Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm very sensitive to off-white lights and to flourescents/incadescents. LEDs are awesome but it's hard to find really good, clean LED lamps for a good price. This is one. The Good: Bright. Bright bright BRIGHT. At full bright, it's a bit painful to look right at the bulbs directly, and the color is a brilliant 6000K+ white. Can I rate it officially? No. But it compares favorably with my very expensive 6500K CFLs, and the emitter is rated for 410L, though I think it gets perhaps a bit less than that; probably 400 lumens if the LEDs were all focused in one spot, though. There's an array of LEDs in a line behind an opaque screen- there are no weird dark spots or faded areas and you can only really see them if you're making an effort to look up into the hood. It's a brilliant and consistent oval of light. The arm rotates up and down, forward and back, and pivots left and right, so it's effortless to get it to illuminate a large desk. It gives you at least 24" of reach over center from the base of the arm, and it won't fall over no matter how you position it, though it might lean if you get really creative about angles and elevation. You've got a 1-10 scale for brightness that is touch-sensitive and scales very nicely from soft to full illumination- you can leave it one 1 for mood lighting or gradually bring it to 10 for reading, or turn it off entirely. The one-touch option for turning the light temperature from white to yellow is a very nice touch for reading in the evening without being kept up overlate by the white LEDs. The DC adapter is colored to go with it, and as a nice bonus touch, there's a USB port behind the stem for charging phones or other devices. The manual suggests it's a 5V/1.2A, which is a 'standard' USB 2.0 power level for charging almost any device safely, if slowly. It feels well made and the hinges are quite and tight-fitted so there's no slop or creaking. The use of aluminum here and there gives it a very polished and sturdy feel. You can shut the LED stem when not in use so it's just a vertical white stick, giving it a streamlined look; you can fold the base flat against the arm for easier storage. The best zone for reading with the LED's parallel to the base is about 18" away from center. The Bad: The base could be a little heavier/stickier so that it doesn't move when you adjust the light angle, and it'd be nice if the DC adapter was 'nested' somewhat so it wasn't so protrusive looking. It is off-center from the base, too, so it feels like an afterthought. The packaging, while nice, was way, way excessive; it's packed in dense, non-recyclable foam and there's no reason to have a sturdy plastic handle built into the box. I'd really prefer to get this shipped in more eco-friendly materials. Improvements: Adding in a removeable filter might appeal to some people; making the base stickier so it won't flex or wiggle would be nice, too. The base could be a V-shape instead of a circle, so it folds even flatter and lower profile. Finally, the DC adapter really should be hidden slightly under the base, the exposed cord outlet is a bit against the otherwise aesthetically pleasing lines. TL;DR: It's an awesome light. Plain and simple. It's not a brassy ornamental thing; it's functional and well priced, and it happens to be nice to look at with nice metal touches. Perfect for a home office, for a guest room, anywhere that doesn't need to be 'on display'. Two of them easily illuminates a 4' work desk well enough to read easily at night.