Serious Readers, serious prices

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Howard, I don't want to derail the thread – I PM'd you.

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

I was discussing this very subject with Serious Readers about a month ago. They claim that High Definition LED lights, which they use, give very accurate colour rendering, with a CRI rating of 100. Ordinary LED score 75-85. This may well be so, but I use a white LED in my reading light, with which I am completely satisfied, for the princely sum of £3. They didn't like that. They claimed that the quality would be remembered after the price is forgotton. As they charge £400 for a desk light, and £600 for a floor-standing light, it would be a long, long time for me to forget those prices…

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

If I remember the old ads, Serious Readers made a song and dance about the spectral properties of their lamps. Perhaps it's important. Perhaps it's a matter of taste. With MR16 LEDs, you can choose from a range of LED spectra ('warm white', 'cool white', etc., etc.). It's worth experimenting, they're so cheap – some (earlier?) 'cold light' LEDs made some colours look horrible, but I find no problem now.

Just a caution, IIRC, there was discussion here about there being both 12V and 220V LEDs in MR16 packages. AFAIK, 12V is the usual type.

Edited By Kiwi Bloke on 15/04/2020 06:52:01

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Geoff Theasby on 15/04/2020 03:21:47:

I was discussing this very subject with Serious Readers about a month ago. They claim that High Definition LED lights, which they use, give very accurate colour rendering, with a CRI rating of 100. Ordinary LED score 75-85.

…

Reading being very largely a black-and-white matter, seems to me they should – if their 'CRI' actually means anything real – rename the company Serious Lookers At Pictures?

[LambtonParticipant @lambton]

ega, give The Light bulb Company a call on 01869 36222222.

Eric

[egaParticipant @ega]

Thanks to Stuart Smith 5 and Lambton for their recommendations and others for the interesting comments.

I see that there is considerable scepticism about the value of the SR product and I shall not buy their replacement bulb before trying the much cheaper mainstream offering. As to beam angle, this does seem to vary widely with the narrower beam more common.

My SR desk lamp is imposingly heavy but on examination most of this comes from the 180mm dia steel disc in the base which interestingly seems to be either laser or water jet cut.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

For that price I would expect each LEDto be individually hand-crafted by acolytes trianied for years in the art of hand-etching semiconductor wafers.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

On the apparently popular subject of silly LEDs

Here is a rather powerful one from YUJI [*]

**LINK**

MichaelG.

.

[*] who also make high CRI devices, as I recently mentioned on another thread:

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=154966

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 15/04/2020 23:02:44

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

ega – Since it appears that there's an appreciable amount of beer tokens already sunk in this lamp, you might consider passing over a few more…

Tunable LEDs are interesting – the spectrum emitted can be altered. It seems that a spectrum with a lot of blue wakes you up in the morning, but should be avoided in the evening, when a more red-heavy spectrum will prepare you for slumber. Plus, you can alter the 'white balance' if doing something when optimal colour fidelity is required.

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Isn't there something about too much blue led light causing macular degenerations? If one wants to be able to keep on reading….

pgk

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

Posted by pgk pgk on 16/04/2020 08:42:37:

Isn't there something about too much blue led light causing macular degenerations?

pgk

I think that's conjectural, however, here in NZ, the sun's bright and we're a bit close to the ozone hole, so I took up the option of a filter coating on my specs to 'prevent' macular degeneration. It makes the reflection, off the front of the lenses, of light sources look purple. Expensive rip-off? We'll see (I hope).

[egaParticipant @ega]

Tunable LEDs: I think this kind of feature is also available for your computer screen; TV too, of course.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

It is very difficult for the layman to sort the cod science and bullshit from the truth in many areas. We cannot know everything about everything but we can keep our bullshit detectors tuned and ready for action. Where we were once only able to ask a few mates or go down the library to do a bit of research we can now ask google. This is also full of people who think they know what they are talking about but in fact don’t. A bit of careful research should sort the truth from the rubbish. A piece of equipment like these lamps are rather outside most peoples knowledge so claims are easy to make unchallenged so could be the absolute truth or a total pack of lies, who can tell? If a car salesman told you a 1litre micra ate Ferrari’s for breakfast most people would suspect a lie but it’s difficult to dispute claims about lighting and eyesight, just be suspicious.

Mike

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Mike Poole on 16/04/2020 11:21:37:

It is very difficult for the layman to sort the cod science and bullshit from the truth in many areas. […]

.

.

Many areas; but not Colour Rendering Index … it is extremely well documented.

Specific claims might be economical with the truth, but CRI can be measured in the lab, against internationally agreed standards.

MichaelG.

[egaParticipant @ega]

Ian Parkin:

Belated kudos to you for your suggestion that the SR power supply was the culprit!

Having previously eliminated the MR16 lamp and, as I thought, the PSU, I had decided that the switch was faulty. I have now installed the unit, shorn of its heavy base, on my lathe powered by a Maplin adapter. Incidentally, the price of a spare MR16 from Homebase was £6 and it promises 25 years' life! As you may recall, the SR item was £44; I can only wonder what they charge for a replacement LED driver.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Exhuming an old thread.

A partially sighted friend has just told me that the lamp in her Serious Readers Table lamp has failed.

Fortunately there was a spare in stock (Out of a two pack, so her late husband must have replaced one, either in this lamp, or the Standard lamp.  )

(The column for the Standard Lamp wobbled, so I made and fitted a split sleeve to fix it. But that's another story! )

The original Halogen lamps are still available

The lamp that fitted was a 2.8 watt G9 LED

They appear to available from a lot of sources, Farnell, Scrrewfix, Toolstation, Amazon, to name but a few, with multi packs at a fraction of the price quoted in the original message, for just one..

Shortly, we shall make a trip across town to lay in a stock of spares..

Howard

 

Edited By Howard Lewis on 02/01/2023 12:38:40

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

A very worthy post, Howard … but I am a little confused by the ‘price comparison’

The ‘bulb’ mentioned in the opening post is an LED, which presumably post-dates the lamp on which you have been working.

MichaelG.

[egaParticipant @ega]

Howard Lewis:

"So shines a good deed in a naughty world"!

I mentioned above the imposingly heavy steel base to my failed lamp (which, incidentally, wobbled on its four rubber feet) and have recently turned this into a set of ancillary jaws for a woodturning chuck:

A wooden pot made with its help is on the lathe bed.

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

You can charge anything you like for something as long as you can find others thick enough to pay the price !

Always has been, always will be !

As the mad said "There,s one born every minute "

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

To a remarkably large percentage of the population, extortionate prices appear to confer some sort of superiority to the product.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by Gary Wooding on 02/01/2023 18:45:17:

To a remarkably large percentage of the population, extortionate prices appear to confer some sort of superiority to the product.

Isn't that the Marks and Spencer approach to marketing?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by ega on 02/01/2023 17:07:29:

[…]

I mentioned above the imposingly heavy steel base to my failed lamp (which, incidentally, wobbled on its four rubber feet) and have recently turned this into a set of ancillary jaws for a woodturning chuck:

.

Very smart

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

The mind is beginning to boggle : **LINK**

https://www.seriousreaders.com/products/high-definition-light-engine-2021

MichaelG.

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Posted by duncan webster on 02/01/2023 19:13:22:

Posted by Gary Wooding on 02/01/2023 18:45:17:

To a remarkably large percentage of the population, extortionate prices appear to confer some sort of superiority to the product.

Isn't that the Marks and Spencer approach to marketing?

Ever looked at Myford prices anytime in the last twenty years?

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

The lamp that I replaced was also a G9 LED.

The price comparison was to show that although the "Genuine article" might be ridiculously overpriced, on the basis "What the seller thinks the buyer, knowing no better, will pay" to illustrate that replacements are easily available and much cheaper.

The idea was to help anyone else, like ega, who needed a replacement and did not want to have to take a mortgage for it!

Howard

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