Zelco Max 5 Energy Efficient Booklight

I love my MAX5 Itty Bitty Book Light, except for one thing: the battery cover will NOT stay on. The least little bump and it falls off, and since it sticks out about an inch from the back of my book, it gets little bumps often, such as when I set it down. Two minor complaints:1) the batteries are not easy to remove; and2) the light head swivels 360 degrees by pivoting the post in its connection and will rotate about 20 degrees around its attachment to the post, allowing a larger or smaller book to be accommodated. This last is not quite enough movement; I find that the way I hold my book sometimes puts the light in my eyes and I would prefer to rotate it down further than it will go, even if that would slightly reduce the light on the bottom of my book.Other than that, it's great: the light is BRIGHT, too bright for my husband if he trying to sleep. There are two brightnesses, but the first one is really bright, and the second is even brighter. For instance, I can see whether the light is on when I am reading by my window on a sunny day out of direct sunlight. When the battery starts to go, the light will dim, and then I will use the brighter setting. The light is much brighter than either my original  Zelco Itty Bitty Abridged Booklight  or the second version,  Zelco Itty Bitty Volume Two Booklight  (even when using the AC adapter).The book light itself weighs next to nothing (about as much as a AAA battery, perhaps); the weight comes from the two AA batteries it requires. This makes it weigh more than my other Itty Bitty Book Lights, which I like a great deal, but the freedom of not being tied to a wall socket make it worth the extra weight.I also like that I am not replacing bulbs, which don't seem to last long in Zelco Itty Bitty Booklights. They are expensive, too, so I'm a little surprised at myself for not buying the LED version earlier. In addition, I find that I have to replace the AC adaptors for the other book lights occasionally, especially if I am not VERY careful to allow air movement around them to keep them from getting too hot.I use rechargeable batteries and they last 8-10 hours or so before giving up, so I just keep one pair in the charger and one in the light.

How complicated can it be to make a book light that lights up two pages of a typical hardcover? Apparently, it's harder than I thought. I had already tried a bunch of book lights, not one of which met my objective of lighting two pages of the average hardcover book. Okay, it's not a major problem to shift the light left or right to cover one of those two pages. (It's a pain, but you get used to it.) But it does provide enough light at the bottom of the pages or at the edges of any one page. And and the price charged, I feel cheated very time I attach it to a book. It's now gathering dust. I'm sure they mean well, but save your money.

PROS:Bright!!2 settingsMoveable lampCONS:A bit bulkyI have had several book lights. I started out with the cheapest model and the more I used them, I have worked my way up to become willing to spend a little more money. Let me save you some time and money--skip all the $10 and $20 waste-of-time lights and go straight for this one.It has a button on the bottom--push once to turn on "low"; push twice to turn on "high" and a third time to turn off. Personally, I do not see too much difference between the two settings, and I always use the first one, as it is VERY bright and wonderful. A disclaimer, though--I use it when I am alone so if you share your bed with a partner, it is possible it may be too bright for him/her, especially if he/she is laying at an angle where the bulb catches right into his/her eye (in which case I CAN highly recommend the  nap Plush Eyemask  which I use often, not in conjunction with my book light, however)It has two parts, the base and the lamp, which plug together. The lamp is very tall and the light part turns 360 degrees around and also tilts up and down about 45 degrees. I have no problem lighting two pages of a large book.The base is a little bit bulky (it takes two AA batteries), but this does not impede the function of the light. It has a thin metal clip on which it fits comfortably to both hardcover and paperback books--I have used it on both. Hardcover books just latch it onto either cover (I usually find it is easiest on the back) and read away! With paperbacks, you just need to add about 50 pages or so and there is no problem. There are even two little notches on the bottom so it can stand on a table on its own.The two parts disconnect and it comes with a little drawstring travel bag, so they fit together nicely for easy packing. It is larger and a little more delicate (the lamp part seems a little fragile--I certainly would not throw it in my bag without putting it in the little travel bag first) than some of the $10 lamps I have owned, but it is well worth the investment and 20 extra seconds of care to put it away for the comfort of reading without an overhead lamp. Definitely 5 stars!

Purchased in February 2011. Received on March 10, 2011. Used it for approximately five minutes. I smelled something burning, like a burning plastic smell. The light went out and no longer works. It looks like maybe the switch malfunctioned, because I can no longer push it in and it won't come back out in order to turn it on or off. I purchsed this item as a package with the adapter, so that I could save on batteries. I purchased this because of the excellent reviews it received, but I guess I got a lemon. Am returning it to Amazon for a refund and I will continue to look for another book light, which is not as easy as it sounds, because I have purchased four book lights in the last year and all have failed within a few days to a few weeks.

We're still on our first set of batteries, so I don't know how long the battery life is. The unit is bright and gives an even light over 2 pages of your average paperback. For a larger hardback, the edges of the pages are a tad dark, but it's not a problem.It's a solid product that does what it advertises. No major bells and whistles, nothing spectacular, but very competent.