Monday, July 30, 2012

Energizer Edge Small Accent Light Review

I live in an old house – so old that all the rooms have overhead fixtures, even the living room.  Sometimes the overhead light is a bit too harsh, and I’d like something a bit more atmospheric.  I have some lamps sitting around, but they’ve usually been chosen to provide task lighting and can be overly bright.  I like the look of candles, but I don’t like having open flames sitting around my house.  I’m basically out of luck when I’d like just a nice, dim, warm light for a cozy ambiance or when I’d just like to have a night light so I don’t have to return home to a dark house.  I was very interested when I heard about Energizer‘s line of household lighting fixtures.  I was very happy to be selected to give their Edge Small Accent Light a try.

Most images can be clicked for an enlarged view.

The Edge Small Accent Light is very attractive and modern in design.  It has a black metal and plastic base and four clear acrylic panel sides.  The base is 5″ square, and the lamp stands 7.62″ tall.  The lamp incorporates LEDs, so it uses minimal energy and produces minimal heat.  Energizer says their household lighting lines “combine sophisticated designs with best-in-class thermal management, LEDs, advanced circuitry, optics, and material.  The optimal combination of these five crucial elements is what makes these lights – and how they enhance different environments – truly remarkable.”

Energizer uses thermal management to keep the lamp cool to the touch – important when you use touch to control the lamp.  It also keeps the circuits and LEDs operating at their peak, meaning you’ll get better performance and a longer life.  The optics have been carefully designed to focus the light where you need it.  The entire line of Energizer household lighting fixtures incorporate circuitry designs that disappear into the lamp’s sleek, streamlined designs.

The base has a very low-profile black plastic pedestal with an attached AC power cord.  Above the pedestal are four black metal panels that support the acrylic panels.  The metal panels are touch-sensitive and are used to turn the lamp on or off and to adjust the brightness of the lights.

The clear acrylic panels are etched with a repeating frosted dots pattern.  You’ll notice two “legs” at the left side of the picture.  These fit into the metal panels and hold the acrylic sides in place.  The frosted pattern is on the inside of the panels; the outside is smooth.

Energizer uses what they call the “most advanced LEDs to ensure color uniformity and reliability.”  The Edge Small Accent Light has 12 of these LEDs, three per side.  They produce 300 lumens of light while consuming only 7W of power.  Energizer says the LEDs have a correlated color temperature of 3200 and a color rendering accuracy index rating of 80, which means all the LEDs will be basically the same warm-white color.  The LEDs never need to be replaced, so there will be no expense associated with these lamps, other than the original purchase price and the small amount of electricity to power them.

You simply give the metal base a tap with your finger to turn the lamp on or off.  The lamp always comes on at full brightness.  If desired, you can dim the light by holding a finger against one of the metal panels until the brightness has cycled to the desired level.

You can see the frosted pattern very well in this image.  It almost looks as if you are looking through lighted wire mesh.  The pattern helps scatter the light to provide a softer light without hotspots from each LED.  You can see where the three LEDs are located when you look at the bottom of the panels, though.

These lights are intended as accents, so you shouldn’t expect that you’ll be able to see to perform surgery by them.  You can see that the Edge Small light, when at the brightest setting, serves as a good night light in my bedroom.  I could dim it down for a softer light, but I wanted to be able to get a photograph without using the flash or turning on any other lights in the room.

The etched acrylic panels throw an attractive pattern on the ceiling.  It’s almost like what you’d expect from a lamp with an cut lead crystal shade.

The Edge Small Accent Light does stay very cool.  I tend to always leave the overhead light on in the bathroom at night, and it does produce some heat, even with CFLs.  If I use it in the bathroom, I’ll be able to leave the Edge Small Accent Light on all the time without heating up the room, which is very important in the south when we’re having the hottest summer we’ve had in years.

I like the Energizer Small Accent Light.  It works well as a night light.  It gives a soft, attractive light like a candle without having to worry about open flames – especially important when you have pets or small children in your home.  It’s dimmable, so you can adjust the lighting to your liking.  My only quibble is the price seems a bit high for an accent light, but all LED lighting fixtures still tend to be expensive.  And at least with the Energizer light, you know you’re getting high-quality materials for the price.

Product Information

Price:$65 at Amazon
Manufacturer:Energizer
Pros:
  • Modern and attractive
  • Bright enough to softly light to a small room, like a powder room
  • Dimmable
  • Works well as a night light or to give a candle-like ambiance to a room
Cons:
  • None, other than the inherent expense of buying LED lighting

Filed in categories: Home Tech, Reviews

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Energizer Edge Small Accent Light Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 26, 2012 at 11:00 am.

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/07/26/energizer-edge-small-accent-light-review/

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