Best Book Light| Buyer's Guide

Book light is also known as reading light or book reading light, mainly designed to illuminate reading materials when it’s dark.

Book lights come in handy for emitting a warm glow of light on your pages at night, particularly for those bedtime readers who want to have their private reading bubbles with a focused lighting spot instead of disturbing their sleeping partners.

Most avid readers desire a portable and versatile book reading light. To meet different reading needs in various reading environments, thus book lights always have a range of lighting effects.

For instance, reading in bed before sleep, leisure reading in a living room, or deep reading in a study room. All these reading scenarios require distinctive light settings and functions; therefore, you may get confused when choosing the suitable book reading light.

How to choose the right book light that suits you best? First, make sure of your everyday use of the book light, and select the suitable type from 4 book light types. Then confirm what kind of lighting effects you need; finally, you can think about some extra functions that you want the book light to be equipped with, like an auto-off timer or power indicators.

This article will help you pick the most suitable book light from 3 main perspectives: 4 book light categories, lighting effects, and other factors you should consider when choosing book lights.

 

4 Categories of Book Light

Neck Light

Neck light, or neck reading light, distinguishes from traditional book light. It has a unique hugging-neck design with an ergonomic shape, and two lamp heads emit the light.

The neck reading is an obvious choice if you are a daily bedtime reader. As the lights on both ends always control the beam angle within 90°, your reading won’t cause any interference to your partner or roommate. Therefore, the primary benefit of neck light is creating your private reading bubble.

Plus, the hands-free design allows you to be extra comfortable and cozy when reading in bed. If you are a knitter, night runner, or repairer, a neck light helps you fully concentrate on your own business.

      Neck Light Features:

• Private Reading Zone
• 3 Color Temperatures & 3 Brightness Levels
• Eye Caring Amber Light(1800k) & Blue Light Filtered
• USB-C Rechargeable & Long Lasting up to 80 hrs
• 30 Minutes Auto-off Timer
• 3 Buttons for Easy Operating
• Flexible Light Arms

Amber Book Light

Amber book light or amber reading light it’s usually equipped with a small clip and functions by clipping on your book when you are reading. This results in the lightweight design, or the clipped pages will sink, and you will get tired of holding a book with a clip on amber book light.

The most important feature must be its special amber mode, providing amber light(1800k) to prevent straining your eyes as amber light blocks 99.99% of blue light and can effectively protect your eyesight if you read in bed at night.

Amber light can stimulate your body to produce more melatonin naturally; you will have a better sleep quality. The amber book light is your best reading companion if you are a bedtime reader.

      Amber Book Light Features:

• Unique Horizontal ET-head design
• Amber Mode for Superb Eye Protection
• 3 Color X 5 Brightness Lightings
• Powerful Battery works for 80 hrs (Dimmest mode)
• Lightweight & Portable
• High Color Rendering Index (CRI>95)
• Flexible & Durable Gooseneck

 

 

Clip On Light

Most people prefer using a clip on light as a reading lamp for bed. Generally, it’s charged by household AC power, causing a relatively large electric power consumption. So, compared with other book lights, clip-on light usually has brighter lighting, reaching 200 lumens or more.

Clip on light has a strong and big clip so that it can firmly clip on any headboard or desk board. There is always an anti-slip pad to enlarge the fraction force, aiming to prevent sliding. At the same time, an anti-slip pad can protect any plane from getting scratched.

In short, a clip on light is more suitable to be fixed at a certain place to be an illuminant because it’s heavier and bigger to be carried around.

      Clip On Light Features:

• Bright & Comfort Light
• 3 Color Modes & 5 Brightness Levels
• Advanced Controller
• Flexible Gooseneck
• Sturdy & Steady Clamp

 

Book Lights for Kids

Book light for kids has two main differences compared with other book lights.

The first difference is about size. Book light for kids comes in a smaller, more portable size, while the lightweight design makes it more like a toy. Therefore, it will be more attractive for kids.

Kids prefer reading comic books with lots of pictures. This is why book light for kids has to have high CRI, to show color more naturally with fidelity and make all your content true to life.

On top of that, all the products for kids have to be certified in a written Children’s Product Certificate based on test results from a CPSC-accepted laboratory (Consumer Product Safety Act). In this way, it can guarantee safe usage for your kids.

      Book Light for Kids Features:

• 16 Premium LED Beads with High CRI 95+
• Eye Caring Amber Mode
• 3 Light Modes Adjustable
• Safety Guarantee (no-sharp design & CPC Approved)
• USB-C Rechargeable & Long Lasting up to 80 Hrs
• Perfect Gift Choice

 

Lighting Effects of Book Light

Book lovers and bookworms always look for book lights with fantastic and diversified light settings to meet their reading needs in various reading scenarios. For instance, reading in bed before sleep, general leisure reading on a sunny afternoon, and focused reading at work. Obviously, light settings play an important role in book light choosing.

Sourcing the perfect lighting closely corresponds to choosing the suitable color temperature and brightness level; you need to consider your everyday use and select suitable light settings. (for more information, check our blog post: How to choose book light based on brightness levels & color temperatures?)

Color Temperature

Color temperature describes the warmth or coolness color features of a light source and can be indicated as degrees Kelvin (K). Usually, the color orange corresponds closely with warm and blue with cold. On the contrary, the color temperature chart is the opposite way. An easy trick to remember and understand is that blue flames are technically hotter than orange ones, which means they have a higher temperature. Therefore, colors with higher color temperatures are cooler colors.

A decent book reading usually comes with 3 color temperatures: amber/warm white/cool white; they can be applied in different lighting environments. 

For instance, amber lights (1800K) create an eye-caring light, so the amber mode is a primary light mode in a good book reading light, especially book lights for reading in bed. Warm white lights (around 3000K) are suitable for general or leisure reading based on a relaxing purpose. Cool white lights (5500K~6000K) are just like the bright daylight at noon, so people prefer completing jobs or tasks with cool white lights to make them more concentrated and focused.

Besides color temperature, the brightness level is also vital in lighting effects.

 

Brightness Level

Lumens stand for the way how people measure brightness levels. Specifically, you will know how bright a book light or reading lamp is through lumens, which indicates the total quantity of visible light emitted by a light source.

There’s an easier way to understand lumens: lumens equal to the light output. Therefore, the higher the lumens, the brighter the light. People prefer using book reading lights in various environments, so a decent book light should have adjustable brightness levels.

Different types of book lights with multi-purposes require diverse needs of lumens, and all following types of book lights have a wide range of brightness levels for you to select.

Neck Light: Most users like reading in bed, knitting, and crocheting with hands-free neck lights, so normally, people prefer low lumens like 60 lumens with neck lights. 60 lumens are bright enough to see your needlework when knitting clearly. Besides, if you are an avid bedtime reader, you should consider both aspects of enough light to light up your book, and your book light should offer focused light dimmed only on your book, without disturbing your partners.

Amber Book Light: This type of book light is specially designed with amber mode, perfect for those insatiable readers who read daily. So they need a book light with eye caring light, particularly when they read in bed at night. Amber book lights always come with 20 lumens, which can brighten up the entire pages of the book and protect your eyes with eye-caring light at the same time.

Clip On Book Light: As mentioned above, clip on book lights are usually bigger and heavier and are generally used as a fixed illumination to provide bright light for the entire room. So clip on book lights always have more than 150 lumens with brighter lighting.

Book Light for Kids: All parents want to protect their kids’ from blue light, and eye strains, as kids have not fully developed eyes. Plus, kids are more sensitive to strong lights; hence it’s expected that book lights for kids have 15 lumens at dimmest light mode. So when your kids are reading in bed at night, their eyes can be protected by an eye caring book light.

Apart from color temperature & brightness level, there are some other factors you should look for in a good book light to enhance your user experience, such as: is it USB-C or micro-USB rechargeable? How long can it last after one charge? Is there any power indicator? Does it have a timer? Most importantly, is the book light safe to use? Is it certified to guarantee your safety usage?

 

Other Factors

1.Is it rechargeable?

Rechargeable book lights usually perform better than battery-replaceable reading lights.

Some book lights still need AAA batteries as power sources, while rechargeable book lights are increasingly gaining more users. Due to its convenience of time-saving and benefits of being environmentally-friendly and eco-friendly.

On the contrary, those battery-replaceable book lights cost you more than rechargeable ones if you are an avid reader who reads day and night. Then rechargeable book lights will be your first choice, with a huge battery capacity that can last longer hours.

Take Glocusent book lights as an example; all the book reading lights are rechargeable, except the clip on light. The clip on light can be charged with household AC power, as it aims to offer brighter lighting shining the entire room.

2. Micro-USB or USB-C rechargeable?

For ease of use, nothing beats USB-C, which is faster & safer. There are 3 primary differences between USB-C and micro-USB.

Different interfaces: As for micro USB, it has 3 significant forms micro A, micro B, and micro USB 3, holding distinctive interfaces. 

USB-C usually comes with a two-fold rotationally symmetrical design (horizontally and vertically) 

Different charging speeds: Micro-USB is limited to 9 Watts of power, while USB-C can be up to 100 watts.

Physical compatibility: micro-USB has an inevitable limitation: the plug-in method. It has to be correctly plugged in, or it doesn’t work. Because it can only be inserted in one specified orientation, otherwise, the micro-USB will be damaged.

USB-C is a convenient “one-size-fits-all” design; you can plug it in any direction. Because it has symmetrical upper and lower ends, posing no damage if you plug it in the opposite direction.

Now it is evident why USB-C is gradually becoming the worldwide charging standard as a new charging port. That’s why most book lights tend to be USB-C rechargeable, offering a better user experience.

3. How long does it work? (Battery Capacity)

Typically, the battery capacity of some rechargeable batteries is expressed in Amp-hours, especially those of LED book reading lights.

It's good to know the product's battery capacity in advance because it directly impacts the working time of your LED book lights. Because of those insatiable readers, most of them desire a LED reading light with a huge battery capacity, keeping them away from regular charging.

For instance, the Glocusent neck light has a powerful, strong rechargeable battery with a 1000mAh battery capacity. If you read daily for 30 minutes on the dimmest light mode(amber light) in bed, our neck light can last up to 80+ hours, around 22 weeks.

4. Is there any power indicator?

Power indicator is a subtle but necessary function that many consumers ignore. Some book lights have only one power indicator to show the charging status. But it will be more convenient to have more than one, as you can readily see the remaining powers, and you are allowed to organize your time to charge the book light in advance.

Also, if you are a bedtime reader, you may need to pay attention to the brightness level of the indicators. Some indicators shine brightly at night, affecting your sleeping & disturbing your partner.

5. Is there an auto-off timer?

The auto-off timer allows you to have worry-free reading time, so you don’t have to struggle to turn off the light when feeling sleepy during bed reading. You can sleep with the light on, and the timer will shut off the light after 30 minutes.

What’s more, with this 30-minute timer, you will be reminded every 30 minutes to take a rest and let your eyes relax.

The Glocusent upgraded neck light is slimmer and lighter with 30 minutes auto-off timer, offering you the opportunity to fall asleep quickly while reading your favorite books in bed.

6. Is it safe to use?

All the Glocusent book lights are certified and qualified with product standards for different countries worldwide. For example, Federal Communications Commission(FCC), a marking indicates the electronic item is approved for use in the US; European Conformity(CE) marking indicates the product is affixed to comply with all relevant European requirements. If you purchase a book reading light with FCC， CE， RoHS， C-TICK, and PSE certification, you can take this book light to almost any place worldwide.

Besides, our rechargeable batteries are all certified by the battery MSDS (material safety data sheet) to confirm your safe usage. The MSDS includes critical information about batteries and how to handle, care for and deal with safety issues.

As for book light for kids, Glocusent has CPC(Children's Products Certificate) certification approved. The CPC certification assures our kids reading lights all comply with applicable children's products safety rules. The kids' safety is the priority when choosing gifts for kids.

In the End

Book lights are categorized into 4 types with unique features and functions, you can consider your own preferences and user purposes to choose the most suitable one. There are two primary factors affecting light effects, which are color temperature and brightness level. Also, some other considerations are suggested above.

For more detailed information, you can check the blog posts on our official website. (http://glocusent.com) We have topics like: How to choose the best book light from 4 categories? What are the main parameters of a book light?

Feel free to reach out if you have any queries: service@glocusent.com