clipping light to a book / specialized booklights?

I'm looking for a light to use to reach large children's books in the dark. I haven't found anything entirely satisfactory, and I got to wondering if I might be better off trying to take a normal 1 LED flashlight and buy some kind of clamp to clip it to the book. Anybody know of such a clamp?

Alternatively, anybody know of a really good book light that would work with big children's books?

what about a headlamp? As an added bonus, the headlamp will be very useful in emergencies.

I agree that a headlamp would be more useful in a variety of situations but I have seen exactly what you are looking for at my local Target. It's a clamp that fits onto the cover of the book with a flexible neck with one 5 mm led in it. It runs on coin cells. I think it's even advertised as a Nichia CS. I don't remember a brand name but it was 8 or 9 bucks.

Oh, yeah.....but for 15 bucks at Target you can pick up the RR .5 watt headlamp that a lot of people seem to like. Definately more bang for your buck, IMHO.

It does seem that a headlamp might work well for reading assuming you don't care about illuminating the surroundings, but for my situation I have a suspicion that it would be a complication. The children who are being read to would want to wear it....

But this light at target sounds like it might be suitable. Does it appear on their web page? I tried to find it there without luck.

I don't see it online either. However, the inventory of the online store is often different than your local store. Actually, I've been told that the inventory at each store will vary somewhat.

And if the kids like it - get them each one as a present. They'll learn more from using it than from playing a new video game...

adrianmariano said:

but for my situation I have a suspicion that it would be a complication. The children who are being read to would want to wear it....

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I think that's considered a bonus around these parts. :laughing:

Light Wedge:

http://www.lightwedge.net/

Available in different size, and good if you want to light up just the page and not spill light elsewhere. A bit pricey though.

Cypher said:

Oh, yeah.....but for 15 bucks at Target you can pick up the RR .5 watt headlamp that a lot of people seem to like.

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I've got that headlamp, and like it a lot, especially considering the prices. I thought it would be great for reading on the low setting, but while the overall output is about right, the spot is too intense for me. I was better off using the high setting, and keeping the spot off the page, reading just by spill. I'm still looking for the best headlamp for reading.

The Eveready (white/red) headlamp works better for me, for reading, than the rockriver. The Everready has more of a flood beam. Surprisingly, the red LED works very well.

Extending this a little further - how about a low light to clip on to notebooks / laptops to illuminate the keyboard (the LCD panel isnt good enough for this)?

AngelEyes said:

Extending this a little further - how about a low light to clip on to notebooks / laptops to illuminate the keyboard (the LCD panel isnt good enough for this)?

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I saw one a while back that plugs into a USB port. This not only provides a mount but power as well. Kinda clever.....

Doug Owen

apple has been quite innovative when it comes to lighting the keyboard.... its really helpful when you want to browse CPF and type things at night......

A layer of diffused scotch tape on the inside of the lens does wonders to cure the "hot spot" issue on any light. I use a headlamp with a spot of velcro to attach a headlamp to my headboard. Power it with a couple of NIMH batteries. I went to this method because it seems ALL of the booklights I could find use those stupid little button batteries.

I've got one available for $10 cyclops led book light

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=105625

May I suggest a CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent) as being best suited to your purposes? The illumination is far more even than that from an LED and they are very efficient, also having very long bulb lives like those of LEDs. There are some wee small ones available but I understand they drive you crazy and poor replacing batteries. Mine is a Phorm Night Voyager, I've had it for quite a few years, it is heavy (7.4 oz with 4 AA batteries) but has an excellent clip and the batteries will probably die of old age before you exhaust them. Here is a link to see it and some reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000095RB4/ref=ase_onthewebcom-20/104-9817489-3863918?n=284507&tagActionCode=onthewebcom-20

It can stand securely on a flat surface if you don't care to clip. You can power it with a 5V adaptor (if you can find one) but probably not worth the trouble as it is miserly with power.

- Bill