REVIEW – I love sitting outside eating, writing, reading, or just enjoying the coolness of the evening. Unless it is raining, snowing, bitterly cold, or over 90º, I’m gonna try to have a late dinner on the deck, and hang out there with a drink and some screens until the evening is over. (Rarely until dawn, but it has happened before!) During these sitting spells, I frequently want a little illumination. Today, I’m going to introduce you fine folks to a Pandemic buddy, the Zafferano Olivia Pro lamp.
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $145.00
Where to buy: Amazon
What is it?
A heavy-duty portable table lamp.
What’s included?
- Lighting unit itself
- USB-A captive cable charging plate
Tech specs
MODERN AND ESSENTIAL DESIGN: Designed according to eco-design principles, Olivia Pro fits all interior styles. The structure is made of rust powder-coated, polycarbonate diffuser and LED light source
TOUCH CONTROL: Thanks to the touch control located on the top of the lamp, you can easily switch the lamp on and off, adjust the brightness, and select a light color temperature between 2200 K, 2700 K, and 3000 K
RECHARGEABLE AND REPLACEABLE BATTERY: Recharge Olivia Pro with the included contact charging base. Battery lasts for at least 9 hours of illumination and needs to charge for 6 hours
DIMMING MEMORY: Olivia Pro has the dimming memory function, which stores the previous brightness setting. Each time the lamp is turned on, the brightness will correspond to what the light was previously set to
SUITABLE FOR OUTDOOR USE: Enjoy an evening with friends, dinner, or reading a good book with the Olivia Pro. Thanks to a high protection rating (IP65), the cordless lamp can also be used outdoors
Design and features
The Olivia Pro light stands 14” from the surface. There is a round opaque bell-shaped “shade” at the top that is 2.75” deep. In the center of the top circle of the lamp (which is 3.875” in diameter) is a soft-touch button (1” in diameter). When it’s charging, the button will glow green or orangish red to indicate full or charging battery. (There is no way to tell the battery level unless it is 100% charged.)
A very thin (.625” in diameter) metal pole holds the “shade” above the flat 4.25” base. The base is weighted such that the lamp is extremely sturdy. You’re not going to accidentally knock this over while reaching for a second piece of garlic bread.
The charging base is just a tad larger than the base, with three pogo-pins in the center in a recessed tray. There is a mating indention and two concentric rings that mate with the pins to charge the battery. I have no idea where the battery is. But it lasts hours before slowly fading out. The manufacturer states nine hours. I cannot refute that.
A few things to note: This lamp has IPx6 ingress protection, so you don’t have to dive for it and protect it if a sudden storm bursts on your picnic. Grab Aunt Bertha’s Boston Crème Pie and then come back for the lamp.
The colorway I have is called Rust, and it perfectly fits that description, except it doesn’t flake or feel dry like rusting iron. There is also a flat Black one, a shiny Silver one, and (cringe) a shiny Copper-colored one.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
Plug the charging plate into any USB port. Allow the lamp to sit on the charger until the top center light glows green. Pick it up, move it to where you want more light, and push the button. (Cleverly, it will hold the last setting you used if you turn the light off and back on. Not sure if this will expire after a few hours or days, but it’s a nice touch.)
Picking it up out of the stand is simple – it just lifts off. Touching the button lights it up, and holding the button once it is on will dim it to “firefly” level. Releasing and holding the button again reverses the dimming. The other functions are listed in the accompanying screenshot from their online instruction manual.
Performance
When you first pick up the Olivia Pro, you are a bit unnerved. The center stalk is so very slender, but it feels like the solid metal that it is. But it’s really thin! And the base is heavy. Like, you could hurt someone swinging this thing at them, heavy! The shade is not as substantial as the base, but it never felt as though it was going to bend or break. You don’t have to baby it like some plastic battery lights.
Final thoughts
I read about this lamp in an article in, I think, the NY Times as restaurants were having to construct outdoor “pods” for groups during the pandemic. There was no power to these areas (they were on sidewalks and parking spaces, remember!), so these battery-operated lights were much better options than the mess of candles or oil lamps and gave actual useable lighting, rather than a tiny bit of ambiance. The writer was so impressed with it that they wrote about it, which is what I am (finally!) doing as well.
I use it all over my house when I need task lighting (sometimes mixing drinks at the bar, sometimes playing games, sometimes reading the microscopic instructions of some gadgets, etc.) in addition to taking it with me out on the deck.
The Olivia Pro currently sells for $145.00, but I think I paid under or right at $100 for it, but I can’t swear to it. I just saw it and fell in love and was entering credit card info into their website within minutes. There are now mini and micro models with shorter stalks, and a floor model (Why not call it “Maxi?”) I’ve not used or even seen one of these other sizes in real life. I am very, very happy with this unit, which is why I wanted to share it with you, my friends.
I have an extra chair in the shed, in case you’d like to join me.
What I like about the Zafferano Olivia Pro lamp
- Bulletproof (ok, not really. But it feels like it!)
- Reliable
- Elegant
- Gives off a huge amount of light
What needs to be improved?
- USB-C
- Maybe a battery gauge?
- Discontinue that copper color! (It’s the only one without a 5-star rating on Amazon! LOL)
Price: $145.00
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: This product was purchased by the author with personal funds. Zafferano did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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$29.99 (as of July 10, 2025 04:20 GMT -04:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
