Beware New CREE Bulbs (non-smart LED bulbs)

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I bought some "new model" 60w and 100w CREE bulbs yesterday. It seems they all have a delay in startup... on ALL switches, smart and dumb. It's just a few seconds delay and only after they have been off for awhile, but it is definitely noticeable. I've bought CREE bulbs for years and all my old ones have no delay, just the new ones.

Also on my new Lutron Caseta dimmer switch with (8) 100w CREE bulbs, they won't light. I had to switch back to the "old model" 60w CREE bulbs. 100s are 17w each * 8 bulbs = 136w total, so that should be within the limit of the switch, but they just don't fire up... I"m not sure if it is the overall load or the new style bulbs. I was able to get the fixture to reliably light up with only (3) 100w bulbs though.

Just a friendly heads up from my personal experience.

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Just to make sure... are you referring to just dumb LED bulbs made by Cree? OR are up you referring to Cree Connected Smart LED bulbs?

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The dumb ones... my old ones came in blue packaging. It seems the new ones are all in white boxes.

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I'll have to keep that in mind since I have a lot of CREE bulbs in non-automated locations that are going on say 4 years now.. I hate delay on LED bulbs. That is why I avoid FEIT bulbs. It's like popcorn popping when you put 6 globes in the light strip and you can see each one coming on individually. I wonder if they changed the driver circuits? The older ones emulate a resistitive load load for legacy dimmer support.

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I am testing the 17W version of these bulbs (Cree TA21-16027MDFH25-12DE26) in my home right now. I have a few older Lutron ZWave dimmers and an Inovelli Gen 2 Red Series dimmer (extremely nice, Bravo to Inovelli). I am not able to test with a neutral just yet but I was able to add a 75W ghost load on the same circuit with two of the Cree bulbs (so total wattage approximately 110W). I too experience the delayed turn on no matter what I have tired so far.

However, when using the Inovelli dimmer, I can dim the bulbs down to almost zero, then smoothly back up again, then down, etc. as much as I want to/from any intensity I want. I am hoping that either with a neutral I get better performance or using some configuration tricks with the Inovelli dimmer that I am yet to learn. Has anyone else with a similar setup, bulbs, dimmers, etc. make progress here?

I also would consider testing some of these: A19 Bulbs by Waveform Lighting Though there is not as wide a range of wattages available these bulbs have similar high CRI and there is a filament style bulb if desired.

Again looking to see if anyone has similar experience to share or has made some progress?

Thanks,
Richard