I am looking for a nice book light that can also last me a while. I have one by energizer, and while it’s not bad, battery time isn’t too great for my liking.

Any recommendations?

  • CamelCityCalamity@lemmy.world
    2·
    26 days ago

    Have you considered using a headlamp? I find they make better book lights than anything that clips to a book. It doesn’t get in the way of turning pages or weigh the book down. Plus the light is more even, and it’s generically more useful since it’s a headlamp.

    I have a good rechargable one with several brightness settings and a beautiful warm white LED. It lasts a very long time on the lower settings that are good for reading. Read on if you want to know why I chose the specific one I did, buy honestly, and headlamp will work. The one I have is not cheap.

    On the other hand, some book lights have multiple color temperatures, and using one that limits the blue light can help with sleep when used near bed time.

    Armytek Wizard C2 Pro Nichia warm white headlamp.

    Price: $99

    1. The battery is an easily swappable, super common 18650 Li-ion. If it stops holding a charge, you can easily replace it very cheaply, but it should be good for years. Plus you can swap it out for a freshly charged one if you have spares and a secondary charger.
    2. It has a custom, durable magnetic USB charging cable, not some tiny USB port that’ll just break. It literally plugs itself in. You just hold the headlamp base near the cable and it jumps on. (After twisting the base CCW 1/4 turn.)
    3. The color temperature is a warm white with 95% color rendering index. (That’s really good.) If you read a magazine or comic with it, the colors really pop! Seriously, I was blown away when I first looked at something colorful with this headlamp. Cheap headlamps often have a blueish tint which is terrible. Same with cheap booklights, too.
    4. The lamp pops off and you can use it as a flashlight, plus the base is magnetic so you can stick it onto things.
    5. It’s a flood light, not a spot light, and has a wide beam with very even illumination.

    It makes a superb book light while also being an excellent all-around headlamp.

    I just thought I’d mention a headlamp as a choice, and a good one is worth the money, IMO.

    The biggest downside is it’s not super comfortable for more than an hour of use. I took off the top strap, and that makes it even worse I imagine. If I really needed to use it for a long time, I would wear it over a bandana or something.

    • dresden@discuss.onlineOPMEnglish
      1·
      26 days ago

      Someone recommended headlamp to me few years back, but I haven’t come across a one that works good as book light, most of them are super-bright for the purpose.

      Just looked it up, it looks more like a normal torch attached to head strap than like your average headlamp, and it’s a bit above my budget for a book light, but the reviews look good so can be a good long term solution.

      Thanks for the recommendation!

      • CamelCityCalamity@lemmy.world
        2·
        8 days ago

        That’s the beauty of this one. It has like 8 brightness levels and the first one is so dim it’s too dark to read by. The highest will light up your entire yard in a 100’ radius. (It’s nuts, but it can’t do that for more than 60 sec before it turns itself down.)

        You never have to worry about what brightness level you left it at when you last turned it off (although it does remember it). You can instead long press the power button while it’s off, and it will start stepping up through the first seven brightnesses startling with that “firefly” mode that wouldn’t bother your eyes even in the middle of the night. And then it stays at the level where you release the button.

        It’s by far the best headlamp I’ve ever owned. Budget be damned, just buy it. You won’t regret it. 😂

        Oh, it also comes with a handlebar mount. It makes an excellent bicycle light.

          • CamelCityCalamity@lemmy.world
            2·
            5 days ago

            I will say, if you have a book with glossy pages, or glossy print, having the light directly above your eyes can cause glare. You end up having to hold the book or magazine at a slight angle. That’s an issue a book light doesn’t have as much.

            If you do buy it and don’t like it, send me a DM and I’ll see about buying it from you. I could always use a spare. But it has to be the Nichia warm white version.

            • dresden@discuss.onlineOPMEnglish
              1·
              5 days ago

              Na, I like flashlights, have a few just laying around, fortunately stopped myself from “collecting” more before the hobby became too expensive. Having one more won’t really matter, also don’t have any headlamps, so one for the collection, if nothing else 😀