Initially I did not calibrate my tube to match theirs and based it purely on the raw lumen numbers from naked LED’s. While it was not super consistent due to the china suppliers I was using at the time I was getting a calibration about 20-25% lower then I ended up with.
When I started comparing my numbers with all the others I could find on BLF I noticed mine were always very low, I just figured that the china suppliers had lied and all my samples were lower bins then I assumed and adjusted my numbers by about 21% it looks like on the notes.
Figuring that around 3 bins was a reasonable guess (seeing as I was buying “V6 XP-L HI LED’s” that did not exist) that put me reasonably close to the other readings I was seeing on BLF (although still generally on the low side). I was sick of constantly second guessing myself at this point and decided to just pick and number and stick to it.
Like Djozz said in another thread “The man that only has one watch always knows what time it is”. Well I decided to only have one watch moving forward and since it was still on the low side compared to everyone else, I just assumed it was reasonably accurate.
Turns out it was not even close. I am still shocked at just how far off it was. I never would of guessed that since it was not far off from all the other readings I saw on BLF.