billable

Ok, here we go. Believe it or not...

1. UVB percentage doesn't tell you anything about the total UV energy output of the tanning lamp.

It is possible to have a tanning lamp with 5 watts of UV (UVA + UVB) energy @ 8% UVB. By no means does this indicate a better tanning performance than a lamp with 50 watts of UV energy @ 2% UVB. The lamp with 50 watts of total UV energy will always tan better even with a lower UVB percentage. (UVB percentage is not really a percentage at all. It is a UVA/UVB ratio.

2. Watts of UV energy are different from the watt rating on the tanning lamp itself.

When comparing two 100 watt lamps, lamp A may have a higher UV energy output than lamp B even though they have the same watt rating. A GE 100 watt cool white does not produce the same tanning results as a 100 watt diamond sun.

(And here is the tricky part)

3. The UVA/UVB ratio changes over the life of the lamp.

If you get any deeper than that, it just makes your head hurt. (or at least it does mine)

The customer doesn't have a clue why they tan and they don't want to know. A better question is which bulbs are going to give me the most sessions for my money.

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Waiting list candidates 96,910
as of July 8 2007 at 4:23pm