Buy Daylight U32100-01 Combo White Lamp

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List Price: $159.99
Sale Price: $129.35
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This is at least the eighth or ninth of this type of lamp I've bought over the last fifteen years, so I have some insight into the things. I love `em, but they are hardly perfect.

The really good news, and the reason to buy them in the first place: I use two on my desk in my home office and get wonderful, bright, even coverage of my entire workspace, without shadows, and having one widely shaded lamp on each side of my computer monitor means that I can mostly (not completely) avoid the glare that would be a problem with a side or centrally placed single lamp. They clamp on the edge of the desk, and therefore don't take up valuable real estate, and are easily adjustable to put light wherever you want it. I wouldn't use any other type of desk lamp; I'm thoroughly spoiled. My girlfriend thinks they're ugly; I say form must follow function, and they work GREAT.

The principle problem is that they burn out the central electrode for the incandescent bulb under regular use (I keep mine on probably twelve hours a day M-F). Frequently scraping the carbon off it helps (caution: risk of shock and death, unplug the darn thing first!), but when it goes, it's gone, and none of my attempts with a soldering iron have been of avail (everything gets very brittle and fragile). They tend to last a couple years or so at my desk. This latest unit seems to have mostly the same electrode construction as those previous; we'll see. I will say that the metal shade is larger (see below) and the lamp seems to run cooler than the older ones, so this may decrease the problem. They have also substituted an extruded metal bump for a lump of cheap solder as the actual point of electrode contact, and that may also help. The same small and shallow grommet holds the electrode in place, though.

These run between $50 and $200 at discounted prices. The cheap ones are garbage; they function poorly, especially the clamps used to set position, and break easily. I haven't tried the most expensive one (Luxo), and I probably should, but all my purchases have been in the $120 range when adjusted for inflation. This lamp is noticeably more robust in general construction than those I've bought in the past, though I've never had a cantilever arm fail or break. The springs are covered rather than bare; though one would have been hard put to pinch oneself in the others, they do look a bit neater.

I must respectfully disagree that the bulb shipped with the lamp is a "daylight" bulb; the one I received, at least, is an even-bluer-than-usual fluorescent, so much so that I used an ordinary soft white incandescent bulb to try to even out the light color instead of the "Reveal" bulb I would normally have used. The combo works well, and this combination is the reason these lamps were designed in the first place, I believe; the redder light from the incandescent and the bluer fluorescent light combine to give you a good 200+ watts or so worth of fairly balanced light on your workspace. The new fluorescent bulb is larger (28W rather than 22W) and I definitely recommend you buy this version. Part of the reason is the larger shade to accommodate the greater diameter bulb; as mentioned above, it may help the lamp run cooler, and there is noticeably more light (though it's bluer).

You can only buy these in white and black at present; previously, they were available in cream, which looks a good deal better in most traditional offices (hint to the manufacturer).

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Excellent product. Provides perfect lighting for hand coloring black/white photographs with oil pastels. Halogen lighting distorted colors & this lamp allows true shading without shadows. Arrived on time & was ready to use immediately without any assembly necessary.

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Wow. What a light.

Not your normal drafting lamp: a high quality, professional drafting lamp for artists or architects.

It uses two bulbs: an ordinary incandescent (up to 100W), and a circular flourescent bulb. When they are both on together, the light is supposed to mimic perfectly the color quality of natural daylight.

I'm so happy with this light. Would you believe I have 5 of them scattered throughout my house?

They used to make a black one, but apparently not anymore.

Honest reviews on Daylight U32100-01 Combo White Lamp

This lamp works as described, the light it provides is indeed quite white & bright as an artist I can mix my colors any time of day or night. only wish it came in a wider variety of colors.

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I like this type of lamp. Being able to swing a lamp over the work to get the best light and see what the work looks like under both florescent and incandescent light are qualities I value.

Unlike the lamp this one replaced this one is very well built and I expect I will be using it for several years rather than the several months of the last lamp of this type I purchased.