re: Old man rant - the new “low watt” light bulbs suck

The LED emitters themselves can last decades. As others said, the problem is the driver circuit boards go out. Buying name brands can alleviate it to some degree, but they still won't live up to their rated life.

The culprit is heat. All the heat generated makes the solder on the board come loose over time. It's especially bad if you put the bulb in a completely closed fixture with no air flow.

Your best bet is to buy a light fixture with built in LEDs. They last longer because they have heat sinks built in and the fixture has much more surface areas to dissipate the heat.