Properly selected, a book light can reduce eye fatigue by providing excellent lighting while reading, even in the darkest places, and can save both energy and money. A well designed clip on book light design can make your light easy to 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 put just the right amount of light exactly where you need it, without wasting energy or disturbing those around you, like a spouse or partner on the other side of the bed.
By illuminating your reading materials with the right amount and color of light, a book light can save your eyes from strain and help you read even when the lights are low. Our eyes require more light as we age, and providing the correct amount of light exactly where we’re reading can be difficult. Obviously, the best light for reading is natural sunlight shining directly over your shoulder, but we often need to read when or where sunlight isn’t available. Hence, the correctly selected book light, one we can use anywhere and anytime we choose, iscan be} an incredible convenience. Then, turning off the overheads and lamps illuminating so much more than our reading materials, we save considerable energy as well as 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 differences in the type of light produced by these two technologies, the cost of acquisition, and the cost of maintenance and operation over the lifetime of the light. Incandescent light sources typically create a warm, somewhat golden-tinged light, and incandescent bulbs typically will provide light between 15-25 hours of use and then must be replaced. LED lights produce a whiter, cooler light, and many designs are now optimized to approximate the output of light from the sun. Today, many readers find the light of modern LEDs to be more “sun like”, producing greater contrast and making all printing easier to read. While replacement incandescent bulbs are usually available in local electrical and hardware stores, as well as over the Internet, the expense and inconvenience of replacement can really mount up over time. Because LEDs provide life expectancies of 10,000 to 50,000 hours, their 10-20% greater initial cost of acquisition quickly becomes irrelevant. For these and other reasons, LED book lights are now more popular than the older incandescent.
Battery powered book lights are the handiest, since they can be used virtually anywhere. Unfortunately, batteries themselves are also a an item that must be replaced, typically lasting 20-30 hours of use at best, in LED or incandescent designs. Optional A/C adapters are available for most book lights, but another option is to use a good battery recharger and rechargeable batteries. Most book light designs use either AA or AAA batteries, and many excellent models are available from which to choose. In addition, if your light is typically used near to an A/C outlet, an optionally available A/C adapter can be a worthwhile investment.
Finally, the area of dispersal is also a meaningful consideration when choosing the best book light for a specific application. If your light will only be used to light up a standard size, mass market paperback, a single LED or incandescent book light design will probably be adequate; however, if you read mostly hard cover books, newspapers and magazines, or even a full music stand of sheet music, you’ll need a much more powerful light that can distribute the lighting over a much broader area. The best way to determine the most perfect design for your particular application will be to test it in actual use. Wherever you shop, be sure your retailer 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 buy just the right light for just about any use.