Tonight I wanted to see just how close most of the popular COBs are in terms of lumen output at various wattages, so I punched some numbers into the manufacturer product selection tools and compiled a list. All results are calculated at a case temperature of 55 degrees Celcius (except for the Luminus CXM-22, for which I estimated Tj to be 85 degrees in order to have a case temperature as close to 55 C as possible). A color temperature of 3500K and 80CRI was used for every COB.
Here’s what the product tools turned up, sorted by lumen output:
@25 Watts
| Voltage (V) | Current (mA) | Lumens | |
| Cree CXB3070 BB | 33.4 | 750 | 4,325 |
| Citizen V5 CLU048-1818 | 48.8 | 510 | 4,207 |
| Bridgelux Vero SE 29-D | 34.3 | 730 | 4,190 |
| Luminus CXM22 Gen 3 | 48.6 | 515 | 4,179 |
| Citizen V5 CLU048-1212 | 33.9 | 735 | 4,127 |
| Cree CXB3590 CD | No Data | No Data | No Data |
@50 Watts
| Voltage (V) | Current (mA) | Lumens | |
| Cree CXB3590 CD | 34.5 | 1450 | 8,081 |
| Citizen V5 CLU048-1818 | 50.5 | 990 | 7,937 |
| Bridgelux Vero SE 29-D | 35.7 | 1400 | 7,863 |
| Luminus CXM22 Gen 3 | 51.1 | 980 | 7,640 |
| Cree CXB3070 BB | 35.2 | 1400 | 7,509 |
| Citizen V5 CLU048-1212 | 35.9 | 1395 | 7,427 |
@75 Watts
| Voltage (V) | Current (mA) | Lumens | |
| Citizen V5 CLU048-1818 | 51.9 | 1445 | 11,296 |
| Bridgelux Vero SE 29-D | 37 | 2025 | 11,095 |
| Cree CXB3590 CD | 35.7 | 2100 | 10,935 |
| Luminus CXM22 Gen 3 | 53.2 | 1410 | 10,598 |
| Cree CXB3070 BB | 36.6 | 2050 | 10,219 |
| Citizen V5 CLU048-1212 | 37.4 | 2000 | 10,176 |
@100 Watts
| Voltage (V) | Current (mA) | Lumens | |
| Citizen V5 CLU048-1818 | 53.2 | 1880 | 14,360 |
| Bridgelux Vero SE 29-D | 38.2 | 2620 | 13,998 |
| Luminus CXM22 Gen 3 | 55 | 1,820 | 13,232 |
| Cree CXB3590 CD | 36.7 | 2700 | 13,034 |
| Citizen V5 CLU048-1212 | 38.6 | 2590 | 12,647 |
| Cree CXB3070 BB | 37.9 | 2650 | 12,369 |
I suspect that if data was available under 1400mA for the CXB3590, it would be at the top of the 25 Watt list. That being said, it looks like the CXB3590 is king at 50W and below, but the Citizen 1818 takes over once power increases past this point, with the Vero 29 close behind. Seeing as it ranks either first or second throughout the 4 power levels, the CLU048-1818 appears to be the most versatile of the bunch – the V6 1818 is likely even a little brighter too. I look forward to Citizen releasing the new product selection tool for the V6 series to find out.
Are the Veros Gen6 or Gen7?
They’re SE so essentially Gen 7 with a fancy case.
Thanks for the numbers. Citis numbers are open question to me, would be perfect to see real uMoles. Anyway, the lumens show why went with 048 1212, with a very simple rule: with 36v and a PAR goal take two 048 instead 1 3590. You will get better efficiency. More mountings needed but angles and hot spot (canopy and cooling) avoiding come in the package and that by half the price in Europe (2×11 vs 45+ Eur for the cobs).
Yeah, instead of buying say 4 CXB3590, you could underdrive 8 CLU048-1212 and get far better coverage and great efficiency. Even when you factor in the cost of extra heat sinks, it’s probably still cheaper! I’m going to be building my own quantum board shortly as well (just ordered some parts last night), we’ll see how that stacks up for the cost.
How did you get on?
Howdy , I enjoyed the number charts,
I would just use vero 29 v7 C 69.4v or citizen 1825. You used top bin on everything else except the veros. I am building a 8 or 9 cob for testing in a 4×4. I am going to run the 8 with 2 drivers@700m pushing 400 watt. Then I am going to test with 9 in a 4×4 with 2 drivers@700m pushing 500 watts. I want to see what reading I get from my 520 quantum sensor. I have built a 2 cob vero 29 light pushing 100 watts a cob and it was putting out 468.5 micromole at 24 inches. I have also built a 4 cob cxb 3950 cd @1050 and it was pushing 568 at 24 inches. I was impressed. I swear this is the future of growing. Very cool website.
I suppose, the Veros don’t really have a “bin” though hey? Please share your results on the forum once you get the data – I’d love to see it!
just a note: it is Celsius not Celcius
Meanwhile Vero 29 has a 72 V C model with up to 28.300 lumen output
exactly, they used the “D” version instead.
i have a vero se 29 C 3500k putting out 23k lumens at 2.1 amp. 70.7v.
gracias por los numeros, saludos desde chile
Hi fabulous report. Would it be possible for you to do a rerun with all the latest cob offering including the version 6 clu048 1818 and the cheaper 1812 please? And the luminous 32 gen 4
I want to remind the forum of a key factor here , regarding all the contenders, I have ran 5 cluo48 1212 for about a year now , I also have a hlg 480 4 panel kit, reason I even mentioned the qb’s was due to a of why I’m commenting, tho the citizen does thro allot of light out in the spectrum , it’s however simply not a good quality of photon’s . What I mean by this is they remind me allot of an hps type of lighting, bcuz I’ve simply never really gotten any type of consistent production underneath them, the the production of the quantum’s is everything that I had going on , so tho Citi does burn the brightest I’d still harvest more using a cree chip .nuff said .. oc , I’ll bin it over , the top , one more umole !!!
chupa pijas