Properly selected, a book light can reduce eye stress by assuring ample light while reading, even in darkened venues, and can save both energy and money. A sturdy clip on book light design can make your light easy to securely attach to your book, book holder, or book stand, and many can do double duty as craft, podium, hobby or other task lighting. Light weight incandescent or LED designs can provide exactly the required lighting anywhere you need it, without wasting energy or disturbing others around you, like a spouse or partner sleeping beside you.
By illuminating your reading materials with just the correct quantity and color of light, the right book light can save your eyes from strain and assist your reading in darkened venues. Our eyes require more light as we age, and providing the right amount of light for what we’re reading can be a real challenge. Obviously, the most perfect light for reading is natural sunlight coming directly over your shoulder, but we often wish to read when or where such lighting isn’t available. Hence, the correctly selected book light, one we can use any time and any place we choose, iscan be} an incredible convenience. Then, turning off the overheads and other lighting illuminating so much more than our reading materials, we save considerable energy and the money it takes to pay for that energy.
When making the choice between incandescent and LED book light designs, 3 primary considerations include: the different color or temperature of light produced by these two distinct technologies, the cost of original purchase, and the cost of maintenance and operation over the lifetime of the light. Incandescent lights typically produce a warm, somewhat yellowish light, and bulbs typically will provide light between 15-25 hours of use and then have to be replaced. LED lights create a whiter, cooler light, with many designs now optimized to be the equivalent of the output of light from the sun. Hence, many book lovers find the light of modern LEDs to be more “sun like”, producing greater clarity and contrast and making all printing easier to read. While replacement bulbs for many incandescent book light designs are usually available in local stores, as well as over the Internet, the cost of replacement can really add up over time. Since LEDs offer life expectancies of 10,000 to 50,000 hours, their 10-20% greater initial cost of acquisition quickly becomes irrelevant. Generally, LED lights are now the preferred choice over the older incandescent.
Battery powered clip on lights are the handiest, as your light can be used anywhere. Unfortunately, batteries too are a an item that must be replaced, typically lasting only 20-30 hours of use at best, in either LED or incandescent designs. Available A/C adapters are available for most book lights, and another option is to make use of rechargeable batteries and a recharger. Most book lights make use of either AA or AAA batteries, and many excellent models are available from which to choose. Additionally, if your light is to be used close to an electrical outlet, an optionally available A/C adapter can be a worthwhile investment.
Finally, the uniformity of light dispersal and the area over which it is dispersed is also an important consideration when identifying the best book light for a specific application. If your light is only to be used to light a standard size, mass market paperback, a simple LED or incandescent portable design will probably be sufficient; but, if you read mostly hard cover books, newspapers and magazines, or even a full music stand of sheet music, you’ll need a more powerful design that distributes the lighting over a much broader area. The best way to determine the best design for any particular application will be to test it in actual use. Wherever you shop, be sure your dealer offers both good information and advice before the sale, and a good return policy, in case your first choice doesn’t quite hit the mark. With diligence, you can find the best portable light for any use.
