I recently purchased a few on Ebay; some are bad in color and others are not. I got some that were
screw-type spotlights, but they're the size of the mini bulbs. 48 LEDs in each, and not very bright, and blueish in color. 1.8W is the reading on my Watts Up? (Kill-a-watt) meter, equivalent to 6 cents per month of 24/7 use. I killed one already on a dimmer by cooking a resistor on the circuit board.
I also got some
80-LED screw-type ones that were advertised as super bright and white, and the color is much better. Looks home-made, but high quality and nice color light. Came from NY. I haven't checked with the meter what these use yet, but I'd bet around 4-5W. Light output equal to a 40W incandescent.
I think in 5 years these will be the new CFLs. In '03 I bought like 25 of a variety of CFLs and many broke (burned out). Of the ones that lived or were replaced, none have gone in at least a year. Give it time.
I'm excited to try to make some of the 12v ones into dusk/dawn headlights for my car. I don't need lights on my commute (daybreak) but people expect you to have them on since it's still dim outside.
Oh, and this isn't surprising since Lowes and Walmart are the same company, but they now sell them at some Lowes locations. (my students have told me this, but I don't have them at the one by my home)