You can't buy a bulb that is rated to last a lifetime, but you can buy ones rated to last for 10+ years if used 8 hours a day (i.e. 35,000 life hours).
I retrofitted entire house - 200+ bulbs and fixture retrofits more that 5 years ago. I had one or failures since. I bought highest CRI bulbs, i.e. most expensive, and they work well. (Also, do not use bulbs for downlights - get entire "led can light fixture retrofit")
I used 1000bulbs.com because I can filter/read specs there, but you can get specs for any high-tier vendor and buy elsewhere.
Just another thumbs up for 1000bulbs. I've made a small order through there, but I like my bulbs. It seems to get very expensive quickly going beyond 93 CRI.
If you don’t trust the manufacturers, you’ll have to find an expert to trust, or tear down the bulbs and examine them yourself. The best way to know for sure is to measure the current being driven through the LEDs and compare it to their maximum rated current. The ones that don’t last long are usually being run at their maximum current, producing a lot of excess heat which shortens their lives dramatically.
I don't think it's untrustworthy in a sense you are deliberately lied to. I think more likely problem is that there is quality control issues and entire batch of particular bulb is compromised, like can happen with anything else - hard drives, RAM, pencils.
In general it's quite reasonable. Cheaper bulbs failed on me, more expensive ones work just fine for many years.
One thing is I wonder about if phosphorus (or whatever chemical they use) is burning out over the years. I.d. do I get worse light quality as these bulbs age?
I retrofitted entire house - 200+ bulbs and fixture retrofits more that 5 years ago. I had one or failures since. I bought highest CRI bulbs, i.e. most expensive, and they work well. (Also, do not use bulbs for downlights - get entire "led can light fixture retrofit")
I used 1000bulbs.com because I can filter/read specs there, but you can get specs for any high-tier vendor and buy elsewhere.