Desk Lamp

Sufficient light is important for the workplace in the office or home office. Because otherwise it will be exhausting for the eyes and makes us tired more quickly. A desk lamp can provide optimal lighting here, because it can be adjusted much better than a ceiling lamp. The desk can be illuminated without dazzling. And it saves energy because the whole room doesn't have to be brightly lit.

The desk lamp should fit the intended location and purpose. For a workplace that is used intensively professionally, we recommend a lamp with a clamp base. Such lights illuminate a large area and require little floor space. Even desks with 2 or 3 monitors next to each other can be optimally illuminated in this way. A table lamp with a stand is a good choice for the desk at home. It can be set up flexibly and can also be used as a reading or bedside lamp. For occasional use, for example in the guest room, a lamp with a built-in rechargeable battery might be interesting. Even if there is no socket nearby, it provides light.

The light color - also called color temperature - can be adjusted with our desk lamps. The spectrum ranges from warm white to cold white. A warm white light is cozy and we find it particularly comfortable when it's dark outside. A cold white light, on the other hand, is ideal if a lot of daylight falls into the room. Because a light color that is too warm would mix uncomfortably with the natural light. We find a neutral white to be optimal for many applications and concentrated work in an otherwise dark environment - not as yellowish as warm white, but not uncomfortable either.

Experts advise that a lamp on the desk should achieve 1,000 lux illuminance. The luminous flux that hits the desk is measured. The further away the lamp is from the desk or the larger the footprint, the more power the desk lamp must be able to deliver. A small lamp with a low height therefore requires less power than a large, tall lamp. The power of the lamp is measured in lumens. For comparison, a typical ceiling light bulb provides about 600 lumens of light. When that amount of light hits a small desk, it's more than adequate. We therefore recommend a desk lamp with at least 500 lumens for concentrated work. Large clamp lights should be able to double the power. As a reading lamp or backlight for video, gaming, etc., it can be less or greatly dimmed.

In addition to settings for light color and brightness, many lights have interesting additional functions: With a desk light, it is literally obvious that it can also charge a smartphone. Because that's often on the desk anyway. A USB port in the lamp base can be used for charging, where a charging cable is then plugged in. But there is also a more convenient way: Inductive charging ("wireless charging") allows the smartphone to be charged without having to plug in a cable. The smartphone (or headphone case) must support this wireless charging. Many better phones can do that, e.g. from the iPhone 8, Galaxy S7, Pixel 3. There are lights that have an off timer: at the push of a button, the light only switches off after a few minutes - ideal if you want to leave the room in the dark and no other lamp is on. And finally, there are lights with a favorites memory or night light function, whereby brightness and light color can be switched to the desired value with a tap.