Buying a red light therapy panel in Australia

Irradiance is measured in milliwatts per square centimetre, and it falls off sharply as you move away from the emitters. A panel quoted at 200 mW/cm² might be measured at the surface of the lens; the same panel at 30 cm could read a small fraction of that.

A figure is only useful when it comes with a distance, a meter and a method. If a seller will not tell you all three, treat the number as marketing rather than measurement. That is why we publish ours with the method attached, and why we mark figures we have not measured yet as placeholders rather than filling them in.

Red light around 660 nm is absorbed close to the surface. Near-infrared around 850 nm is less visible and penetrates further. Panels commonly carry both so that one device covers surface and deeper exposure.

What matters more than the exact figure is whether the two bands can be run independently. If both fire together only, you cannot separate a short surface session from a longer near-infrared one, and your dosing options collapse to a single setting.

A warranty is only as good as the entity that has to honour it. Plenty of panels sold into Australia carry a long paper warranty that, in practice, means shipping a 15 kg unit back overseas at your expense.

Ask who holds the warranty, where a replacement ships from, and who pays freight in each direction. Separately, remember that Australian Consumer Law guarantees apply regardless of what any warranty document says, and cannot be excluded by a seller.

Australian buyers routinely find that an attractive overseas price becomes considerably less attractive once GST, freight and a currency conversion are applied at checkout.

Compare the delivered, GST-inclusive figure in Australian dollars. That is the only number that is comparable across sellers.

Ask for measured irradiance with a stated distance and method. Ask whether the wavelength bands switch independently. Ask who holds the warranty and who pays return freight. Ask for the delivered, GST-inclusive price in Australian dollars. Ask what the trial period is, and whether it covers a device you have actually used.

If a seller answers all five plainly, you are dealing with someone who has measured their own product.