The Best Reading Lights

Compact, cheap, and simple, this is perhaps the most portable reading light in this guide as it folds flat and weighs just 1.38 ounces. It has a clip design that slides easily on the cover of any size of book (a bit like a paper clip). The main body hinges open, and the top part with the LEDs can swivel to hit the angle you need. It offers two colors (warm white and amber) with two brightness levels, and you tap the power button to cycle through them and long-press to turn it off. To charge, you pull the main body out to reveal a USB-A jack that can plug directly into a port or power bank without a cable. This light is also stable if you want to sit it on the nightstand or even prop it on yourself (if you have a top pocket in your pajamas, it will sit in nicely).

With great portability comes relatively low battery life, and Dewenwils’ reading light only lasted around eight hours. I also found it started to dim as the battery emptied. It is best used with paperbacks and smaller books. With a large hardback, I had to adjust the light as I read to cover both pages, and it struggled to illuminate fully to the bottom of the page. Be careful if you go for this light, as Dewenwils seems to offer different models that look identical. There is another version that only offers warm white.

This reading light wraps around your neck, so it looks a little funny. But it's a great choice if you're looking for an alternative to clip-on reading lights that are also hands-free. It's lightweight and adjustable, so it's very comfortable to wear even for long periods. It comes with three color temperature modes, too. You can swap between yellow, warm white, and cool white, along with six brightness settings, with a simple touch of a button. This rechargeable book light offers up to 80 hours of night reading at the dimmer settings.

My daughter loves this funky headlamp for reading at night. There is a choice of comfy, thick, adjustable straps in various colors. It offers three brightness settings (0.5, 15, or 30 lumens), and it scores an IPX4 rating, which means it can survive splashes. I appreciate that it turns itself off after two hours, so if she falls asleep with it on, it's not a problem. Speaking of which, you get around five hours at the highest brightness, 10 hours at the medium setting, and up to 50 hours at the lowest, though that might not be bright enough for some kids to read and requires a pitch-dark room. It is also handy that the light can angle down slightly, whichever way you put it on.

The downside is that it takes two AAA batteries (included). I recommend rechargeable Panasonic Eneloop batteries when they run out. It’s also fairly pricey, but remember that it doubles as an excellent headlamp for walking at night or camping.

The Lexon Mimi looks like a miniature traditional lamp with a clip to fix to your book, but it slides into a wee bucket when you’re not using it to double as ambient lighting for your bedside table. Tap the top to switch on or off, switch between cool or warm white, cycle through various colors, or change the brightness, which goes up to 20 lumens. Battery life is around 12 hours at 75 percent brightness, and you can recharge it via USB-C in around two hours. It’s a little awkward, but you can fit the charging cable into the bucket. Overall, it’s a super-cute, quirky, and versatile design.

It took me a while to get the hang of the touch-control top, and I sometimes accidentally turned it on at night or turned it off when I just wanted to change brightness. Because the top is shaped like a lampshade, it tends to sit higher than other reading lights that you can angle in, so it creates more ambient light in the room. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be available in the US right now (Lexon is a French company).

Some folks prefer desk lamps when they curl up with a good book, so if you want to lamp things up, this dimmable bedside beauty from Philips Hue is my feature-packed favorite. As a reading lamp, the Twilight is perfect because the front forms a downward-cast cone, and it swivels. A separate back panel can cast mood lighting on the wall. You can also set the precise color and temperature you want, but most importantly, you can fine-tune the brightness to go as low as you want. Since it is a Philips Hue lamp, it supports automation and has a special mode for helping you drift off with warm fading light and wake up with an emulated sunrise. There are also two buttons on the top to turn it on and off and cycle through scenes, but they can be fully customized in the Hue app, so you can link other Hue lights and set up your perfect reading ambiance.

Unfortunately, this lamp is stupidly expensive. It also requires a Hue hub and additional Hue lights to take full advantage of its capabilities. That said, I don't know of another lamp that can go this dim or bright, and that ability to fine-tune and automate will justify the price for some folks.

E-readers are a great alternative to reading lights because the best models have backlit E Ink screens that adjust the brightness automatically based on the light levels in your room. I used a Kindle Oasis for several years, and it was great for reading into the small hours while my partner slept. Our top Kindle recommendation is now the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It allows you to change the color and sports auto-adjust brightness. It also boasts 32 GB of storage, wireless charging, excellent battery life (up to 12 weeks), and an IPX8 rating for water resistance.

Beyond the high price, the obvious downside of an e-reader is that you must buy digital copies of your books (though they tend to be cheaper than physical tomes unless you buy used). You can get free books if you have a library card, and you might also want to consider Amazon’s ebook subscription, Kindle Unlimited, though some folks won’t want to lock into Amazon’s ecosystem. You can find some alternatives in our Best Ebook Readers guide.