benchrat · 6 weeks, one unit, bought at retail
8.6 out of 10
Our highest score so far is a desk lamp, which says something about what we value
and possibly something about the state of the rest of the industry. It has one dial,
one slider, and a hinge that stays where you put it. That is the whole product.
What we measured
Illuminance at 40 cm
780 lux at full, even across a 50 cm span
Colour temperature range
2680 K to 5040 K, close enough to the stated 2700–5000
Colour rendering
Ra 94 at the warm end, Ra 91 at the cool end
Flicker
No measurable modulation above 1% at any dim level, which is the reason for
the score more than anything else on this list
Power at full
9.2 W
Sub-scores
Does the job
9 — flicker-free dimming all the way down is rare and it is the thing
that decides whether a lamp is pleasant at eleven at night.
Build and repair
8 — aluminium arm, replaceable driver, a mains lead that is a plug rather
than a moulded captive cable.
Software and privacy
10 — there is none, and there should not be.
Noise, heat, power
9 — silent, and the head reaches 44 °C after two hours at full.
Price honesty
7 — it is expensive for a lamp, and the maker leans hard on that in its
marketing without ever mentioning the flicker figure it earned.
Six weeks in
The arm has not sagged. That is the single most common failure in this category and
it is why we hold lamps longer than the three-week minimum. The dial has developed a
very slight gritty feel that was not there in week one, which we will keep watching.