Product Review: BenQ’s Genie e-Reading Lamp

Happy Friday, friends!

Today, I’m doing something a little different than normal. I’m going to do my first product review!

Ever since those early winter nights set in, I’ve been having problems with my regular lighting providing enough light to properly see my stitches, especially with those darker yarns! I know you know what I mean! So when BenQ Lighting reached out about providing me with one of their Genie e-Reading Lamps for me to test and review, it was like they’d read my mind!

I’ve recorded a full video to review the features of this light, its practical uses for crochet in low-light settings, and put it to the test in different evening light scenarios, my two favorite places to crochet in the evenings: my living room and my bedroom.

This light has tons of really ingenious features, including adaptive lighting settings for both screens and books (or non-screen mode as I call it), temperature options and brightness controls. What do I mean about temperature controls? Watch the video to find out and see the difference!

Video Review

In this video, I’ll go over all the features, how to work them, test them in both my living and bedroom lighting, and give you my final take on this light. But if you aren’t able to watch right now, or prefer a written recap, keep reading!

Features

Ambient Light Sensor – adjusts to adapt to the lighting in the room for both the Book and Screen settings
Power Ring + Setting Control – touch to power on/off and touch and hold to switch between Book and Screen settings
Temperature Controls – dual color lighting allows you to adjust the temperature of the light from bright white to warm yellow and everything in between
Brightness Controls – choose how bright you want the light
Curved Light – evenly disperses light across your work area
Braided Power Cord – I measured roughly 8′ long from the base of the lamp to the adapter
Comes in 4 Colors: Gold (pictured), Silver, Blue, and Metallic Pink

Pros

Right out of the box, the first thing that I noticed was the beautiful color of the lamp head and braided cord, a champagne gold color. The light head and arm are both made of aluminum alloy and thus very lightweight, yet the base is a nice sturdy weight that won’t move around as you adjust the arm or light head.

The other thing I noticed was how large it was, but due to its slim and modern design, it isn’t imposing on my space at all! Plus their color options ensure that it will fit in with your decor, as this lamp fits perfectly with mine!

The lamp arm moves only in one direction, from fully vertical to a 45-degree angle downward, but this isn’t a big deal in terms of positioning because the lamp head affixes to the lamp arm on a ball bearing. This means that you can move it any direction you like to get that light exactly where you want it.

The lamp head is roughly 35″ wide and its curved design disperses the light across your entire work area and not just a spotlight effect like other lights. That said, it doesn’t interfere with HBW Hubby’s movies when we are hanging out in the living room together. The light stays by me and doesn’t throw glare onto the TV.

I loved the adaptive Book and Screen settings, especially the Screen setting, which helps to mitigate the blue light emitted from your device and reduce eye strain/fatigue. HBW Hubby has been using this feature when he’s playing games or answering emails on his phone.

The knob on top of the light head is easy to manipulate to switch between temperature and brightness controls by pushing the knob like a button then turning it like a dial to achieve the perfect lighting for what you are working on. When I’m crocheting, I’ve got it on a brighter white setting, but when I’m reading, I like the warmer temperature for less contrast and fatigue.

The biggest pro for me was how bright the light was when working on my stitches. Even with darker yarn, I could make out my stitches as if I were working in daylight. To illustrate this, below I’m including photos of two different yarns in a side-by-side comparison of my regular living room lighting versus using the Genie light to work by. It’s such a huge difference!

Cons

I really don’t have much in the way of cons, but there are a couple of things that I wish were a bit different.

First, I wish the adapter wasn’t an adapter, that the power cord could plug directly into the wall. I assume they did it this way to make production more efficient, but strictly from an aesthetic standpoint, it would look better if it was at least the same color as the power cord.

Second, I would prefer that the power controls were in a different location. Don’t get me wrong, the ring looks really cool, but even without it, the lamp would still look just as nice, and you wouldn’t have the problems I experienced with its current location.

When I would reach to adjust the knob for one reason or another, say to adjust temperature or brightness, I found myself accidentally touching the power ring. Sometimes it would be just a tap, which would turn it off, or other times my pinky finger would rest there long enough to change to one of the adaptive settings, which are controlled by the power ring.

I also noticed that if I wanted simply to reach and turn the light off when I was done using it, doing so was a bit awkward dodging the lamp head so as not to bump it out of the perfect position I’d placed it in or having to move my whole body just to try to be able to reach it at all.

My boys have desk lamps that have a small area on the base of the lamps to turn the lights on and off. If the power and setting controls were moved to the base, it would solve both of these issues for me.

Price

Something I didn’t mention in the video but I want to address here is the price. The list price for this light is $189 (as of the time of this review), and while I think that this is definitely a high-quality light, I’m not sure that I would pay that much for it under normal circumstances. There are several options for lights out there well below this one in price, but it’s also true that you get what you pay for, and like I just said, this is a high-quality light. The quality of materials plus the features it provides definitely clinches that description.

Final Take

My final opinion is that the Genie e-Reading Light is a great light, with lots of useful settings and design features, a beautiful light that will fit with most decor, and made from high-quality materials. I will definitely be using this light whenever I’m trying to crochet or read in the evenings! I just have to make sure I’m careful when reaching to switch between settings so I don’t accidentally turn it off, but that’s a small price to pay for daylight stitching in the evening hours!

If you would like to read more about the Genie e-Reading Lamp, head to BenQ’s website here.

I hope you liked this review and found it helpful! Be sure to let me know if you use one of these lamps and what you think!

Until next time, happy stitching!

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