Every recessed spotlight falls into one of two categories: it either has a removable bulb that you can screw out, or the LED is fixed into the fixture. That might seem like a minor detail, but it determines how thick your spot is, how good your colours look, and what you'll need to do in five years.
The difference in one sentence
With a GU10 fixture, you buy a holder into which you screw a bulb yourself. With integrated LED, the light source is built into the spot, and the driver is separate.
Why integrated is almost always thinner
A GU10 bulb is a solid block of about 5 centimeters. The holder needs to go around it, so that adds bulk. An LED circuit board is only a few millimeters thick, and the driver is placed next to the spot above the ceiling instead of behind it.
In practice, this makes a significant difference:
- GU10 fixtures — usually 38 to 39 mm recess depth, such as the Feno, Plano, and Privo.
- Integrated LED — 25 to 30 mm, such as the Cavo (25 mm), Lesto (26 mm), and Lyvo (27 mm).
In a renovation ceiling with three centimeters of space above the plasterboard, that's the entire difference between fitting and not fitting. The exception is the Rendo: a GU10 fixture that manages 23 mm because the holder protrudes behind the ceiling.
Colour rendering: where integrated clearly wins
CRI indicates how true colours appear under a lamp. At 100, it's like daylight; below 80, wood, skin, and food start to look dull.
Our integrated spots are between Ra 90 and Ra 97 — the Vigo at >95, the Cavo Silver at >95, the Lesto Chrome even at >97. With a GU10 fixture, it entirely depends on the bulb you screw in, and the cheap GU10s in hardware stores are usually around Ra 80.
You won't notice it in a hallway. But you will above a dining table or in a kitchen.
Light colour: set or fixed
Almost all our integrated spots have a CCT switch: a slider on the fixture that allows you to choose 2700K, 3000K, or 4000K before installation. Guessed wrong? Click the spot out, move the slider, click it back in.
With GU10, the light colour is fixed in the bulb. If you want warmer light, you buy new bulbs — which is also an advantage: you can change your mind without touching the fixture.
A separate category is Dim2Warm: spots that become warmer as you dim them, just like an incandescent bulb did. The Warmo and the Vigo go from 3000K down to 2000K. This is hardly available in GU10.
Dimming
With integrated spots, the dimmable driver is included, and you're good to go: all our integrated models are Triac-dimmable. Note that this concerns phase-cutting, also known as leading edge — not every wall dimmer can handle that. Our Triac dimmers are designed for it.
With GU10, you only dim if the bulb itself is dimmable. A non-dimmable LED bulb on a dimmer will flicker or quickly stop working.
What if it breaks?
This is the only point where GU10 wins, and it's a real point. If the bulb breaks, you screw in a new one. With an integrated spot, you replace the entire fixture.
That sounds worse than it is. LED modules last tens of thousands of hours and come with a five-year warranty. In practice, the driver breaks more often than the LED, and the driver can be replaced separately.
What's the total cost?
Don't just look at the price of the fixture. A GU10 fixture starts at around €9 to €13 with us, but the light source is not included and you buy it separately. An integrated spot is between €14 and €17 and is complete, driver included.
For ten spots, these two are therefore closer in price than the product price suggests.
How to choose
Choose integrated LED if you have limited recess depth, want to set the light colour yourself, want hassle-free dimming, or find good colour rendering important. For the living room, kitchen, and bathroom, this is generally the better choice.
Choose a GU10 fixture if you want to choose the light source yourself or be able to change it later, or if you are looking for a specific design — the trimless Cardo and Trimo disappear flush into the ceiling and are only available in this version.
Both variants are listed side-by-side under recessed spotlights, with whether the light source is included per model.