Koncept's Z-BAR LED lamp: 40,000 hours of industrial grace
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jun 7th 2007 10:03AM
posted Jun 7th 2007 10:03AM
More LED goodness for ya, this time in the form of a desk lamp, not a backlit LCD. The Z-Bar won I.D. Magazine's "best of category" award which is pretty sweet considering the category wasn't just lamps, it was furniture. The Z-Bar's 66, long-livin' LEDs pump 100 lumens in pretty much any direction you want thanks to that 47-inch, finger-thin neck loaded with hinges and rotational joints. Sure, 100 lumens doesn't seem like much when compared to an incandescent's 500–800 lumens. The Z-Bar's trick is to focus the light in a 50-degree viewing angle instead of the 360-degrees of waste emitted by standard light bulbs. The lamp can stand alone on its weighted base or clamped to a table edge -- your choice after forking over $130.
[Via Inhabitat]
Had mine a year and the on/off switch is already broken.
That's extremely cool. I want one.
However there is no reason why we won't be seeing these or similar ones at Walmart very soon for much much less.
dude 130 dollars? i love how these days the metal on the stands cost more than the actual piece of electronics itself.
like how about those like 200-300 dollar wall mounts for the plasmas! MAD EXPENSIVE.
Not Walmart, but Target has it online...
I have one of these and it is great. My wife uses it at her sewing machine to get the light where she needs it. Excellent design.
I bought this off Amazon because of how cool it looked, then returned one day later. The light quality was extremely poor.
I just ordered one. Let's see how it looks in real life.
$130 does seem to be a bit rediculous... Bring that down to $50 or $75 and you've got a shot at my wallet.
They don't want a shot at your wallet because it doesn't have enough money in it, instead why not sample the delights of walmart and leave this to people who want decent lighting at the price decent lighting costs.
Little harsh there, don't you think? Plus, as a couple of other readers have said, it doesn't really serve well for a reading light.
Great. Now we have LED desk lamp fanboys.
I waffled a long time before buying one of these last year. It was worth it. It puts bright white light on my desktop right in front of my monitor, which is where I need it for transferring data from paper to Quicken, Excel, TurboTax, etc. I don't think it would make a very good reading lamp, but it's great for desktop paperwork.
I have a different model from Koncept, I didn't like the z-bar look (which is like 2 years old engadget) I paid $150 for mine. Expensive? Maybe. But I've had a few nice desk lamps and they all averaged $100 or so (halogen, not lame fluorescent or incandescent) However, when you realize these 60 watt + lamps only use 2watts or so of energy, they save you in the long run because of their long life span AND no bulbs to replace at virtually no power usage.
Yeah, I have this one too for over a year. It's definitely cool loooking, but IT IS NOT bright, that's for sure. It's a very nice computer lamp though.
Cheers!
This is a nice product. I've seen it the past two years at the ICFF in Manhattan.
I got one at Sharper Image a few months ago. Works great, and doesn't get hot like incandescent and FL bulbs do. AIm it where you want and you get some pretty bright light. I have mine aimed at a white wall, where the light is diffused through the room more. Used that way, it's not too bright (it's right beside my computer), and not too dim, and when I ned a little more light, it's just an arm's length away and easy to re-aim. It looks pretty darn cool too.
He Who Might Get Another One Or Two For Other Rooms Soon.