Bon Charge Full Spectrum Light Bulb

This bulb is aimed at people searching for “full spectrum light bulbs” who also want a warm evening setting. It has three modes you change with the wall switch: 5000K for the day, 2500K for morning and afternoon, and 1700K for evening and night. Bon Charge publishes a lumen figure for each one: 400 lm (day), 430 lm (morning/afternoon) and 379 lm (evening).

Those numbers are the problem. At about 400 lm, the daytime mode puts out half the light of a typical 60 W-equivalent bulb (800 lm). Experts recommend at least 250 lux melanopic EDI at the eye during the day (Brown et al., 2022), and a single dim bulb in a lamp is unlikely to get you close. For a real daytime boost, a light therapy lamp or time by a window does more.

In the evening, 1700K is warm, but the bulb cannot be dimmed and stays at about 379 lm. Bon Charge says it is not for dimmable fixtures. Bon Charge labels this mode “Zero Blue Light” but publishes no spectrum for it. “Full spectrum” is the brand’s description; it gives no CRI figure to show how well colours render, and the page itself says the bulb is “not suitable for general illumination”.

How it compares: the Hooga Circadian bulb works the same way, goes warmer in the evening (1400K) and costs about $15 a bulb, but publishes no lumens at all. LIFX SuperColor costs less per bulb, puts out 1,100 lm, dims to 1% and changes on a schedule, if you are happy to use an app.

It ranks below those options because it costs more and is dimmer than a smart bulb, while doing less for evenings than a dedicated amber bulb such as the BlockBlueLight Sweet Dreams.