LED or Halogen??

I've been doing some research/window shopping in regard to downlights. It seems that LED is the 'ín' thing at the moment and after re-doing our lighting plan which includes 40+ downlights, I realised that LED was probably going to be out of the question financially. LED downlights range in price from $30-$100+ and getting 40 of them would definitely be outside of our budget. I didn't initially upgrade to LED downlights with Carlisle Homes as the cost would have been $135+ each.

Whilst speaking with an electrician last weekend, he told me that he has some Halogen downlights in his home! For a number of reasons, 1. they are cheap, 2. the are easy to install, and 3. despite some negative media attention, they are safe. 

He also stated that whilst LED's consume less power than Halogens, people don't realise that the transformers for the LED's also consume power which isn't accounted for in the advertised 'wattage'of an LED. He advised me that it may be a good idea to get halogen downlights now and slowly swap them over to LED's when the LED's come down in price. He also advised to get Halogen downlights that are dimmable. Good advice I think.

As such, I have purchased 2 x Lightstar 50W White Fixed Downlight Kit 12V 50W 10pk $65 from Masters. I am happy with $6.50 each.