer when you need air conditioning and aren't the one paying the electric bills.

Well I pay the bills here and I still wouldn't use an LED in anything. Some things are worth paying extra for, and proper lighting is one of them. I think so, anyway.

Someone should design an LED filament bulb for HID fixtures. Like a BT shaped lamp with one large super  LED filament in it. (which could be made from about 8-10 normal filaments put together as a tube)

I actually did kind of make a sketch for something like that a while back. It would be a BT28 shaped bulb with around 12 long LED filaments inside a transparent tube. There would also be a small fan at the end to circulate the cooling gases around inside since natural convection might not be enough. The whole thing would be sealed so it wouldn't collect dust or anything.

Ah yes, that picture of those butchered louvre fixtures. I will never forget the moment of pure shock and disgust I felt when I first saw them.

Anyways, I will admit that I have "retrofitted" my streetlights to use LED filament bulbs in the past, but ONLY because I wanted to run them dusk to dawn and 12w vs 100 or 175w is a no brainer, especially during the summer when you need air conditioning and aren't the one paying the electric bills.

Yeah I immediately thought of that pic when I was gonna show an example of a LED hack job lol. While I haven't retrofitted any cobraheads to use LEDs, the LM Spherolite Jr does use a 60w= LED to save energy costs since it runs overnight. I also fitted the Powerlite mini gumball with a RGBW LED so I can vary the colour and colour temperature depending on time of day. I also used drop T8 retrofit LED tubes in the kitchen lights since it's frequently switched.  Granted I like variety so I do have some HID outdoor lighting (a 35W HPS tallpack and a 100w mercury yardlight) as well as some incandescent, electronic fluorescent and magnetic fluorescent in use.

I figured this could turn into a lively discussion! Thank you to Lumex120 - I had not seen those. I ordered a 4-pack of the 5000K Feits. Closest thing to 100MV I have seen right now. I do have a BT-shaped LED filament lamp that looks very much like a MV bulb but it doesn’t put out enough lumens to be useful lighting a big area.

The Feit 150w equivalents have an electrolytic capacitor in the stem it appears: that is interesting and I feel a bit pessimistic about lamp life....

SBMV would get around the warmup delay and reduce fixture weight, but the restrike time is significant and SBMV lamps use too much energy.

I would like to say I don’t care what other people think and will use the lamps and fixtures I want to, but there is a practical aspect to lighting design and sometimes one does need the instant on/off and low energy consumption and need for good CRI. Sometimes LED is the only product that fits the bill. I try to do things as tastefully as possible and try to ensure as much reliability as an LED product can provide.

Unless one lives alone, owns their property fully and has no legal or electrical supply restrictions, sometimes compromises must be made!

I figured this could turn into a lively discussion! Thank you to Lumex120 - I had not seen those. I ordered a 4-pack of the 5000K Feits. Closest thing to 100MV I have seen right now. I do have a BT-shaped LED filament lamp that looks very much like a MV bulb but it doesn’t put out enough lumens to be useful lighting a big area.

The Feit 150w equivalents have an electrolytic capacitor in the stem it appears: that is interesting and I feel a bit pessimistic about lamp life....

No problem! I want to get one of those bulbs to use in my OV-15 since it's too heavy for my only mounting arm when it has a ballast in it plus 18 watts is almost nothing in terms of power usage. The 4-packs are the only option available for me too, and I don't want to spend that much when I only need one. As for their lifespan, from what I have seen Feit LED filament lamps sometimes do fail prematurely but they do honor their warranty and will replace any early failures. I didn't see any reports of early failures in the 150w replacement bulbs in the reviews, but then again they came out olny a few months ago and so it's still kind of early to tell. Either way, when you get them please be sure to update!