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Finding the Best Book Lights

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Need a Book Light?

Whether you're a student staying up late studying or just find yourself wanting to pass time on an airplane reading, a book light can be the perfect gadget. Some of these lights can even provide illumination for other tasks as well, without having to turn on every lamp or bulb in the room. They save energy and your eyes as well.

Find out what to consider when choosing one and see a variety of choices on this page.

Photo by: CarbonNYC

Who Needs a Book Light?

Book lights can actually be fairly versatile. Just a few of the people who may want one include:

Students. Especially those who study while traveling by bus, train, airplane or subway. As well as those who study late.

Travelers: As mentioned above, if you like to read, you often find yourself without adequate lighting but a book light remedies that problem.

Anyone who reads in bed. A book light allows you sufficient lighting, without disturbing others.

Those who knit, sew, quilt, or craft. Book lights that can sit on a table top or fit around your neck can also be suitable for a lot of handwork. Some people even find them useful for working on a laptop or computer keyboard, in the garage, and so forth. In otherwords, they often double as a task light.

Photo by: Ryan Somma

What Are the Common Styles?

Book lights come in a variety of styles as far as how they mount and are used, but here are some common ones.

Clamps.
Most of these book lights have a clip or clamp that you attached directly to your book, laptop, e-reader, or shelf. These are ideal for keeping the lighting level in the room over all down; thus reducing the disruption to others.

Table top.
These book lights have a base that can allow it to sit freely on a flat surface. These are handy when you want the device to function for a variety of tasks. Some will even have a magnetic base that allows you to have more placement options.

Wearable Book Lights.
There are some book lights that you can wear around your neck or over your ear. This provides great mobility if what you're doing isn't static while still keeping your hands free.

Choosing a Book Light

So you want a book light, what should you think about when choosing one? Here are some thoughts:

Adequate illumination.
A single LED light can often illuminate a book adequately although more lights can help assure both pages of the book are illuminated. Of course, getting even light can also be important so that one page or one area of your work isn't too dim, or to harshly lit.

Getting the Light Where You Want It
Flexible necks on a book light are good for assuring you can get the light exactly where you need it rather than shining it to the faces of others in the room, or off to the side where it does you no good. So too, are lights that allow you more control. Expandable light heads and light controls that let you increase or decrease the lighting are two ways of doing this.

Usage Time.
Two things here. LED lights tend to be longer lasting than regular bulbs, some offering 100,000 hours of use. The other thing to consider however is how long the device will operate since most are battery powered. You'll need to decide how often you want to charge those batteries. Some book lights will operate for only 15 hours on a set of batteries, some for 40 hours.

Mounting.
Some book lights are wearable. They clip on your ear or sit around your neck. These can be handy, but for some people they are uncomfortable. Some clip on a book, a shelf, a laptop, or whatever. You'll need to know how durable the clip is, how wide it opens, and how you want to use the light. Some are also able to operate as a table top device. If using a clip style book light you want to be sure it will work well with the types of books you read. No, not fiction versus non-fiction, we're talking large text books versus small paperbacks. If the light is too large it will weigh down a paperback book but if the clip or the light itself is too small, it won't work well with your hardback world atlas.

The Power Source
As mentioned previously most book lights are powered by batteries. Those that operate with AAA batteries make replacing them easy since you can pick these up just about anywhere. However, using the rechargeable type can save you money in the end. Any battery is acceptable, as long as you can keep a supply of them. In addition, there are a few book lights on the market that also provide an AC adapter for situations when an electrical outlet is convenient.

Photo by: Betsssssy

Find a Book Light

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chrissy m Feb 21, 2012 @ 8:34 pm | delete

looking for a book light with a sleeper mode ( will shut off every 15 or 20 or 30 minutes) so other people won't hurt they eyes when I finally fall a sleep with the book light on. hubby gets so upset.

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mcochs Feb 11, 2011 @ 8:04 am | delete

Really nice lens! Blessed by a Squidoo Angel on 2/11/2011. Have a great day!

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JaguarJulie Dec 30, 2009 @ 4:31 pm | delete

I actually have a brightly colored book light that I bought for my kindle -- NOW the trick is to find the time to use the book light and do some reading rather than Squidooing -- are you similarly challenged? Happy new year my dear!

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GramaBarb Dec 30, 2009 @ 12:48 pm | delete

I recently had to buy one for a schedualed power outage (for repairs) and I wanted to read to pass the time. LED flex neck with clip worked great! Everyone should have one :)