The SAD Lamp Database
Find your favorite SAD lamp with our handy database! The desktop experience is recommended.
Here is what we tested for and why!
A light’s color temperature is essentially a description of how humans perceive the overall hue of a light source. The color of natural sunlight varies throughout the day, however, it hovers around 5700K for most of the day.
Some people prefer one CCT over another, we’ve included our measured CCTs so that you can decide which light is best for you.
Lux isn’t really the most important factor when it comes to bright light therapy, but we’ve included this metric because it’s a popular one.
Lux is simply the calculation of how bright a light source may appear to the human eye. Brightness itself however isn’t necessarily the best measurement for circadian activation.
For that, we can use two other metrics such as Melanopic Lux and Circadian Light, which we discuss below.
CLA is a calculation of the light “postulated to represent the spectral sensitivity of the retinal mechanisms that generate neural signals reaching the human suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN).”
Phew.
In other words, the higher the CLA the more a light source will wake you up and align your circadian rhythm.
If you’d like to learn more about how this works, you can read it here on the CS 2.0 Calculator Documentation page.
Melanopic lux is an earlier alternative to lux that has since been better replaced by Circadian Light, however, it is still used in many places so we’ll include it here.
CRI is a unit used to represent the ability of a light source to reflect the true colors of objects, compared to a natural light source, like the Sun.
It’s currently the most popular way of determining the color quality of an artificial light source and can be seen on many light bulb packages.
For CRI, a score of over 90 is considered good.
Most light therapy lamps do not advertise this metric, so we provide it here for you if you’re looking for a more “realistic” light source.
A little dirt on CRI: CRI used to comprise only 8 colors. The average of these would be called the “Ra” or the average R-value. The CRI standard has since added 6 more colors, however, one of them, R9 (deep red) is more difficult to get high scores on. So most companies still only use the first 8 to calculate their “CRI score”.
We use an average of all 15 colors in our calculations, so the CRI score may be lower or higher than what is typically advertised for each light.
Glare is calculated by dividing the total lux output at 1 foot by the size of the light source.
We’ve included this metric for those of you who find yourself a bit more photosensitive.
The more light that’s emitted from a source point, the larger the emission area needs to be in order to avoid becoming too uncomfortable for the eyes.
This metric will allow you to select a lamp that’s a bit more pleasant to have around. If you’ve previously owned a lamp and found it too uncomfortable to use, simply locate it on our table, and look for a new one with a lower Glare rating.
Obviously, most lights have brightness settings, however when it comes to bright light therapy the more light you can bear, the more effective it will be, so we give you the glare on the brightest setting.
Almost all lights have an “invisible flicker”, if this bothers you, our database has lots of info to help you choose flicker-free lamps.
*Flicker data is taken using the most effective color temperature and highest brightness setting, flicker almost always gets worse if the light is dimmed at all*
The flicker depth shows how much the brightness of a light source varies from its minimum brightness to its maximum brightness.
For example, a light source that varies from 100 lux to 80 lux, would have a flicker depth of 20%.
Generally speaking, we want this to be as low as possible, as sunlight doesn’t flicker at all.
The waveform graph actually shows you the flicker depth plotted on a 24 ms time slot.
Waveforms can vary dramatically from one light to the next.
It’s possible to associate headaches with certain types of waveforms, so if this is you, you can use this graph to decide which lights might irritate you and which might not.
This graph is based on the IEEE’s PAR1789 flicker standard.
While this standard isn’t perfect, it’s the best we’ve got right now.
This graph essentially takes the flicker frequency, seen in the waveform graph, and plots it against the flicker depth.
The idea here is that the lower the frequency and the higher the depth, the more likely a light source is to cause noticeable biological problems.
The Flicker index is a measurement that takes into account the areas above and under the light’s average output and calculates this as a number.
This gives us a good numerical value for how much time the light source spends away from the median brightness level.
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The SAD Lamp Database
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| Image | Brand | Model | Amazon | Website | Price | CCT | Lux | CLA | M-EDI | Glare (lux/in2) | Area (in2) | CRI | Spectrum | Flicker Risk | Risk Graph | Waveform | Flicker Index | Flicker Depth | Color Temperatures | Brightness Levels | Cord Length | Power | Coupon Code | Reviews | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Olly | Day | 89 | Check Price → | $$ | 5900K | 430 | 635 | 460 | 88 | 4.9 | 79 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.3773 | 94.6% | Jun/21/2023 | 1 | 2 | N/A | Dimmable | No | ||||
 | Circadian Optics | Lumine | 74 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 5700K | 3,800 | 5,365 | 3,160 | 143 | 26.5 | 79.1 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.3822 | 99.5% | Jun/24/2023 | 1 | 3 | 7.3 ft | Dimmable | No | Review | ||
 | Circadian Optics | Luxy | 28 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 6100K | 3,345 | 4,930 | 2,835 | 453 | 7.4 | 80.9 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.7356 | 99.5% | Jun/24/2023 | 1 | 3 | 5 ft | Dimmable | No | Review | ||
 | Circadian Optics | Lattis | 60 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 6150K | 4,955 | 7,910 | 4,475 | 246 | 20.1 | 82 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.6467 | 99.5% | Jun/25/2023 | 1 | 3 | 7.3 ft | Dimmable | No | Review | ||
 | Circadian Optics | Lumos 2.0 | 84 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$ | 6350K | 3,750 | 6,015 | 3,375 | 440 | 8.5 | 81.5 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.6828 | 99.5% | Jun/25/2023 | 1 | 3 | 7.3 ft | Dimmable | No | Review | ||
 | Circadian Optics | Lampu | 73 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 5750K | 9,685 | 15,530 | 8,160 | 235 | 41.3 | 78.9 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.6260 | 99.5% | Jun/25/2023 | 1 | 3 | 7.3 ft | Dimmable | No | Review | ||
 | Circadian Optics | Leo | 50 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 6250K | 3,180 | 4,820 | 2,870 | 245 | 13 | 81.2 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.1932 | 65.2% | Jun/25/2023 | 1 | 3 | 7.3 ft | Dimmable | No | Review | ||
 | Verilux | HappyLight Compact | 30 | Check Price → | $ | 6850K | 1,925 | 2,560 | 1,620 | 91 | 21.2 | 69.1 |  | Low Risk |  |  | 0.0164 | 6.3% | Aug/03/2023 | 1 | 1 | 5 ft | No | Review | ||||
 | Verilux | HappyLight Full-Size | 49 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 6300K | 4,675 | 6,745 | 3,875 | 113 | 41.5 | 76.8 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0093 | 3.9% | Aug/03/2023 | 2 | 2 | 6.3 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | Review | ||
 | Verilux | HappyLight Alba | 50 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 5250K | 3,265 | 4,490 | 2,745 | 105 | 31.2 | 85.2 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.4074 | 95.3% | Aug/04/2023 | 3 | 4 | 5.8 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | Review | ||
 | Verilux | HappyLight Lumi Plus | 40 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 5500K | 3,945 | 5,550 | 3,285 | 127 | 31 | 82.1 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.3428 | 99% | Aug/05/2023 | 1 | 3 | 5.9 ft | Dimmable | No | Review | ||
 | Verilux | HappyLight Lucent | 40 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 5250K | 4,150 | 5,470 | 3,235 | 114 | 36.3 | 76.3 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0081 | 3.7% | Aug/05/2023 | 1 | 1 | 5.9 ft | No | Review | |||
 | Verilux | HappyLight Luxe | 70 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 5400K | 4,155 | 5,800 | 3,430 | 79 | 52.9 | 83.8 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.5628 | 99.5% | Aug/05/2023 | 3 | 4 | 5.9 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | Review | ||
 | Verilux | HappyLight Touch Plus | 50 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 5100K | 4,190 | 5,675 | 3,385 | 105 | 40 | 85.4 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.1927 | 77.8% | Aug/05/2023 | 2 | 3 | 5.9 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | Review | ||
 | Verilux | HappyLight Halo | 90 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$ | 5150K | 4,635 | 6,130 | 3,595 | 102 | 45.3 | 79.8 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.1210 | 70.7% | Aug/05/2023 | 3 | 4 | 5.9 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | Review | ||
 | Verilux | HappyLight Duo Desk | 80 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$ | 5550K | 4,480 | 6,730 | 3,960 | 233 | 19.2 | 94.4 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.2159 | 76.6% | Aug/05/2023 | 3 | 7 | 5.9 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | Review | ||
 | Verilux | HappyLight Duo Floor | 130 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$ | 5000K | 11,260 | 18,715 | 9,850 | 431 | 26.1 | 88.8 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.2914 | 81.6% | Aug/05/2023 | 3 | 5 | 6 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | Yes | Review | ||
 | TheraLite | Aura | 43 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 3000K | 11,780 | 11,650 | 6,255 | 144 | 82 | 80.7 |  | High Risk |  |  | 0.0484 | 15.8% | Aug/29/2023 | 1 | 4 | 5.4 ft | OPTIMIZE15 for 15% off | Dimmable | Yes | Review | |
 | TheraLite | Aura Qi | 38 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 3000K | 12,140 | 11,290 | 6,040 | 148 | 82 | 80.5 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0066 | 2.3% | Aug/30/2023 | 1 | 4 | 5.3 ft | OPTIMIZE15 for 15% off | Dimmable | Yes | Review | |
 | TheraLite | Halo | 50 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 3000K | 5,020 | 4,480 | 2,545 | 157 | 32 | 80.7 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0033 | 1.1% | Aug/30/2023 | 1 | 4 | 5.3 ft | OPTIMIZE15 for 15% off | Dimmable | No | Review | |
 | TheraLite | Glow | 30 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 4100K | 3,890 | 3,960 | 2,515 | 146 | 26.7 | 79.2 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0029 | 1.1% | Aug/30/2023 | 1 | 4 | 5.9 ft | OPTIMIZE15 for 15% off | Dimmable | No | Review | |
 | TheraLite | Radiance | 45 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 2950K | 2,135 | 1,755 | 1,025 | 368 | 5.8 | 79.3 |  | High Risk |  |  | 0.5692 | 99.5% | Aug/31/2023 | 1 | 3 | 5.9 ft | OPTIMIZE15 for 15% off | Dimmable | No | Review | |
 | TheraLite | Original | 40 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $ | 3200K | 6,845 | 6,410 | 3,545 | 188 | 36.5 | 79.8 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0018 | 0.5% | Aug/31/2023 | 1 | 1 | 4.9 ft | OPTIMIZE15 for 15% off | No | Review | ||
 | Lastar | CM011 | 28 | Check Price → | $ | 6250K | 1,715 | 2,555 | 1,650 | 62 | 27.6 | 95.7 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0041 | 1.1% | Sep/29/2023 | 1 | 3 | 6 ft | Dimmable | No | ||||
 | Lastar | CM003 | 35 | Check Price → | $ | 6200K | 3,150 | 4,335 | 2,660 | 88 | 35.7 | 73.5 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0477 | 26% | Sep/29/2023 | 1 | 5 | 6 ft | Dimmable | No | ||||
 | Lastar | CM019 | 50 | Check Price → | $ | 6950K | 2,065 | 3,150 | 1,880 | 60 | 34.6 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0059 | 2.3% | Sep/30/2023 | 4 | 5 | 6 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | |||||
 | Lastar | CM018B | 30 | Check Price → | $ | 6400K | 1,905 | 2,735 | 1,675 | 89 | 21.3 | 78.2 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0031 | 1% | Sep/30/2023 | 4 | 5 | 4.9 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | ||||
 | Lastar | CM018 | 22 | Check Price → | $ | 6600K | 1,985 | 2,905 | 1,760 | 93 | 21.3 | 77.3 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0032 | 1% | Sep/30/2023 | 1 | 5 | 4.9 ft | Dimmable | No | ||||
 | Lastar | CM020 | 30 | Check Price → | $ | 6600K | 2,930 | 4,295 | 2,585 | 100 | 29.3 | 76.1 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0049 | 1.5% | Oct/01/2023 | 1 | 5 | 4.8 ft | Dimmable | No | ||||
 | Lastar | CM022 | 140 | Check Price → | $$ | 5950K | 5,215 | 8,350 | 4,845 | 69 | 75.9 | 95.9 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0406 | 21% | Oct/01/2023 | 4 | 5 | 8.3 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | ||||
 | Lastar | CM021 | 80 | Check Price → | $$ | 5950K | 3,235 | 4,855 | 3,015 | 43 | 75.9 | 96.4 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.2011 | 99.5% | Oct/01/2023 | 4 | 5 | 4.8 ft | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | ||||
 | Carex | Day-Light Classic | 120-150 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$ | 4050K | 12,490 | 14,310 | 7,900 | 110 | 114 | 78.7 |  | High Risk |  |  | 0.0541 | 18% | Oct/18/2023 | 1 | 2 | 6.3 ft | 39W | OPTIMIZE15 for 15% off | Dimmable | Yes | Review |
 | Carex | Day-Light Sky | 120-130 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$ | 4200K | 14,540 | 17,760 | 9,485 | 181 | 80.5 | 78.3 |  | High Risk |  |  | 0.0570 | 20% | Oct/17/2023 | 1 | 2 | 6.3 ft | 40W | OPTIMIZE15 for 15% off | Dimmable | Yes | Review |
 | Alaska Northern Lights | Aurora LightPad Mini | 200 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$$ | 6400K | 42,445 | 86,590 | 39,390 | 1,746 | 24.3 | 80.7 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0106 | 4.5% | Nov/05/2023 | 1 | 3 | 9.2 ft | 30W | Dimmable | Yes | Review | |
 | Alaska Northern Lights | Aurora LightPad Max | 380 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$$$$ | 6550K | 30,990 | 62,715 | 29,210 | 397 | 78.1 | 78 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0083 | 4% | Nov/05/2023 | 1 | 3 | 8.2 ft | 47W | Dimmable | Yes | Review | |
 | Alaska Northern Lights | NorthStar | 335 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$$$$ | 4350K | 16,355 | 17,900 | 9,400 | 75 | 217 | 67.9 |  | High Risk |  |  | 0.0563 | 23% | Nov/11/2023 | 1 | 1 | 7 ft | 100W | Yes | Review | ||
 | Lumie | Vitamin L | 100 | Check Price → | $$ | 4050K | 5,730 | 6,075 | 3,750 | 91 | 63.2 | 79.3 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0027 | 1% | Jan/26/2024 | 1 | 1 | 5.9 ft | 23W | No | Review | |||
 | Lumie | Halo | 249 | Check Price → | $$$$ | 3850K | 6,620 | 6,865 | 4,220 | 108 | 61.5 | 84.2 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0023 | 1% | Jan/26/2024 | 3 | 3 | 5.9 ft | 26W | Dimmable, Adjustable Color Temperature | No | Review | ||
 | Lumie | Mini | 59 | Check Price → | $ | 3950K | 3,880 | 3,780 | 2,420 | 102 | 37.9 | 77.9 |  | No Risk |  |  | 0.0154 | 4.6% | Feb/01/2024 | 1 | 1 | 5.9 ft | 13W | No | Review | |||
 | Carex | Day-Light Elite | 127 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$ | 4150K | 12,400 | 14,190 | 7,710 | 69 | 180 | 79.5 |  | No Risk |  | 0 | 0.2% | Oct/21/2024 | 1 | 4 | 5.2 ft | 34W | OPTIMIZE15 for 15% off | Dimmable | Yes | Review | |
 | Sunrise Sensations | Brightbox | 100 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$ | 6150K | 2,010 | 2,630 | 1,525 | 40 | 50.2 | 67.6 |  | No Risk |  | 0 | 0.7% | Nov/07/2024 | 7 | 1 | 5.5 ft | 13W | Adjustable Color Temperature | No | Review | ||
 | Sunrise Sensations | Daybright | 200 | Check Price → | Check Price → | $$$ | 6650K | 3,305 | 4,745 | 2,605 | 33 | 101.4 | 67.3 |  | No Risk |  | 0 | 0.9% | Nov/07/2024 | 7 | 1 | 5.5 ft | 20W | Adjustable Color Temperature | No | Review | ||
 | BlockBlueLight | Full Spectrum + Infrared | 430 | Check Price → | $$$$$ | 5850K | 14,595 | 27,245 | 13,830 | 2,056 | 7.1 | 97.2 |  | No Risk |  | 0 | 0.1% | Nov/17/2024 | 1 | 5 | 10.7 ft | 47W | OPTIMIZE10 for 10% off | Dimmable, Infrared | Yes | Review | ||
 | SOLshine | PhotoVites | 447 | Check Price → | $$$$$ | 6400K | 20,650 | 43,140 | 20,660 | 2,908 | 7.1 | 95.9 |  | No Risk |  | 0 | 0.3% | Dec/31/2024 | 1 | 1 | 13.8 ft | 47W | OYB10 for 10% off | Infrared | Yes | Review |
20 responses to “The SAD Lamp Database: Find the Best SAD Lamp”
This helped so much!! Thank you! What about Northern Light Technologies? They are pretty expensive but look good.
I would like to know the type of spectrometer you are using and get some statistics of its efficiencies. (For the detector and grating)
I thought the outputs would look much more like a black body.
Thank you for your help,
AdisonHi Adison! So we’ve been using the Hopocolor HCPS-300P for testing purposes.
Which outputs might you be referring to? Just about the only lights that produce blackbody radiation are tungsten filament bulbs. Some newer full spectrum LEDs come closer however.
With every light on the market promising at least 10,000 Lux, how is it that only 8 lamps tested reach this benchmark? What distance do you measure from?
I realise you talk about circadian light being a better metric, I’m just astonished why the Lux is considerably lower than advertised for the vast majority of lamps.
Thanks for your help.
Hi Lauren!
Your average consumer assumes “lux” refers to the total output of a lamp, but it actually refers to the output at a specified distance.
Most brands prey upon this ignorance by using the “10,000 lux” buzzword without clarifying the distance at which this is achieved.
We test every lamp at 12 inches so that they can be easily compared to each other. So some lamps emit 10,000 lux at 12 inches, and others must be closer to hit that benchmark.
Hope that helps!
That’s the plan! Working on our sunrise alarm clock project currently and next on our list is a plethora of SAD lamps.
Hi, Derek! Thank you for everything you do here, it’s been very helpful and educational!
Could you please test Beurer TL 95? It has SunLike full-spectrum LED’s in it, which is pretty coolHi! I’m wondering if you have any kind of “cheat sheet” on what to look at when considering which lamp to purchase. I’ve reviewed your reviews, and they are really helpful… but I’d like to find a lamp that doesn’t look like it belongs in an operating room/ dentist’s office. Something that just looks like a classic lamp? There are some slightly more attractive ones on Amazon, like Caromolly but I just can’t tell if they are useful or not… they say they filter out UV and have 10,000 lux… any tips on how filter through ones that you have NOT yet reviewed? Or just wait 😉
Good question Clara 🙂 I’ve bee meaning to test many of these Amazon SAD lamps, hopefully soon! I highly doubt it’s putting out 10,000 lux anywhere near where you’d be using it especially since it’s got a 360 degree light dispersion. However that doesn’t mean you won’t find it useful!
I’d say find out you like the design of any try it out. If you notice it makes you feel subjectively better, then it works! 🙂
I am looking for a lamp with a fast blinking feature. Between 0.1 and 0.5 seconds. Any suggestions are appreciated
That would be 10 and 2 Hz flicker rate, I’m not aware of anything on the market that does this by design.
Hi Derek,
Thanks for all the work you’ve been putting into this!Would it be possible for you to also review some of the brands available in Europe? Most of the lights listed in your database are only available in the US.
Hey Jeroen! That’s something I’ve been dragging my feet on for sure! I’ll try to get what I can soon. We’re any brands in particular of interest to you?
Hi Derek,
First of all, really appreciate the effort you put in for these, this is amazing and you are helping a lot of people here!
Honestly, I’d love to see how a Full Spectrum Grow Light would compare to these. These could be amazing cheap alternatives. An example: [Sansi Bulbs](https://www.amazon.com/SANSI-Spectrum-Hydroponic-Greenhouse-Houseplants/dp/B07BRKT56T?th=1)
If links are not ok, you can replace the link with “Sansi Bulbs” or “Any Full Spectrum Grow Light on Amazon”
Hey Charlie, links are fine 🙂
I’ve been wanting to test SANSI quite a bit! I’ll hopefully get to them this year. I imagine it’s quite bright but not very visually comfortable given it’s small size.
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