I’m a little bit obsessed with LED lighting, just ask my wife. So, when BenQ gave me the opportunity to check out their WiT e-Reading desk lamp, I jumped.
I figured that, at best, I’d get to review a fairly cool product. At worst, it’s just more content for the site, right?
Wrong. This was a dangerous review to write because I want one now.
I’ve reviewed plenty of LED lamps before, but none has matched up to the WiT. It’s a treat. Adjustable (both physically and in terms of light quality), with a premium finish, and it took the look of my whole desk setup to 11.
BenQ’s Energy-Efficient e-Reading LED Desk Lamp is Awesome
The WiT is also known as the BenQ e-Reading lamp.
If you’re here for a review in brief, that titls is all you need to know. BenQ’s popular, eye-catching WiT (aka. e-Reading) lamp is rad.
Does it justify the price tag? Yes. Is it feature loaded? Check. Is the fit and finish premium? Yep.
If you want more details than that, keep reading.
Pros:
- Outstanding, eye-friendly light quality and brightness
- Superb design and finish
- Excellent light throw and wide adjustability
Cons:
- Premium-quality LED desk lamps come at a premium-quality price; this one’s no exception
- This is a large lamp with a fairly wide base
Light Quality
Let’s begin with the most important bit: the light. Powered by dual rows of grain LEDs in a curved housing, the WiT provides eye-friendly illumination with a wide spread.
That curved fixture means the spread extends far beyond its size. My desk is enormous, but the WiT covers the entire surface, easily.
-Flicker: There isn’t any. The light is smooth, steady and comfortable on the eyes.
-Colour: You get to choose. With its dual-purpose rotary dial, you can adjust the light colour to whatever suits you. Colour temperature ranges from 2700k to 5700k, ranging from book-friendly, candle-like warm tones to efficient, energizing cold blue.
-Brightness: As you’d expect from a premium-quality LED desk lamp like this, brightness is superb. At centre, the lamp provides 1,800 lux, diminishing gradually as it extends outward.
By pressing the dial on the fixture head, you can manually adjust both the brightness and the colour temperature to whatever you need. Alternatively, you can use the Smart Mode to automatically sense the ambient light and tailor the colour and brightness to room conditions.
In practice, I’ve found this auto-sensor feature to be really handy. It illuminates without being overly noticeable, which is probably ideal.
Ultimately, after weeks of use, I found the light quality had a noticeable positive effect on my eyes, namely fewer headaches and less squinting. I used the auto-adjust feature almost all the time, rarely resorting to manual settings.
Design Features
This is a beautiful lamp. That’s subjective, but I stand by it. The base, two-piece arm and curving head fixture all create a unique, modern silhouette. At the same time, with its thin arms and wide base, it vaguely reminds me of the mid-century modern desk lamp my wife’s grandmother gave us.
It’s easy to imagine this lamp resting on the desk of a modern Don Draper.
BenQ is really proud of their design efforts, as they should be. Much of the components are die-cast aluminum, including the arms, the ring switch and the head. The metal is coated with a textured plastic that feels premium and resists fingerprints. The cable is braided for durability and good looks.
The Head
The curving fixture is dotted with LEDs in order to shine across 90cm of desk. It sits on a ball joint which pivots for fine adjustment.
Where’s the on-off switch? It’s actually that little chrome ring. Touch to turn on and off, or touch-and-hold to activate the auto adjust feature.
The Arm
Extending out almost two feet, the arm gives you a ton of placement options. The extendibility means the base is actually really heavy; necessary to keep the thing from toppling over at full outreach.
All arm joints are all crisp and taut, easy to adjust but never loose or wobbly.
Efficiency
Sure, the WiT’s price tag is hefty, but there’s a payoff: no replacement bulbs, ever.
The grain-sized light emitting diodes are rated to last over 50,000 hours. That’s several decades of normal use. (LEDs don’t typically burn out, they just slowly fade.)
BenQ’s WiT is an extremely energy efficient lamp, running on a maximum of 18 watts at full power. That’s less than a third of a comparable incandescent lamp.
Other Notes & Caveats:
It’s a big boy! This lamp is longer than you might expect, reaching over two feet at full extension. The base is about 8 inches wide and quite hefty, and it takes up quite a bit of space on your desk.
Good news is the thin profile means it doesn’t eat up visual space.
BenQ WiT: Among the best energy efficient LED desk lamps around
Whether you’re planning to use it at home, in the office, or for reading, the WiT is worth it. Yes, it comes with a hefty price tag, but this is a premium lamp, and it stands head and shoulders above cheaper competition. You can check it out on Amazon or by visiting BenQ’s website.
