ANSI Lumens

A standardized brightness measurement for projectors, defined by the American National Standards Institute. ANSI lumens is the honest number — it measures usable brightness across the full image, averaged across nine points.

For a golf simulator with the lights on, 3,000+ ANSI lumens is the practical minimum to keep the image readable. For a dedicated dark room, 2,000 ANSI lumens is workable. Manufacturers often quote "LED lumens" or "light source lumens," which run roughly 2–3× higher than ANSI and are not directly comparable.