Cheap OttLite 290G59 Battery-Operated LED Mobile Task Lamp, Black

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My Nokia cellphone charger ACP-12U is rated at 5.7V and 800mA, works perfectly with this Ottlite LED lamp. I find there are many used Nokia ACP-12U chargers at my local GoodWill, $1 each. Most cellphone chargers will output ~5.5v, and even higher current. But Nokia ACP-12U comes with a perfect plug for this lamp.

I don't keep rechargeable batteries in it while using a wall plug for the overcharge concerns.

I also removed the plastic grill on those LED lights, to make my lamp brighter. Ottlite should build that grill as diffuser with clear plastic or glass, instead of solid black plastic.

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I bought one of these at Office Depot for $19.95. The newer models have a flip up battery cover without the screw. Three of us bought them at the same time in the same store. Two required a screw driver and one did not, so check the back before you buy. There was a manufacture date of Jan 2011 on the bottom of the light that did not require a screwdriver. Give it a few more months and you can probably expect to get a new model when ordering off the internet.

I found the battery life to be longer than others reported as well. One set of batteries lasted all weekend, although the use was not continuous. I would estimate 10-14 hours of use. I did buy regular Energizer Max batteries, so maybe that had an effect.

I will be ordering a Nokia charger (acp-12u) as recommended by one of the other reviewers.

Update: The Nokia charger worked wonderfully as a power source. I paid $3.77 with free shipping here on Amazon on a Thursday and the charger arrived the following Monday. My husband recommended that the charger not be used while the batteries are in the compartment, so I removed them first and had no problems at all. I'm very pleased with the light, charger, and shipping speed.

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The 30 LEDs provide a nice bright light. But they suck the life out of the 3 AAA batteries (not included) in a hurry. For this many LEDs, Ott should have used AA batteries. And given how often you are going to be changing batteries, the screwed on battery cover is a really bad idea. Especially since the screw is not captive. There is a jack for a power supply (not included), but if you are going to be tied to a cord, you might as well stay with Ott's fluorescent fixtures. Sorry Ott, not one of your brightest ideas.

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I have this new battery operated lamp for 2 weeks. I am ready to return the lamp for these reasons. The required 3 triple A batteries barely last for 2 hours of constant use. I am spending more money on batteries than the cost of the lamp. It is made to be portable however, you must travel with a steady supply of those batteries and a mini phillips head screw driver to open the battery case. On the back of the unit is an input for a charger/converter to apparently plug into AC wall outlet to run the lamp. However, there is no charger with this product and no mention of it in the enclosed operating instructions with packaging. None of the converters I have shopped for in several electrical stores work this lamp. This is very curious. Possibly rechargeable Lithium batteries might work better. I have not tested that option as yet.

As result I do not recommend this item and sadly am going to return it.

Marcia Acker-MissallFlorida Ott-Lite 290G59 LED Task Lamp, Black Ott-Lite 290G59 LED Task Lamp, Black

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The lack of a 4.5v AC adapter is puzzling, not the least because the choice of AAA cells instead of AA cells means the battery life of 3 hrs on NiMH rechargeable cells is 30% of what it could be.

UPDATE: 9/14/2012 Some of the product improvement suggestions were incorporated into OttLite 290089 LED Handheld Task Lamp, White, which makes this one obsolete.

A silly simple recharger and AC adapter could have been designed as a USB power feed, like my Garmin Edge GPS and many other devices. Plug it into the wall, or your laptop.

Calling the LEDs 'Superbright" is insulting to my intelligence. I can Google SSC or CREE and be looking at the lumen specs on all possible LEDs in 30 seconds, so come off it Ott people. I don't want some insulting, idiot label, I want a rating in cold, hard numbers. Give me the Lumens, and stop selling hype.

The batteries are in the bottom of the stand, but why not lower in the foot of the stand? In fact, why not 6 AA cells in the foot, one that has a thinner wedge on the end, so it will slip under a book easily? I'll happily buy the batteries, in fact, I already own them, purchased for other devices. So a foot that is twice as long, very thin in front, and very thick as it passes behind the stand, forming a wedge, and housing 6 AA cells. That should be 30 hrs of continuous power for this device.

I assume the black version performs very badly, as much of the light is focused on the stand, which is at least reflected and therefore put to some good use on the white version, but this masks a more fundamental problem. The light hood is simply too short in length. A 2 or 3 stage light hood should slide out in sections, like sliding cell phones, to telescope out over the task or reading area. There is also no lens to focus the LEDs light.

Once a 3-stage telescoping lamp surface is in the design, it should be possible to turn on each section independently, either automatically, programatically, or with manual switches to put light where you need it, control total light, and the rate of power consumption.

Since I doubt many people would find 30 hours of power better than, say 12 hours, I'd also suggest boosting the light output by 2-3X by using LEDs with a higher LUX. They are readily available now.

Finally, get rid of the stupid screw needed to remove the battery housing cover. Ridiculous. I bought the lamp and batteries at a OfficeStapleMaxDepot store for $19 and had the clerk help me cut the lamp out of its plastic armor packaging, and ditto for the 12 pack of AAA cells. Even she was shaking her head at the stupidity of that design decision.

So why the 3 stars? Because it's useful enough as it is to be pretty handy. It provides a fair amount of high quality light, and the handle would even allow you to hang it over your engine at night in an emergency.

For what is probably a more expensive product, I'd add a 3-500 lumen white flashlight in the base, and a row of 50 lumen red LEDs in the top of the hoop handle as an emergency lamp for automobile use. In earthquake, hurricane, or blizzard country, that would be a killer product, especially with a cigarette lighter charger in place of the AC charger. Throw in an SOS flash pattern and you'd have a great, all around vehicle emergency lamp with days of power running from the vehicle battery.