My personal experience is that the fittings I use have a very low failure rate, this goes hand in hand with a higher than average price tag. This obviously partly comes down to what a customer is happy to pay.
One the one hand we get spouted the mantra that LED lighting is more eco-friendly and has lower carbon footprint..
And the other bit is that as they use less energy we will be saving money on fuel costs... etc.. etc.. blah.. blah.. blah...
But..
(1) if you have got to pay stupidly expensive prices for something that is "reliable" then the pay-back time scale can become outside of the lamps lifespan!
(so for that argument you may as well just stick with multiple less energy efficient lamps and go for the [higher consumption + cheaper lamps] being less than [lower consumption + expensive lights/fittings] savings!
And looking at the carbon footprint of manufacture...
If we compare integrated LEDS to separate fitting + lamps..
Once you start multiplying the combinations of decorative finish & LED light output..
To get all the possible options you may want to use, you would need to have a stupidly extortionate amount of integrated light fittings produced..
e.g. consider some downlights;
Finish:- Brass/Chrome/Satin/White
Style:- Fixed/Movable
IP rated:- Open lamp/Sealed lamp
And some GU10 LED's you may want inside them;
Kelvins:- Cool/Warm/Daylight
Beam angle:- 30/60/90/120 degrees
Dimmable/Non-Dimmable
Light Output:- {numerous combinations}
So if you multiply out all of the possible permutations....
manufactures will have to produce multiple options that may not be required...
Or if you want to offer your customer(s) the best choice solution to various applications..
Then separate fitting & lamps will almost always beat the pants off the limited options available with integrated fittings..
{as most manufactures won't produce a full range of specifications for every integrated LED light fitting they make}
The truth is anyone who has been in the real world and seen numerous applications of LED lighting will have seen failures...
(unless they have been too engrossed in looking at texts & twitters etc.. on their phone so they never look up)
A pub up the road from where I live had several LED floodlights on the car-park flashing like strobes for several months last year..
I have lost count of the number of relatively new Cars/lorries/busses I have followed with LED elements in indicators/brake lights not working
Out local Tesco has a large'ish covered two level car park... Again numerous LED lights are either flashing or failed..
Been called to several customer who have integrated lights fitted by others, or existing when they moved in, that have failed...
Which can be a real pain in the rear if it is one or two out of a set of six and you can no longer get an exact match for the previous fitting as it is now obsolete..
Basic common sense and statistics would suggest these issues cannot all be related to "cheaper quality" ...
More the fact that LEDs also need electronic driver circuitry and sometimes its the electronics that fails not necessarily the LED light element...
The more bits That Can Fail will always produce higher failure rate!!
With over 20years+ since going self employed, I think I have seen a reasonable share of types, makes, and quality of light fittings..
Not only the stuff I supply.. sometimes fixing items supplied by others..
I am now sure that the most eco-friendly, reliable, easily maintainable, maximum style options, economically viable etc..
solution with LED lighting has got to be separate lamp and light fitting.
opcorn Guinness
Also.. even if an integrated LED light fitting has say a 3-year warranty....
If it does fail, not sure I know of nay manufactures who will pay back your labour costs for replacing the lamp...
rather than just providing a new lamp?