Lumen Rating Question

Animalmother said:

I was originally going to put this in this thread as a response to the OP but decided to make a thread of it's own.

The OP states: "I do not believe it is 160 lumens. Comparing it to my Maglight xl50 it appears to only be slightly brighter. otf output is probably some ware around 120 lumens" in reference to the BA10.

http://light-reviews.com/jetbeam_ba10/
They tested there's at 130 Lumens. So he is actually pretty close. This is the seoncd time I read the BA10 not looknig to be as bright as it's rated so I decided to post this.

I emailed light-reviews asking how the lights are tested and that the lights tested for lumens are far below the actual rated output by the manufacturers. I basically asked why since they use "ANSI" standards. I got the response basically saying that reflector/lense/heat loss was taken into account on the testing light-reviews used. I thought that's what the ANSI rating took into account that JetBeam supposedly uses.

EXAMPLE:

Klarus ST20-
Manufacture Rating: 240 "ANSI"
Light-Review actual output: 206

JetBeam BA20-
Manufacture Rating: 270 "ANSI"
Light-Review actual output: 219

Can anyone enlighten my brain? I am looking for friendly opinions on this. What's going on here?

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TyJo said:

I'd like to see a PDF or official ANSI measurement document that describes the measurement protocol.
I few things I have been wondering:
1. Manufacturers could just be saying "ANSI lumens" without any ANSI measurements.
2. Manufacturers could be saying "ANSI lumens" but I don't think they are required to send their light to a lab, they might just follow the "ANSI protocol."
3. Light-review measurements could be wrong or the protocol they are following could be wrong.
4. Variations exist in LEDs.

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