Irradiance is the number that decides how long a session needs to be. It is also the number brands have the most room to present favourably, because a single figure means nothing without the distance it was taken at.
EMR-TEK is a useful worked example, because they publish more than most — which means their own numbers can be read against each other.
1. The homepage and the product pages differ by ten times
EMR-TEK's homepage states 14,500 mW/cm² at the lens, alongside a claim of "7x the output of standard SMD panels."
The Firewave product page states the COB module delivers 1,400mW/cm² at the panel face — 7x standard LED panels.
Same architecture, same 7× comparison, same measurement point described two ways — and an order of magnitude between the figures. Both were on the site on 29 July 2026. We have not been able to reconcile them, and we would treat the 1,400 figure as the one to reason from, because it is the one attached to a specific product.
2. "7×" compares a panel-face figure to a treatment-distance one
The comparison runs: 1,400 mW/cm² at the panel face, against SMD panels that "top out around 200mW/cm²".
Those two numbers are not measured at the same place. A panel-face reading is taken with the sensor effectively touching the lens. The competitor figure of around 200 is the sort of number panels quote at a usable distance.
This matters because irradiance falls away steeply as you move back — and EMR-TEK's own spec tables show exactly how steeply.
| Distance | Firehawk | Inferno |
|---|---|---|
| At the panel face | — | — |
| 3 in | >220 mW/cm² | — |
| 6 in | >144 mW/cm² | >200 mW/cm² |
| 8.5 in | — | — |
| 12 in | >80 mW/cm² | >70 mW/cm² |
| 36 in | >42 mW/cm² | — |
Those are EMR-TEK's published figures for their two largest panels. The Firehawk drops from >220 to >42 across three feet. The Firestorm operating manual gives >220 mW/cm² at 8.5 inches — the only figure in this set that comes from a technical document rather than a product page.
So the honest comparison is not 1,400 against 200. It is something like 144 to 220 against 200, depending which panel and which distance — a different conversation entirely, and one where EMR-TEK's advantage is real but ordinary.
The reusable lesson: when a brand quotes one big number, look for the distance. If the distance is "at the lens" or "at the panel face", it tells you about the hardware and nothing about your session. Any brand can produce a large figure by measuring at zero distance.
3. The wavelengths contradict each other across the site
EMR-TEK's case for their wavelength selection is explicit. The Firewave page:
Three wavelengths matched to actual absorption peaks — not the commodity 660/850nm.
and
Most panels use 660nm and 850nm because they're cheap and close enough.
Their panels are specified 630 / 670 / 830 accordingly.
On the Firestorm Pro page, the specification lists 630nm + 670nm + 830nm — and a brand panel further down the same page describes the EMR-TEK standard as Red (660nm) + Near-Infrared (850nm). The Firedragon, meanwhile, is a six-wavelength panel that includes both 660nm and 850nm among its six.
The engineering argument for 670 over 660 is reasonable on its own terms. It just isn't applied consistently across their own catalogue, and a reader who took the Firewave copy at face value would be surprised to find 660 and 850 sold as the house standard two scrolls down.
What to actually ask
- At what distance? Without it, the figure is decoration.
- Measured with what? Silicon meters read near-infrared unevenly, so a single total-output number across red and NIR carries real uncertainty.
- Peak or average? Centre-of-panel readings flatter every panel.
- Does the spec sheet agree with the marketing? On the same site, on the same day.
Question four is the cheapest and it catches the most. It cost nothing to find the three items above — they are all on EMR-TEK's own pages, and EMR-TEK is more forthcoming than most of the brands they compete with.
Once the numbers make sense, the choice is mostly about coverage and budget — which panel suits whom.
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