How to Choose a Cordless Lamp

A cordless lamp is the easiest way to add warm light to a room you are not allowed to rewire, or simply do not want to. There is no cable to hide and no socket to find, so the lamp goes where the light is needed: a bedside, a shelf, the middle of the dining table, a windowsill, even the garden table on a summer evening. This guide covers the five things worth checking before you buy one, using the lamps we sell as examples.

1. Cordless, USB or mains: know which you are buying

These three get mixed up all the time, and the difference matters.

• Cordless (rechargeable) lamps have a battery built in. You charge them from a USB cable, unplug, and put the lamp anywhere. Everything in our cordless lamps collection works this way.
• USB powered lamps run from the cable the whole time, so they need a USB socket or a phone plug within reach. Handy on a desk, less so on a dining table.
• Mains lamps plug into the wall. Brighter and never run flat, but the cable decides where they live.

On our product pages the Power line under Specifications says which type a lamp is, so you never have to guess.

2. Battery life: match it to how you will use the lamp

Run time depends on the lamp and on how bright you run it, so think about what the lamp is for.

• Reading in bed for an hour or two a night: anything in the range works. The Lumibook runs 5 to 6 hours per charge, which is several evenings of reading.
• Left on all evening as ambient light: look for the longer figures. The LumiBlock wall lamp runs about 10 to 12 hours at full brightness and up to 40 hours dimmed, and the Aurora Libra desk lamp runs 4 to 12 hours depending on brightness.
• Bedside night light: a few hours is plenty. The Stellora gives 4 to 5 hours and the Portobello mushroom lamp about 5 hours at full brightness, longer dimmed.

Dimming a lamp is the single best way to stretch its battery. Most of ours dim by holding a finger on the touch switch.

3. Charging: cable type and charge time

All of our cordless lamps charge from a standard USB phone plug. The newer ones use USB-C, the same cable as most Android phones and recent iPhones, which means one cable on the bedside does for the lamp and the phone. Charge times are typically 2 to 4 hours: the Stellora in about 2, the Portobello in about 2.5, the Lumibook in 3 to 4. The product page says whether a cable is included, and in most cases it is.

One habit worth forming: charge the lamp while you are out during the day rather than overnight on the bedside, so it is full by the evening and the bedside stays cable free.

4. Light colour and brightness

Light colour makes more difference to how a room feels than brightness does.

• Warm white is the colour of a traditional bulb or candlelight. It is the one you want for evenings, bedrooms and living rooms. Lamps like the PowerLuxe, the Golden Touch and the Mushroom Table Lamp give warm white only, which is exactly right for their job.
• Three tone lamps switch between warm, natural and cool white, usually by tapping the lamp. Cool white is useful for a desk or a craft table; warm for the rest of the time. The Lumibook, LumiBlock, Chain-Link, LED Swirl and Stellora all do this.

For brightness, remember what a cordless lamp is for. It is a pool of light for one spot, not a replacement for the ceiling light. If you want to read by it, pick one with a directional head like the Aurora Libra, whose flat head tilts so the light lands on the page.

5. Where it will live

• Bedside: something small with a touch switch you can find in the dark. The Lumibook, the Portobello and the Stellora all fit.
• Wall, with no wiring: the LumiBlock fixes to a magnetic plate and the LumiLoop hangs on a hook, so neither needs an electrician or a drill through a cable route.
• Dining or garden table: a lamp with a bigger battery and a proper base. The PowerLuxe has a 4000 mAh battery and is made to move between the dinner table and the garden.
• Something to carry around: the Portable Lantern folds flat, opens into a paper lantern and has a wooden carry handle.

Quick checklist

1. Is it actually rechargeable, or USB powered? Check the Power line.
2. Will the run time cover an evening, or just a bedtime read?
3. USB-C or micro USB, and is the cable in the box?
4. Warm white only, or three tones?
5. Does it dim?

Delivery and returns

Every order ships free and tracked in the UK. Most arrive in 5 to 10 working days and we email the tracking number as soon as it ships. If a lamp is not right, you have 30 days from delivery to send it back. Browse the full range in our cordless lamps collection, or see every light we sell under Lighting.