The 6 all-time desk-bound lamps for center strain, pocket-sized spaces, and more than

Desk with 7 lamps standing on it best desk lamp, the best desk lamps in 2022

Camryn Rabideau/Insider
  • The best desk lamps in 2022
  • The best desk lamp overall
  • The all-time upkeep desk lamp
  • The best desk lamp for heart strain
  • The best desk lamp with charging abilities
  • The best desk lamp for small spaces
  • Testing methodology
  • What else we tested
  • What to look for in a desk lamp
  • How should you position a desk lamp?
  • Bank check out our other nifty guides to home role accessories

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Desk-bound lamps provide the chore lighting needed to reply emails, read over important documents, accept notes, and more than. You might be the kind of person who chooses a lamp solely based on its aesthetics, merely there are other of import factors to consider when shopping for a desk lamp. When picking out your perfect lamp, consider lighting blazon, light temperature and brightness, and range of movement.

To find the best desk lamp, I consulted with an ophthalmologist, ergonomists, and engineers and used their insights to narrow my search to seven summit-rated products. I tested each for several consecutive days, assessing their design, performance, ease-of-utilize, and extra features. Yous tin find the details of how we tested, what to look for in a desk-bound lamp, and more hither at the end of our guide. Acquire more about how Insider Reviews tests and researches home products.

The best desk-bound lamps in 2022

Best desk lamp overall: BenQ e-Reading LED Swing Arm Desk Lamp, $229 at Amazon
Sporting a modern design, the BenQ e-Reading LED Swing-Arm Desk Lamp provides wide low-cal coverage, a large range of motility, and adjustable brightness and temperature settings.

Best budget desk lamp: AmazonBasics Dual Head LED Desk Lamp, $25.fourteen at Amazon
While its features are limited compared to other desk lamps, the AmazonBasics Dual Head LED Desk Lamp delivers a solid performance at a reasonable price point.

Best desk lamp for middle strain: Dyson Lightcycle Morph, $649.99 at Dyson
The Dyson Lightcycle Morph automatically adjusts its brightness and low-cal temperature throughout the mean solar day based on your precise location, helping to reduce center strain.

Best desk-bound lamp with phone charging: Lumicharge 2, $109 at Amazon
The Lumicharge II boasts both a universal phone dock and wireless charging pad.

Best desk-bound lamp for small spaces: TaoTronics LED Desk Lamp, $39.99 at TaoTronics
The TaoTronics LED Desk Lamp has wireless telephone charging and a night-lite feature, making information technology suited to dorm rooms or other small spaces.

The best desk-bound lamp overall

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Sporting a thousand odern pattern, the BenQ e-Reading LED Swing - Arm Desk Lamp provides wid due east light coverage, a big range of movement, an d a djustable brightness and temperature settings.

Pros: Modern design, numerous warmth settings, tall enough to illuminate desktop computers, a wide range of motion, elementary controls

Cons:  Large frame might non arrange small-scale spaces

Extending vertically upwards to 30 inches, the BenQ e-Reading LED Swing-Arm Desk Lamp

stands out because information technology is significantly larger than the other desk lamps we tested. The lamp'due south caput is mounted on a ball joint so you lot tin pivot information technology in any direction, and the arm too rotates 360 degrees on the base of operations, making this lamp extremely versatile. Despite its somewhat complex blueprint, the lamp was extremely easy to prepare.

The light's head is but over 15 inches in length and casts wider lighting coverage compared to the other desk-bound lamps I tested. It easily illuminated my whole desk, which is 56 inches wide. I rarely needed my usual overhead light.

Information technology'southward quick and easy to adjust both the effulgence and color temperature of the BenQ Desk Lamp. When you printing the punch on the lite's head and then turn it, you can adjust the color temperature of the light to 12 different settings, the most of any lamp nosotros tested.

The lamp too has an ambient low-cal sensor, then information technology automatically adjusts its brightness to suit your environs. I sometimes had to tweak these settings just not by much. Additionally, the BenQ Lamp has a special eastward-reading mode that helps reduce glare when you're reading on a calculator screen.

This 18-watt lamp isn't Energy Star-certified, but it does take a panel of free energy-saving LED lights. It produces an impressive 1,800 lux and the lights provide constant flicker-costless illumination to reduce eye strain. Although it was the heaviest lamp we tested, I was never worried about it tipping over, fifty-fifty as I adjusted the arms.

The best budget desk-bound lamp

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While its features are limited compared to other desk lamps, the AmazonBasics Dual Head LED Desk-bound Lamp delivers a solid performance at a reasonable price signal.

Pros: Cheap, flexible gooseneck provides a range of motion, split-head pattern for versatility, 3 light modes

Cons: Challenging to arrange the effulgence level

If you lot're looking for an affordable lamp that checks all the boxes, the AmazonBasics Dual Caput LED Desk Lamp is a small yet functional option. It stands around 13 to xv inches tall, depending on how you lot angle its adjustable gooseneck.

The lightweight lamp comes gear up to use out of the box, and has a useful split-caput blueprint.  The head provides bright, targeted light when the halves are arranged together, but you tin can split them autonomously for more diffused lighting that covers a larger area. Plus, the dual-caput design is mounted on a flexible gooseneck that tin can exist adapted nearly 360 degrees or brought closer to your piece of work surface.

The AmazonBasics Lamp has 48 energy-efficient LED bulbs. In that location's a push button on the base that lets you lot toggle between three color modes: natural, white, and yellow light. Yous can also arrange the brightness level by leaving your finger on the power button. I found information technology  tricky to become the brightness exactly at the desired level, equally the sensor isn't quite sensitive enough.

The merely other feature this light offers is a 40-minute timer. Overall, it's a fairly simple lamp with a minimalistic pattern, just it works well and would make an excellent  addition to a student's desk or other small-scale piece of work spaces.

The best desk lamp for heart strain

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The Dyson Lightcycle Morph automatically adjusts its brightness and calorie-free temperature throughout the day based on your precise location, helping to reduce eye strain.

Pros: Wide range of movement, automatically adjusts warmth and brightness based on your location, turns on/off automatically when yous leave or enter the room, can exist controlled via Dyson Link app

Cons: Very expensive, concrete controls are catchy to utilize, app needs your location for full functionality

Later working at a desk-bound all solar day, it's mutual to experience symptoms of eye strain, which can include sore or tired eyes and headache. Benjamin Bert, Md, an ophthalmologist at MemorialCare Orangish Declension Medical Heart in Fountain Valley, California, explained that adjusting lighting temperature throughout the 24-hour interval can aid minimize center strain.

Few lamps with auto-adjusting dimmers came up in my inquiry, merely the Dyson Lightcycle Morph met our criteria for testing. This Energy Star-certified smart desk lamp automatically adjusts its warmth and brightness throughout the day based on your verbal location.

During testing, I was impressed  that the lamp optimized its settings to arrange my surround, and I never experienced any center strain. Its near-abiding micro-adjustments happen every 60 seconds. Withal,  you have to give the Dyson Link app permission to access your location for the lamp to do this.

The Dyson Lightcycle Morph has the sleek modern design yous'd expect from the brand, though I was surprised at its 7.vii pound weight. The vertical stem of the lamp offers a 360-degree range of motion, and you tin can likewise twist the upper half of its horizontal arm to indicate the light sideways or upward for ambience lighting. When the arm is placed dorsum over the lamp's base, information technology lights up the stem, creating a gentle ambience light that reduces blue low-cal.

You're able to adapt both the lamp's warmth and brightness from the top of its arm, simply frankly, these controls are a bit finicky to use. I establish information technology significantly easier to adjust the lamp via the Dyson Link app, which besides allows you to save custom brightness and warmth settings for specific situations and even your age. The Lightcycle Morph besides automatically turns itself off and on when you leave and enter the room.

The best desk lamp with charging abilities

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The Lumicharge II boasts both a universal phone dock and wireless charging pad.

Pros: Wireless charging, three physical chargers, congenital-in digital display, easy-to-apply controls, a wide range of motion

Cons: Somewhat cheap-looking, night-light is as well bright, clock is disruptive to programme

A few lamps that we tested — including the ones from TaoTronics, Pablo, and Lumicharge — come with the power to accuse smartphones. Of the three, the Lumicharge 2 stood out. It has diverse charging methods, including a wireless Qi-enabled pad, universal phone dock, and USB port.

The Lumicharge doesn't crave whatever setup, and it has an adaptable arm with an impressive range of move. The stem offers 145-caste rotation, and the arm itself tin can be tilted 120 degrees upwardly or xc degrees side to side. The lamp contains LED bulbs covered past a plastic diffuser that help reduce the harshness of the calorie-free. During testing, I adapted  the lamp to my preferred brightness levels with no bug, and information technology never caused whatsoever centre strain or other discomfort.

To charge your phone, this lamp has a "charging dial" in the base that you tin can rotate and access three common charger styles: lightning, micro-USB, and USB-C charger. You tin can too place your smartphone on the wireless charging pad, though it but worked when I removed my phone case first.

The Lumicharge II has a few other interesting features, including a digital display on the arm that shows the fourth dimension, engagement, and temperature. While the idea has potential, I found the display to be frustrating to program and old-fashioned  in appearance. The blocky, retro numbers seemed out of identify. The lamp also has a move-activated night-low-cal, but it was far too bright and would dazzle my eyes when it turned on in the nighttime.

Finally, while functional in every fashion, the Lumicharge has a cheap, plasticky appearance, despite costing $100.

The best desk-bound lamp for modest spaces

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The TaoTronics LED Desk Lamp has wireless phone charging and a night-light feature, making it suited to dorm rooms or other small spaces.

Pros: Like shooting fish in a barrel-to-use controls, lightweight, wireless charging, night-light feature

Cons: Short, limited range of motility, potent hinges

Despite its low price, the TaoTronics LED Desk Lamp proved quite effective. Information technology didn't require any setup beyond plugging it in and is easy to move around. The lamp is one of the smallest options we tested, and its compact form and nighttime-low-cal feature brand it a good fit for dorm rooms.

You tin select the brightness level via a touch-activated bar on the base of the lamp. There are five color settings controlled by the "Chiliad" push. There'southward even a wireless charging ring that can juice up Apple tree and Samsung phones, but information technology only worked when I removed the case from my iPhone X.

The TaoTronics Desk Lamp's stem rotates 180 degrees at the base, and the arm tilts up or down 180 degrees on its hinge — not bad, just as well non the best nosotros tested. Yet, the hinges were fairly strong, and I had to hold down the lamp'due south base of operations to keep it from moving as I adjusted the arm.

The lamp wasn't tall enough to use with my desktop computer , which is effectually 20 inches tall. Occasionally, it caused eye strain, every bit I had to tilt the arm upward, and the LED lights were very bright when they shined direct into my optics. The lamp worked much better when I was using a laptop, every bit the arm could stay angled downward — some other reason nosotros call up it'south better suited for smaller desk-bound setups.

In terms of other features, the TaoTronics Desk Lamp includes a USB port for charging electronics. It also has a lx-minute automated close-off timer, and the lamp remembers your settings, defaulting to them the side by side time yous turn it on.

Testing methodology

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I've been a product reviewer for iv years now, then I used my feel testing household products, including lamps, to develop a comprehensive testing methodology. I also consulted diverse experts, including Benjamin Bert, Doctor, an ophthalmologist at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center; Blake McGowan, director of ergonomics research at VelocityEHS; and Matthew Thorpe, a senior sales engineer at Fagerhult Lighting in London.

With their advice in mind, I came up with several essential features to evaluate, and from there, I was able to determine which desk lamps to test. While hundreds of desk lamps are for sale, the lamps selected run into the criteria outlined below.

When testing these desk lamps, I considered several key factors, including their range of motility, brightness levels, and ease of control. I used each one in my home office for at least two full sequent workdays, taking the post-obit into account:

  • Ease of setup: Afterward receiving each lamp, I unboxed and assembled information technology, noting whether the process was disruptive or challenging in any mode.
  • Size and form: The lamps I tested include many different shapes and sizes, and afterward a few days of use, I noted whether the form of the lamp was helpful for tasks like taking notes, working on a computer, and reading documents.
  • Eye strain: At the end of each workday, I noted whether I had experienced any eye strain from using the lamp and if I had to adjust the lamp in whatsoever way to avoid it. According to Mayo Clinic, middle strain can manifest as eye soreness, headaches, light sensitivity, and more than.
  • Brightness: Preferences may differ depending on whether y'all want a lamp that's brighter or softer, so I made certain to note the lumens/lux emitted by each for comparison, when available. Unfortunately, this measurement wasn't listed for every product, so I also tested the highest and everyman settings and evaluated whether the lite was adequate for particular-oriented tasks, ambient lighting, and more.
  • Movement: Our experts recommended looking for lamps that offer a range of movement then y'all can adjust the positioning of the light for different tasks. For each lamp, I assessed how far the stem and caput could be adjusted and in what directions and how piece of cake it was to make these adjustments.
  • Features: Virtually of the lamps we tested included a few extra features, including automatic timers, wireless charging of electronics, or nighttime light. I tested all these features to assess their usability, noting whether the functionality was useful or but a gimmick.

What else we tested

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Nosotros tested a few other desk lamps while writing this guide. Here'southward what else nosotros tested that didn't ultimately make our elevation picks.

What we recommend

Pablo Pixo Plus : The Pablo Pixo Plus has a stunning modernistic design, and it's hands the most aesthetically appealing desk lamp nosotros tested, with its sleek form and broad range of color options. However, it left something to be desired in terms of functionality. The stem has a 180-degree range of motion, just it just moves side to side — similar to a windshield wiper. The head can likewise rotate 360 degrees, but I institute it  hard to get the lamp into a comfortable position without placing it sideways on the desk. Additionally, while the 325-lumen light is dimmable, the control machinery is frustrating to employ. Information technology involves holding your finger over a small sensor on the head of the lamp, and it never stopped at the brightness I wanted. Still, if a sleek pattern and wireless charging are priorities for you lot, this lamp is an attractive option.

What we don't recommend

Luxe Lamp Cordless Desk Lamp: While the Luxe Lamp Cordless Desk Lamp is useful for sure tasks, it's much also small to cutting it as a desk lamp. Its flexible arm offers 180-degree movement, just it's only 15 inches long so when y'all curve it over to focus the calorie-free, it ends upwardly being less than a pes away from the desk. The lightweight, cordless blueprint is nice if you don't have an outlet nearby, and the lamp can run for three or more hours per accuse thanks to its 28 energy-efficient LED bulbs. Still, the overall blueprint is better suited for small-scale tasks that crave you lot to be close to the piece of work surface, like sketching.

What to look for in a desk lamp

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Buying a desk-bound lamp might non seem similar a complicated task, but there are a number of features y'all'll want to await for when selecting the all-time ones for your needs. Here are the almost important factors to consider, as recommended past our experts as well as my own research and experience.

Range of motion: All of the experts consulted for this guide agreed that information technology's important for lamps to be adjustable, and the larger the range of movement, the improve. McGowan explains lamps should take "the ability to be positioned to exclude glare on the work surface, keyboard, input brandish, computer display, or other equipment." A wide range of motility likewise allows you to move a lamp'southward light source closer to newspaper or other objects when needed.

Brightness and color temperature: Extended computer apply can cause eye strain, but proper lighting tin can help minimize the effects. "A lot of eye strain is created by our habits," says Bert. "When we work or read on a calculator, nosotros blink less. As the day progresses, our eyes get drier and drier, which is equivalent to  having multiple small staring contests with our computer screen throughout the day. Having the appropriate color spectrum has been shown to do good our sleep/wake cycle, contributing to fatigue and eye strain."

Information technology's beneficial to expect for a light that has brightness settings and besides offers different low-cal temperatures, assuasive you to accommodate the color spectrum throughout the twenty-four hour period: "In the center of the mean solar day, you may want to utilize a full spectrum LED light that would simulate the color spectrum of the sun," says Bert. "However, in the evening, yous would want to use a warmer spectrum light that has less of the high free energy blue wavelengths."

Energy efficiency: If you're going to be using a lamp all day, an energy-efficient model can help save you money. Luckily, most of today's desk-bound lamps utilize LED bulbs, which consume less energy and last significantly longer than incandescent bulbs. You may also want to look for a light that is Energy Star-certified, which must use 90% less energy than traditional models using incandescent lite bulbs.

However, LEDs can be harsh on your eyes when not diffused: "Good quality LEDs are great for energy efficiency and longevity compared to traditional bulbs or fluorescents, but exercise consider visual comfort," says Thorpe. "Blank LEDs are an extremely bright signal source — lots of low-cal from a very small-scale space — so look for a well-made fitting that volition command the lite with a diffuser."

Additional features: Many desk lamps offer additional features, including telephone-charging capabilities. If yous're looking for a model that can charge your phone, make sure it's compatible with your particular phone model — some just work with the latest iPhones and Androids.

How should you position a desk lamp?

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The mode you position a lamp on your desk can bear upon whether you lot experience centre strain, and our experts recommend finding a spot that ensures the lamp won't reflect off your computer screen. "If yous're using a desk lamp in conjunction with a backlit screen (tablet, laptop, or desktop computer), it's best to have the illumination provided by the desk lamp be like to the effulgence of the backlit screen and be predominantly directed behind the screen," says Bert.

"Y'all don't want to have the desk lamp reflecting off of a drinking glass screen," he says. "The reflection can crusade additional glare that can increase center strain. For that reason, it is sometimes best to take the light behind your computer, but easily movable if you want to have it in front of printed documents."

Our experts recommend placing your desk in a location that has adept natural lite, which is piece of cake on the eyes and will help supplement the illumination provided by your lamp throughout the twenty-four hour period.