Enhance Your Reading Experience without disturbing your neighbor
Enjoy a lightweight, poseable, necklight with three color temperatures (cool/neutral/warm) and three intensities (low, medium, high). The narrow beam helps to keep the light on your book without disturbing your neighbor/bedmate. With USB-C input, a 30 minute built in timer, 80 hour low-light mode and ~10 hours of high-light mode, this may be the reading accessory that you did not know you were missing.
- Design
- Ease of Use
- Light Modes
- Charging
- Price
- Instruction Manual/Details
Enhance your reading experience with comfortable, long-lasting light.
With my daily sixty-minute work commute, travel time, and personal downtime, I consumed 52 books in 2023. I was proud of this final score, considering I had set a goal of 30 books for 2023. Even though I typically enjoy Audible Audiobooks, my friend Quintin Johnson wrote a book called The Hidden Realm that I wanted to read. I have tried reading on my iPad Pro 12.9” and iPhone 15 Pro Max with the Kindle App and a few library/reading apps and found the experience unfavorable.
I may be a bit old-fashioned when I prefer actual books and the feel/smell of paper when I read. Interested in reading before bed, I struggled to find the best lighting conditions to read my non-backlit hardback. I turned to Amazon for options, and after a quick search, I landed on the Glocusent neck reading light. I was excited about the 4.7-star average for the 112,479 reviews. More impressively, the device garnered 93% 4/5 star positive reviews.
Packaging:
The Glocusent Upgraded Neck Reading Light arrived in a 5 5/16 inches wide by 7 7/16 inches tall by 1 3/8 inches thick retail package. The cover panel listed the product name along the top left, the company name along the bottom left, and provided a large image of the flashlight along the mid to lower right segment. The matte black background was the perfect backdrop for the vibrant yellow font and yellow light accents.
The right side panel listed the company name, while the left side panel provided a table with the company’s website address, email address, and social media links. The back panel provided the company name, product name, a QR code, a product contents table, specifications table (weight 4.5 oz, rubber/abs material, 19.4×1.0x0.7in, 5V/1A input), product manufacturing labels, upc barcode, and company addresses.
Unboxing:
Within the box, I found a loosely packed 4.5-ounce neck light, a 0.4-ounce 24 3/8 inches long USB-A to USB-C cable, a Glocusent transparency business card, a small 36-month warranty bookmark, and a 28-page multilingual instruction manual (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese). The English section (pages 1-5) did a reasonable job at laying out their information. It started with a few words about the product, then showed an ink outline schematic, a helpful instruction panel, a notes/how to charge panel, and a product specifications table.
The manual showed the single press on/off button/long press timer button on the right side of the neck light. It also displayed the two left side buttons, which can select amongst low (night light), medium (general reading mode), and high modes (task reading mode), plus the color temperature change button (warm 1800k, Neutral 3200k, and cool daylight 6000k). If I had one suggestion for the Glocusent version 2.0, I would love a diagram/table detailing each mode’s duration/run time and the lumen output for each light intensity. The manual promised a 3-hour charge time for the 1000mAh battery but did not detail the run time for the warm/neutral/cool modes.
Testing:
The Glocusent Neck light measured 23 inches long when fully stretched and coiled down to about 7 1/2 inches long. Each end of the light had a 5-inch long dark grey light segment, a 4-inch long bendable/posable segment, and a rigid, 6-inch long by 7/8 inches tall by 3/8 inches thick neckband segment. The neck segment had a single, centered USB-C input port along the bottom and a plastic anti-slip pad that rested along my neck. The right side neckband had a 3/4 inches long by 3/8 inches tall power button near the end, while the left side had a 1 5/16 inches long by 3/8 inches tall oval-shaped color/temperature button and intensity button.
Before using the device, I plugged the necklight into a standard 5V/2A USB-A port and charged the light. Neither the manual nor the Amazon page provided details about the bank of green LED along the back of the light except that the lights will flash while charging and extinguish when complete. It will take approximately 3 hours to charge the device from depleted, or some variable degree of time thereafter, based on device runtime/use.
When I oriented the light with the USB-C port downward, the power button oriented toward the right side. To activate the light, press the button to turn it on. I liked the button layout, the tactile feedback, and the quick operation. Additionally, if you turn the light on/off, the memory function will allow the light to resume its previous color temperature and brightness state. You can long press the power button (once the light is on) to activate the thirty-minute internal timer. Once you long-press the button, the timing indicator light will activate just beyond the power button. There will be no other audible or visible sign of the remaining time, but the light will extinguish to the mark when the timer is up. I set my timer on my iPhone 15 Pro Max and ran the test five times; I was very impressed with the accuracy of their internal timer.
The benefits and uses of cool versus neutral versus warm light are beyond the scope of my review today. I have tested several Olight flashlights and found several individuals fall into one of the above camps. Luckily, the Glocusent has everyone in that group covered because it provides three different light intensities at three different color temperatures. The 1800K warm yellowish light removes the blue light, which may help with nighttime reading. It creates a more soothing, romantic, intimate, and calming ambiance. Anything below 3000K is considered warm light.
If you press the distal color temperature adjust button, you can activate the 3200K neutral light mode. Neural light is considered the optimal temperature for reading and activities and provides the best “true” color picture. If you press the temperature select button again, you can activate the 6000K cool white mode with a more bluish, brighter daylight appearance. Some feel that >5500K will lead to color washout, increased blues, and distort the actual color pattern. However, if you need more light for activities, the cooler colors will output more light than the other temperatures. Again, the nitty gritty differences between the temperatures may be as much personal choice as true science. My favorite feature of the light, beyond the comfortable, lightweight nature, was the ability to choose between the temperatures.
The last button on the left panel allowed the user to change between low, medium, and high modes. Each temperature could cycle through the three intensity modes. If you power down the device using the right power button and then power it back on, the light will resume the previous mode. As noted above, this is a neat feature that many other flashlights lack. I tested each of the high modes and found that they remained active for ~9.5-10 hours (cool light ~9.5 hours 10:35 AM-8 PM, warm light ~10 hours 9:00 AM-7:05PM, and neutral light ~10 hours 8:30 AM-6:45 PM).
The Amazon page noted that the low light mode should last up to 80 hours. I tested this statement using the warm night light mode. Starting at 07:00 AM on Saturday 1/9/24, I checked the light again at 07:00 AM on Sunday 1/10/24, Monday 1/11/24, Tuesday 1/12/24, and then found the light extinguished sometime between 1PM-3PM that day. I had to work in the afternoon and missed the moment the light turned off, which was like missing when my car turned over 100,000 miles. Regardless, the low mode should last at least three days.
I found myself using the warm and neutral light modes more frequently than the cool light, but did not dislike any of the modes. I was pleased with the overall shape, the comfortable, lightweight nature, and the posable arms. I loved that I could lay in bed, tighten/secure the poseable light between my shoulder/neck, and enjoy an optimized lighting position. I could use the light while lying on my stomach, back, or recliner.
The Amazon page stated that the average user could enjoy the light for up to 20 days from a full charge, assuming 30 minutes daily. The high mode lasted 9.5-10 hours, which would provide this figure. Using the medium mode should nearly double this, and using the low mode should provide light for well over three months, assuming 30-minute increments.
The light exceeded my expectations and has been a welcomed addition to my daily reading goal/habit. In fact, my wife asked me to pick up a purple version for her next gift, to help with her nighttime Bible study.
Available Colors: Gray, Lake Blue, Light Pink, Lilac Purple, Pink, Posh Gray, Purple, Sky Blue.
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