Bolster
Flashlight Enthusiast
My first foray into fixed LED lighting, I purchased a lamp that takes MR16/GU10 bulbs for a desk-based reading light. The light is variable in height over my desk from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 feet from the desktop. It came with a halogen of course, but I wanted to try an LED.
I found the UtiliTech Pro GU10-based light sold at Lowe's. 5 watt, 260 lumens, 38 degree flood, 3000K "warmish" light. It's advertised as dimmable. Claims operating cost of .60 cents per year @ 3 hours per day.
Impressions:
- The tint doesn't seem warm, it seems neutral when used inside the home. Whereas the halogen it replaced was very warm in color (not to mention hot in terms of temperature!)
- I was worried about the light being too dim, but I have just the opposite problem. I can't get it dim enough for anything but reading use. When reading, I appreciate the brightness, but as a general desk illuminator it's too bright. While the light is dimmable, its dimming range is narrow. The Halogen would dim down very low, but the LED dims from "very bright" to "bright" and then winks off.
- 38 degrees is on the wide side of what I've seen available for LED GU10 bulbs, and I need it even wider. It doesn't quite evenly illuminate a large page from 2 feet up. So I applied a window diffusion material to the lens, which helped considerably, but I'm considering applying a second layer of it to get even more diffusion.
- The lamp is comfortable to touch and adjust with the LED. With the halogen it was too hot to touch and I needed to let it cool before adjusting (a pain) or use gloves (a pain).
Most of my problems would be solved if I could get the lamp another foot higher, and I may try re-engineering how it mounts to the desk.
I found the UtiliTech Pro GU10-based light sold at Lowe's. 5 watt, 260 lumens, 38 degree flood, 3000K "warmish" light. It's advertised as dimmable. Claims operating cost of .60 cents per year @ 3 hours per day.
Impressions:
- The tint doesn't seem warm, it seems neutral when used inside the home. Whereas the halogen it replaced was very warm in color (not to mention hot in terms of temperature!)
- I was worried about the light being too dim, but I have just the opposite problem. I can't get it dim enough for anything but reading use. When reading, I appreciate the brightness, but as a general desk illuminator it's too bright. While the light is dimmable, its dimming range is narrow. The Halogen would dim down very low, but the LED dims from "very bright" to "bright" and then winks off.
- 38 degrees is on the wide side of what I've seen available for LED GU10 bulbs, and I need it even wider. It doesn't quite evenly illuminate a large page from 2 feet up. So I applied a window diffusion material to the lens, which helped considerably, but I'm considering applying a second layer of it to get even more diffusion.
- The lamp is comfortable to touch and adjust with the LED. With the halogen it was too hot to touch and I needed to let it cool before adjusting (a pain) or use gloves (a pain).
Most of my problems would be solved if I could get the lamp another foot higher, and I may try re-engineering how it mounts to the desk.
Last edited:
