Mighty Bright XtraFlex2 Clip-On Light (Black, Kindle Version)
by Mighty Bright
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Our Price: $18.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Digital Device Accessory See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Mighty Bright XtraFlex2 Clip-On Light (Black, Kindle Version)
Customer Review: The perfect accessory for Amazon Kindle owners
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the downsides, such as it is, about the Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device and any other device using the revolutionary eInk display is that, just like a paper page, you need external light to read it. By far I think that a non-lighted display is a great thing as it seems far less tiring to my eyes, but it also means that one must have decent lighting in order to read the screen comfortably. This is even more important since, for some, the contrast of black text on a gray background is hard to get used to.
That's where having an accessory like the Mighty Bright XtraFlex2 Light becomes really important. The light is by far the best reading light I personally have seen, with it's long flexible neck which makes finding just the right position a breeze. The wide mouth clip is strong but not overly tight, making it easy enough for me with my limited strength and manual dexterity able to open it, but also leaving more than strong enough to attach firmly to any surface. In my case, I place my Kindle in the Kindle Reader Stand, so I attach the Mighty Bright to the back of the stand.
I love that the lights are LED. A previous reading light I've owned had a small traditional light, and it got hot very quickly. Being disabled and therefore normally using the light on a bed, trying to stand it next to my book (as it had no clip on mechanism) always left me worried about it falling over and burning me, or my inadvertently touching the exposed bulb. Not a problem with the Mighty Bright LEDs, which always stay cool to the touch. Also the ability to use either one or both of the twin LEDs is very useful, as one can (presumably) cut down on battery drainage when the brighter setting is unnecessary.
As for glare on the Kindle screen, a problem other reviewers have mentioned, it is a minor annoyance, but I found the simplest solution is to position the light so that it extends around or just below the Kindle's upper corners to rest off to the side of the screen, with the light itself angled more directly toward the Kindle itself, or perhaps aimed toward a point just to the side of the screen. That seems to keep enough light on the screen to read while keeping the reflection of the bulb off the screen itself. But I am lying down on my bed with the Kindle in its stand beside me more on eye level. Your experiences may vary as you will likely be viewing from a different position.
I can't speak to battery life as of yet as this is an early, first impressions review, after having owned and used the light for a few hours as I write this. But the Mighty Bright looks and feels solid and well made, and with that and its usefulness to me in helping me to further enjoy my Kindle experience, I'd say it's well worth the somewhat high price of $17.99.
Even if this isn't a product you will use every day, for anyone who wants to have the full range of "must have" accessories, you should put the Mighty Bright at the top of your list.
- Gregory Bernard Banks, author, reader, reviewer
Customer Review: Best clip light ever.
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't cheap out on a good book light. I read the great reviews on this Mighty Bright product, and it lives up to its reputation.
If you've never used a book light before, beware. Pay now or pay later. Here's a summary of my first book light:
I was using a cheap, generic LED book light for about a year - the LED was not nearly bright enough, there was precipitous light falloff around the edges of the beam circumference; and the light would not diffuse over enough of the book or note pad. I had to actually move the head of the light as I read. Crazy, right? Moreover, the clip would sometimes spring off the book edge with a loud snap, waking up my wife. Not good. The "flexible" neck would not remain in place, so the light was always bending back into a position where the head would shine directly into my eyes.
After this experience, I was wondering if there was a product that got it right. The Mighty Bright is virtually perfect. My only slight criticism is that I'd like a slightly wider coverage of light because I do a lot of brainstorming on a large yellow notepad. Sometimes I will read thick, geeky tech guides that need a sturdy clip that won't slip every few moments.
Advantages:
1) Very bright LEDs--about 3 or 4x the intensity of my old cheapo clip light. (unlike some of the other reviewers, I find that the lower setting is not adequate for me even though it is still 2x brighter than my old LED). It's a pretty even coverage, and if you bend the neck toward your book, it should cover the entire surface just fine. I would like to see about another 10-20% coverage so that I don't have to bend it so much, but I'm just being anal.
2) The flexible neck stays in place. There is a tiny bit of movement creep, but it is negligible and it will not continue to creep more than 10 degrees or so. This is a very important feature.
3) High quality clip and base - The base is flat and heavy; therefore, you can place the light on a desk without engaging the clip, and it's sturdy enough to stand upright without falling over. This feature makes the Mighty Bright versatile. The clip is strong, and I haven't experienced a pop-off to date.
4) Stealthy reading - despite the intensity of the LED, this gadget doesn't bother my wife. She would complain about my cheapo reading light.
Summary
Excellent design and features - this is a surprisingly high quality product at an excellent value. The Mighty Bright exceeded my expectations and made night reading a pleasant and uneventful experience. You won't be disappointed.
Customer Review: Excellent portable light
Summary: 4 Stars
I ordered this light since it was suggested on the kindle page and I was already in the market for a battery powered book light.
The best things about this light:
- EXCELLENT and even light coverage. This is the best I've used. I've never used a book light or desk lamp, regular or halogen or LED, that has such a nice, smooth light. Usually the lamps cast brighter halo in the middle and the rest of the diameter is much darker. This light does not have that annoying bright center shining on the page/kindle. It has an even level of illumination in a great diameter that covers both pages of my hardcover, paperback or kindle. This alone makes this the best book light I've ever used.
- It is *tiny* and extremely portable. It's really easy to adjust where the light points and keep the light source out of your eyes. I had no problem adjusting the lamp so that there was no reflection on my kindle screen. I read sitting up or lying down with the light at different angles and all positions worked fine.
- Small batteries for power and you can use re-chargeable. I need a portable book light and this definitely fits the bill.
The biggest negatives for me:
- The clip is too short and is a bit bulky because the 3 AAA batteries fit in it. For the kindle - you need to have the kindle cover to use this light. For regular books (and the kindle cover), the bulky clip is awkward to attach. It would help a lot if it was actually longer so you could get a better grip on it. Obviously still worth buying and using the light, but for me this is a enough of a negative that it cost one star in my rating.
- Color of the light: As reviewers mentioned, the light is kind of white-blue in color. It is not the warm color of other light bulbs. I found that this worked very well for reading my kindle. I actually prefer it over my regular lights. But, I don't like it much for regular white-colored paper books. My husband liked it for either kindle or regular paper. So, the light color may or may not be an issue for some. I also would prefer if the light could get one stop brighter. It is nice with the 2 levels, but I feel like I need it a bit brighter sometimes. One good thing is that you can do some adjustment on the brightness by moving the light source closer to the book.
Overall, this is an excellent light. We liked it so much that we ordered another for my husband and will take both with us when traveling this Xmas.
Customer Review: Not bad, but bulky and not designed quite right.
Summary: 3 Stars
I've had this light for about 7 months and I use it on a daily basis, though maybe only for 15-20 minutes sometimes. I have yet to need to change the batteries, which is great, but ultimately I'd rather change the batteries twice as often rather than need to have two. A single AAA battery is plenty to power both lights, probably for dozens if not hundreds of hours.
There is a reason that most kindle lights are not as bright as this one, because they cause glare on the screen. Even on the lowest setting this light causes glare if you point it directly at the screen. For me this means I have to aim it sideways so the light just kind of "grazes" the screen a bit, and usually I put it all the way against the flipped up side of my case cover so that it blocks almost all the light.
I tend to read in a very dark bedroom, so I don't need a light that is terribly bright.
The other problems with this light are the clip and the button. The clip is awkwardly shaped and doesn't fit well onto most kindle covers I've seen. It kind of curves out at the bottom instead of being nice and flat like it should be.
The button works just fine, but if you put it into a bag the button is exposed and will get pressed and the light will turn on all the time.
It does its job as a light, but I find myself having to fidget with it all the time. I really want a light that:
1) lights the whole face of a kindle evenly
2) has an analog brightness adjustment rather than just one or two levels of brightness
3) clips neatly onto a case or the kindle itself (I would definitely NOT recommend clipping this light directly to a kindle...use a case and clip onto that)
4) Has a protected switch that doesn't get turned on and off easily in a travel bag.
This shouldn't be all that much to ask for, but so far nobody has done all of these things. I'm probably going to ditch this light in favor of the m-edge light, as that one integrates directly into the case I already have, but even that light isn't all that great and only has 2 levels of brightness.
If you need a really bright light, you will probably like this light, but if you value compactness and a good travel light I don't recommend it.
Customer Review: Great light, but loses its tension over time
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been using this book light for about 10 months now. Overall, I'm very pleased. Note that I use it with normal books, not with the Kindle.
First, it uses standard AAA batteries. Other lights I've used take "watch" batteries, which are expensive and often hard to find. After 10 months, I have yet to replace the batteries. Clearly, they last a long time. Now, I'm not saying that I use the thing constantly. I actually haven't used it that much lately as I've been doing more computer reading. I was using it for about an hour a night, each night, for a few months in a row, and never had to change the batteries.
I've found the amount of light it puts out to be more than enough. The light has two light settings. You can either have both LEDs shining, or just one. I have almost never used both LEDs. I find the light given off by one LED to be sufficient. Using only one LED helps with the battery life, as well. I haven't had any problems with the switch system. The button switch works fine for me.
I do have a couple complaints. The clip is pretty big. It can add a bit of a bulge to the back of your book, once clipped on. It is lightweight, though, so I don't really notice the additional weight.
The bigger complaint I have is with the adjustable arm. After 10 months of use the arm has gotten pretty weak. It no longer holds in place like it used to. Its not like I am constantly adjusting the arm, either. For the most part, I leave it in one position, just moving the unit from book to book. I do have to tweak the angle, height, etc. with each new book, so maybe that has been enough to wear out the tension in the arm. I also tend to pull the light up as high as it will go, so that I can get the largest amount of light coverage. Maybe that has contributed to the weakening of the arm, as well. The light still works fine, but it has a tendency to "sag."
Despite the arm-tension issue, I would buy another Mighty Bright XtraFlex2. I am actually considering another one, as I write this. I've tried many book lights over the years, and this one is my favorite.