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Sunday, May 17, 2026

Characterize Slochi 7.5 Inch LED Disk Downlights Sold At Amazon

I have purchased, tried, rejected and returned these surface-mount LED disk lights found at Amazon:














They seemed to meet my requirements of five thin lights that would illuminate the rough attic of a year-1954 hip-roof ranch home. I returned the lights with vengeance in a 3-stars review, for the following reasons:

  1. A 7" light should have output of not more than 900 lumens. The light output was not stated anywhere at the Amazon listing, on the box or in the box. The lens size and lumens output must correspond, with a luminance limit of 0.05 lumens per square millimeter. I found glare unbearable to look at. I suggested that output is 1200 lumens, then with luminance of 0.065 lumens per square millimeter. The measured lens diameter for this luminance statement is 153 mm, 6.02inch. How then can the light be called 7.5"? 
  2. The deceptive listing photo indicates a pretty thickness of about 5/8". In fact thickness is 0.94".
  3. The color temperature choices are adverse. We wish for adjustability-to-suit-individual vision within a band of 3000°K +/-, perhaps 200°K. No one loves 4000°K. 6500°K is awfully ugly.

That is it for complaints. I can praise the light for being cleanly dimmable, contrary to the listing stated as non-dimmable. Dimmability costs pennies and absence would be a bad decision. This white-rimmed light is no longer offered. Perhaps the ten lights I returned, all that were available, will not return to listings.

At 5/17/2026 I have ordered this (last-ever?)  similar light offered by Amazon:




















Immediately upon my purchase, this light was reported as indefinitely unavailable. This light is still reported wrongly as non-dimmable. The rim diameter is reported as 6.5 inch, with output of 1200 lumens. Where output is determined by the length of the strip of LEDs within the rim, a bit more area than the lens, the 7.5" vs. 6.5" size listing implies increase of output from 1200 lumens to 7.5/6.5*1200 = 1385 lumens, luminance 0.075 lumens per square millimeter! 

See awful disinformation in the above About this item, that 1200 lumens is equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb. A 100 watt incandescent bulb delivers about 450 lumens in end-on directional illumination. I contradict with the confidence of experimental observation:
















The task illumination of a 100 watt incandescent bulb was only about 450 lumens. I suggested that the 70% waste of lumens with a point source light filament and frosting of the bulb glass might be expressed with equal Brightness Numbers, B4, where the hottest-allowed incandescent bulb was about 150 watts, B6. This standard has not caught on, and we are misled by Amazon: 1200lm led ceiling light is equivalent to 100W traditional incandescent light.

A 1200 lumens directional LED luminaire offers the task illumination of a cluster of about three 100 watt incandescent bulbs. 

The disinformation again expressed perhaps to deliberately devalue LED lights, was carried forward in the 2008 L-Prize competition. The residential lighting prize winner was this expensive,  foolish, heavy, wasteful contraption. 











On my comparison test stand, 4" Glimpse at LHS, the Utilitech "winner" at RHS beaming end-on from a porcelain lampholder. End-on is of course the orientation of the LED board. The winning bulb has glass optics to deflect perhaps half of the directional light perpendicular to the A19 light socket, with presumption sideways illumination is wanted from a bulb pointing upward in a now-absurd table lamp. Please judge that my comparison test stand offers unambiguous assessments.

Here is test stand comparison of the 7.5" Slochi at 3000°K color temperature setting, with a 4" Glimpse, at fixed 3000°K color temperature. See the over-powered Glimpse at RHS.









This is the pretty 4" Glimpse, as illuminating as a 100 watt incandescent, with its box-mount keyways that draw litter of dead bugs to cloud the lens.





This is the thick appearance of the 7.5" Slochi as it would be flush-mounted on a drywall ceiling, joined to a recessed lighting junction box, RACO 175.







Here is the about 3000°K comparison of illumination upon a light-gray wall. The Slochi is more than twice as "bright," and has lower color temperature.








The Slochi luminaire is keyed to three tabs about its wiring-obstructive mounting plate. Luminaire separation is quite intuitive. The plastic Slochi could not carry an electric charge; there is no ground wire.











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