Originally Posted by
DScott
Depends on whose lumens, really. Not all lumens are the same.
This.
What really matters is not so much the total lumens but the combination of this with spectral distribution. A 350 lumen LED gives a lot of light but much of it is useless - a white LED is basically a blue LED with a yellow phosphor in front, so you get two distinct peaks. This gives a dazzling light when you are looking at the source, but it can give very poor surface illumination if the surface doesn't happen to respond to either blue or yellow light.
An equivalent incandescent or HID lamp will spread those lumens over the entire spectrum so no matter what the surface it will be well illuminated.
The tradeoffs are luminous efficacy and cost - a 350 lumen incandescent will chew around 15 watts, an HID will chew around 5 watts but cost an arm and a leg, an LED will chew as little as 3 watts but give crap illumination as explained.