The Best Red Light Therapy Bulbs on Amazon? Review of Hooga, Wolzek, ABI, Bestqool, PDGrow
What is the best red light therapy bulb on Amazon? We review some of the most popular red light therapy bulbs to see if we can find ones with the best power, intensity, EMFs, and flicker!
If you are looking for an affordable entry-level red light therapy product, then this is it! Most of them are under $40! However you still need a lamp stand for most of them, so that is an added cost when looking at these lamps.
Also check out our review of these bulbs on YouTube!
If they are all similar priced and same style screw-in type lightbulb, which one do you choose? Unfortunately the Wolzek bulb which appears to be an “Amazon Choice” product fell far below our expectations in our last review.
Which cheap red light therapy bulb should you get?
We offer these reviews to help people avoid the common red flags, pitfalls, and find suitable products. If you have a bad experience or lack of benefits, then you might think the entire red light therapy industry or science is a farce!
If you have a good experience with red light therapy, then that is good for the entire industry – even if you don’t buy from us!
For this review, we are going to be thoroughly investigating these top Red Light Therapy Bulbs from Amazon!
Here are the parameters we are looking for:
- Price ($)
- Power Consumption (Watts)
- Intensity (mW/cm^2)
- Wavelengths (nm)
- Flicker (%)
- EMFs (mG and V/m)
- Accessories
The red light therapy bulbs we tested - there maybe wasn't a clear "winner" standing out. So perhaps shop for which "category" is important for you!
*Important Note: Prices and availability may change. We have no affiliation with Amazon or any of these products. We do not assume any liability for the quality or safety of products purchased outside the GembaRed website.*
Here is a quick summary of our results!
|
|
Wolzek Bulb |
PDGrow Bulb |
ABI Bulb |
Bestqool Bulb |
Hooga Bulb |
|
Actual Power (Watts) |
16.2 W |
23.7 W |
24.2 W |
9.2 |
15.3 W |
|
Intensity (mW/cm^2 at 6 inches) |
14 mW/cm^2 |
32 mW/cm^2 |
43 mW/cm^2 |
17 mW/cm^2 |
37 mW/cm^2 |
|
Peak Wavelengths (nm) |
660 & 850 |
630 & 850 |
660 & 850 |
660 & 850 |
660 & 850 |
|
EMF - Magnetic Field (mG) at 6 inches |
0.23 mG |
0.54 mG |
1.3 mG |
0.27 mG |
0.25 mG |
| EMF - Electric Field (v/M) at 6 inches | 70 | 72 | 66 | 69 | 72 |
|
Flicker |
34.2% |
22.4% |
31.6% |
<1% |
<1% |
|
Fan |
No |
Yes (silent) |
Yes (loud) |
No |
No |
|
Accessories |
None |
2 prong cord w/ switch |
None |
Cord with Clamp Base |
2 prong cord |
|
Comment |
Highest Price and Most Disappointing |
High Power, Silent Fan, Incorrect Wavelength! |
Highest Power! |
Low Flicker and EMF |
Nicest in most categories |
Here is a list of the bulbs and their Pro's and Con's.
Con for All Bulbs - Electric Field:
The electric field is tricky to mitigate for light-bulb style bulbs. They best thing to do is to plug it into a grounded lamp, and maybe even add a grounded metal cage in front of it.
Otherwise, they all have similar electric field up-close to the bulb and around the cord.
Electric field on the Hooga Bulb, which even though they claim "no EMF at 6 inches" - they advise customers to hold the device in their hand and use it on the skin. Doesn't make sense.
Which is why even though the best method used by clinical studies is to hold the device with skin contact, it is at odds with cheaply designed devices that can't necessarily be held on the skin of the user is sensitive to EMFs.
I was trolled about this on my YouTube review that it is "obvious" that people shouldn't hold these lights in their hands. But many companies and influencers are still sending the wrong message, so we just want to make customers aware.
Con for All Bulbs - Intensity:
Once again, ALL the bulbs are incorrect on their intensity marketing, based on a very big margin. Go through some of our other reviews and blogs where we call out solar power meters as the root cause of false advertising intensity in this industry.
Regardless, all the bulbs can have EFFECTIVE intensity when used correctly, but it is important for companies to be more accurate and honest in the future.
OK! Lets get started!
PDGrow Red Light Therapy Bulb
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TYC8L7J/
The PDGrow appears to have an interesting design and a compact bulb with 4 clusters of LEDs.
Pros:
- High power, supported by a whisper quiet fan.
- Unique, compact design.
Cons:
- The fan causes slightly higher magnetic field measurement at 6 inches.
- Relatively high flicker of 22.4%.
- Wrong wavelength of Red! They claim to be 670nm, and it is clearly 630nm according to our spectrometer measurement.
I could tell the color was wrong visually, since we use 630nm LEDs in our GembaRed panels. 630nm LEDs are more "yellowish" compared to the deeper red of the 660nm.
Hooga Red Light Therapy Bulb
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TK2LZH3/
The Hooga bulb uses a smooth and sleek enclosure with a grey color.
Pros:
- Good intensity output of 37mW/cm^2.
- Low Flicker (less than 1%)
- Low EMF (at 6 inches)
Low flicker measurement on this Hooga Bulb - nice!
Cons:
- Comes with a cord and instructions which encourages people to hold it in their hands, despite telling them that it is "low EMF" at 6 inches away. (maybe this is a Pro if people aren't concerned about EMFs)
ABI Red Light Therapy Bulb
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SH39YT4/
The ABI bulb comes through as the highest intensity bulb, but suffers from a loud fan, high EMF, and high flicker.
Pros:
- Highest Intensity for a bulb (43mW/cm^2 at 6 inches!)
If you are looking for high intensity and aren't concerned about flicker or EMF, then the ABI would be the choice for you.
Cons:
- Highest EMF out of the bulbs measured
- High Flicker
- Noisy Fan
The ABI bulb still has measurably high milliGauss even at 6 inches away.
Wolzek Red Light Therapy Bulb
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TDP67LR/
We already thoroughly covered the Wolzek Bulb in our other review!
Pros:
- EMFs are pretty low (at 6 inches away).
Cons:
- Highest price out of the bulbs reviewed here.
- Lowest intensity of the bulbs reviewed here.
- Massively false advertised.
- Highest flicker compared to the other bulbs.
See our previous blog for more details and pictures.
Bestqool Red Light Therapy Bulb
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083NR9B7C/
The Bestqool has nice smooth rounded edges and comes with a clamp stand!
Pros:
- Low flicker (less than 1%)
- Low EMF (at 6 inches away)
- Clamp plug included
I'm always happy to see when bulbs have low flicker!
Cons:
- Mediocre intensity compared to the other bulbs - 17mW/cm^2.
While it is very good in most of the categories, the intensity falls a bit short for the Bestqool bulb.
Summary:
There we have it! It may be possible to get some good red light therapy for only $40 (and buying a lamp stand)!
For just high power the ABI or PDGrow bulbs have it. With some downfalls of EMF and flicker.
The best all-round bulb seems to be the Hooga for good intensity, low flicker, and low EMF, but you might want to question their instructions of telling you to hold it in your hand.
The Bestqool had less intensity but still is nice to see it has low flicker, low EMF, and includes a nice clamp stand!
And the Wolzek seals the deal as being overpriced and ranking low in nearly all categories.
If you want 630nm for some reason, pick up the PDGrow for its incorrect wavelength, otherwise we confirmed the rest of them have 660nm+850nm.
We hope this helps you start your venture into Red Light Therapy safely and effectively!