Part exchange your halogen light.
We have about a hundred halogen bulbs left and no way to order another batch at any price, because halogen is no longer manufactured. So trade your halogen light in against the light we build today. We send your new light out first, you have 90 days to read by it, and then we collect your old light at no cost. Up to half price while summer stock lasts.
About a hundred halogen bulbs left, and no more to be had. Trade your light in instead: we send the new one out first, 90 days to read by it, then we collect your old light free.
Alex Pratt OBE | Founder
Or call free on 0800 032 9364, Mon–Fri 8:30am–5:30pm
Part exchange, up to half price
What changes when you swap halogen for daylight.
Your halogen light was the best we knew how to build at the time, and plenty of them are still going. What has changed is the engine inside. Today’s light rebuilds the daylight spectrum at 98% accuracy, runs on around 80% less electricity, stays cool enough to put your hand on, and has no bulb in it for you to replace. These are the three changes Serious Light owners name most after the swap.
You can read small print in your chair again.
The medicine bottle, the footnotes, your bank statement: all readable at arm's length. One turn of the ring shapes the beam from fine print to a full newspaper, at up to 7,200 lux.
You can read just as well at night.
The light engine rebuilds the full daylight spectrum at 98% accuracy, flicker-free, so reading at ten at night is no harder than at ten in the morning.
You can read for as long as you want.
Dim it to the exact level your eyes want, and the light remembers it for next time. The arm holds where you put it, guaranteed for life. 99 in 100 people who try one keep it.
The Serious Readers story
I built the first HD Light for my mum.
By 1988 our lights were already on production lines and in laboratories, and then my mum began losing her sight to macular degeneration. I built her the first High Definition home reading light so she could carry on reading, and stay independent, in her own chair.
Every light on this page descends from hers. You do not build a cheap lamp for your mum; you build the best one you can, and then you spend forty years making it better. That is still the rule for every reading light we make, and it is why we take the small print on your page more seriously than anyone.
This is the difference on your page.
An ordinary bulb only looks white. It leaves gaps across the spectrum, and your eyes work to fill them in. We call that junk light. Daylight has no gaps, and Daylight Wavelength Technology™ rebuilds it with 98% accuracy, flicker-free. That is what makes a daylight reading lamp different from a brighter bulb.
An ordinary bulb only looks white. It leaves gaps across the spectrum, and your eyes work to fill them in. Daylight has no gaps. Daylight Wavelength Technology™ rebuilds it with 98% accuracy, flicker-free.
Customers living with AMD and cataracts tell us print looks sharper and higher in contrast under one. The home trial lets you check that against your own eyes.
See the part exchange lightsBuilt to be the best, not the cheapest.
We aim to build the best reading light there is, not the cheapest: a high-grade, reliable tool for people who need or want the best light they can have. Nothing is priced for show.
Our lights have been chosen for professional settings: the British Museum, operating theatres and the Heathrow control tower, and the philatelists at Stanley Gibbons grade their stamps under them. A warranty is only worth the company standing behind it, and ours has been building and repairing these lights for forty years.
A five-year warranty on the light, with a replaceable light engine inside it.
A lifetime warranty on the arm. It holds where you put it, for good.
Built fifty a day in Aylesbury. When something goes wrong, we repair it or we replace it.
▶ See how the light works
Two lights to part exchange into.
Your halogen light trades in against either of these. Most people choose the HD Original, half price in White while summer stock lasts, as a floor light or a table light. Pick the HD Pro instead if you want the optional remote, or the optional battery that runs it with no cable at all.
Your halogen light trades in against either of these. Most people choose the HD Original, half price in White, as a floor or a table light.
HD Original
Shape the beam to fit your page, dim it to the exact level your eyes want, and the memory brings both back at your next switch-on, so the light is already right when you sit down.
Shape the beam, set your level, and the memory brings both back at your next switch-on.
Perfect for the chair you read in every night.
From about 12p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my part exchangeAbout 11p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my part exchange90 days to read by it in your own chair
5-year warranty, lifetime on the arm, and a replaceable light engine
Free delivery, and it arrives fully built
Hand-built in Great Britain
Quote WEB2606 at checkout or on the phone
Learn more about this light
Floor light specifications
Heavyweight (most popular): 152cm, 6kg, 23cm base.
Lightweight: 144cm, 3kg, 20cm base.
3,600–7,200 lux at 50cm depending on beam width. 98% CRI, 4,000K, 630 lumens. Flicker-free.
Replaceable light engine, 5-year guarantee, lifetime guarantee on the arm. 7.2 watts, pennies a week to run.
See the HD Pro, our latest and best light.
HD Pro
The finest control of the three. Shape the beam, dim it with real precision, and add the optional remote, or the optional rechargeable battery that runs it fully cordless.
The finest control of the three, with an optional remote and an optional battery that runs it fully cordless.
Perfect for readers who want the remote in one hand, or no cable at all.
That is about 19p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my part exchangeAbout 12p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my part exchange90-day home trial
5-year warranty, lifetime on the arm, and a replaceable light engine
Free delivery
Quote WEB2606 at checkout or on the phone
Click to view specifications
152cm, 4.8kg. Quick-change cordless battery in the base, arm slots out for servicing. Optional carpet feet.
Replaceable light engine, 5-year guarantee, lifetime guarantee on the arm. 7 watts, pennies a week to run.
Not all light is the same.
We fuss over mattresses, diet and exercise, yet light rarely gets a thought. We have spent forty years on nothing else.
We have spent forty years on nothing but the light you read by.
An ordinary standard lamp lights the room and leaves your page in shadow.
It is not about brightness. An ordinary bulb gives out a thin, uneven slice of daylight, so print flattens, colour drains, and your eyes strain to fill the gaps. That is junk light.
Read how the light works
True daylight, indoors, makes every word sharp.
Daylight Wavelength Technology™ rebuilds the full spectrum of noon daylight with 98% accuracy, so black print turns crisp on white, down to the smallest type. See the independent research.
Built to put the light exactly where you want it.
The head swivels through 350 degrees to bring the beam over your shoulder, slow-start technology fades it up gently, and every adjustment holds exactly where you set it.
What opticians tell their patients.
More than 500 UK opticians recommend a Serious Light to their patients. These five say why.
Lighting has a huge impact on our ability to see. Serious Readers lights are well designed, simple to use, and provide accurate colour and detail representation.
Serious Reader Lights simulate strong natural daylight, relieving eye fatigue and improving reading. The range of styles, warranty and customer care means I recommend with confidence.
The clarity a Serious Readers lamp provides is second to none. Patients are amazed at the difference. Just like correct prescription glasses, the right lighting is so important.
Serious Lights are among the best I have come across. They provide natural, high quality light that improves comfort and clarity, easily adjusted to direct light exactly where needed.
The right light is as important as the right glasses. It reduces strain for close work, vital for anyone with cataracts or macular degeneration. Patients really appreciate the difference.
▶ Watch optometrist Tracey Taylor explain why.
What owners tell us.
From more than 10,000 five-star reviews.
We now have 4. Once you've tried them, you can't revert to ordinary lamps.Mrs Fisher, Devon
▶ Hear what owners have to say.
“I have AMD and have not read a book for over 2 years. Now I have.”
Mrs Simmonds, Guildford
“It's like being given a new set of eyes.”
Mr Hurford, Lincolnshire
“Worth every penny. I wish I'd bought one years ago.”
Mr Ross, Bridlington
You'll be in good company.
Household names read their scripts and manuscripts by it. Lifeboat crews, air traffic controllers and telescope engineers work under it. When yours arrives, you will share a light with every one of them.
The Serious Light that arrives at your door carries the same engineering.
Before you order.
A few straight answers.
How does the part exchange work?
We send your new light out first, so you are never left without one to read by. You then have 90 days to read under it in your own chair, alongside the halogen light it is replacing.
When you are happy, call us and we collect your halogen light from your door at no cost. Every component of it is refurbished or recycled back here rather than sent to landfill.
Can I still buy halogen bulbs?
For the moment. Halogen bulbs are no longer manufactured and we cannot order another batch at any price, so what is on our shelves is the last of them: about a hundred bulbs.
Call free on 0800 032 9364 to order spares while they last. If you would rather not be caught out by it, the part exchange puts a light in your chair with no bulb in it for you to replace.
What makes these different from an ordinary lamp?
Two things. The light itself: Daylight Wavelength Technology™ rebuilds natural daylight to 98% colour accuracy, which an ordinary bulb cannot manage at any brightness.
And the engineering that delivers it: a beam built to land on your page at reading distance, shaped and dimmed to your eyes. Print stays sharp and colours stay true, however small the type. The home trial lets you compare the two in your own chair.
Which light should I part exchange into?
For most people it is the HD Original, and it is the one most of our customers choose. It shapes the beam, dims without steps and remembers both settings, which covers almost every kind of reading.
Pick the HD Pro instead if you want the optional remote, or the optional battery that runs it with no cable at all. Both carry the same daylight spectrum and the same brightness; what changes is how much control you get over it.
Will it help with macular degeneration or cataracts?
Our lights are not medical devices. What they do is put far more usable light on your page.
Customers living with AMD, cataracts and age-related vision change tell us print looks sharper and higher in contrast under one. The home trial lets you find out with your own eyes.
How bright is it, in numbers?
Measured at 50cm, the HD Original puts between 3,600 and 7,200 lux on your page. Narrow the beam for the smallest print and the light concentrates to 7,200 lux; spread it wide across your newspaper and it holds 3,600. Colour accuracy is 98% CRI, which is why print stays black and colours stay true.
The light engine is flicker-free, and all of it is dimmable, so the maximum is there when your eyes want it and turned down when they do not.
No web page can prove any of this properly, which is exactly why the trial exists. Read under one in your own chair for 90 days, and if it is not for you, we collect it free and refund you.
Start my part exchangeMore questions
Should I choose the floor light or the table light?
The best lamp for reading depends on your chair. A reading standard lamp stands on the floor beside you and brings the light down over your shoulder, which suits an armchair or a sofa with no table next to it. A reading floor lamp like this also frees up the surface you already have.
Where there is a side table at the right height, a table light does the same job from a lower start. Both carry the same daylight, so it is your room that decides, not the light.
How do the lights compare?
Every light here carries the same Daylight Wavelength Technology™ and the same 5-year warranty. What changes is the control you get over the beam: how you shape it, dim it and direct it. Here are both side by side.
Most popular
HD Original
Our most popular reading light
|
HD Pro
Our latest and best
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Best for | All-round reading | Cordless and remote |
| Offer | Up to half price | Up to half price |
| Finishes | Black or White | Black only |
| Beam | Adjustable, shapeable | Adjustable, shapeable |
| Dimming | Stepless with memory | Stepless with memory |
| Remote & cordless | No. | Yes, optional |
| Home trial | 90 days | 90 days |
| Warranty | 5 years, lifetime arm | 5 years, lifetime arm |
| You save | Up to £225 | Up to £225 |
| Table light price | From £199.99 | From £224.99 |
| Floor light price | From £224.99 | £349.99 |
| Start my part exchange | Start my part exchange |
HD Original
Our most popular reading light
HD Pro
Our latest and best
What bulb does it take, and what does it cost to run?
Neither of these takes a bulb. Both run on a replaceable light engine, which is also why a lamp this bright costs pennies a week to run rather than the pounds a halogen bulb costs.
A bright reading lamp built this way runs cool enough to sit beside you all evening, and you are not up a stepladder changing a bulb every year.
Why do they cost more than an ordinary lamp?
Almost none of it is the shell. You pay for the daylight spectrum, an arm and dimming that hold where you set them, and a build made to last, with a five-year warranty on the light, a lifetime warranty on the arm, and a forty-year-old company standing behind both. An ordinary lamp is built down to a price; this one is built to read under for years, and that is where your money goes. The home trial lets you judge it at home before you commit.
Why are they so much cheaper right now?
Summer is the quiet season, so we run our strongest prices of the year to keep the workshop busy. These are current lights, brand new and boxed, not seconds or old stock.
White started the summer as our biggest stock, which is why it carries the deepest cut, and at half price it is now the finish selling quickest. When these prices end, they end.
How long does delivery take?
UK delivery takes five to seven working days by tracked courier, free on every light in this clearance.
The Original and Essential arrive fully built, and the Pro's arm simply slots into its base. Either way, you plug it in and read the same evening.
There are about a hundred halogen bulbs left.
When those have gone there are no more, because halogen is no longer manufactured. Part exchange is the way out of it: up to half price with code WEB2606, at checkout or on the phone, and free collection of your halogen light once the new one has settled in. White is selling quickest.
Start my part exchange90 days to read by it in your own chair. If it is not for you, we collect it free and refund you. Five years on the light, lifetime on the arm.
Or call free on 0800 032 9364, Mon–Fri 8:30am–5:30pm.