MarsLG Adjustable Color Temperature 5 Level Dimmable Touch Control 7 Watt LED Desk Lamp, 2406CTx8 (Single Unit)

[TL;DR: Noticed I'm the first review with "only" 4 stars. At this price it _is_ a 5-star product and I wish I could give it a 4.5. I'm a picky dork - Adding the all-LEDs-on intermediate color temperature or letting the 'dimming indicator' LED turn off would earn a full 5.]Okay, this was definitely the most affordable option on Amazon for a color-temperature adjustable desk lamp, and while I've only had it for a few hours, I'm already in love. Some notes and quirks:-It's bright! Brightness is adjustable at 5 discrete settings. At the brightest it certainly throws more light than an incandescent 60W table lamp... not sure exactly how much more but enough to fill in under fluorescent office lighting, and I kind of want one for work now. The lowest "5%" setting is probably just about right for reading in bed without eyestrain. I wish it would go a little lower for sub-reading just-enough-to-find-the-buttons-on-the-radio brightness, but that's not a dealbreaker.*-It's diffused! There's a light-spreader to save your eyes from point-source glare, and while I was skeptical whether I'd like that, it really is much better for reading, and probably seeing. Swapping out a previous LED lamp with a lot of undiffused LEDs, I now realize the old one threw more sharp-edged shadows than I consciously noticed, probably subtly layering a "dazzle" pattern over everything. The idea of a diffused panel may seem 'boring' at first, but your eyes will appreciate it - and 'diffused' no longer means 'dim'.-It's (relatively) big! I didn't even check the dimensions before ordering. The base is about the size of a paperback novel or DVD case in area, or a tetch larger. The coaxial-type power plug (24V DC adapter included) hangs an inch out the back; If they had put it 'under' the base to hide it and molded a channel to hold the cord it that would have been a cosmetic improvement, but see below re: styling.-Only 2 color temperatures. The loss of an intermediate 'both banks of LEDs on' temperature is nerd-annoying when I know it should be possible, though probably not all that important in practice - although it would potentially allow twice the already-sufficient brightness. If this were a beta and I were a product tester, I'd suggest locking it out at the lowest brightness(es) and then hopping the 'brightness level' back and forth - so one of the middle settings might become the new lowest brightness. (Leaving the brightest level on this hypothetical "Version 2.0" lamp would then 'dim' the lamp back to 100% on the other modes, but dimming isn't a blinding shock to the pupils, so that's okay.)-Blue LEDs: Okay, this is probably the least-annoying most-tasteful use of blue LEDs you'll see this year, but if any use of them bothers you... they might bother you. The one backlighting the 'power button' area is toggled by a long hold as another reviewer describes. Unfortunately the one indicating the dimmer setting is not. The brightness seems to have been carefully chosen to be low-glare and -only- as bright as the dimmest setting on the lamp, but that's still a bit too bright. I hope the manufacturer rethinks this or adds a toggle like the power button (and/or 'dithers' the printing on the control panel so the lowest notch has to shine through the black ink). That said, these are *not* wall-washingly, painfully bright like you find on computer cases, USB hubs, etc., and are understated under brighter conditions and unnoticeable with the lamp on a shelf or table. My personal taste still runs to amber, red, or at least violet.In pitch dark, the 'power button' backlight LED leaks a bit under the edge of the touchpad label on my open-box "Warehouse Deals" unit. That might be a fit/finish issue for someone who actually wants to use it.-Style/Fashion: It's hard to discern the exact color of the base in the photo on Amazon - and even harder to explain it in 2013; I'd call it "academic white" or "academic off-white". It's the color - and roughly the style - of a freshly-purchased "white" modem box from 1992, say... or the color of office paper before they added that extra stage of bleaching to 'blinding white' (what's that, 89 bright)? The lamp head is glossy polycarbonate in a whiter "titanium white" that is obviously different but still matches "close enough". If you were wondering, zero light leaks through the top (LED lamps have the LEDs mounted on opaque circuit boards, so you shouldn't expect any to unless they've added it as a feature).The gooseneck arm is quite adjustable, including tilt (by bending the gooseneck, not by swivel) and sleeved with a matte rubbery plastic.This thing is anti-fashionably fashionable like the original Subaru WRX. I mean no insult when I say it's somewhere between all of 'modernist', 'retro-modernist', and 'modem box' with a whiff of 'soviet' or 'educational' sturdiness.** It makes me think of spending time in the well-lit 'carrels' back at my old university library... and, somewhat, being back in school before that reading computer magazines and wishing I could afford 28.8kbps and a CD-ROM. If you were born after 1990 you probably won't get it... but if you were before, it might take you back to the last time you sat down and read something on paper without stopping to check your phone and your email and your news feeds.I didn't exactly expect the nostalgia trip - er, it's just a plastic lamp, right? - but I'm not complaining. Especially if that's an excuse to switch to 'period-appropriate' LED colors on the control panel, guys.-AM / LW radio interference: Well, the very (too) sensitive radio I left a foot away from it with a giant passive loop antenna gets swamped with AM-band noise.. but only when the lamp is dimmed, and any radio dork should know not to do that, I just didn't rearrange my stuff. More testing shows it doesn't seem to bother AM on a regular clock radio sharing the same outlet but sitting a few feet further away. FM listeners, don't worry, you're about 100 million things distant from where any interference could be.***-Verdict: After dorking with this thing for barely an evening - and having bought it because my previous modest-brightness but ~5500K 'pure white' reading light was somehow keeping me up all night - I'm starting to wonder how I ever put up with single-color task lighting... which is a weird thing to say, but if you're somewhat sensitive to that sort of thing you know what getting a 'fluorescent tan' feels like, especially if you work in a submarine of an office where the other stragglers don't agree with switching to half-lighting after sundown. I want one of these at my work desk so I can flip it to 'warm' at 5:30 and remind myself I'm still sitting around (or putzing around writing Amazon reviews - don't spit your coffee, 1%ers, it's not by the hour) past 'quittin' time'.*Tucking some amber or lower-power LEDs into the head for a 'nightlight mode' would be great, though... after all, there are already extras for the base controls.**I'm not sure how well this would actually hold up in a real 'academic' setting if you wanted to keep it pristine - you've got the wrapping on the gooseneck, the scratchable plastic of the base, the it's-just-a-plastic-sticker cover for the controls, the rear power connector for some jerk to snap off and the could-end-up-looking-like-a-first-run-iBook polycarbonate on the lamp head to worry about. But if you want a little bit of that 'school library' vibe in your own room, study, or office... this thing has a little of that "mojo" to it.***The RFI with radios on the same nightstand would be another reason to wish for a 'nightlight mode' that could run without chopping any waveforms.

Overall I love this lamp - the range of brightness and the two color temps are everything I need. 4.5 starsRead Domestic Wolverine's review for a lot of good info. Something no one else has posted is the actual energy usage. Here's what my Kill-a-Watt says for all 11 of the modes (I'm counting "off" as a mode):Lamp off: 0.4 WWhite mode: 1.8W, 3.8W, 5.0W, 6.2W, 7.9WYellow mode: 1.3W, 3.2W, 4.5W, 5.7W, 7.3WIt's unfortunate that it uses energy when it is off. This apparently is for the touch control (I measured with the on/off blue LED on and off and there's no difference). Having a mechanical switch for on/off would have been better (also easier to feel in the dark). Global warming would be solved! Maybe not, but this kind of "vampire" energy usage does add up and cuts into the savings that you get from going from incandescent to LED. For example, if you have the lamp on for one hour per day (brightest setting), you will use 29% of the energy with this lamp compared to a 60W incandescent lamp. That's great, but if the on/off switch were mechanical it would be 13%. The difference is less if you use it more than an hour a day. (On the other hand, if you average less than 11 minutes a day, you're using -more- energy with this lamp than you would with the 60W incandescent!) Definitely a nit-pick, but I wanted to point it out.Another minor thing is that the base seems to mark up easily. It came shipped with the head folded over and touching the base. The black from the head had made marks on the base that were really hard to clean off - I actually had to scrape it off with a knife.

-1 star for defect right out of the box. I've owned this for two months.This is the best lamp I've ever owned. In terms of brightness, it can light up a desk just fine. Its flexible spine makes it extremely useful in different situations. I live in a dorm, so the angle adjustment and brightness settings work beautifully when my roommate is asleep and I need to work late into the night.The blue LED that supposedly blinks on when the lamp is off does not turn on, so when it is dark I find myself running my finger along the entire pad for a good 5 to 10 seconds (which feels like a lifetime when trying to turn on a single light) before I finally hit the on/off sensor. The light has miraculously worked once (a month ago), but when I turned it on and off again it disappeared.In terms of relative brightness, the lamp is fantastic and the two light settings are what seals the deal for me. The lamp looks and feels great and modern, and it takes up as much space on my desk as most other lamps would.PROS:+Great light settings (lowest brightness is low enough for most occasions, as is the highest)+White/natural light switch+Great flexibility+Sleek, modern look+Overall great deal for the price+Does not heat up like conventional lampsCONS:-Blue LED in on/off switch does not work as intended.-Flexibility is great, but adjusting requires both hands and, in some cases, a bit of extra effort

Smoke and mirror advertising. Light does what it says in the ad but is in no way bright enough at max settings for use as a desk lamp. Maybe second quality LEDs or just poor design but you will be disappointed if you try to replace an 18w fluorescent lamp. Marslg Adjustable Color Temperature 5 Level Dimmable Touch Control 7 Watt LED Desk Lamp, 2406ct

Can't beat the price. Good quality & works well