Have you ever wondered how are lumens measured? It is not really surprising if people often mistake wattage and lumens – in fact, most people have never heard about lumens while the term of wattage is constantly heard. If you want to make sure that they are useful for your housing, you know how to measure the light bulbs.
Lumens and It’s Understanding
Lumens are mostly about lighting. The official definition is the luminous flux unit within the international unit system equal to the numbers of light emitted through a certain solid angle by one source of light intensity being equal in all directions.
Lumens are actually the important factor determining the brightness of the LED or the light bulb.

In most cases, lumens are basically the ones responsible for the brightness. In a debate of lumens vs. watts, lumens are related to brightness while watts aren’t. Lumens are about the light output, while watts are about the energy measurement.
When we are talking about LED and energy-efficient benefits, watts aren’t effective in measuring the bulb’s brightness. If you want to know how lumens are measured, you need to know that you can expect more light when there are more lumens.
How to Measure the Lumens
So, how are lumens measured? Here are some basic things to expect.
- When you buy the incandescent 40 W, expect 450 lumens. If you choose the LED, it is around 9 W. For the CFL, which is more efficient, it is up to 11 W. For the halogen; it is up to 29 W.
- When you buy the incandescent 60 W, expect 800 lumens. If you choose the LED, it is around 12 W. For the CFL, which is more efficient, it is up to 15 W. For the halogen, it is up to 43 W.
- When you buy the incandescent 75 W, expect 1100 lumens. If you choose the LED, it is around 20 W. For the CFL, which is more efficient, it is up to 23 W. For the halogen; it is up to 53 W.
- When you buy the incandescent 100 W, expect 1600 lumens. If you choose the LED, it is around 22 W. For the CFL, which is more efficient, it is up to 26 W. For the halogen, it is up to 72 W.

These are basically the standard wattages and output of most products. However, it would help if you also remembered that the actual lighting output might differ from one another, depending on the products. By looking at the example above, you can determine the many watts within a lumen and the other way around.
Conclusion
If you want to get the most efficient outcome and the lighting with the required brightness, you want to consider the one with many lumens and low wattage.
You can also consult the color temperature chart that you can pick for your own personal needs in some cases. Now that you already know how lumens are measured, you can now make a better decision.