Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Task lighting: which OTT-Lite is the brightest?

As the days grow shorter, the light is growing dimmer and I'm finding that I need a lot more light for all this beading work. Awhile back I purchased an Ott-Lite, the floor lamp version (the goose neck style that you can bend & twist directly over your project) and although I really love working in its daylight spectrum, I'm finding it's just not bright enough and I'm having a lot of eye strain. I thought a solution might be to purchase a second one, a table top style, so that I could have one on each side. I also bead a lot with a friend of mine and the floor lamp alone is definitely not working when there's two us -- we both go blind! Then it occurred to me to ask the *experts* -- what are you gals (and guy :>) using for task lighting? I'm especially interested in any daylight-balanced lamp that's VERY bright.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Christi, in WA state

11 comments:

vivage said...

I've looked and looked and can't find anything brighter than what comes in the lamp itself.

Soooo, I use an ott light as well as a regular lamp with a 150 watt bulb. There are daylight type bulbs available by GE,etc but they aren't really the same as the Ott type bulbs that I can see.

The extra light is a godsend but it can get really hot under the lights. It's a good thing it's coming up on winter here!

beadnik said...

I use an Ott light, the desktop, folding kind. I remember feeling when I first got it that it was really not bright at all. For some reason, I've gotten used to the quality of light from it, and use it exclusively, but I ALSO use my bifocals, and when threading needles, I even use stronger reading glasses. If you happen to be over 40, the problem may not be so much in the lighting, but in the aging eyes?
I would say, keep searching until you find the combo of lighting/vision augmentation that lets you bead without strain.
Wish I could have been of more help!
Cheers,
Sarah

abeadlady said...

I use a combination of the floorlamp OTT and a 100 watt incandescent bulb. While it does get warm, my 64 y/o eyes need the extra light.
Arline

KV said...

There is a difference in Ott-Light lamps and bulbs. My first Ott-light was only 13 watts. After I got my second Ott-light, which was 18 watts, the difference was astounding! There are even greater wattages of Ott-lights out there. Just try them out until you find the wattage that works for you.

I LOVE my 18-watt Ott-light -- it goes wherever I go!

Kathy V in NM

vivage said...

I NEEEEEED to find an 18 watt one! But does this mean I have to get a new lamp too? I'm wondering if the bulbs fit the older model lamps?

KV said...

Yes, unfortunately, Vivage -- those Ott lamps are not interchangeable regarding bulb sizes. My wonderful husband bought me the 18-watt version for Xmas last year. Wish it were that simple to just change the bulbs -- my 13-watter has been relegated to the knitting here.


Kathy V in NM

vivage said...

Bummer, but I did figure that they'd do that. It just isn't worth it to me to purchase another expensive lamp.

Now, if I could get my hub to buy it for me as a gift that would be a different story!

KV said...

Okay, Viviage and Christi -- here is the link to the lamp I got last Christmas -- it's on sale at Fire Mountain Gems:

http://www.firemountaingems.com/details.asp?PN=H202995TL

Go for it!


Kathy V in NM

Sweetpea said...

Heh Kathy, THANX!!!!!!!!

Christi

Mary Timme said...

In her book Prescription for Quilters, a physician who keeps up on these things write about the amount of light we need to use as we age. As we age say in our 50's we need nearly twice as much light as we needed at 20. At the age of 70 we need 75% more light than we needed at 20. So what I do, is used the desk Ott light and an Ott task light on the other side. Many times we shade our work with light on the same side as our handedness (right handed or left handed) and that can be a problem. Hope these help.

vivage said...

KV, thanks so much for the email alerting me to the sale!

Sweetpeas post and the whole OTT light thing got me thinking this morning about the differences between *beading* lamps and other full spectrum lights and I think I'm going to write a post about it.