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How bright is 1200 lumens? Just what is that level of light good for? We give you real-life applications and comparisons to help you understand what levels of brightness certain quantities of lumens will deliver.
Table of Contents
A Lumen is a measure of the total amount of light emitted from a source.
1200 lumens means the light has an intensity of 1200 lumens of light.
When you are looking for how bright a certain light bulb or lighting product is, the number of lumens is what you need to use as your comparison.
Lumens is the unit measurement of brightness, with 1 lumen equalling the brightness of 1 candle, so 1200 lumens have the brightness of 1200 candles.
1200 Lumens is a very good level of light for LED, CFL or incandescent lighting. It’s suitable for recessed lighting, downlighting, uplighting, and pendants but not table lamps.
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A 1200 lumen bike light can provide a brightness enough to travel approximately 1000 feet to light up a dark road. A very good level of brightness from a focused beam.
The brightness of a flashlight is rated in lumens. A standard flashlight will have around 50 to 100 lumens.
For general use, a torch with 400-600 lumens should be bright enough but if you are looking for a flashlight for tactical use then 1000+ lumens are ideal and still small enough and lightweight to easily carry and store.
The brightness of a 1200 lumen torch (UK for flashlight) is the power of light of 1200 candles. This level is regarded as a very bright level of torch suitable for most outdoor tasks. The throw of light can be over a 250m distance, beam angle and setting dependant.
1200 lumens for home theatre projectors is sufficient when the ambient light is minimised and used in a darkened room, otherwise, a minimum of 2500 lumens is required.
To compare how much light you get with different lumens levels, imagine a one-by-one meter room. If the room has an incandescent bulb that emits 1200 lumens then it can illuminate that area to roughly 120 lux (depending on the reflectivity of surfaces in the room).
LED light with a cool white color temperature of 4000K to 6500K will feel brighter when compared to the warmer yellowish tones of warm white 3000K or soft white 2700K, using the same amount of light.
LED light is directional and very efficiently delivers light compared to most other light sources. This amount of light is distributed with minimal wastage and therefore generally creates a brighter intensity on a surface than compared to other technologies.
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For an average-sized room in your home, a 1200 lumen LED is a good choice to be the main ceiling light but not necessarily bright enough for the whole room as size of the space and type of light source are influencing factors.
It will provide enough brightness for general activities such as reading, working on a computer, even cleaning. However, although 1200 lumens may be a lot of light, some output will be lost in the light fixture so you may have to compensate with a higher output or find a fixture with multiple bulbs.
We have more on How Much Lighting Do I Need for A Room?
The distance light will travel depends on how the light is being delivered, particularly the beam angle of the light and it’s intensity. The more compactly the lumens are delivered the further the distance will be.
For example, a flashlight with 1200 lumens with a tight beam angle has a peak illumination of 72,000 candela delivering light up to around 537 metres at no less than 0.25 lux. (using throw = SQRT (candela * 4)
A 1200 lumen head torch is very bright for outdoor activities such as camping and trekking, with a penetrating throw of light it will suit most applications and be a real asset from a surprisingly small and lightweight size.
When you look for a camping lantern the brightness of 1200 lumens is effective, achieving the balance of enough light to illuminate your surroundings without too much glare, commonly experienced from the high lumen lanterns, especially when used outdoors in very dark surroundings. A good output for use inside a large tent.
An 1200 lumen security flood light is bright and will easily illuminate the spaces surrounding your property. It is however amongst the lower brightness levels for an LED security floodlight but still with a useful throw of light.
Many solar lights on the market now are rated at 1200 lumens or more and will provide a good level of brightness for most applications. A solar flood light with this output is perfect for lighting up an area such as a driveway, garden shed or large tree.
A 1200 lumen LED bulb is typically 14W and equivalent to over a traditional 100 watt incandescent light bulb.
The brightness of a 1200 lumen LED bulb is very bright and suitable for most home lighting applications. This level is the brightest output you can get from a non-specialist LED light source that still has the aesthetics of a standard bulb.
Comparing soft white vs daylight LED light color, 1200 lumens of daylight will feel brighter than the equivalent in soft white.
A 1200 lumen pistol light is a high output for a handheld or gun mounted flashlight and will provide a powerful beam to light up your target.
An LED strip light with 1200 lumens is around 19W/m 240 LED strip on a 5m reel. This is very bright, and you’ll find that this is one of the highest output levels available and mostly in the cooler whites of 4000K or 6500K.
LED strip lights are a versatile lighting solution which can be used for a variety of purposes such as under cabinet lighting, in coves, to highlight features or simply to add some extra light into a room
A 1200 lumen bike light is powerful and will give you a bright, clear beam to see by when riding at night or in low light conditions. You’ll find that this is one of the brightest options available and should suit most cyclists’ needs.
A 1200 lm bike light is typically rechargeable by USB with built-in lithium-ion batteries with the level of power required for a reliable long running time.
1200 lumens to watts is a 14W LED light bulb, approximately 100-watt incandescent light bulb or 19 watts per metre for an LED strip.
To convert 1200 lumens to watts you need to consider the type of light source being used as the greater the efficiency the higher the lumen level created per watt of power used.
Although wattages are often used when describing how bright a bulb is, lumens are a better measurement. For example, an incandescent light bulb will emit around 15 lumens per watt while a fluorescent lamp can reach up to 100 lumens per watt.
Useful comparative measurements often asked:
Lux can only be measured by knowing the distance and the area the lumens have to travel to.
1200 lumens is 1200 candlepower.
The degree of kelvin is the unit of measurement for color temperature, therefore there is no direct comparison between kelvin to the lumen. However, an impression of brightness will increase with a high degree of kelvin as the light seems colder and brighter to the viewer.
Lumens and Candela. Lumens is the total amount of light from a fixture. Candela is how much of that light from a fixture shines in one direction. So 1200 lm would be less than 1200 candela with the candela only quantified if the angle of beam width is known.
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