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Ikea Spoka Nightlight
by littleme96
We had lots of Ikea vouchers to spend from a Kitchen promotion that they did and this little guy caught our eye whilst in the children's section of Ikea. Even though we didn't have this product in mind, we loved him on sight and purchased him without hesitation.
What is it?
Spoka is a soft cool-touch LED ... nightlight, which can be used just on the battery (a rechargeable AAA 3.6V NiMH battery, which is included) or via the mains adapter that comes with it. The word "Spoka" in Swedish translates as "to haunt" and I can think of far worse things to be haunted by than this little guy, who stands at approximately 10cm tall. He is a cute little white ghost-cross-hamster creature with blue features and little blue sticky-out horn ears! On his back he has a little blue tail and a charging point. This is covered by a flap of silicone rubber and so any electrics are fully enclosed within the light so nothing tempting for little ones to mess about with. Spoka is easy to turn on and off and all this required is a light touch on the top of his head between his ears. One touch turns on a colour changing effect which cycles through various shades of blue, green and purple. Pressing his head again keeps the light on one single colour and a third press turns the light off completely.
How well does it work?
We have found that this light works perfectly for our requirements. We have two children and they both share this light (ours has been named "Bob"). Neither of our kids have to have a light on all of the time at night, but we have used Bob in a couple of ways, one being to soothe our youngest to sleep when he is a little unsettled due to illness etc. The colour phasing mode is particularly calming and we have found it brilliant for this. Our older child sometimes needs to get up during the night to use the toilet and so she has been able to use this as a portable nightlight to carry to the bathroom and avoid waking everyone else in the house up! Spoka is especially good for this purpose, because he is easy for children to turn on and off independently, he is small and lightweight and he stays cool to the touch even if on for a long time. I wouldn't say that he gives off an especially bright glow, so ideal for a bit of light but not something that is going to wake you up in the same way that an overhead light would. This light would be perfect for those night nappy changes and feeds, where you need enough light to see, but need to keep the lights dim to ensure that baby doesn't wake up too much!
Conclusion:
The battery life is fine for the purposes that we use it for, but may fall sort for those who are using it as a light that needs to stay on all night. For this type of use I would recommend using the light plugged into the mains as the battery life alone would not last the night. At full charge, the best this light can do on the battery alone is 5 hours.
However Spoka is very cute and if you just need more of an ad-hoc nightlight for a child then you could do worse than buying this for your little monster. We wouldn't be without ours and from a personal point of view I would give 5 stars, but am taking a star off because of the limited battery life.
Spoka currently costs £13 and is sold at IKEA.
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Homebase Mayer Father and Child Floor Lamp
by dee778
Although I have always been a fan of subtle lighting in the living room, as I get older I have found that I need a really good strong light to read or sew by ... and so I decided to buy what my son describes as my "old lady's lamp": a bright floor lamp which incorporates an uplighter and a smaller adjustable light for reading, ... etc.
After some research I was tempted by the Mayer Father and Child floor lamp from Homebase, reduced from £76.99 to £38.99 in the sale. Although some of the reviews mentioned a buzzing noise, and some complained of a poor finish, most of the reviews gave this lamp 5 stars as a solid and reliable floor lamp.
~~ Description ~~
I am not a big fan of the Mother (or Father) and child style of lamp, but this one caught my eye and seemed to be a little bit more attractive than the usual design. My lamp is made out of a golden brushed chrome colour which I find much more attractive than either black or silver. It stands really tall at 179cm - I have very high ceilings but I imagine that it would cast an even stronger light on the lower ceiling of a more modern house.
The large uplighter head measures a moderately large28cm across and has the added advantage of a clear bottom to the shade as well as the uplighter shade - thus giving a gentle downwards light as well as a strong upwards light. There are two upright poles to support the large uplighter head, rather than one single flimsy pole - and this gives it an unusual and slightly art deco look as well as making it much more stable. The smaller reading light sits on a flexible 10cm long brushed chrome stalk and measures 10cm across. There is a 5cm long handle on it to change the direction of the light without getting burned.
The two poles have a panel half way up which contain two dimmer switches - one for the reading light and one for the uplighter. The uplighter can be dimmed down from 230 watts to zero, and the reading light from 40 watts to zero.
The base of the lamp is made from nice shiny brushed steel with rounded edges and looks really attractive as well as being very stable. There is a long 28cm power cord which can be wound up and tucked away inside the base for tidiness.
~~ Assembly ~~
I would definitely recommend two people to assemble this lamp to avoid damage to the chrome. Long, cumbersome poles fly around, weighted down with heavy lamp heads attached, and the danger of them swinging out of control and hitting something can be avoided by another person supporting the heavy end as you tighten the nuts.
Assembly itself is fairly straightforward; the poles have the power cable already threaded through and just have to be joined together and attached to the uplighter and the base. A spanner and an Allen key are provided to tighten the nuts and the assembly leaflet is easy to follow.
~~ Am I pleased with it? ~~
In terms of usefulness, the Mayer lamp is everything that I wanted. The uplighter is incredibly strong for my little living room; it casts a huge while light upwards with a 230 watt bulb - both my sons hate it and I have to say that I cannot see any occasion when I would want it on full blast. It gives the impression of being on set, with the director about to shout "cut". However there is a dimmer switch and contrary to some of the reviews I cannot hear any buzzing coming from the switch when the light is dimmed - so this makes it perfect either as an ambient light while watching TV or a stronger light if I am reading.
The light cast from the uplighter is a very natural light similar to daylight - not yellow or golden but very white. This makes it great to use during dull days - my room is a naturally dark room and this white light really cheers us up and gets rid of any miserable dark winter thoughts.
The small directional reading light is an absolute godsend; I use it all the time and it means that I can sit with my family, pointing the bright light at my reading or sewing while they watch TV or game, without disturbing them at all. The flexible stem that holds the reading light is long enough to position it very precisely so that it can be pulled right over my shoulder and direct the light onto my book.
I love the fact that both lights are on dimmer switches. This makes the whole unit very easy to regulate and suitable for a variety of needs and times of the day. Despite the boys' initial horror, they now prefer to use the dimmed uplighter when they are watching TV or gaming.
I would recommend this lamp to anybody and am very happy to give it five stars. It is very sturdy and robust - it does not sway around like some of my IKEA floor lamps. I think it looks more stylish than a lot of father and child lamps that I have seen on the internet - and the finish has proved to be scratch resistant as well as attractive.
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As a final note, several people have recently pointed out to me that this lamps absolutely eats up electricity - much more so than other lamps. This was a bit of a disappointment to me as I try to keep my fuel costs down and to be environmentally friendly - using economy bulbs in the rest of the house.
This is something to be aware of when buying, and may have put me off if I had realised before I bought it.
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Argos Value Floor Standing Uplighter
by thehonesttruth
I moved house very recently, and not only have I been buying lots of new furniture, but I've also been discarding a lot of the older items. One of the items I've recently given to a friend is my Argos Value uplighter, which I purchased around 5 years ago.
Argos still sell these, retailing currently at £4.98. The uplighter ... itself requires minimal assembly - the stand - which comes in a rather attractive matte silver finish - comes in separate sections which screw together, and which in turn screw into the base. The base is weighted giving the light some stability, and the shade simply screws on also. The shade is made of a translucent white plastic, and is easily removable for dusting, or even washing in hot soapy water.
It really takes just a few minutes to put together (or to take apart as the case may be) and of course with the stand coming in sections, you can leave sections out to adjust the height, which assuming you use all the parts is 178cm.
When I originally made the purchase, my primary consideration was that the lamp be cheap, but I have to say for less than a fiver it's certainly served me well. I've had some ten years of use from the lamp, and it still looks as good as new. Sure, occasionally the base needs tightening up again, as moving it about tends to loosen it, and yes, the cable and switch hanging down the side of the stand isn't the most stylish thing in the world, but overall, it you're not looking too closely it's a fairly attractive item.
I've now passed my lamp on to a student friend, as I've purchased new standard lamps for my house. Overall, I think this is a great lamp for a first/student home, and it certainly offers long lasting value for the price. I feel almost sad to have parted with it! 4 stars, one off for the visible cable hanging down the stand and looking a little unsightly.
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