How Bright Is 6000 Lumens? Your Lumens Brightness Guide

How bright is 6000 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

What Are Lumens?

What Does 6000 Lumens Mean?

How Bright is 6000 Lumens?

Outdoors

Flashlight

Torch

Bike Headlight

Projector

How Much Light is 6000 Lumens?

How Bright is 6000 Lumens LED?

Is 6000 Lumens Bright Enough?

How Much Area Does 6000 Lumens Cover?

How Far Will 6000 Lumens Shine?

6000 Lumens Lighting Products

Flashlight

Camping Lantern

Floodlight

LED Bulb

Short Throw Projector

Headlamp

Garage Light

How Bright is 6000 Lumens in Watts?

6000 Lumen Conversions

Lux

Foot-candle

Kelvin

Candela

What Are Lumens?

A Lumen is a measure of the total amount of light emitted from a source.

What Does 6000 Lumens Mean?

6000 lumens means the light has the intensity of 6000 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.

How Bright is 6000 Lumens?

Lumens is the unit measurement of brightness, with 1 lumen equalling the brightness of 1 candle, so 6000 lumens has the brightness of 6000 candles.

6000 lumens is a very good level of light for LED or incandescent lighting. It’s suitable for use in high output light fixtures, floodlights and projectors, but can even be used in flashlights.

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Outdoors

The brightness of 6000 lumens is very good for most outdoor applications. It is bright enough to light up a large area and can be used for security purposes.

Flashlight

The brightness of an 6000 lumen flashlight is extremely good in it’s class 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.

We have more on How Many Lumens Are Good for a Flashlight.

Torch

The brightness of an 6000 lumen torch (UK for flashlight) is the power of light of 6000 candles. This level is regarded as a very bright level of torch suitable for professional use and search and rescue. The throw of light can be over 1000 ft in distance.

Bike Headlight

The brightness of an 6000 lumen bike headlight is very powerful and will allow you to see everything in your path while riding at night. It is also good for being seen by other vehicles, making it a great safety light.

Projector

The brightness of an 6000 lumen projector is good for an outdoor projector. It is bright enough to project a large image on a screen indoors and out regardless of ambient lighting conditions.

We have more on How Many Lumens are Good for a Projector?

How Much Light is 6000 Lumens?

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 6000 lumens then it can illuminate that area to roughly 600 lux (depending on the reflectivity of surfaces in the room).

How Bright is 6000 Lumens LED?

LED light is directional and very efficiently delivers light compared to other lighting sources. This amount of light is distributed with minimal wastage and creates a brighter intensity on a surface than 6000 lumens from other technologies.

LED light when cool white color temperatures of 6000K to 6500K will feel brighter when compared to the warmer yellowish tones of 3000K warm white or 2700K soft white, when using the same lumen output.

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Is 6000 Lumens Bright Enough?

To know whether 6000lm is bright enough, it depends on the task it is being used for. For direct illumination from hand held sources like lanterns and flashlights it is very bright and certainly bright enough for even the most demanding of applications.

The number of lumens you need for a room depends on the size of the room and the level of brightness you want.

• For a small room, such as a bathroom, you will only need around 300 lumens.
• For a medium-sized room, such as a kitchen or living room, you will need around 800 lumens.
• For a large room, such as a dining room or office, you will need around 1500 lumens or more.

We have lots more on How Much Lighting Do I Need for A Room?

How Much Area Does 6000 Lumens Cover?

The answer depends on how hight the light source is from the floor, how wide the light spreads and the type of lighting product delivering this light. However, in general terms the foot-candle or lux requirement of the activity in the space will determine if there is sufficient light in that room.

For example, a living room that is 100 square feet needs between 1,000 and 2,000 lumens of light. A dining room that is also 100 square feet needs between 3,000 and 4,000 lumens of light.

How Far Will 6000 Lumens Shine?

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 6000 lumens with a tight beam angle has a peak illumination of 360,000 candela delivering light up to around 1200 metres at no less than 0.25 lux. (using throw = SQRT (candela * 4)

6000 Lumens Lighting Products

Flashlight

A 6000 lumen torch is very bright indeed and good for all outdoor activities such as camping and hiking, and trekking. It can be used generally and will easily illuminate a whole back yard from this single source of light. Care should be taken with this amount of light from a single point small source as the light is intense.

Camping Lantern

When you look for a camping lantern the brightness of 6000 lumens is very effective and a very good output for outdoor lanterns. This level will lluminate your surroundings with the caviat that it will cause glare which can be common from the high lumen lanterns.

Floodlight

An 6000 lm floodlight is very 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.

LED Bulb

The brightness of an 6000 lumen LED bulb is typically 50W and is extremely bright. It is equivalent to 400 watts of incandescant light and has a corn on the cob LED form factor, so it must be shrouded within a product to hide the source for aesthetic and glare reasons.

Short Throw Projector

A 6000 lumen short throw projector is very bright and can project a large image on a screen in relatively high ambient lighting conditions. This is due to the amount of light that is emitted from the projector and how it’s directed towards the screen.

Headlamp

A 6000 lumen headlamp is super bright for a head mounted light source and can be used for a variety of activities such as running, biking, hiking, and more. The light is intense and should be used with care, avoiding directing the light into eyes.

Even at this level it’s important to note that the further the distance you are trying to see, the dimmer the light will appear.

Work Light

A 6000 lumen work light is very bright and can be used for a variety of applications such as construction, automotive work, and more.

Garage Light

A 6000 lumen garage light is very bright and can be used to illuminate your garage so you can see while working on projects or parking your car.

How Bright is 6000 Lumens in Watts?

When considering 6000 lumens to watts you need to consider the type of bulb or light source. The efficiency of the technology determines the power used to create the same amount of light:

• For an incandescent light bulb, 6000 lumens would be around 400 watts.
• And for an LED light bulb, it would be around 50 watts.

6000 Lumen Conversions

Useful comparative measurements often asked:

Lux

Lux can only be measured by knowing the distance and the area the lumens have to travel to.

Foot-candle

6000 lumens is 6000 candles.

Kelvin

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.

Candela

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 6000 lm would be less than 6000 candela with the candela only quantified if the angle of beam width is known.

Andrew Orange, the owner of Orange Lighting qualified and worked as an interior designer in 1993 before specialising in lighting working on high profile projects based in London. Since starting Orange Lighting Ltd in 2003 he has been sharing his knowledge and unique teaching style mostly to his designer clients, offering practical real life advice born from running a busy consultancy and lighting supply business. Launching in 2020, his blog has evolved into Quick & Easy Lighting, curating some 25 years design experience into making the lighting choice and design process achievable and easy to understand for all.