Buyer's Guide

Just like other purchases you make, there are also some factors that you need to consider. Here are the 6 important factors to consider.

1. Working Area

The larger the working area, the taller the lamp you need since the light needs to cover more ground. So before you get a new desk lamp, perform a quick measurement of your working area. From there, you can estimate the required height — you can also purchase adjustable stand in case you miss the measurement.

2. Position and Direction

If you have several working areas in a single room, then it is best that you equip yourself with a desk lamp with a flexible head. It needs to have the capacity to be manipulated and positioned in a way that lets you illuminate your preferred sit

3. Amount of Light

The amount of light is also one of the things that you need to consider. Eye strain is one of the most common health concerns among people nowadays. Especially with the advent of smartphones and high definition screens from computers and digital devices.

You do not want to further put damage to your eyes that produces intense glaring light. The recommended watts that for a healthy eyesight is usually 5-9 watts.

4. Automatic Turn Off Feature

Recent desk lamps have innovative features such as the ability for the unit to turn off by itself after a pre-set time. The pre-set time usually lasts for 1 to 2 hours.

This comes in handy whenever you want to doze off with a calming light, as you do not need to stand up and turn it off. And also you can reduce the amount of energy used, which can lead to cost savings.

5. Design

Design is one of the determining factors when choosing a desk lamp. Who says that desk lamps should be plain and boring?

Some manufacturers took the extra mile to make their desk lamps stand out with elegant designs and intricate decorations and accents. Design is a matter of personal preference, whether you like more of a contemporary look or a traditional design, the choice is up to you.

6. Energy Efficiency

Lastly, a desk lamp that has energy saving features or equips with LED lights require lower energy usage. Lamps with an overall wattage of 5-9 are usually energy efficient compared to traditional, run of the mill incandescent light bulbs.

We scoured the internet looking for the latest desk lamps that offer great value on the market. We began by gathering a list of products from colleagues and friends — and our list added up to over 30 products.

We narrowed the list by establishing a set of standard buying criteria. We checked with friends and colleagues who have recently purchase desk lamps. Some factors include design, energy efficiency, durability, ease of use, brightness output and added features.

We based on these factors and applied scores to each of the products and ranked them accordingly. Only the highest score products would be selected for review.

While reviewing and hand-tested some of the products we also checked our finding against reputable websites like bestreviews.com and lifewire.com to ensure we did not miss out anything too important to ignore.

Read below to see our findings.

The first entry on our list is the TaoTronics Smart LED Desk Lamp. Taotronics has been one of the leading companies to manufacture desk lamps all over the world.

The product flaunts all the basics in check while also donning an inviting affordable price. With a small price tag, it provides 410 lumens of power with over 11 levels of brightness which can be adjusted to your desired setting or on your preferred location. 

Aside from this, it also comes with a myriad of color modes depending on the setting you choose. Want a white color when studying or doing work on your desk? Do you fancy a sort of yellowish tinge to the light? If so, then both of these color modes are possible with TaoTronics Smart LED lamp.

The lamp is suitable for reading and for using your laptop or computer as it has a soft but uniform light that stays consistent and does not flicker. This fact guarantees you that this desk lamp certainly puts an effort in durability and reliability.

In terms of build, it sports a premium grade aluminium alloy metal that gives it a sleek look while fortifying its robust construction. This construction also allows passive heat sinks to promote longer lifespan of the light.

The lamp dons an elegant yet contemporary look that will add more beauty to your room.

The lamp also makes an effort in lowering your electric bills by consuming 75% less energy compared to light bulbs of similar brightness.

On top of this, the settings and modes can be accessed with a simple lay of a finger. It is way ahead of the competition as it does not have those run of the mill buttons.

Our only gripe with the product is that it is not that flexible and compact. When storing the lamp, it did not fit in small spaces in our cabinet.

From its name, multi function desk lamp, you can expect a ton of customizable and adjustable settings for this product. The Softech DL-90 has a total of 27 high power daylight LEDs with a brightness level of 90+ CRI that is almost as close as natural light, to provide you with that homey, calm feeling. 

The product comes with 4 color modes to choose from with over 40 brightness levels, wow that’s many!

According to the product description, the two first modes are meant for work on the desk which provides brightness levels of 4300K-5300K that will not strain your eyes even with prolonged use.

The second mode is termed as study mode with a higher range of color temperature up to 6000K to 7000K.

The other two modes are meant to give you a calmer, more soothing light as it has warmer color outputs.

The lamp makes use of 10 watts of power to achieve the same level of brightness equal to 100 incandescent bulbs. With this, you get the benefit of having lesser energy consumption with high brightness.

Moreover, the lamp has an automatic timer to shut down by itself. With this, the lamp is able to achieve a higher life span while further saving you a couple of bucks despite frequent use.

Lastly, it has a charging port that can accommodate charging of phone, mp3 players and other media devices.

Our main complaint with this product, despite the myriad of admirable features is the fact that the design seems too simple and uninspiring. Nevertheless, we still feel that this lamp is worth it.

The third entry on our list is the Koncept Z-Bar Mini LED Desk Lamp. The product flaunts high brightness output in a small, modest package. It is definitely one of the most compact lamps we have reviewed.

It dons an angular black aluminium construction with a flexible pivot, because of this, it earns five stars on the design department.

Despite its small stature, the lamp brings out surprisingly bright light that competes with other desk lamps of bigger sizes.

The lamp is equipped with six white LED bulbs that are able to collectively produce 240 Lumens of light while only requiring a small energy consumption of 9 watts.

To further lessen the energy consumption of the lamp, it has a built in touch strip dimmer to soften the light in accordance to your desired amount of light, thereby producing lesser wattage.

It has a thin circular base to keep it in balance and stable on top of your desk.

Furthermore, it has adjustable joints that makes it flexible. Want to let the lamp face your bed? No problem, you can do just that with the Z-Bar.

Our main gripe with this product is the fact that it has less durable screws in the joints. We unfortunately can not tell whether we got a faulty unit or not.

Another entry worthy on our list is the BYB E-430 Desk Lamp. It has its patented eye protection technology with an innovative light guide panel that keeps the lamp from flickering and producing unnecessary glare.

Because of this, the BYB E-430 makes sure that your eyes are not strained despite prolonged reading or studying.

The product boasts of having 144 high efficiency LEDs that use lesser energy compared to the traditional and run of the mill bulbs that make your electric bills soar high. With the lesser energy consumption, expect that the product will be able to provide a longer lifespan.

The company claims that the lamp has a total lifespan of over 50,000 hours, Wow!

Probably the good thing about this lamp is that it comes with an adjustable clamp. Don’t have enough space on your desk? Simply clasp the desk lamp on the side of the table and start working.

It has four lighting modes as well as 6 levels of dimming points to add more customization to your lamp. The product also comes with a rotating base, a double hinged arm as well as an adjustable LED panel that help you illuminate your preferred area.

In terms of design and construction, the BYB E-40 is constructed from premium grade alloy that allows for a lightweight construction while providing a more sophisticated look.

However, we feel that the desk lamp is too lightweight and flimsy compared to the other ones mentioned.

The last entry on our list is another product from TaoTronics. This time, it is the TT-DL27.

The lamp comprises of essential parts which are the desk lamp head, neck as well as arm. All of these parts can be rotated and are fully flexible. This allows you to get the optimum angle according to your preferred lighting.

On the sides of the lamp head are small LEDs that cause a softening effect of the output. This setup also helps protects the eyes from being strained.

The lamp has a total of four lighting or color modes which are optimized depending on what activity you are doing. It has a mode for sleeping, relaxing, reading as well as studying.

Moreover, it is equipped with an automatic power off timer that sets the lamp on for 1 hour. This function will come in handy whenever you are going to sleep. Because of this, you do not need to stand up to turn the light off manually. Sleep peacefully and earn those worthwhile ZZZss.

The product has a sturdy build which employs the use of premium grade stainless steel. In addition, it has a heavy base to keep everything stable and balanced.

To add more icing to the cake, it comes with a USB charging port to charge your phones, ipods, mp3s and other media devices.

Our main gripe with the product is that the head of the lamp tends to get too warm while using it more than 4 hours. The temperature though is not that alarming, but can also warm nearby materials.