The Really Tiny Reading Light is an amazing little gadget - it's so small, and yet it really does work. These tiny LED-powered torches at first glance look a bit like a slightly bent ball-point pens - and in fact the whole miniature torch is actually, slightly shorter than an average ball-point pen, but about as chunky as an averagely-chunky 'fancy' pen at its widest point. The slight bend in the 'neck' of the light is to accommodate the surprisingly bright LED lamp part and to help prevent the light shining into its user's eyes while in use. In general the light is very pen-like: in appearance, as well as weight - its weight is virtually negligible. The lights are available in a range of bright colours (the casing is a slightly rubbery-feeling, presumably non-slip type of plastic), and are attractively-designed little things.

The torch tapers from the wider, battery-containing end to the far end that has the LED in; which is sculpted and somewhat delicate-looking. Half way along the length of the pen (this is in addition to the fixed bend in the 'neck') is a right-angle joint, so that when you clip the light in place on a book (using the wider end) the LED-containing part shines its light down onto the text. Fully bent at the joint, the reading light will have a 90 degree bend in it, but the joint can also be adjusted through various angles between fully bent and fully straight. The joint is designed to hold in whatever position it's been left in, and this part works very well. At the wider end where the batteries are is a thin clip just like the clip on a ball point pen, that keeps the pen upright in your breast pocket. This clips the light onto the back cover of the book you're reading - it works with paperbacks as well as hardback books - and holds it in place most effectively. There's an on-off push button helpfully marked 'light ' at the wider end - it's dead simple to use.

I went through a phase of not being able to sleep for maybe an hour or two in the middle of the night, and as putting the bedside lamp on in the bedroom disturbed the baby, my partner got me one of these LED lamps to try. I was really surprised how bright the light it emitted was, and that I was able to read without eyestrain just from the light of the LED in an otherwise fully darkened room. I haven't used it continually so can't comment on how well the batteries last - but with LEDs like this the power consumption generally tends to be quite low, so I hope it would not need replacement batteries too often. A portable reading light like this would also be ideal for use on holiday - in a tent when camping, or on a plane.

There's only one downside to this light which is that it's so tiny and lightweight that it's very easy to mislay, particularly when you're in transit. It doesn't fold up 'flat' so you wouldn't want it eg. dangling off a key-ring as it's not robust enough for that, nor would you really want it rolling about loose in the bottom of your pocket, as it might get damaged there. So it would be helpful if it had some sort of attachment like a mini key-ring ring or clip or something that you could use to keep track of it. I suppose you could keep it clipped to your top pocket if you have one - as in a biro pen - instead.