thx for the info idie! where do you buy them? I haven't been to HD yet to see if they carry them. It's good to know they will last a long time. It wouldn't be easy for me to get up there and change one. And I'm hoping they aren't too tight around the globe - that would cause problems for my fingers getting a grip on them. The fixture won't be used much (if I can get the electrician to put it on a different switch from the over the sink fixture). I'll seldom need it but there's a bulb on the ceiling now (next to the skylight) and my tub (I also don't plan to use it except to soak my feet) is to one side of it and the shower to the other (on opposite sides of a 13' wide room). There is no light on the shower side. the over the sink lights are mostly blocked from the shower by the shower wall dividing them. I doubt I'll ever take a shower after dark and need it - but you just never know. i could also go on a wild cleaning spree and need light for that (ok, that ain't happening!). The skylight gives more than enough light for the whole room during the day (and a skinny frosted window). I figured if I'm getting a fixture for where the bulb 'lives' I might as well get one that covers those 2 less lit areas. At night I don't need more than the vanity lights. Will probably make do w/a night light. here's the bulb - you can see part of the wall dividing the shower and the darker area to the right of it is the shower. It's fine during the day tho. the vanity lights showing are being replaced.

The LED fixtures don't have to be replaced per say. For instance, LED recessed light fixtures actually have a separate light mechanism. My understanding is that these can be replaced at any time. I have 6year old LED fixtures that are still going strong. They will only be replaced because I want a new fixture. That would be true for any incandescent fixture if I wanted a new look. Also, LED fixtures are engineered to handle the cooling needs of LED lighting, retrofits don't have that flexibility. In my home, I am starting to use Contrast Lighting LED recessed fixtures. I have seen the WAC LED fixtures in commercial settings and they are really nice. The dimming on LED fixtures is also better to my eye than the fixtures that I used with retrofit dimmable LED lightbulbs n them. There has been some discussion about this on the Lighting forum too. I am in no way an expert but this has been my experience. Good Dimmable LED light bulbs are very expensive. Good luck!

Yes, then it's the low voltage transformer. I don't know what's what. With LEDs some people call transformers drivers and vice versa. I know MR16 GU5.3 bulbs need a low voltage fixture. Whatever the terms, they were saying low voltage halogen fixtures can fail prematurely because they are not made to handle the much lower wattage of the LED bulbs. I asked Chris if I would know right away if it the fixture would have a problem running an LED bulb and he said yes. But when I called USALights they said it could work fine in the beginning. Then I chatted with TotalTrackLighting.com that had what looked like the same fixture, only it was listed as an LED fixture. I asked if it had a special transformer to handle the lower wattage and he said it was the same as the halogen model only they offer compatible LED bulbs. But those bulbs are not high CRI. Here's the two fixtures: http://www.usalight.com/Theatrical-Track-Light-Low-Voltage-p/us-904w.htm http://www.totaltracklighting.com/led-white-theatrical-track-light-12v-mr16-cool-or-warm-white-kit.html They are inexpensive either way but USA Light even warns that their $65 track heads say they are for halogen only. I got inexpensive track light fixtures 20 years ago and I've still got half of the originals (but they are fading fast) so I'd like to avoid speding a ton on fixtures if I can. These have several vents that I figured would help in cooling. I have been wanting to replace them with LED for several years. I've looked at native LED fixtures but even models costing several hundred dollars do not have high CRI values. I thought I finally had something with this fixture and the Creative Green MR16 bulbs but I don't want to buy a bunch of bulbs,especially expensive Soraa bulbs, and find out the fixture fails right away. They said line voltage isn't a problem but there are very few reasonable options for high CRI bulbs in PAR 20 or MR16-G10 and they all put out far less lumens than my current 50 W halogen (at 800 lumens).

You want to pay attention to the lumens, which is the measure of brightness. Watts only lets you know how much energy is being used, but does not indicate the brightness. Halogen is hot. I would do LED, particularly if the cost of that type of bulb has come down recently. With those bulbs, I would be concerned about getting "spots" of bright light, rather than an overall bright light. If you want to use a dimmer, make sure the bulbs are dimmable, and that you get the appropriate type dimmer switch.