LED Spectrums

This is just a quick and simple page to share some spectrums and other meaningful measurements of common LED light bulbs.
The measurements were taken with an X-Rite i1Pro "spectrophotometer" using the Argyll-CMS spotread tool. The resulting spectrum file was loaded into OSRAM Color Calculator to provide the graphs and figures you see below.

Nothing is sponsored on this page, no affiliate links, no ads, no nothing. Remember the web before all that crap and everyone trying to make fractions of a penny off every click or page view? Wasn't it a grand ol' place back then? Without further adieu, here's the results...

Soraa Vivid 3000K 12W BR30 (65W equivalent)

Soraa is obviously using both violet and blue emitters. High CRI, high R9 high R12, high everything (including price). This is a pretty great option in terms of color accuracy. The red peak is at or slightly above 650nm.
I bought them from 1000bulbs but you can find a better price on a case of 10 at ProLampSales

Random Amazon 3 head "Full Spectrum" grow light (discontinued - no longer available)

This random $30 "full spectrum" grow light from Amazon is quite the gem. It has a spectrum that's very similar to the Soraa Vivid, but without the violet peak, and with a higher blue peak. Also has a slightly cooler CCT at 3580 and is an exceptionally close match to halogen light. In person, you'd swear the light was halogen if you didn't see with your own eyes that it's coming from LEDs. The only thing it's lacking in is R12 at only 76. If they were still available, I would've bought lots of them just to extract the LED boards out of them. Like the Soraa, the red peak is at or above 650nm. I've bought the "replacement" "full spectrum" grow lights from Amazon, and they are nowhere near as good now (see below). I have to wonder if these are the Seoul Semiconductor "sun-like" LEDs??

PLT 3000K 9W BR30 (65W equivalent)

PLT is clearly only using blue emitters, and again the blue peak doesn't look too bad being considerably lower than the red hump. A step down from the Soraa, but pretty good. Most "90+"CRI bulbs seem to have shockingly low R9 values, and this is no exception. The red peak is at roughly 625nm - further into orange than the Soraa.
I bought them from 1000bulbs.

90+ Lighting 3000K 9W BR30 (65W equivalent)

Like the PLT, the 90+ Lighting (which I think is the 1000bulbs "house brand") is also only using blue emitters, and again the blue peak doesn't look too bad being considerably lower than the red hump. Very similar to the PLT, measures slightly colder color temperature. Again like most "90+ CRI" bulbs seem to have shockingly low R9. The spectrum is very similar, to the PLT, but has a little more in the cyan region and the blue peak is at a slightly longer wavelength. Like the PLT, the red peak is at ~625nm.
I bought them from 1000bulbs.

Fiet Enhance 90+ 3000K 17.5W A21 (100W equivalent) - Costco

Saw some people mentioning these as being pretty good online. They look OK, but those 2 spikes in the spectrum at orange and red look like "CRI Cheating" to me. The spectrum of red longer than 650nm is pretty low. It measures ok though, and like a typical "90+" CRI has an R9 in the 50's, but the spectrum tells the story. My only other observation is they are taller than a regular incandescent bulb (A21 vs regular bulb A19), and thus stick out of some fixtures leaving the globe visible. This isn't written on the packaging anywhere, so in the store you assume they are regular bulb size because they are regular bulb shaped - nope!
I bought them from Costco.

Euri 17W 3000K 17.5W A21 (100W equivalent)

Saw these on 1000bulbs and got them as they are "90+" CRI and I needed some 100W equivalents. No "CRI Cheater" spikes in the spectrum like the Fiet, R9 is a bit low at 48. The heat sinks of these are much more substantial than the Costco ones - they weigh a lot more.
I bought them from 1000bulbs.

90+ Lighting 9W 3000K A19 (60W equivalent)

90+ Lighting (1000bulbs "house brand") "High CRI" standard 60W equivalent A19 bulb. It says 93CRI on the website, and the measurement shows 93CRI. Pretty good R9 at 60, red peak about 625nm. One of the few bulbs that actually provides measurements in their spec sheet, and they agree really closely with my measurements.
I bought them from 1000bulbs.

The Bad:

So far I've shown what I consider to be "Excellent" or "Great" to "Good" LEDs. Of course not all LEDs fall into that category. Here are the crappier ones...

"Replacement" Amazon "Full Spectrum" Grow Light

Kind of more what I'd expect for random crap from Amazon. The current "Full Spectrum" grow lights are pretty bad. CRI 84 (down from 97), R9 13 (down from 99), red peak close to 600nm (down from 650nm), color temperature 3029 (down from 3580), Rf 83 (down from 91) Rg 92 (down from 97). Basically worse in every possible way. I want more of the original grow lights that were AMAZING not this garbage, but someone somewhere realized their mistake in putting actual GOOD leds into grow lights and selling them on amazon. :(
I bought it from Amazon.

Utilitech (Lowes) 60W equivalent 2700K cheapies

This is what happens when the box doesn't list a CRI number at all - it's not too great. I will say in the ceiling next to an incandescent bulb, they look like they're matched well, but obviously color rendering under this light is going to be sub-optimal.
I bought them from Lowes on a whim in clearance (I think).

Great Value (Walmart) 60W equivalent 2700K cheapies

DO NOT BUY THESE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. They're pretty much just as bad as the Utilitech from Lowes, although it beats the Utilitcech with a record low R9 of 4 (yes, "four"), but that's not even the worst. They're obviously overdriving the LEDs as 100% of them I've used failed within weeks. 100% of these bulbs WILL FAIL GUARANTEED.
I bought them from Walmart, and after they failed, even Walmart didn't want them, and wouldn't take them back! Complete Trash

The References:

Just for comparison, here's what old school incandescent and halogen bulbs look like. Good sanity check of the measurement setup (which you can see is maybe not 100% perfect but pretty good), and it's hard to beat the king of high quality light!
Hello red-light my old friend, I've come to measure you again...

72W Halogen A19

Ah, halogen, the gold standard of high quality light. Look at those numbers...
I bought them from anywhere that still sells nice things

65W Incandescent BR30

Regular old incandescent - sure it's 2700K, but it puts up impressive numbers... that waviness in the spectrum is rather puzzling... maybe the frosting on the inside of the BR30??
I bought them from anywhere that still sells nice things