The Circadian Optics Lumine is one of the more stylish products in our list of the best therapy lamps, being the size and shape of a picture frame. It's also a good fit for the office because it isn’t bright enough to bother coworkers in your vicinity, though that lack of brightness is also its downfall in terms of effective light therapy.
That means you'll likely need far longer sessions under the light because it has just average overall brightness, but if you use it at the office, you can work while you receive the benefits.
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Circadian Optics Lumine review: Features
The Lumine has three brightness settings, which you can switch between by lightly touching a sensor on the front. Unfortunately, you can’t adjust the angle of the light, unless you prop it up with other items.
Since this lamp uses a collection of very small LED light bulbs, you can’t replace them when they burn out, though they have an expected lifespan of over 50,000 hours. LED bulbs also don't have the same heat output as fluorescent lamps. The lamp’s surface reached just 95.8 degrees Fahrenheit after 30 minutes – hot enough to feel warm but not enough to feel dangerously hot to the touch. Also, it only raised the surface temperature of a wall by 0.75 degrees when we aimed the light at it from 16 inches away for 30 minutes, so it won’t make you sweat.
Circadian Optics Lumine review: Performance
When we measured with a light meter, the Lumine had a 6-inch 10,000-lux reach, which is average. At 16 inches, the light measured just 960 lux. As such, it isn’t effective when you sit at this distance, which is recommended by experts as the most comfortable for therapeutic sessions. In addition, the lamp’s luminous intensity is a rather weak 360 CD.
This, combined with its smaller surface area, means the light doesn't cover much area with bright light. Still, if you use it in an office, the limited coverage and relatively dim output are ideal. By comparison, the Day-Light Sky has triple the coverage area and luminous intensity, and double the 10,000-lux reach. It's better than the Lumine for daily sessions, but too bright to use in the office.
The Lumine’s color temperature is 5,500 Kelvin. This is slightly over the recommended range set by the Center for Environmental Therapeutics (CET), an organization of experts on therapeutic practices. However, compared to other sun therapy boxes, the light is almost completely white.
Full-spectrum lights with higher color temperatures have a bluer hue and provide a cool color effect on the surfaces the light touches. Lamps with lower color temperatures emit light with a warmer, reddish-orange hue. The CET recommends against using blue lights because they can cause extreme aversive glare and potentially harm your retinas if you take photosensitizing drugs.
Should you buy the Circadian Optics Lumine?
The Circadian Optics Lumine is a small, affordable light therapy lamp. While it shines 10,000 lux of light, it reaches just 6 inches at that brightness and diminishes quickly the further away you get. However, its small size, modern style and average brightness make it great for use in the office.
