BlueMax 30W LED Torchiere Silver

A decade ago one could go into any department store and get a 300 W halogen lamp for about $20 that provided 6000 lumens of light. Occasionally these lamps would burn down a home and they always cranked up one's electricity bill, but you could at least see when you needed to. However, now the government has made lamps above 190 W illegal and good alternatives to the once ubiquitous halogen torchiere have yet to emerge. Up until recently one could get 55W fluorescent torchieres that provided 4000 lumens but these have vanished from the market (Maxlite still sells a 70 W fluorescent torchiere though). Hopefully LED technology will one day lead to a re-introduction of bright floor lamps to the marketplace, but as of now these are a work in progress. This lamp provides 3000 lumens (equivalent to a 150 W halogen lamp) and it does so at a respectable 100 lumens/W efficiency. However, it is only available in a 5900 K color temperature, which is comparable to daylight at midday or to hospital lighting. Those wanting warmer lighting comparable to incandescent bulbs (~2700 K) are out of luck. Many daylight light bulbs have a low color rendering index (CRI) but the Ultralux bulb has a CRI of 90, so it produces high quality light. The one annoying feature of the lamp is that it takes about a second to turn on; this might not sound like a long time, but now every time I flick a light switch I have enough time to wonder if I have blown a fuse. When the lamp does finally light up it does so at full strength, which is a marked contrast with CFL bulbs that sometimes need minutes to reach full strength. This is a decent lamp that come at a premium price ($129, although one should google "full spectrum solutions coupons" to get a discount code before checkout). I have purchased one, but I am holding out for still better offerings before I replace my remaining fluorescent torchieres. I'd give this product a 3 and a half star rating if that was an option, but it does not quite rise to the level of 4-star value when limited to an integer scale.

I've only had this for a couple of days, but here are my initial impressions:* Assembly was simple, and I appreciate the partial-twist joints -- much better than other torchieres with threads requiring multiple rotations, twisting the wire along the way.* I got the silver, and it's not an extremely attractive light, but it's not bad. It seems to be sort of a powder-coat paint. I'd prefer a brushed metal, which I think would make it attractive furniture rather than just a light, but I'm sure that would add a lot to the price.* Comparing to a torchiere with a Double-D Fluorescent bulb (55 watts): The UltraLux LED hits full brightness within a second of turning on, where the fluorescent hits full brightness after about 15 minutes. The two lamps provide roughly the same light after this warm-up period.* This is powered by a "wall wart" switching power supply which provides 24V DC to the lamp. If plugged into the lower outlet of a standard duplex outlet its shape does not occlude the upper outlet, so the "wall wart" is not a disadvantage unless you are plugging it into a power strip or quad outlet. A quick-disconnect in the cord is a nice feature, implying you could replace the power supply if it fails (and given the long life expectancy of the lamp itself, it is quite likely that the power supply will fail before the LEDs).* Assuming this light lasts as long as it is advertised, I consider it a very good value. Next time I need to light up a room I will probably buy another one of these. If this was brushed metal and provided 15% more light output, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat (even at a much higher price).

Pros: lamp is fully dimmable.Does provide high-quality light output, particularly in comparison to the rest of the market.Simply put, there are not very many dimmable daylight LED torchieres on the market, for whatever reason.What I've heard is that gov't regulations have put taken energy-efficient lamps out of the market.Cons: The translucent shield covering causes a lot of glare. This is not really acceptable. Were it not for the translucent shield, this would be a 5-star lamp. This is, unfortunately, a pretty bad design flaw, which can be obviated if one places the lamps behind the area being illuminated, so that one does not glance up at the lamps too frequently and get exposed to a very bright light.