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- Verified Buyer
I will say up front that I love this lamp for detail work, the light is bright without causing glare and it is very even. It also looks very nice on my worktop. So, why three stars? Because the design and construction on this lamp are awful.First, if you are mounting this to the base there is a single small set screw that holds the lamp portion into the base, which would be fine if the shaft fitted tightly into the socket, which it does until you try and move one of the arms, then it comes loose and requires an allen-head wrench to re-tighten (until you move the thing and it's loose again!). It also means if you wish to rotate the lamp you'll need to get out the allen-head wrench. A set screw could still be used in this application, but the shaft would need a groove (to allow rotation) and there should be at least two set screws rather than just one.Secondarily, the two scissor-type adjustment points on the lamp arms are done with a lever that squishes the joint together - loosen the lever and you can move the arm, tighten it and the arm stays put. Great in theory, unfortunately the lever is too short (.75") and slick to allow good leverage so if you want to adjust the lamp at all you need to stand up, move the lamp directly in front of you so you have the best chance to loosen the lever and make the adjustment, then re-tighten the lever. I've had other lamps that utilize a similar design, but they have rubber or teflon crush washers in the armature which allow for some adjustment of the arms without loosening the mechanism. This design is infinitely better, and I'd expect something like this on a lamp at this price point.The frustrating thing about this lamp is that it would be so easy to make this a five-star product, the light itself is great, the finish is rich looking, the design is elegant, but I just can't recommend it because of its poor mechanics.I ordered this lamp for my wife to use in her sewing area. Because the PureOptics LED desk lamp has a long light bar, it will evenly light up the whole length of her sewing machine. One of her biggest complaints in her sewing area is spotty light. The light can be placed so it doesn't interfere with her work and yet light up a large area.This light comes with a good heavy base and also the ability to use a top padded clamp to clamp it directly to the table. The clamp works well and the base is heavy enough to hold the lamp very securely.Unfortunately, the reason for the 2 stars, the rod which fits into the base and is tightened by an Allen screw is too long for the hole depth in the base. Or... the base hole depth is too short for the rod. In any case the bottom of the lamp does not fit the top of the base. It sticks up about 3/16" which will eventually cause it to wobble or break the Allen screw. I will likely cut the rod down in length with a hack saw and then use it, but it is still being held in place by a screw which is too near the end of the rod. It comes with 4 extra Allen screws, but I can't imagine that this is the reason for the extra screws.Since the lamp can be used with the base or clamp, the on/off switch is on the cord. It is in a handy place and works well. All is good with this lamp except an obvious design or production flaw in the lamp base. For that reason, I would recommend looking further. If this were not a free review product for me, I would return it.The light is very cool! The actual length of the lit rod is 22"! Its light is very soft. I love it!However, the design of the base is terrible. The light is assembled of two metal parts: light assembly that ends with a threaded rod and ether the heavy base or table clamp, both made from a heavy solid metal with a nice chrome finish. The idea is that the threaded rod goes into either the metal base or the table clamp.The problem is that neither the clamp nor the base have a threaded socket that can accept the threaded rod. They do have a hole without a thread, which is about 1 mm in diameter wider than the threaded rod (see attached pictures.)I was confident that there should have been a part that somehow was not placed in the product box. So, I contacted the manufacturer. Very nice people! However, after a phone and email exchange, I learned that this design is on purpose. Who know why: maybe the goal was to reduce the cost and they found parts manufactured elsewhere.So, how do these pieces hold together? Barely, by a very miniature screw from the side. If it had three screws, one could hope to make it stable. Unfortunately, with one screw only, the rod is a bit wobbly. While I can continue using this light, I would be embarrassed to gift it to someone in spite of the perfectly manufactured parts.
