I am in the market for a very bright lamp for my knitting. My 100 incandescent isn't enough and is hot. (My hot flashes are quite enough thank you.)
Does anyone have experience with or knowledge about so called daylight lights: fluorescent vs. Solux (halogen) vs. Ultralux vs. LED (which is cool and bright but not daylight type)? I am interested in the differences (real vs. hype) before I plunk down $75-200. I have looked at some websites but they are predominantly by the manufacturer or distributor. I don't mind spending the money if I will notice the difference and will realize reduced eye strain.
I don't know a thing about knitting but I've tried several "daylight" type lamps for reading and the one that has worked the best for me is the Ott Model: 25C92NKS. It is bright, not hot, adjustble so that it doen't hit my shoulder when it's next to my reading chair. (okay so I'm 6 foot tall) The visual claity is far better than any of the others I've tried and at my age, not young, that is a real plus. You might try a google search for ott light. One of the places that comes up is a site for sewers and knitters.
Harry
"B>I am in the market for a very bright lamp for my knitting. My 100
I have installed a lot of 5500 kelvin fluorescent lamps. They tend to look weird in color when compared to any other light source. My ex sister in law has daylight bulbs in the kitchen in Seattle to chase away the winter blues.
The term is used by mean whatever the advertising department wants it to mean. There are some rather expensive types $100-200 that are nothing special other than the marketing done by Sharper Image and like retailers than any other fluorescent lights.
Halogen is nothing more than a type of incandescent and it will be as hot as any other. The color of the light may be a little whiter and it may have a better controlled light distribution, but will also likely be more of a problem with shadows.
Same thing as the Sharper Image stuff. Nice lights, but overpriced.
LED's, are just coming onto the market and I would suggest staying away from them unless you have a special need for one of their features of long life, white (but an odd white) light very cool operation and ability to be formed into ropes etc.
My suggestion is to visit a lighting store and explain what you want and let them help you find a good fluorescent lamp in a fixture that will work for you and the way you knit. If color is important, you should be able to choose a bulb that will produce a good light color.
Halogen "daylight" lamps produce less light than same wattage of "regular-color" halogens. Halogens improve only a little, maybe somewhat over incandescents, and I doubt a halogen of "daylight" color will produce a higher ratio of light to heat than "regular color" "regular incandescents". Possibly there is improvement in heat directed your way, since some of these halogens have reflectors of type that may have reduced reflection of infrared.
As for LEDs - I say there is mostly hype and plenty of half-truths and a few outright lies. There are now white LEDs somewhat more efficient than halogens and about to maybe somewhat over twice as efficient as regular incandescents, but they are still less efficient than fluorescents. Also consider that $75 worth of LEDs is not going to produce nearly as much light as a 100 watt incadescent. I have yet to hear of that much light from $75 worth of white LEDs even at prices that a lighting device OEM would pay for 10,000 LEDs.
As for some suggestions:
I would beware of fluorescent units from anyone making health claims. My impression is that you pay for hype and likely half-truths and possible lies.
I would beware of compact fluorescents advertised as "full spectrum". All too often they are not what most in the industry would want to call "full spectrum" or "broad spectrum" but something you can pay much less for if you know what they are. Furthermore: The "Lighting Industry" lacks an accepted definition of "full spectrum". I have even seen some resistance to adoption of such a thing, since a foreseeable effect would be legitimizing some of the hucksters.
One thing to consider is "color temperature".
This means roughly:
2700 - roughly incandescent or orangish "warm white" 3000 - very slightly whiter, roughly "halogen" but may also be pinkish/less-yellowish "warm white"
3500 - My words: "semi warm white", maybe like short life incandescent/halogen photoflood lamps and projetor bulbs, but can also be slightly more-pink/less-yellow. Includes some Sylvania compact fluorescents labelled "daylight".
4100 - The "regular cool white" color, which I consider roughly "average sunlight". The main problem of "traditional" / "old tech" cool white is a color rendering index of only 62.
5000 - An icy cold pure white, sometimes appears slightly bluish, roughly the color of noontime tropical sunlight with clean air.
mid-5,000's to 7,000's - more bluish, generally bluish shades of white. 6500 is a common figure here. Typical overcast sky is about 6,000 and most black-and-white TVs are 9300. 10,000-infinity is roughly the range of "sky blue".
Please keep in mind that color temperatures around or over 4,000 easily appear "dreary gray" at lighting levels used in most home use.
Most fluorescent lamps with rated color rendering index in the range of 82-86, especially if color temperature is in the 2700-5000 range, have their color distortions in the direction of making most colors brighter and "more vivid" than "proper". Most other fluorescent lamps, probably all with color rendering index 70 or less as well as most with color rendering index in the low 90's, have their color distortions mostly in the direction of making colors appear darker and duller (more brownish, sometimes and/or more grayish) than "proper".
In general, fluorescent lamps with color rendering index higher than 86 have less light output than most with color rendering index in the range of 53-86.
Despite reduced light output, a good one is Philips TL950 color. These are available in 17 watt 2-foot and 32 watt 4-foot T8 (1 inch in diameter). Get at electrical/lighting supply shops that sell Philips products, and be prepared to special-order a whole box of them. Or get from bulbs.com - also likely a minimum order of a whole box of them - which is 25 bulbs! These are 5000 Kelvin ones with rated color rendering index of 98.
Use these in fixtures that take T8 (32 watt or 17 watt) bulbs.
Dumb question - do you wear eyeglasses? Had eye exam recently? When I need more light, it is a sign I need my glasses changed.
I have a daylight magnifier/lamp which was my mom's. She used it for needlework. It has a heavy base and a long "arm" so the magnifier lens can be placed in your field of vision over your work. Might not work well with knitting, depending on how much room you need.
Have you tried adding more lamps to the room, not just the one next to you? Ambient light around you should improve the situation.
I don't need a new prescription...and a magnifier won't solve the problem. I don't want to turn on every light in my room either.
Thanks to all for your suggestions. I am going to go to an electrician's store in my area today. They also sell lighting. Will see what they have to say.
Daylight typically means daylight in the afternoon (with a blue sky) rather than daylight in the morning when the sun is orange.
For reading and office work, I bought 35W special Compact Flurourescents with a color temp of 5500 deg K. These cost under $10 each and produce a very bright white-blue light. For me, they are perfect for this application. They are also good for outdoor lighting.
I wouldn't put these in the bathroom or the kitchen, however as they are too blue and make for harsh skintones. Go lower in color temperture for these locations (more redish - yellow light).
I've been pretty happy with an UltraLux 55W floor lamp for reading. I've only compared it to a 150W incandescent & a 27W fluorescent Wal-Mart floor lamp; the UltraLux is much better than either of those. The incandescent probably would have been fine, except for the heat, if it was used with a reflector.
I'd guesstimate that the 18W/27W WalMart ("Sunter" brand) lamp is about is about 85% as effective as the UltraLux at 20% the price.
You might want to look at
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I'd be interested in hearing if you find a good solution.
A few years ago I replaced about eighty 40W four foot flourescents in our office with Phillips "daylight" bulbs from Home Cheepo. They cost about 2-3 times as much as their "commodity" 40 watters.
Everyone here said they liked 'em immediately and "felt better" working under them than they had under the landlord's bulbs, which we'd been living with for several years before I relamped the whole place.
I was amazed! It was probably the best valued improvement I could have done for employee moral short of committing hari-kari in the parking lot.
Lots of folks report that they see better (whatever that means) under "daylight" bulbs and lots of folks report the opposite. There's no science that says that one color of light is better than another, so it's subjective. Some say lighting color preference is also cultural with Asian countries preferring daylight colors while Europe and North America prefer warmer tones. That conclusion is based upon the numbers of fluorescent lamps sold of various colors so at least there is some data to back it up.
There are plenty of anecdotes about people liking new lighting better than the old when just the tubes are changed; but Google "Hawthorne Effect" to see why that often happens.
So, bottom line, use whatever color you like and can afford.
The color temperature preference is also different for differing tasks. At home I like a warmer tone to relax, read, etc. At work, I like the daylight as it seems more "livelier that the cheap tubes. It supposedly has a lot to do with moods in the winter when we are often daylight deprived and stimulates the production of melatonin. People are less bitchy that way.
It is expensive to replace all the bulbs with daylight, but we use them in certain places where people need extra light to work and spend a lot of their time as opposed to general lighting in a warehouse or aisle where people just pass through on occasion.
That sounds like a good approach. There's certainly lots yet to learn about the light and human health subject. My sense from reading the research is that color of the light source by itself is not very important (except subjectively). For SAD, melatonin regulation, etc. you have to consider light intensity, timing, duration as well as color to get it right. There's some information at:
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