I thought I would share my thoughts on this desk lamp for those with a home office. I got this from Amazon.
The LED desk lamp from TaoTronics can be best described as a desk lamp with mood settings. Included in the excellent packaging are the lamp itself, a base section, power supply, cleaning cloth and user guide.
The first thing that strikes you is the size, the lamp section is long and slim and around 45cm long. This is fabricated with a fairly lightweight plastic which gave me initial concerns over durability but these fears were later proved unfounded. I suspect the use of this plastic is as much to do with keeping weight down of the shipping product as it is to do with costs since this also comes supplied with a necessary, heavy weight base for stability. The base is cast from metal and feels very secure and planted in use, covering roughly 18cm square. The lamp section is secured into the base by a nut that fastens on the underside. The power supply is then attached to the bottom rear of the lamp arm and you are good to go. The cable is around 1.5m long so a good length for a desk lamp.
The lamp folds in two sections, just above the base so you can angle it forward and in the middle of the lamp arm so you can flip this up to illuminate a larger area which protrudes up to 35cm. The lamp also swivels in the base through 180 degrees which adds more flexibility to where you can site the base. The lamp head itself does not articulate which is a shame but not surprising since it is quite large to house the 27 LEDs.
Yes, you read that correctly, this lamp has a total of 27 LEDs arranged in three strips of nine. The two outer strips contain white LEDs while the centre strip has yellow LEDs and it is this combination that makes this desk lamp so unique as the controls alludes to. Control is achieved by a capacitive touch panel which has four lighting modes, brightness up and down, a power on/off button and a 60 minute sleep timer. While there is no tactile feedback, these buttons are sensitive and work very well. The available modes combine the LEDs to different effect providing various levels of lighting warmth. Reading Mode offers a colour temperature range of 4500 - 5500K, Study Mode offers 5500 - 6500K, Relax Mode offers 3500 - 4500K and finally Sleep Mode provides a range of 2000 - 3000K. Effectively, the lighting is yellower and more subdued, the more relaxed you wish to be but can be bright white for when you need it. On top of this, the brightness switches offer five levels of brightness for each mode meaning you really can fine tune the lighting on offer to suit your needs.
The 60 minute sleep timer is a great addition, very handy for those using this as a lamp for reading at night. The power indicator will flash when the timer is activated and a simple tap of the timer button will cancel it.
Rounding out the package is a 1A USB socket on one side at the bottom of the lamp arm offering handy access to desktop power for gadgets.
Using LEDS, this lamp consumes a total of up to 14W of power and offers up to 530Lm of illumination. There was no sign of any buzzing during my testing, regardless of the mode or brightness selected and lighting remained steady at all times with no flickering.
There doesn't seem much you can consider when reviewing a desk lamp but I was surprised how flexible this is and it is now a mainstay on my office desk. It would be great if it could offer some extra articulation around the light head and the arm was perhaps constructed with something a bit more heavy duty for the asking price but in use it felt fine and should be safely out of harms way if left on a desk. If you have issues in finding just the right kind of lighting for your desk or just appreciate a level of flexibility then it is hard not to recommend this lamp.
Video review:
http://youtu.be/RIm9qhtFDlM
The LED desk lamp from TaoTronics can be best described as a desk lamp with mood settings. Included in the excellent packaging are the lamp itself, a base section, power supply, cleaning cloth and user guide.
The first thing that strikes you is the size, the lamp section is long and slim and around 45cm long. This is fabricated with a fairly lightweight plastic which gave me initial concerns over durability but these fears were later proved unfounded. I suspect the use of this plastic is as much to do with keeping weight down of the shipping product as it is to do with costs since this also comes supplied with a necessary, heavy weight base for stability. The base is cast from metal and feels very secure and planted in use, covering roughly 18cm square. The lamp section is secured into the base by a nut that fastens on the underside. The power supply is then attached to the bottom rear of the lamp arm and you are good to go. The cable is around 1.5m long so a good length for a desk lamp.
The lamp folds in two sections, just above the base so you can angle it forward and in the middle of the lamp arm so you can flip this up to illuminate a larger area which protrudes up to 35cm. The lamp also swivels in the base through 180 degrees which adds more flexibility to where you can site the base. The lamp head itself does not articulate which is a shame but not surprising since it is quite large to house the 27 LEDs.
Yes, you read that correctly, this lamp has a total of 27 LEDs arranged in three strips of nine. The two outer strips contain white LEDs while the centre strip has yellow LEDs and it is this combination that makes this desk lamp so unique as the controls alludes to. Control is achieved by a capacitive touch panel which has four lighting modes, brightness up and down, a power on/off button and a 60 minute sleep timer. While there is no tactile feedback, these buttons are sensitive and work very well. The available modes combine the LEDs to different effect providing various levels of lighting warmth. Reading Mode offers a colour temperature range of 4500 - 5500K, Study Mode offers 5500 - 6500K, Relax Mode offers 3500 - 4500K and finally Sleep Mode provides a range of 2000 - 3000K. Effectively, the lighting is yellower and more subdued, the more relaxed you wish to be but can be bright white for when you need it. On top of this, the brightness switches offer five levels of brightness for each mode meaning you really can fine tune the lighting on offer to suit your needs.
The 60 minute sleep timer is a great addition, very handy for those using this as a lamp for reading at night. The power indicator will flash when the timer is activated and a simple tap of the timer button will cancel it.
Rounding out the package is a 1A USB socket on one side at the bottom of the lamp arm offering handy access to desktop power for gadgets.
Using LEDS, this lamp consumes a total of up to 14W of power and offers up to 530Lm of illumination. There was no sign of any buzzing during my testing, regardless of the mode or brightness selected and lighting remained steady at all times with no flickering.
There doesn't seem much you can consider when reviewing a desk lamp but I was surprised how flexible this is and it is now a mainstay on my office desk. It would be great if it could offer some extra articulation around the light head and the arm was perhaps constructed with something a bit more heavy duty for the asking price but in use it felt fine and should be safely out of harms way if left on a desk. If you have issues in finding just the right kind of lighting for your desk or just appreciate a level of flexibility then it is hard not to recommend this lamp.
Video review:
http://youtu.be/RIm9qhtFDlM
