Customer Reviews

Adesso Aries Torchiere, Black

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was looking for an economical functional floor lamp. This lamp fits the requirements. The style is simple and functional. Many other floor lamps I looked at only allowed one 150 watt bulb. My experience with those was poor. They lit up the ceiling well, but they just weren't bright enough to illuminate the rest of the room. This one takes two 150 watt conventional bulbs, so it is very bright.

The dimmer switch has two settings, full power or half-power. You can NOT adjust it to in-between levels.

I'm using it with compact spiral fluorescent bulbs instead of normal bulbs. (None of the fluorescent bulbs i've seen are compatible with dimmers. They all require full power. I just never use the half-way mark on the light switch. I've had the lamp with CFL bulbs for several months and have not had any problems.)

This lamp does not qualify as fine furniture. It is not going to elicit comments like "ooh, what a lovely lamp". It just lights up the room well in basic, modern, functional style.

This lamp is a good height, with a metal body and a heavy metal base. It accepts two standard light bulbs (I use CFL's to be kind to the earth and they work great) so if you are looking for a halogen lamp, this is not the lamp you are looking for. The white diffuser at the top is cheap-feeling and made out of plastic, but looks good from a distance. And if your guests are feeling the diffusers of your lamps you probably have other issues to worry about.

Overall I would definitely recommend the lamp. It is a good value, nice looking, and performs well.

Note: I ordered two lamps, but initially only received one. As always, Amazon customer service was great, and I had a replacement lamp free of charge within a week or two.

I am 100% satisfied with my black Bellacor Aries torchiere floor lamp. I like to use standard compact fluorescent bulbs in my lamps vs. incandescent for energy savings. I do not like having to use either the special ring-shaped bulbs that the lamps sold as "fluorescent" use or the special three-way bulbs. The standard ones are cheaper and work in all of my fixtures, so I do not have to keep several different kinds of bulbs around. Because of this, it is important that the lamp take two bulbs so it will be bright enough. It is also important that the lamp not use a dimmer because dimmers do not work well with fluorescent bulbs. The Bellacor Aries takes two bulbs and does not use a dimmer. Instead of a dimmer, the knob-shaped switch has positions for off, one, or both bulbs.

The lamp was a bit hard to assemble. Getting the threads of the various sections to line up correctly when you screw them in takes some doing. (In Bellacor's defense, I have had this problem with almost every torchiere lamp I have ever owned.) Nevertheless, within 15 minutes I had the thing put together perfectly straight and firmly tightened, so five stars. (If I could give 4.5, I would, but it deserves the benefit of the doubt since I cannot.)

It is what it appears. The white shade is cheap translucent plastic so I don't think I'd be putting any 150 watt incandescent bulbs in it for fear it would warp the shade (or whatever you call that white part).

The switch does indeed have two settings, but it would have been nicer to have it light one, both or neither bulb. Instead it lights both bulbs halfway or full power. So, if used with CFLs, they will probably meet with a premature end (unless designed for dimmers).

Other than that, it is a nice looking light. If it comes up in a lightning deal for $40 like when I bought it, I think it's a worthwhile investment.

I am pleased with this purchase.

We replaced a 300W halogen touchiere with this light and this lamp on its hih setting brightens the room more than the halogen. It was easy to set up and so far, no problems.

I was hesitant about buying a sub-$10 equivalent from walmart when I got these (I have 2 from walmart and 2 of these). They are much better quality and much more sturdier. It blends in with different living/family room colors, and it even looks great in the basement!

12-17-09

well the third lamp arrived and to my horror was also from

"returns" department...but I opened it anyway...

Looked intact...and didn't burn out a bulb until...about two weeks ago.

Only one this time and none since...

It is now past my return date...

So (thank God???) I no longer have the option of bundling it back up and

shooting it over to Amazon...

In Conclusion:

IMHO these lamps are defective...

probably why so many are being returned...and I'm getting them from "returns"...

I do like their configuration, the price and the illumination.

IF you get one that works and doesn't cost a mint in burned out bulbs

you'll probably like it too.

I WOULD NOT get a second one (pros do not outweigh cons, for me.)

Wonder why this "burning out bulb" problem hasn't been mentioned by anyone else????

FYI I do have another lamp plugged into the same outlet for 7 years, still plugged in, no burned bulbs, so it doesn't appear to be my electric outlet...

Original Post with Details of Previous Returns:

I like this lamp.

With that said I'm on my third (fingers crossed)

The first two came from Amazon Returns (anyone else with this phenomenon)

Number One Had broken shade attachments and melted styrophome.

I have no idea if it actually worked as I couldn't

even assemble it!!!

Thinking this was a one in a million glitch...I exchanged it for number two

Number two seemed promising as I was actually able to assemble it

then it burned out 5, 150 watt bulbs...that's when I looked at the box

AMAZON RETURNS!!!!

someone else's Broken lamp!!! again!!

(why did it take 5 bulbs you may ask ??? I thought the bulbs were

bad, they blew two at a time, and they didn't immediately blow...which

made me think it was bulbs not lamp....when did the "Light" come on???

when I realized a bulb from the same batch was happily lighting another lamp)

Yes I'm waiting on Number Three (call me crazy, I sure do)

because

I like the lamp

the price range

the 150 watt incandescents

the switch on the pole (not below the shade, which means you

have to stand up to turn on and off)

and I ????foolishly???? still believe that Amazon

will deliver a working, New lamp....

I will update...

Very nice looking, with 2 levels of lighting that's very practical, adds a modern and elegant look.

I own two other Adesso lamps that are substantially similar to this one. And since I'm satisfied with them, I thought I'd be satisfied with this one, too. No such luck! Adesso's quality control must be essentially non-existent, since this lamp (which requires assembly) arrived without a knob for the on/off switch, and the three pieces that are supposed to screw together to form the column...well, they don't go together properly. So instead of being upright, the lamp has a slight...but very noticeable...kink in it. There's no excuse for selling a trusting public trash like this. Adesso should be ashamed! They are absolutely off the list of vendors I'll do business with.

I kind of like a bright room all over the house, and thus have been using the 300-watt heat-making torches and like them, except that about a year ago I changed all the bulbs in my house to CFL's except for the torches and was amazed to actually see the electricity usage go down over the past year.

So I bought 3 of these things to replace 2 halogen torches and add one to another room. One arrived today and I tried it with 2 150-watt-equivalent CFLs, and it works out fine. I put it next to the old halogen 300-watter and would say the two lamps are the same brightness... however, the Adesso lamp got a lot of its brightness by shining light through the lamp shade, and thus casted a shadow on each of my piano keyboard's black keys, whereas the halogen torch had an opaque lamp base, and produced about the same brightness by only bouncing light off the ceiling... and didn't produce shadows on the piano.

This lamp is fine for my intended use. The lamp shade is flimsy/cheap as some other posters say, and I don't know how the shade would be able to withstand the heat of 2 x 150W incandescent bulbs, but that's not my problem since I'm using CFLs. The top of the lamp (the rim) on the one I got was not perfectly shaped, is a little warped... if you stand next to it and look at it, you know it is thin plastic. Even from across the room you can tell it is plastic. But if you don't stare at it, it looks fine.

The fact that it has two levels of brightness but there is a warning label on the lamp that says "only use the brighter setting if using CFLs", tells me that this is a poorly designed product. Nobody's going to buy this thing with the idea of putting in 2 150-watt incandescents because those incandescents burn out fast (I have personal experience) and the 150-watt incandescent bulbs r too expensive IMO for their short life and energy-sucking nature.

Overall, this lamp was the cheapest torch I could find that has 300-watts of lighting, in 2 hours of searching on the internet, so, I give it 5 stars for functionality.