The best book lights

The Gritin 19 LED is the pick: stepless dimming, three color temperatures, a memory function, and a stated 90 hours of runtime - the longest figure anyone in this category publishes. If you mostly read in the last half hour before sleep, the Glocusent amber light is the warmer answer.

These all cost about ten dollars, which makes the comparison unusually clean: there is no price argument to have, only a question of which design suits how you read. Stepless dimming is the feature to insist on. A light with three fixed steps will have its lowest step too bright, and in a dark bedroom that is the whole product failing.

A reading lamp lights a chair. A book light lights a page. The distinction sounds pedantic until you are reading at midnight next to someone who has to be up at six.

That narrow job sets the specification. Output barely matters - a page at ten inches needs very little light. What matters is how low the thing goes, what color it is, and whether the body of the light shields your eyes and your partner from the source. None of those are headline figures, and all of them are visible in the design.

If you are reading in a chair in a room of your own, buy a proper lamp instead. The aim, color rendering and dimming range on a real reading lamp are in a different class, and the best reading lamps covers them.

1. Stepless dimming. Three fixed steps is three chances to be wrong; stepless always has a correct setting.
2. Color, and whether amber is an option. The last half hour before sleep wants a warmer light than a textbook does.
3. Stated runtime. The only number published here, and two lights decline to give it.
4. The clip. Grip without crushing, and a body that shields the source from eyes other than yours.

We did not test these; every figure is the listing's own, linked below.

Gritin 19 LED - the pick. Three color temperatures, stepless dimming, a memory function and a stated 90 hours. Nineteen LEDs spread the light across a spread rather than making one hot spot.
Who it is for: anyone reading next to a sleeping partner, which is most of the people buying one. Who should skip it: anyone who wants amber all the way - the warm setting here is warm white, not amber.
Cons: no lumen or kelvin figures, so the three colors cannot be compared across brands; the runtime is quoted at the lowest setting; hinges are the first thing to fail on every light of this type.

EastPin 18 LED - for falling asleep mid-chapter. The same formula with an auto-off timer, which nothing else here states, and deliberately silent dimming.
Who it is for: readers who routinely wake at 3am with the light still on. Who should skip it: anyone who reads in long sessions and would find an auto-off an interruption.
Cons: 80 hours rather than 90; no lumen, kelvin or CRI figures; less widely reviewed than the longer-established names.

Glocusent 13 LED amber - the warmest. Three amber settings rather than three whites, with stepless dimming and a flat travel clip.
Who it is for: night reading right up to lights out, and anyone who finds white LED light too alerting in the evening. Who should skip it: students, anyone reading reference material, and anyone reading anything where color matters - amber flattens it.
Cons: amber only; 13 LEDs is the fewest here, so a smaller lit area; no runtime figure published; no lumen or kelvin figures.

86lux bookmark light - the one you will not lose. Flat enough to close inside the book, which removes the one failure mode every other light here shares.
Who it is for: a reader with one book on the go and a habit of misplacing things. Who should skip it: anyone reading hefty hardbacks - a flat body makes for a weaker clip.
Cons: the most expensive of the four; no runtime, lumen or kelvin figures; the bookmark shape is wasted if you read on a stand or a tablet.