Anyone ever try a "natural light" lamp? (1 Viewer)

[Bill Wheatley]

I've been looking at this one by Ultralux. I was curious just how helpful it is with eye strain. The specs also says it's as bright as a 300w hallogen bulb... I'd like to know how accurate that is.

Anyone ever try one of these?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[chris_everett]

I've never found any of the compact fluorescents to be good for eyestrain. Although the new ones are better than the early models, (And the ones they sell do have very good specs) Give me a reguler halagon bulb any day.





More about light than you ever wanted to know:



Halagon bulbs have a color temp of 3200, reguler incandecents have about 2800. Fluorescents vary between 4000 and 9000. At midday, the sun has a color temp of around 4500. (This can very tremendously based on many factors) All fluorescents (and any other discharge lamp) flicker to some degree, which, IMHO, causes eyestrain. Higher color tempature (more blue, less yellow) provides an approximation of the sun, which some studies have linked to better mental health, especially during the winter. I find that the 400 degrees of additional color temp you get with halagon help in this regard a great deal.



CRI, or color rendering index, is how accuratly colors appear under different lights. 100 is perfect. Halagons are a 100. Fluorescents vary from 45-95 Thing to remember--never look at paint samples under the fluorecents they have at the paint store, always use an incandecent or halagon light or THE SAME fluorescents you have at home.



I never trust the lumen rating on bulbs, except to compare two similer bulbs from the same manufacture (a 50 and 100 watt halagon for example), I've found that lumen rating does not always connect with percieved brightness.

 

[Al.Anderson]

We got my mom one of these and it does have a "cleaner" light. I can't comment specifically on eye strain, but it certainly lets you see better - which would seemingly help with strain. One point, the prices for these things have come down; the one you are looking at is high at $149. I'm positive I've seen them at $129, and I think even lower.



Also, have you tried the newer 'white' incandescent bulbs? I don't think they'll help as much as the specialty lights for prolonged reading, but used in conjunction might help with eye strain.