Customer Reviews

Alvin G2540-B Swing Arm Lamp, Black

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I bought this lamp for a dorm room, where my desk is under my bed. It fits my needs perfectly. It clamps on (the clamp can be mounted on a sideways plane) the support brace for my bed, and is highly articulate. It's also very steady, if you tighten down the screws, and doesn't droop too much if tightened. My one problem with this lamp is that it has the tendency to droop slightly if not tightened, and the clamp may wear out (but is probably replaceable.) If you're looking for a cheap swing arm lamp that still looks professional, look no further!

The plastic attachment device to affix the lamp often breaks when tightened. If you don't tighten it enough the lamp is unsteady. This has happened several times over the years with Alvin swing lamps and is the result of supplying and using a supposedly hardened plastic attachment rather than one made of steel. Be prepared to drill a hole or otherwise jerry-rig some other method to mount this lamp. It is a great lamp when it works but getting it mounted is sometimes a problem and is the result of the cheapening and plasticization of many products.

DOES THE JOB AND THEN SOME!!
Got this bad boy today. Looks very good and will do the job for my desk. This is not a 85.00 lamp for the price advertised here so if your looking for a high dollar, high performance lamp keep looking down the line. I used one of the new coil fluorescent bulbs and its a bit heavy for it so I did have to tighten the pivots joints and now its holding it fine. I do not think that I will have to be moving it around a lot so this will work fine for my plans and it looks very impressive on my desk. The cord is about 4ft in length, It has a twist on / off switch on top of the lamp head.
Amazon did a great job packaging this in a over sized box. You install the base how ever your mounting status is then put the lamp in the base which I thought was good planning and keeps you from banging it around.
Buy with confidence. Great lamp for the price.
RagenRat

The Alvin lamp; and other brands, but especially Alvin have been around about as long as I can remember, and I am going on 66. I used these lamps for all of my 40 year work carrier as first, a drafter (yea, I actually drew with a pencil) and then into graphics and CAD, but this lamp was always around.
Because of this 40 years (and now more) I can give you a few hints about its use and misuse.

First, do not yank the lamp around like its a garden hose; parts will break.
Second, mount the lamp where you have proper clearance in the directions you plan on moving the swing arm.
Third, move the lamp to the position or general area you will most likely use it the most and then do your
adjusting.
Fourth, (and this is a little secret) you can use the cord as leverage at the lamp head by pulling some of the
cord back through the swing arm assembly and in doing so this will help hold up the lamp head and not put all
the strain on the tightening screw (which is plastic). This (besides the main plastic clamp) is one of your two main stress areas.
Fifth, loosen the middle screw more than the others and the swing arm will flex much better and you will let the
springs do there jobs.
And lastly, Yeh, the friggin clamp is made of plastic; if you can't live with it, drill a hole in the desk and
shove in the post.
I do have at least 4 or 5 of the old metal clamps laying around this place and I guess it would be a good time to go find one.

I received the swing arm work lamp on time. The swing arm has 4 springs hooked to small plastic supports. One plastic support was cracked in two. I called manufacturer. They refused to send a new plastic piece. They said to call the seller, Amazon.com. I would have to send lamp back and await a new one. A small piece of plastic would have done the job instead of sending it back and shipping new one. I found a piece of plastic in my junk box and cut it to fit. I will not buy from the manufacturer again.
Why do some companies have to do business the hard way?

You get what you pay for: a lamp that works, and looks pretty much like the picture in the site. But because the springs and the fasteners are cheap, the engineering balance between free movement and having the lamp keep its position when not moved has not been achieved. If you mostly keep the lamp in one position, then you can adjust the fasteners accordingly. But if that's the case, why did you need a swing arm lamp to begin with?

I bought this 4 months ago, and the metal that holds the socket on the lamp broke, so the bulb and socket started falling out of the lamp. I thought about hot-glueing it, but then the switch fell out of the socket. Into the trash it went.

I work at home, sometimes spending 12-14 hours a day on the computer. I wanted a lamp that illuminated my workspace from above and this does exactly that. I have illumination on my keyboard, and I've tilted the head just under 45 degrees towards the wall so the entire workspace is well-lit and I get a lot of indirect light reflecting back at me.

I don't reorient the lamp, so I don't expect any failure of the moving parts, and the lamp is sturdy enough to maintain its position indefinitely, or so it seems. If you need to readjust the lamp often, you might want to skip this lamp, unless you don't mind applying a quick fix. The fulcrum of the lamp is at the post that sits in clamp. The post is simply a flat sheet of metal that has been crimped into a cylinder shape. This is obviously the weak point in the lamp. If you reinforce the post with a 2" section of 3/8" or 1/3" dowel, I don't think you'll have any issues moving this lamp often everyday. But if you keep the clamps at each joint firmly tightened, you might want to loosen them a wee bit before adjusting. The plastic components of the lamp either don't bear any significant strain or are sturdy enough for the job (i.e. the clamp).

As for the lamp shade getting hot, I splurged and went with 27W ALZO full spectrum 100W output CFLs at around $28 for 4. They fit perfectly in the lamp, I get slightly softer more saturated colors than typical fluorescent lighting, and the lamp shade never gets hot.

These lamps are exactly what I was looking for, and I'm generally quite pleased with the purchase. The base to one of them broke on installation, though, when I was adjusting the position of the lamp; my fault, probably, since I apparently didn't understand the geometry correctly. Have yet to request a replacement bracket, and should they provide it at no cost I'll edit the rating to five stars.

The shipping charge, however, seemed exorbitantly high. These are lightweight lamps and not particularly bulky, so $12 for two seems excessive to me. At $9.25 each, though, I think they were worth it.

I have owned two of these lamps now. I bought the first one and was initially impressed by the flexibility of the lamp - it swivels and it turns quite well and, as such, it appeared to be a perfect desk lamp for those that occasionally require more light than at other times. You can flick it on and pull it into place (say, for spotlighting a book you're reading) and then you can push it back out of the way easily again. So, due to this initial experience, I decided to buy a second one (as a reading lamp for the bedroom).

However, now both of these lamps are broken. The reason is simple: the plastic fixtures which connect the lamp to the desk are just too brittle. I made the minor mistake of turning the lamp in a direction that it is supposed to be able to turn in and, suddenly: POP - the fixture snapped in two!

Lamp Number 1, RIP

And today, Lamp Number 2 went the same way of the Dodo - I was trying to turn the lamp around, so I could illuminate a document and POP - the same cheap plastic fixture gave way with almost no pressure having been applied to it whatsoever.

Lamp Number 2, RIP

Thus, I'm in the market for a new desk lamp and, despite everything else about this lamp being really rather good, I fear I simply cannot purchase another one of these lamps, due to the inevitable POP (and mourning period) that will follow shortly thereafter.

I would not recommend purchasing this lamp - UNLESS you do not wish to swing the swing arm. Ever. (Seriously - do not touch the swing arm: then everything should be fine).

Otherwise, avoid - or, prepare for a POP.