Wide Angle (100) vs Narrow angle (60) LED Downlights

What have most people used for their family/living area.
wide angle beams or narrow 60 degrees ones and what do they prefer.

I prefer wide angle and used 140 degree GU10 units. Narrow ones make a spot on the floor and don't light up the walls, making rooms feel dark and moody.

Wide beam angle downlights are generally fitted with a diffuser that is flush with the ceiling, and the LED chips are very close to the diffuser. This results in very high glare. Glare is generally problematic and is considered to be a cause of headaches, migraines and ocular strain. It also makes rooms appear smaller, as your eye is drawn to the glare source, rather than the full dimension of the room.

I agree that it is good lighting design practice to throw light on walls and the ceiling, and in fact this is my preferred way of lighting circulation spaces, but this is best done using other methods, such as wall mounted up lights, ceiling recessed wall-washers/gimbles, floor lamps, pendants or cove lighting.

As a general rule I do not use wide beam (>60 deg) recessed downlights except for sometimes in bathrooms, store rooms, corridors etc - rooms where you don't spend a lot of time and where you just want light all over the place.

Also, the flat wide beam LED down lights tend to be at the low end of the price and quality scale (but not always)

Thanks for the info.
I didn't believe Wide beams are any good for living areas. Problem is majority of the market in LED are wide beam lights.
Have you had any experience with Lumex (NovaLED Architectural) lights?

I have had one experience and it wasn't great to be honest. But it's probably unfair to make a judgement on that basis.

If you're looking for a decent medium beam low glare downlight, have a look at the green illumination Invis 10 and Invis 16, or the Domus Deep - I think they are both around the $40-$60 range. Still out of China like most residential grade stuff, but the better end of the quality scale.

I like the wider angles on decent LED downlights, as long as they have sufficient lumens to cope with the light dispersion, something in the 90 to 120 degree isn't uncommon and are great for general room lighting without being a head burner like the 40 and 60 degree units are

I like the Wattsaver versions of LED downlights as they are high lumen and offer wide angles and high CRI which is critical for accurate colour reproduction

Is there any areas of your house that are suited to the cool white versus the warm white in about a 60 degree angle beam? I am looking at the Invis 16 in WW and maybe a few CW. They are as you know 16W 970 lm CRI 92 with 60 degree beam angle but IP23. I am also looking at the LED from Tigerlight- Tiger Cub 11W 877 LM 3000K Osram 5630 LED type with CRI of 85. It is also IP44 but has beam angle of 112 degrees. I will look at pricing and make a call on which one to go with.

Wattsaver LED look good. Will need to look into them and see where can purchase them.

I personally prefer warm white everywhere in residential, but it really just comes down to personal preference. Kitchen, study and laundry might be suitable for cool white (not in my house though.

I really like the Invis for price and good aesthetic design. Same with the Domus. I don't think much of the flat type wide beam ones.

Invis does look good but the lip is very minimal 5mm. My sparkie is not willing to install that type of light. No room for error.
The light is very similar to premium Titanium down light.
I'm with you I don't like flat wide beams.
But the wattsaver is not wide beam its 60 degrees from specs.

Tell your sparky to grow a pair!! (Just kidding, I used to be a sparky too, but it just takes a bit of care and attention).

You could also try the Philips Smartbright Mini - they are around the $35 mark. Your sparky should be able to order through his wholesaler.

Lol
It seems with trades anything that's a bit fiddly and requires attention to detail is a big no.

Anything to make their life easier

That's a fairly accurate assessment...

By the way, just to get the terminology in order, the general industry terms for downlight/spotlight beam angles is (this is approximate):

<7 deg - very narrow spot
7-15 deg - narrow spot
16-22 - spot
23-32 deg - narrow flood
32-45 - flood
45-60 - wide flood
>60 - very wide flood

The most common would probably be flood or wide flood for general lighting. Ye olde MR16 halogen downlights when used in general lighting are usually 36-60 degree.

So all these LED downlights with 90, 100, 110 degree beams are essentially a new thing. I think it simply has arisen out of the fact that they are cheaper to manufacture than a downlight with good beam and glare control. It may also be to replace compact fluorescent downlights which do have quite a wide beam angle, but also had reasonably good glare shielding.