After someone knocked my favorite desk lamp off my desk and broke it, I’m looking for a new one.
I have my eye on the Electrix 7395, because it looks pretty much perfect for what I need it for, but I’m wondering if the 100w halogen bulb will be too bright: it has no dimmer.
Any opinions? Is a 100w halogen bulb too bright for an ordinary desk lamp, used for reading, paperwork (and schoolwork), occasional mechanical projects, and so forth?
If so, does anyone make a dimmer that works with halogen bulbs?
Well, I have a large desk, and these lamps are sold for use by architects, draftsman, craftsman, and the like. It’s not like they’re meant for use as outdoor spotlights or something.
That said, I suppose it might be a bit too bright, especially at night with all the other lights in the room turned off. That’s why I’m wondering about a dimmer…maybe I’ll ask in General Questions about that.
Should have included more - I work with lighting so I know a bit about what’s out there, and this is the desk lamp I chose: Verilux desk lamp - of course if you look around you can find them for about $40-50 or so, that price seems a bit high.
Well, contrary to the advice of everyone who replied, I went with the 100w Electrix that I linked to.
And I love it - it’s definitely brighter than most desk lamps, but that’s a good thing. It will be great for soldering and other precise mechanical work. The heat doesn’t seem like it will be a problem, although it could probably burn a hole in my desk if I brought it down too low.
It’s also very well-designed - all metal, solid and perfectly balanced. The bulb is recessed into the head and protected by a glare shield, which keeps the light directed down onto the table and out of the eyes of everyone in the room. It’s also very adjustable, with four articulated joints and two degrees of freedom for the one attached to the head.
The styling is also far better than that of most of the other lamps out there, because there is none. It’s just a collection of exposed steel tubing, springs and bolts. No cheap, rounded plastic cladding with needless bumps and creases. Perfect for an engineer’s desk.
Thank you for the responses, though, even if I ignored all of them.
Get a flourescent bulb, one of the corkscrew ones. They are a bit more expensive and you cannot dim them, but if you are just turning it on, its really amazingly bright, plus you can get ones that have a warmer color temperature like incandescents, and of course they use a tiny fraction of the power.
