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How bright is 850 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.
850 lumens means the light has the intensity of 850 lumens of light.
When you are looking for how bright a certain light bulb will be, whether it is LED, CFL or incandescent – 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 850 lumens has the brightness of 850 candles.
850 Lumens is a good level of light suitable for recessed lighting, downlighting, up lighting, table lights, floor lights, wall lights and within pendants.
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The brightness of an 850 lumen flashlight is good and will provide a far reaching beam of light as all the illumination is focused and directed forwards and efficiently by it’s design.
The wider the beam of a flashlight the less intense the light will be and therefore feel less bright. The narrower the beam the more concentrated the light will be.
The brightness of an 850 lumen torch (UK for flashlight) is the power of light of 850 candles. This level is regarded as a very bright level of torch suitable for most outdoor tasks.
The brightness of a 850 lumen bike light is a bright cycle headlight. You will always see where you are going with that amount of light concentrated through it’s focused beam angle. It will need a decent sized rechargeable battery.
As the lumen measurement of brightness is still relatively new on product packaging, there is an unfamiliarity with what an impressive lumen count is, so a comparison can be helpful.
Compared with an incandescent standard 60-watt (806 lumen) incandescent bulb, 850 lumens is an increase of 5% more output.
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 which emits 850 lumens then it can illuminate that area to roughly 85 lux (depending on the reflectivity of surfaces in the room).
850 lm of LED light can feel brighter than other technologies as it 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.
The visual impression of brightness will differ in looks according to its color temperature, using the same amount of light.
LED light with a cool white color temperature of between 4000K to 7000K will feel brighter when compared to the warmer yellowish tones of warm white and soft white between 3500K and 2700K.
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 850 lumens with a tight beam angle has a peak illumination of 51,000 candela delivering light up to around 452 metres at no less than 0.25 lux. (using throw = SQRT (candela * 4)
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For an average sized room in your home, anything up to around 850 lumens is not going to feel overly bright. If you are looking for a brighter light then it will be necessary to consider more than one bulb or lamp.
A 850 lumen head lamp is very bright for outdoor activities such as camping and hiking, with a penetrating throw of light it will suit most applications and be a real asset.
When you look for a camping lantern the brightness of 850 lumens is effective and in the region of most good output lanterns which are around 1000 lm. This level achieves the balance of enough light to illuminate your surroundings without too much glare which can be common from the high lumen lanterns.
An 850 lumen security light is bright and will easily illuminate the areas around your home. It’s a good option for lighting up where you need it most, with additional features such as motion sensors available to choose from depending on how much control or automation you require. It’s amongst the lowest light outputs for an LED security floodlight.
The brightness of an 850 lumen LED bulb is very bright and suitable for most home lighting applications. This level is one of the brightest outputs you can get from a non-specialist LED light source which will emit enough illumination to replace traditional halogen bulbs providing more efficient savings on energy costs
An 850 lumen LED strip is around a 10W/m 60 LED strip on a reel of 5 metres. Suitable for accent lighting and task lighting from under kitchen cabinets.
An 850 lumen LED downlight is bright enough for most home or office lighting applications and regarded as a very good recessed light output, providing an intense beam of light. It’s a great way to get more light in your room without the hassle of having many individual sources dotted around or using halogen down lights which are energy hungry and have short lives.
850 lm equals to 8 watts of LED light, which is approximately equal to a 60W of incandescent light.
When comparing 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.
Useful comparative measurements often asked:
Lux can only be measured by knowing the distance and the area the lumens have to travel to.
850 lumens is 850 candles.
A degree of kelvin is the unit of measurement for color temperature, therefore there is no direct comparison with kelvin to 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 850 lm would be less than 850 candela with the candela only quantified if the angle of beam width is known.
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