I am not going to write a long review of this product, suffice it to say that it has certain good points and bad points:
The good:
- I like the overall engineering of the product. For its size, it cranks out a ton of light (it has three 36w bulbs inside). You can stand it up on a table using the flip stand on the back, or you can attach the legs to raise it up. It is also very compact, visually appealing, and solidly built.
The bad:
- As others have commented, this light exudes the smell of burning plastic, no doubt because the back gets so incredibly hot. This smell fills the room and wafts throughout the house and is hard to get rid of. It has not abated at all in the week or so that I have been using this light, and it pretty objectionable.
- It uses 4000k bulbs and as a result casts a slightly warm yellowish light that does not really resemble sunlight. I know that recent studies have shown that light intensity may be more important than color temperature, but since the manufacturer has designed this light so that you are to work, read, etc directly under it, the 4000k bulbs give pretty poor color rendition. When you compare this light side by side to a one that uses higher color temperature bulbs, you really see how yellow it is. I can't understand why the manufacturer chose 4000k bulbs, but I personally prefer light that "looks" more like natural sunlight...i.e. in the 5000k+ range and there are other boxes that do this (like the UltraLux). On a dreary winter day 5000k+ light really feels like natural sunlight. Not so with this box unfortunately, though it may still be therapeutic.
Overall although I like the design, high output, looks and portability, I would not purchase one of these again. The nasty smell and lack of daylight spectrum bulbs detract too much from the product as a whole. I should have given it two stars, but I seem to be unable to go back and edit that field.