Pinballbulbs.com is worth checking out too. But between those two I prefer cointaker.

Maybe you should add a poll.

I've used both. Never ordered the CTs but have had them come with games. I honestly don't see a ton of difference, but know they have the flex and therefore possibly a few more options than PBL. I mostly use PBL for all my pin needs though.

We use a mixture of both... Cointaker frosted cool whites for GI and F-ing brights from PBL for inserts = one BEAUTIFUL looking machine

I use a mix. I like subdued lighting generally. The pinball life frosted ones I think are great for general GI, the non frosted ones I like for inserts. Cointakers I find I like better on indirect inserts, buttons, and accenting GI.

If you can afford it, I'd suggest a mixture of both. Get a few dozen of each and try them out. That's how I was taught to do LEDs and I do it every time. It's a very personal taste I find, and both types do different things.

No Flix Plus. You pay a little more but get better LEDs NFP.jpg NPF2.jpg NPF3.jpg

Carvel or Dairy Queen?

I used both cointaker and pinball life in all my machines and here is what I have found.

If it is in a newer Stern pro then go cointaker non-ghosting because pinball life ones have annoying ghosting on newer Stern pro's.

If it is in a Williams machine like JM or T2 then go pinball life because their LED's are much cheaper and don't have ghosting in the Williams machines.

Like stated above, I tend to use a mix of both. However now that pinballbulbs.com is up and running I've been getting the bulk of my stuff there, and using Cointaker to fill in the spots PB doesn't have yet (flex, etc) Very happy with the results.

I have used several LED sellers in the past. And all sellers have been great to order from.
For me it boils down to:

1) Price
2) Quality
3) Service

Thanks to you all:

CoinTaker
BCS Pinball

nice looking sc1f1, I heard Cointakers burn out a lot easier then pinball life?

I used all CT on my FH and WH20 and I'll never use them again too bright and loose fitting. Plus the domes fall off.

No Flix plus are solid plastic with the LED made inside the plastic.

Here is one I busted just to see how it was made... This is why they are more expensive and disperse light better IMO

NFP4.jpg NFP5.jpg

Yes this is true, they do fall off. Also the CT LED's fall out of the spot lamps all the time. The good thing is CT will send you extra LED's with you shipment for free because there is always some of them in your shipment that just don't work. But PBL just sends what you ordered so you have to order a bit extra because some of theirs don't work either when you get them.

I like the pinballbulbs.com LED's. They are great, priced right, and ship fast!

GI: (44) They call them BA9s
http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog/bayonet-base-ba9s-c-22_24_31.html?language=english

Inserts (555) They call them T10s
http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog/wedge-base-t10-superflux-c-22_23_33.html?page=2&sort=2a&language=en

I think you get what you pay for. If you want cheap lighting then pinbulbs isnt a bad idea.
I spend a litte more on mine because I want a professional look.

I'm replacing all the CTs on my AC/DC Prem. with NFPlus. I can't wait till they get here. I've had a ton of CTs falling out of my AC/DC and the tops come off and fly everywhere

You heard wrong. LED's themselves pretty much all come from China, its the mounting and implementation that varies between vendors, but the base LED/SMD has the same mean time between failures across the board. And that MTBF is a factor better than incandescent.

I use CT, PBL and Pinballbulbs intermixed on all my machines, depends on the use I need them for. For cheap spots where I know I wont have ghosting and will not directly see the bulb you can't beat .36 cent bulbs from PBL. For most frosted, CT get my business, for Warm White GI Pinballbulbs tends to be more consistent,,,, again, it all depends on what you are doing.

Worse thing, don't spend $200 on a 'kit' thats the only constant. Kits are for those who do not want to do homework and just want someone else to shop for them. Just like picking up a phone and telling someone else to buy your groceries, you will pay more and you get what you get.

As much as I love PBL for parts I just don't like their LEDs. I ordered a sample and had to sand them down just to fit.

PB are just ok - they don't have much variety and the caps are too large to fit some places. Not a significant cost savings for me to mess with again.

CT look the best IMO both lit and unlit. I mostly buy their standard frosted bulbs. They seem to be higher quality, and the prices are fair.

I have used a bunch of different vendors for LEDS.

I haven't had any real problems with any of them. LEDs that fall out of spotlamps are shrink tubed in place. Never had any other issues.

Of course, I have yet to receive any 'extra' leds from a vendor either

I am awaiting inventory on Friday....Site is under development, though functioning on commerce level. Please take a peak, before formal announcement......much more to come.

www.cometpinball.com

Thanks.

Art

Any plans to get bulbs that don't ghost for inserts?

Bah for a moment I hoped someone spent the time to make a website dedicated to the grate Williams System 9 pin like was done to www.firepowerpinball.com and that machine.

I have NEVER EVER had Cointaker send me extra bulbs with my order "just because". It really irks me that I've had four of their frosted ones that I bought at TPF break apart in the last week, when I barely even touched them. I placed my order with PinballBulbs based on their color temp for warm whites that I had samples of, the ability to hopefully fit them into my wedgehead, and Cointaker's prior privacy issue, which annoys me.

+1

This is also the combo I use. CT Frosted for GI's and PBL F'in brights for inserts. Can't go wrong.

I found the frosteds to not be bright enough for my tastes in the backbox of my WH2O and ES. I preferred the 2 led cool white retros for my GI in the ES. On the Wh2O I left the incandescents in place for the GI.

Sure, They should be in Friday. I have 1 SMD in Frosted, Clear, and No Lens, 2 SMD, with a New Faceted Lens, and are the only one to have 4-SMD Non-Ghosting, which looks amazing under red arrows and large inserts. .99 each all Non-Ghosting, and less....Free shipping, rewards center coming..

No, but I have had them send me extras when I reported a issue with a couple I've gotten that were defective. They covered the shipping and tossed in a couple extra even after I asked them to hold until my next order and save the shipping.

And that was just a bunch of sophomoric crap. Folks call CT by personal names all day long and 10 times to Sunday, but then CT cites a Pinsider by name and hens cluck foul and act like a credit card database was just shared. Darker days on Pinside that I hope have passed.

Yeah, whatever. Fact is they shouldn't be talking to their friends, personal or otherwise, about what specific customers are ordering. I'm buying stuff from them, not from their pals or fanboys.

And to be fair, I haven't asked CT to replace any of my bulbs that failed, but someone did say that "CT will send you extra LED's with you shipment for free", which is patently wrong in my experience.

Sweet, I'll keep an eye out make sure to let us know which ones don't ghost on the site. Free shipping is always a welcome sight to see!

Love it!

I've ordered a couple hundred bulbs from PBL, and haven't yet found a single one that didn't work perfectly.

WOW awesome prices! And yes CT did send me extra's for no reason at all. My guess is because they knew out of every so many some don't work. Or maybe it was because it was a huge order? I don't know?

Thank you!

The single LED are .29/25pc & .26/100pc.

Art

Edit: looks to be removed

As you can see, there is no straight answer. The major factors of performance are color, brightness, and spread.

Here is my method.

For GI (backbox or playfield):
- I use Pinball Life warm white for places with lots of reds. The Pinball Life warm white LED is actually slightly pink, but this works great for plastics or inserts that have red.
- I use Pinball Bulb warm white for places with lots of yellow and browns. These seem the most yellow of the bunch, but are also noticeably brighter than Pinball Life bulbs.
- I use Cointaker warm white or Pinball Life cool white for places with lots of blues and greens. These are the coolest colored LED's.
- The Cointaker Retro LED is nice if the bulb itself may be visible (such as under the slingshot) and you care about its appearance.

For inserts:
- You need to first determine if you need anti-ghosting bulbs, as is the case with some WPC machines. This will vastly limit your choices.
- Given needs for ghosting, bulbs that project straight to the insert can be purchased based on brightness preference and color.
- If you have locations where the bulb is mounted parallel to the insert (so that the insert is lit by light from the side of the bulb), your choices are further limited, with the Cointaker Flex being the most direct fix to this problem. If you do not have a ghosting problem, wide-angle LED's are an available option.

Couldn't agree more.

Sorry, James, you are correct, they are placeholders.

They all will be replaced in a couple of days.

the Copyright is the standard legal junk when a website is built.

Yea, sucks when people copy your stuff.

I used all pinball life. Close by so they get here in 2 days

DSC04172.JPG

I've met the Cointaker crew at Pinfest and took advantage of the show specials. Got home and have now received 3 more orders in past month.... Overall first class service and a great product variety.

I'm also in the Noflix+ camp for controlled lamps such as with inserts. The capacitor in the bulb helps somewhat with ghosting, but also serves to give the bulb a less square on/off characteristic, meaning that they have a slight fade. The effect can vary by bulb color. If anybody was at CAX this year and saw the CV that was in the tourney area, that machine used Noflix+ bulbs for the playfield inserts.

I also use Noflix+ bulbs in area where I really need to pay attention to the ball, such as near the flippers. I am sensitive to 60hz strobe that you can get from using a non-capacitor LED bulb for GI. I can see the same kind of flicker in old CRT computer monitors. It's like the visual equivalent of a buzzing in my ear.

For the rest of the playfield and backbox GI, I like to use warm white CoinTaker retros. They have a color temperature that's not far from incandescent bulbs. To give them a better dispersion, I use a scotch-brite pad to scuff up the domes on the bulbs to turn them frosted. It also helps reduce glare if the bulb is directly observable. I go conservative with color here because the primary purpose for me running LEDs in this capacity is to reduce load on the backbox wiring and plugs more so than for show.

I think I am too and that's why I've like NF+ from the first time I used them. I almost get dizzy looking at certain LEDs

I had experiences with both pinballlife and cointakers, but the best value (high quality with lowest cost) out there to me is Pinballbulbs.com. Their 44/47 bulbs are easiest to be inserted into the sockets. Bright and even light dispersion through out, and very versatile since you can pop the frosted caps off to change the bulbs into clear. Definitely worth ordering a sample pack to check them out.

I am about to put a whole cointaker "kit" in. Beat me now if you like. I ordered from various places and did not like some and could not remember where others came from and spent way more than I should to get my sky jump looking right (GI on the PF was left as incandescent). Pictures will come probably next week on how having cointaker do my shopping went.