Light Planet on 2010-09-16 kindly supplied me with a "V5" 7W, 720lm, 38° beam angle, 5000K--6350K "cool", GU10 LED sample for evaluation, still in use every day as of 2012-07-08!

Interestingly it is rated 100V--240V AC, so suitable for markets worldwide.

The stated efficiency (~100lm/W) puts it well ahead of most CFLs. For example, a new 7W Philips "golf-ball" "warm" SES CFL is labelled as 310lm (and the equivalent of 31W incandescent), 10000h, 50000 on/off cycles, and 1.4mg mercury to boot. On the supplied scale, 720lm comes in at just under 60W incandescent.

This lamp is bright (only a 40W or 50W GU10 halogen or good 12W CFL should be able to match or beat its light output in that fitting), and it is fast to come on.

One generic point about these intense point sources rather than (say) CFLs, is that they seem much more headache-inducing when caught in peripheral vision, so their arrangement is more critical than just what they light; more smaller lamps, or more chips within each lamp, may help. This particular device has 4 emitters, whereas the Livarno light with 25% the lumens output has 15!

I have now bought the 12V (MR16) version of the V5, also cool white, and it is every bit as bright as the mains (GU10) counterpart, and a stained-glass artist to whom I lent it has been very happy with its colour rendering at her work desk even though initially taken aback by its coolness compared to the halogens she was used to.

(More photos.)

Update 2010-09-16: Aurora "V5" 7W 720lm "cool" GU10 evaluation unit arrived from Light Planet (thank you!). Has a 4-chip array internally. Should match/beat 40W of halogen GU10 or about 12W of a good CFL in light output, and is more efficient than CFL.