[DARISC]

Originally Posted by milt

...I prefer a soft light spread over a large area...

I visited their showroom this morning (many rooms lit with their various models) and went with the upgrade Fresnel lense, which is brighter and disperses light over a much broader area than the standard lense which lit the adjoining display room.

The lens of a Solotube is like 12".

I bought the 17" dia. size.

A small skylight is 4 times the area. A 2 x 4 skylight (8 times the area)

True; however light through a conventional skylight is undiffused and will light the area it strikes in a shape corresponding to the shape of the skylight, whereas the lense of the Solatube disperses it to the degree that there isn't a sharply defined circle of light where it lands (the lenses are also available n square shape).

on the north face of a roof is a nice touch.

I don't have a N face. My studio is oriented N & S so I'd either have morning or afternoon light (and it would let in a lot of heat - the Solatube is insulated and heat isn't a problem as it was in their earlier models). The Solatube lense will be directly overhead at the end of the studio where my easel is set up.

By contrast, the Solotube produces a white hot hue that is actually distracting. YMMV.

They certainly are bright and white! But it's sky light and I don't know that bouncing back and forth off of the highly reflective interior of the tube could change its hue - some frequencies would have to be gained/lost in that process I'd imagine.

At any rate, the ceiling is not all that high and I can easily tape a tinted gel sheet over the lense if I need to.

The model I bought is 7000 lumens (roughly equiv. to seven 100w incandescent lightbulbs) on a clear summer afternoon at my latitude (same as the factory, 7 mi. from me, where they took the measurement).

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