Highest lumen output per cost ratio.....

So what's your best performer in terms of lumen output per dollar ratio?
My best two are:

Gander mountain tatical 220 lumen/$40 = 5.5 lumen/$.
Home depot husky 4W 145 lumen/$25 = 5.8 lumen/$.
Others?

Heh, this probably belongs in the budget thread but....

Skyray SR5 approx 250-300 lumens/ $21 bucks

....8 cents per lumen I believe? 12.5 per dollar? Something like that.

Or those budget 1 dollar lights from ebay might be even better I guess. They are about 25-35 lumens for a buck.

http://www.batteryjunction.com/titanium-illuminator.html

3500 lumens for $160..... sooooo thats about 4,5 cents per lumen or almost 22 lumens for every of your dollars lovecpf

Stanley HID, 3500 lumens, $70; 50 lumens per dollar :thumbsup:

Motomaster Eliminator 35 watt HID spotlight for $56.48 Canadian. 3500 lumens stock, 4400 lumens after a no cost ballast pot tweak.

Before tweak: 61.9 lumens per CDN dollar-1.61 cents per lumen.
After tweak: 77.9 lumens per CDN dollar-1.28 cents per lumen.

This light "claims" 900 lumen for 20.62$

In reality output of this light is probly more like 300-400 Max.

So 350 lumen/20$=17.5 L/$

IMO the best thing about these lumen's is they will fit in your pocket.

My latest homemade LED caving headlamp is 1050 lumens for NZ$47 (batteries not included), which is US$32, so 32.8 lm/$.

Interesting that the best performers above are HID and the $1.47 eBay lights.

My best
55W-DIY => 3500Lu / $120 = 29Lu/$
Stanley HID => 2500Lu / $70 = 35Lu/$
55W Halogen spotlight => 1000Lu / $20 = 50Lu/$
(*EDIT* I have never tested my HIDs, so I am figuring conservatively, and I have no idea what a 55W automotive H4 lamp emits, my 1000Lu estimation is not very accurate... I don't think)

My worst
SF-A2 => 85Lu / $159 = .53Lu/$
SF-M2 => 75Lu / $165 = .45Lu/$
SF-E2L => 110Lu / $149 = .73Lu/$

My biggest surprise
DX:903 => 155Lu / $9 = 17Lu/$

StarHalo said:

Stanley HID, 3500 lumens, $70; 50 lumens per dollar :thumbsup:

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Ditto. This is the absolute winner.

Re: Highest lumen output per cost ratio...

kramer5150 said:

55W Halogen spotlight => 1000L / $20 = 50L/W

Click to expand...

Litres per watt is probably the wrong way to measure light output, but might be interesting for size comparisons - HID would fall behind on that scale and my headlamp would do quite well. But halogen spotlights are probably closer to 24 lm/W.

Re: Highest lumen output per cost ratio...

Ok, I should've been more specific. Since this is an LED sub-forum I assumed the topic would be limited to discussions of LEDs. So that being said, I am interested in lumen/$ of just LEDs. Thx.

My HID conversion costed about 80$ and is rated 3500lumens. So this is about 44lumens per $.

rayman

Re: Highest lumen output per cost ratio...

TorchBoy said:

Litres per watt is probably the wrong way to measure light output, but might be interesting for size comparisons - HID would fall behind on that scale and my headlamp would do quite well. But halogen spotlights are probably closer to 24 lm/W.

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I had a bunch of typos... edited my post. I am not discussing Lumens / watt, we are discussing Lumens per dollar spent.

Lu = Lumens
Lu/$ = Lumens per $

Re: Highest lumen output per cost ratio...

moodysj said:

Ok, I should've been more specific. Since this is an LED sub-forum I assumed the topic would be limited to discussions of LEDs. So that being said, I am interested in lumen/$ of just LEDs. Thx.

Click to expand...

In that case my $1 ebay light would win..... i guesstimate it to be 20 or so lumens when i compare it to my quark so that's 20 lumens a dollar!! :twothumbs

And my HID conversion is 58 Lumens per $

Re: Highest lumen output per cost ratio...

kramer5150 said:

Lu = Lumens
Lu/$ = Lumens per $

Click to expand...

Er, no. The symbol for lumens is lm (both letters lowercase).

RepProdigious said:

In that case my $1 ebay light would win..... i guesstimate it to be 20 or so lumens when i compare it to my quark so that's 20 lumens a dollar!! :twothumbs

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But perhaps mine doesn't count either, being homemade. Anyway, you're forgetting shipping.

moodysj said:

So what's your best performer in terms of lumen output per dollar ratio?

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It's a tie between the Bic lighter I found on a sidewalk and the free book of matches from a bar.

Re: Highest lumen output per cost ratio...

JCD said:

It's a tie between the Bic lighter I found on a sidewalk and the free book of matches from a bar.

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No contest. I concede defeat.

There's the Elektrolumens Blaster, the Next Generation. 1750 lumens @ $200 is 8.75 lm/$.

JCD said:

It's a tie between the Bic lighter I found on a sidewalk and the free book of matches from a bar.

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The Bic lighter is out; a candle flame is 13 lumens, and the lighter is ~$1. Even if you do the remove-the-restrictor/six-inch-flame trick, that's still only 20ish lumens.

You may be on to something with the matchbook though. You could get a box of 50 matchbooks for ~$1 and light all of them at the same time - that'd be a few hundred lumens for a dollar..