How to evaluate LED lighting products?

To fully evaluate an LED lighting product one needs to review the overall system efficiency, optical control, thermal management of the LEDs, and know at what point in time the fixture will reach 30 percent lumen depreciation. LED lights with good optical efficiency and thermal management will be able to deliver more lumen output, on average, than traditional HID products. As the Department of Energy concluded in its Solid-State Lighting Commercial Product Testing Program: “Until the field of SSL technologies and supporting knowledge matures, any claims regarding performance of SSL luminaires should be based on overall luminaire efficacy (i.e., from testing of the entire luminaire, including LEDs, drivers, heat sinks, optical lenses and housing), to avoid misleading buyers and causing long-term damage to the SSL market.