I just love the concept of LEDs. They save so much on energy and energy costs, run at a much cooler temperature than other lighting options (cool!), work forever (well okay, so not forever, but a REALLY long time), and now they have a softer yellow light available in lamps – take my money! The OxyLED T120 Dimmable Eye-Care LED desk lamp is just that, an LED lamp. It’s silly I know, but even just the simplest devices that work great are often my favorite things. Will this lamp be another of my favorite things? Let’s take a look.
Package Contents
- OxyLED T120 desk lamp
- Power adapter
- Instruction manual
- Warranty card (3 year warranty)
Design & Build Quality
The upper portion of the base of the lamp and the head of the lamp is made of shiny, rigid black plastic while the perimeter of the base of the lamp and the head of the lamp is made of a hard, matte black plastic. The flexible arm is coated in rubber. The lamp seems sturdy enough and the arm bends in any direction that you desire. It is 12.6 x 3.5 x 6.7 inches, weighs 2.8 pounds, and draws seven watts of power.
The bottom of the lamp has two large, foam rubber pads to keep the lamp in place.
On the back of the base of the lamp is the DC power port.
The base of the lamp contains the circular power button and stationary dial that adjusts the brightness level of the light. When the lamp is plugged in but not on, the power LED indicator light will shine red.
Tapping on the power button once will turn on the lamp to the bright white/slightly blue-tinted light. The power and dial LED indicator lights will then shine blue. There are six levels of brightness as inferred by the number of indicator lights on the dial.
Tapping on the power button again will select the softer, more yellow light (the LED indicator lights remain blue). The dial may also be used to adjust the brightness of this color of light as well.
By either tapping on or by running your finger around the dial, you may adjust to the desired level of brightness.
The LEDs on the head of this lamp are covered by a textured white plastic that serves to diffuse the intense light which can be blinding when uncovered.
Use
When testing the features of the lamp, I found everything to be intuitive and easy to use. Positioning the lamp in any direction was fun. The arm of the lamp is very easy to adjust and did not feel flimsy or overly stiff. I was also able to adjust the head of the lamp too. However I positioned it, it stayed in place.
One thing I noticed when I was switching between the white and yellow colors of light or even adjusting the brightness levels was that the controls require you to apply just the right amount of pressure to respond. A light touch is not enough. It was necessary to tap rather firmly to change the settings. Frequently I did not apply enough pressure and had to tap again to get the lamp to respond.
Once I was able to change the settings, I enjoyed the quality and brightness of the light.
This is what the LEDs look like when the lamp is turned on to the white/blue-tinted light.
Here is what the softer, yellow LEDs look like when the lamp is turned on to this light setting.
This is the bright white/blue-tinted light, which is the perfect light to keep you awake to work or study.
This is the softer, warmer yellow light. This light is wonderful when reading and winding down your day.
The lamp also has a memory feature in which the last brightness level setting used when the lamp was turned off will be used when the lamp is turned on again. It does not remember the color of light, just the level of brightness.
Final Thoughts
With its contemporary design, various features, and the fact that it takes up a small amount of space on your desk, this lamp has a lot going for it. Its design is simple yet sleek and attractive. One of the best design features of this lamp is the flexible arm. Being able to bend the lamp in any direction is fantastic. I could even face the lamp head upward if I wanted to. Other features like changing from the white/blue-tinted bright light for studying to the softer yellow light for reading is also huge benefit to me. In general, I find that the bright white/blue-tinted LED lights sometimes hurt my eyes so the yellower light is more desirable to me. The textured plastic that covers the LEDs diffuses the light and also helps to spare your eyes. Furthermore, being able to adjust to any one of six brightness levels allowed me to find just the right one to suit my needs. The LEDs are rated to work for 25,000 hours (a 10 year lifespan) and with the energy and cost savings among all the other features, what’s not to love?
Are there any drawbacks? Well, I did find that it is necessary to tap firmly and sometimes multiple times on the controls (power and brightness) to change the settings. Also, when compared to another LED lamp that I reviewed earlier in the year (the TaoTronics Elune Dimmable LED desk lamp), the TaoTronics lamp had a USB port to charge a mobile device, it had a very nice 60 minute sleep timer, and it allowed you to choose among light setting that were different mixtures of the white/blue and yellow LEDs. However, that lamp is not as bright as this one, nor does it have the ability to adjust to any position. The OxyLED T120 Dimmable Eye-Care LED desk lamp is a nice, bright desk lamp that illuminates a broad area and does what it says it will do. Seriously, that is refreshing when many products out there do not perform as advertised.
Updates 07/20/16
I really enjoy using this LED desk lamp. I like the different colors and levels of brightness of the lights but I especially appreciate being able to move the lamp head in any direction that I want which is unique to this lamp.
Update 10/17/18
The OxyLED T120 Dimmable Eye-care LED desk lamp is another LED desk lamp that we’ve been using for almost four years now. It gets used every day and we’ve had no issues with it. I still love the flexibility of being able to angle the lamp in any direction and change the warmth of the light settings. It’s a fabulous lamp and I highly recommend it.
Source: The sample used in this review was provided by OxyLED. Please visit www.oxyled.com for more information.
Product Information
| Price: | $59.99 |
| Manufacturer: | OxyLED |
| Retailer: | Amazon |
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Cool lamp. I would actually go with the Lumiy Lightline 1250. It has a sleeker design, very bright, USB charging, and its a little less expensive than this.
Hi Kathleen, Nice review, I have one of these lamps too and you are right about the sensitivity of the controls. It’s design sort of makes you assume its touch sensitive, but I think its more of a button action. If I press down on it like I would a regular button it seems far more consistent. A USB charging port would definitely have been a welcome feature too.
@Simon.T – Thank you for the nice comment! Yes, I’ve learned the controls do seem to need a firmer touch. I also agree with the USB port – those are wonderful additions to desk lamps.