Mighty Bright Black Travelflex LED Book Light

Comprises 3 parts:A plastic case a little larger than a AAA battery, which clips onto your book using a plastic clip sprung with a powerful steel spring. An AAA battery powers the light. A simple but clever spring-loaded catch holds the cover firmly in place but allows for a very quick and easy battery change.A thin, flexible tube made of metal that can be bent into shape to angle the light carefully. Ankered at each end by a plastic sleeve.The LED housing. On one side (typically facing down at your book) a rectangular, clear plastic prism-like window under which sits a single high-intensity white LED. On the other side, a plastic switch offering just 'on' or 'off'.Started flickering within an hour. Tried a new battery. Flickering became more severe over the following hour, including complete outages of a few seconds. Tried wiggling the battery, wetting the terminals, flexing the tube (to see if a wire or joint was at fault) and switching off and on in case the switch contacts were tarnished. None of this made any difference.LEDs need more than 1.5 volts to work. This means these lights either have three standard AA or AAA cells (heavy), 3 button cells (not as available, low capacity so expensive) or a single cell with a simple circuit of 3 components to step up the voltage. This has the latter, housed in the battery compartment. I think the flickering was due to a faulty component on this circuit. I had thrown the packaging away so couldn't return it so I attempted a repair. The circuit was sealed in though so I ended up snapping the plastic to get it out!I did discover whilst dismantling the unit that it is much tougher than it looks. The plastic is thick, the switch is a proper PCB type switch albeit operated by a plastic lever on the lamp housing and I was left quite mournful that something that was otherwise so well built had failed.Buy one but keep the packaging til it's been running satisfactorily for a few weeks. I stupidly assumed that if it worked from the start, it would keep on working so I would never need to keep the packaging for returning it. My light is in hardware heaven now (well, in my bin in little pieces really). I think I was just out of luck. I'll just have to make do with my bedside lamp now :(

I bought this light because I wanted a light that I could attach directly to my Kindle but which wouldn't add a lot of weight when reading. Many lights require 2 or 3 AA batteries. This one, by contrast runs on one AAA meaning you hardly feel the weight of the light when it's attached. For anyone who is considering a travel lamp, it's also something to consider. One AAA battery plus one spare weighs far less than 2 or 3 AA and a like number of backups. So far so good.I also wanted something I could attach directly to the kindle, and this works fine, so long as you are using a cover (as I am). The clip attaches easily to a (faux) leather cover and is not overly large (holding just one battery inside). But when I removed the kindle cover, I found that the clip, which opens in a V-shape, slips and slides on (and off of) the smooth-finish of the Kindle. I would find this very annoying and probably not be able to use it that way. So, attached directly to a Kindle (without a cover), I don't recommend.The device is lightweight, and so therefore, the build is not overly sturdy. Something to consider for some. But for £10 including VAT, what's one to expect?The quality of the light has proven to be just fine. I wanted the light mostly for reading in a dimly lit room (partner watching telly, a lamp on somewhere) rather than all-out dark. And it's proven to be great for that. I didn't try it in a dark room, though it would certainly appear to provide ample light without being too bright. Telescoping neck means the device can be adjusted to provide sufficient light, without creating any glare on the screen.Now, how long that little AAA battery will last remains to be seen. Obviously it will require more frequent changes than the AA devices, but I can live with that. I don't plan to read a great deal in the dark. I don't think any portable lantern is a substitute for proper light while reading, and so the lack of battery duration, hopefully will not become an issue.Storage - if you are using a cover, as I recommend with this light, the neck can be laid across the kindle and the cover closed over it. The body of the light can then be folded flush with the kindle, though the head of the lamp protrudes because the neck isn't long enough for both to fold over. Not a perfect solution, but a good way of keeping devices together.

I originally bought a light like this for my wife but since then I have bought two more: One for each of my stepparents who came for a visit for a few days and loved it.It has great advantages:- The battery life is very, very good.- The light is very bright but still comfortable (if you don't point it to your eyes).- It uses a normal, standard AAA battery, so no problem finding a replacement battery (like the irritating button batteries).- It sits well on a book (even the cheapest type of paperback), and also on my Kindle cover (I use it myself to read on a Kindle).- The flexible neck does its job.But nothing is perfect:- The light is not very "focused" so the whole room kind of lightens up, but nothing extreme though. But I guess you can't both have a focused light, AND a light which lights up two whole pages. No problem in my case though.- One of these lights I have bought had a faulty "head" (it was not assembles correctly). Fixed it myself with patience and some glue (and it works perfectly), but most people would have shipped it back and asked for a replacement/refund.- The on/off button is slightly stiff so use of nails is necessary.- I would buy 2 more lights (an extra for my business travels, and an extra for the home in the rare cases me and my wife want to read a book at the same time at night) if not for the price.All in all a very good product.