I have never tried the retros, but I honestly don't mind warm white frosted LEDS for GI.

Absolutely.
I had this (so far untested) idea to stop using white and try yellow .. the cool white ones are the ones to avoid. You might like warm white frosted.

Sure, our retros and 8mm come back in stock this week.
What that means is we have roughly 14 different choices, in various steps of brightness and light throw.
From a 6 mm Frosted Retro to our Op-Max. You can decide whats best for your eyes.

Art
www,cometpinball.com

I prefer the CT warm light retro LED's for GI.

Why not just use 555, W44 or W47 bulbs? What is the obsession with LED's?

CT 2-LEDs are the best, IMO. They're domed like the Retros, but not as blindingly bright...but brighter than regular bulbs...also cheaper. They're the ones Stern uses in their games.

Retro warm whites are a good look for those that don't really like that bright look of LED's . I get mine through pinballbulbs.com. I find they are a bit weaker then most.. which I like a lot on older machines.. I know that is weird.. but the super brights and some other led's are just tooo bright for the game sometimes.. Plus.. they are a fair price and work well. They don't seem to have a built in resistor though.. so unless you upgrade your lamp driver board.. depending on game and year.. might get a bit of a flicker.

I think he wants them because of the reliability, long life, low power consumption, low heat generation. LEDs beat incandescent in every technological category. The problem is aesthetics - if you are used to the warm look of a glowing filament that is tough to come by with an LED because it doesn't have a filament. The wavelength of light that gives an LED it's color is dependent on so many things: band gap of the p-n junction, materials used, filtering, lenses, etc.

IMO, you have to get over the "obsession" of the look of a glowing filament and be content with a warm white retro or warm white frosted LED to gain all of its technological benefits. For some folks its a no-brainer since they actually like the wide color spectrum and choices LEDs have to offer, for others - they want it as an accurate substitute for the look of an old school incandescent.

Retros are Supers with a dome...so those sensitive to too much brightness aren't going to like them if they're visible to the naked eye. Retros are fine under plastics where they can't be seen directly. For slings or visible bulbs, go with CT 2-LED....they're perfect!

http://shop.cointaker.com/category.sc?categoryId=136

I have actually received 3 different types of bulbs labeled "retro" from different suppliers.
I have also received 2 different types from the same supplier labeled "retro"

So it can be a little confusing.....

.

I've started using super flexes in many areas where the bulb is directly visible to the player. For example, they work great under sling plastics. You can angle them away from the player, eliminating a potential "hot spot". This also has the added effect of bouncing the light off the sling plastic and illuminating the mid-lower playfield.

I recently replaced a burnt out 555 GI bulb that is buried under ramps/plastics on my Met Pro. Changing the bulb requires raising the pf and unscrewing the bulb socket from below. The bulb itself isn't visible as it is completely covered by plastics and ball guide. So I thought it was a perfect place to experiment with a GI LED.

I picked up a few cointaker warm white frosted LEDs (WW555F and WW44F) for $0.79 a piece.

I like it. There are two bulbs in this back left corner. I replaced only one of the bulbs (the one on the right in the pic) with a WW555F. I think the brightness and color is pretty comparable.

20131103_143558.jpg

(note: you can see the reflection of the LED in the pf, if you are interested in what they would look like in an exposed position).

Cool frosted cointakers in GI.
Add 2 green sockets to shine in the swap and add an led under the plastic beneath the swamp. there's a big enough hole to add one. really helps the right side of the playfield if you add those 3. plus with LED's you don't have to wroory about overloading the GI strand.

D

And this my friends is probably the main reason why one should switch to GI LEDs. The crap lamps China and Taiwan and making these days is depressing. A brand new lamp had already silvered over and burned out within a month. GEs are known to last years as quality American made products. I'm amazed at how many working GE lamps I'm still finding, and am saving those for hard to reach spots like jet bumpers, toys, etc.