Lumen, Kelvin, CRI: The Secret to LED Shopping Success
You know LED light bulbs are the most cost effective and energy efficient option that exists. You know the prices for LED lighting have dipped to an all time low finally making it a viable option for an average consumer to utilize throughout the home. You know it’s the right decision to make, but it can be a daunting world to enter.
There are a few things you should know before you start shopping for LED lights and we’re here to help you navigate those questions before they arise.
The three numbers that guarantee your perfect light quality are: Lumens, CRI, and Kelvin (K).
Lumens not Watts
You have selected light bulbs for years based on their wattage. You like lamps with 60 watts and kitchen lights at 80-100 watts.
After years of watt training and hard-learned lighting lessons in wattage, you’re supposed to just switch to new numbers?! Perhaps it isn’t so severe, but here’s your buying guide to make the process painless when you shop:
[one_half] Watts [/one_half][one_half] Lumens [/one_half]
[one_half] 40 [/one_half][one_half] 450 [/one_half]
[one_half] 60 [/one_half][one_half] 800 [/one_half]
[one_half] 75 [/one_half][one_half] 1100 [/one_half]
[one_half] 100 [/one_half][one_half] 1600 [/one_half]
[one_half] 150 [/one_half][one_half] 2600 [/one_half]
So, what is CRI?
Good question. Color rendering index, or CRI, is how accurately the light portrays color.
This is often an ignored metric because frankly, it’s the most difficult for LEDs to match incandescent (yes, that’s the one thing an incandescent does well). The CRI is the unknown cause of much dissatisfaction using LEDs.
Consider for a moment that an incandescent bulb effectively has a CRI of 100 – the reds, greens, and blues that you see in your house are truly and faithfully shown at their most accurate possible red, green, and blue. Buying an LED bulb with a low CRI rating is a great way to dislike your change when all those colors look wrong. Cheers to redecorating!
Look for bulbs with CRI ratings of 90 or higher – these will keep your colors accurate so when you accidentally wear navy socks and black slacks, it’ll be shamelessly your fault, not the light.
And the K’s?
Kelvin, or K , is a measure of color temperature, which we’ve written about pretty extensively here. What it boils down to is do you like your light more warm and yellowy or do you like the super bright light with a cool blue tone?
Pick your favorite temperature from the scale and go from there!
LED lighting is a great way to customize the mood and functionality of your home with many different options and styles.
Knowing what you now know, what is your perfect bulb?