As a tall person looking to do red light therapy in the shortest amount of time, which is the better choice?
The Pro Large and the MitoPRO 1500 are equivalent on many features, but the LightpathLED is more powerful and therefore saves a lot of time. One 6-inch distance treatment per day adds up to 35 minutes a week on the LightpathLED, and 105 minutes (1 hour 45 minutes) on the MitoPRO.
As I write this article, LightpathLED
(that link goes to the LightpathLED.com website) is having a huge moving sale.
Bottom Line
The LightpathLED wins for beam angle, wavelengths, time-per treatment, and price.
The Mito Red Light wins for size/area, bulb quantity, and dark glasses.
| LightpathLED Pro Large | Mito MitoPRO 1500 | Winner | |
| Size | 36 x 10 x 3 in. | 42 x 10 x 3 in. | Mito Red Light |
| Area | 360 square inches | 420 square inches | Mito Red Light |
| Bulbs | 216 | 300 | Mito Red Light |
| Beam Angle | 30 degrees | 60 digress | LightpathLED |
| Red Wavelengths | Red: 620 nm, 660 nm | Red: 630 nm, 660 nm | LightpathLED |
| Infrared Wavelengths | 810 nm, 850 nm, 930 nm | 830 nm, 850 nm | LightpathLED |
| Isolated Operation | Red, Infrared, or Both | Red, Infrared, or Both | Tie |
| Irradiance mW/cm^2 @ 6 in. | 100 | 170 (measured with solar meter making actual value probably 56 to 85) | LightpathLED or a tie |
| Pulse | none | none | Tie |
| 6 inch treatment time | 5 minutes | 15 minutes | LightpathLED |
| 12 inch treatment time | 15 minutes | 20 minutes | LightpathLED |
| Door Mount | included | included | Tie |
| Wall Mount | included | included | Tie |
| Goggles | included | included | Tie |
| Glasses | no | included | Mito Red Light |
| Stackable | yes | yes | Tie |
| Daisy Chain | yes | yes | Tie |
| Flicker | none | none | Tie |
| EMF | 0 ut.
(microtesla) at 6 inches |
“none” | Tie |
| Warranty | 3 years | 3 years | Tie |
| Shipping | Free | Free | Tie |
| Return Window | 60 days | 60 days | Tie |
| Restocking Fee | $0 | $0 | Tie |
| Responsible for shipping back | Buyer | Buyer | Tie |
| Price on 7/13/22` | $924 on sale for $799 | $1149 | LightpathLED |
| Coupon | RED 5% off | RED 5% off | Tie |
| Price after coupon | $759.05 | $ 1,091.55 | LightpathLED |
USE COUPON “RED” AT EITHER SITE FOR 5% OFF
View/Buy the LightpathLED Pro Large
Mito Red Light Compared to LightpathLED
Their Pro Large red light therapy panel is half the price of the MitoPRO 1500.
One of these panels edges out the other for top spot. Find out what happens comparing the LightpathLED Pro Large vs. Mito Red Light MitoPro 1500.
Reputation Comparisons
Mito Red Light gets consistent “wow!” reactions from new customers.
They make a hardy and bright red light therapy device and have excellent customer service.
LightpathLED has owner Scott Kennedy, a light therapy expert who sees clients at his clinic in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Every panel comes with a free phone call with Scott.
Respect and awe pour out of new customers who can’t wait to tell how excited they are to get started with their LightpathLED panel.
Scott will not let you fail.
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Red Light Therapy Feature Comparisons
Whether you buy the LightpathLED or the Mito Red Light, you will get a superior red light therapy panel that will last for years.
I will show you how to evaluate the panel features to make up your mind for yourself.
Panel Sizes Comparisons
The Pro Large is 36 x 10 inches, so it has a 360 square inch treatment area.
The MitoPRO 1500 is 42 x 10 inches, giving it a 420 square inch treatment area.
Only very, very tall people will benefit from the MitoPRO’s extra 6 inches of height.
At 6 inches distance, the 36-inch high panel will cover more than 36 inches as the light spreads out from the lamp.
So a 72 inch (6 ft.) tall person will do fine with a 36-inch tall panel.
A very, very tall person will want the MitoPRO’s extra 6 inches of height.
Beam Angle Comparisons
When shopping for a red light therapy panel, you need to take the beam angle and irradiance values with several grains of salt.
They are only inputs to the value you really care about, which is time-per-treatment.
The LightpathLED has a 30-degree beam angle on its bulbs, and the Mito Red Light has a 60-degree angle.
The lower the angle, the more light reaches the target.
But if you take the value by itself, you might end up with the wrong device.
You can get a tight beam angle on an underpowered device.
So it’s not about the beam angle, it’s about the rate of photon delivery to the skin.
Irradiance Comparisons
The same goes for irradiance.
Most manufacturers use solar meters to measure the amount of light that reaches the target each second (the irradiance).
They should be using a laser meter to get accurate photon delivery measurements.
The result is that they all overstate their panels’ irradiance.
Fortunately, there is a very easy shortcut for beam angle and irradiance feature comparisons.
Ignore those features and look at time-per-treatment.
Time-per-Treatment Comparisons
The LightpathLED time-per-treatment is 6 inches distance for 5 minutes.
The Mito Red Light is 6 inches treatment for 15 minutes.
You have everything you need to know with that comparison.
No matter what the beam angle and irradiance, the time-per-treatment tells you how much photon energy their light delivers per second.
The LightpathLED is the superior device for this reason.
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Therapeutic Feature Comparisons
The key to red light therapy is photon absorption.
The photons must absorb in the mitochondria to trigger the cascade of healing events.
Wavelength determines absorption and the depth of that absorption.
Wavelength Comparisons
Light emitting diodes output ranges of wavelengths around a peak.
Whatever that peak wavelength is gets to name the LED.
So a 660 nm LED has a peak output at 660 nm, but outputs light in the 650 to 670 nm range, give or take 10 nm on either side.
The wavelengths from 630-670 nm probably have exactly the same effects, and the wavelengths in the 630-670 nm range have a different subset of effects than the wavelengths in the 808-860 nm range.
Researchers are still pinning down the fine points of which wavelengths trigger which effects.
LightpathLED has 620 nm, 660 nm, 810 nm, 850 nm and 930 nm.
MitoPRO 1500 has 630 nm, 660 nm, 830 nm, and 850 nm.
The wavelengths are virtually the same, except for LightpathLED’s 930 nm outlier.
There is evidence that the 930 nm wavelength has a different subset of healthy effects, although the overlap with the 808-870 nm wavelengths probably pretty large.
The bottom line is that the 930 nm probably adds extra therapeutic effects to the LightpathLED that the MitoPRO 1500 does not have.
How much that functionally matters to your healing is dependent on whether your body needs 930 nm stimulation.
There’s just not enough science distinguishing the wavelengths to this degree to say if it matters.
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Pulsation Comparisons
Neither panel has pulsation features, so we’re done!
Isolated Wavelength Operations Features
Both devices run red, infrared, or both at the same time, making them equivalent in this regard.
Aside: Why 930 nm?
Few phototherapy devices contain 930 nm, so you might be wondering whether you need it.
The science shows that this wavelength is effective for the treatment of nail fungus[1], and the healing of nerve damage[2].
Nearby 940 nm has been found useful in bone healing[3], bone setting, cell proliferation[4], some redness[5] reduction, and rheumatoid arthritis inflammation[6] reduction.
[1] Landsman AS, Robbins AH, Angelini PF, Wu CC, Cook J, Oster M, Bornstein ES. Treatment of mild, moderate, and severe onychomycosis using 870- and 930-nm light exposure. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. 2010 May-Jun;100(3):166-77. doi: 10.7547/1000166. PMID: 20479446.
[2] Mirzaei A, Saberi-Demneh A, Gutknecht N, Ramezani G. The effect of low-level laser radiation on improving inferior alveolar nerve damage after sagittal split osteotomy: a systematic review. Lasers Med Sci. 2019 Jul;34(5):865-872. doi: 10.1007/s10103-019-02718-3. Epub 2019 Jan 19. PMID: 30661183.
[3] Yılmaz BT, Akman AC, Çetinkaya A, Colak C, Yıldırım B, Yücel ÖÖ, Güncü GN, Nohutcu RM. In vivo efficacy of low-level laser therapy on bone regeneration. Lasers Med Sci. 2022 Jun;37(4):2209-2216. doi: 10.1007/s10103-021-03487-8. Epub 2022 Jan 13. PMID: 35022870.
[4] Huertas RM, Luna-Bertos ED, Ramos-Torrecillas J, Leyva FM, Ruiz C, GarcÃa-MartÃnez O. Effect and clinical implications of the low-energy diode laser on bone cell proliferation. Biol Res Nurs. 2014 Apr;16(2):191-6. doi: 10.1177/1099800413482695. Epub 2013 Apr 4. PMID: 23559459.
[5] Tierney E, Hanke CW. Randomized controlled trial: Comparative efficacy for the treatment of facial telangiectasias with 532 nm versus 940 nm diode laser. Lasers Surg Med. 2009 Oct;41(8):555-62. doi: 10.1002/lsm.20811. PMID: 19746429.
[6] Kuboyama N, Ohta M, Sato Y, Abiko Y. Anti-inflammatory activities of light emitting diode irradiation on collagen-induced arthritis in mice (a secondary publication). Laser Ther. 2014 Sep 30;23(3):191-9. doi: 10.5978/islsm.14-OR-15. PMID: 25368445; PMCID: PMC4215126.
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Aside: Which Pulsations Do You Need?
Pulsation is its own therapy.
It works whether or not the photons absorb into the mitochondria.
Pulsation might also help red light therapy work better.
That’s up for debate.
Some people believe that pulsation creates “constructive interference,” pushing photons deeper into the body.
As its own form of therapy, pulsed light gets the brain’s neurons to fire at the same rate as the pulsation.
People with brain injury benefit from pulsation in the alpha range, and those with dementia benefit from pulsation in the gamma range.
That’s why brain injury devices are 10 Hz and dementia devices are 40 Hz.
They pulse at 10 times per second and 40 times per second, entraining the neurons to fire at those rates as well.
Unwanted Effects Comparisons
Wall current flickers 60 times per second in America and 50 times per second in most other countries.
Flicker is an unwanted form of light pulsation that occurs with devices you plug into the wall.
LightpathLED and Mito Red Light say their panels have no flicker.
Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are unwanted electric and magnetic fields that might cause harm at a cellular level.
Both devices have zero EMF when used at a distance 6 inches away.
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View/Buy the MitoPRO 1500
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Accessory Comparisons
Each panel comes with goggles.
They each have 3-year warranties, a 60-day return window, and no restocking fee for returns.
They each having mounting equipment for the door or ceiling.
The MitoPRO comes with dark glasses.
Not sure if you need goggles or dark glasses with your red light therapy? Find out whether you need goggles in my article 1 Way to Know if You Should You Wear Goggles in Red Light Therapy
Price Comparisons
With the RED 5% off coupon, it is selling for $759.05.
The Mito Red Light MitoPRO 1500 is $1149. With the RED 5% coupon, your price is $1091.55.
USE COUPON “RED” AT EITHER SITE FOR 5% OFF
View/Buy the MitoPRO 1500
View/Buy the LightpathLED Pro Large
