When did small print become
such hard work?
Your eyes need more light every year, and most ordinary reading lamps project poor quality artificial light. A Serious reading lamp puts real daylight on your page, as a floor light beside your chair or a table light at your elbow, so every word is clear. Try one at home for 90 days.
Your eyes need more light every year, and most reading lamps project poor quality artificial light. Ours puts real daylight on your page. Try one at home for 90 days.
Alex Pratt OBE | Founder
Or call free on 0800 032 9364, Mon–Fri 8:30am–5:30pm
Summer clearance: selected models half price
What changes when you switch on an HD Light.
When small print gets harder in the evenings, most people put it down to their eyes, and read a little less each year without ever deciding to. After forty years we can tell you it is usually the light. These are the three changes Serious Light owners name most.
You read the small print where you sit.
You hold the medicine bottle at arm's length and read the label in your own chair, without carrying it to the window or hunting for your other glasses.
The clues stay sharp at ten at night.
Your crossword is as clear at ten at night as it is by a window on a bright morning, because the light over your shoulder is the same daylight.
You stop reading the same line twice.
Print stays crisp to the end of the chapter, so you put your book down when you choose to, not when your eyes have had enough.
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, 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. 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.
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 half-price lightsNothing is left to chance.
The specialist components in a single HD Light cost more to manufacture than many entire lamps sell for. That is where the price goes. Fifty a day is all we make in our Aylesbury workshop, each one built to be repaired rather than replaced, with a replaceable light engine.
Lights supplied by Serious have been chosen for the British Museum, for operating theatres and for the Heathrow control tower. The philatelists at Stanley Gibbons assess their stamps under them, because a subtle shade of colour, or a watermark you can barely see, can decide what a stamp is worth.
▶ See how the light works
Our most popular reading light.
An ordinary reading lamp lights the room. A Serious Light puts real daylight where you read. If you read most evenings, do the crossword, sew, or live with AMD or cataracts, we built this for you. Most people choose the HD Original, half price in White while summer stock lasts, as a floor light or a table light.
If you read most evenings, or live with AMD or cataracts, we built this for you. 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 90-day home trialAbout 11p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my 90-day home trial90 days to read by it in your own chair
5-year warranty 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.
Replaceable light engine, 5-year guarantee. 7 watts, pennies a week to run.
See our other models.
HD Pro
The finest control of the three. Shape the beam, dim it with real precision, and add the optional remote, or the optional 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 90-day home trialAbout 12p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my 90-day home trial90-day home trial
5-year warranty and a replaceable light engine
Free delivery
Hand-built in Great Britain
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. 7 watts, pennies a week to run.
HD Essential
Small print is easy again, in our simplest light: full Serious daylight with a fixed wide beam and a press-and-hold dimmer.
Our simplest light, with a fixed wide beam and a press-and-hold dimmer. You switch it on, you sit down, and you read.
Perfect for plain, everyday reading by your chair.
From about 11p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my 30-day home trialFrom about 10p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my 30-day home trial30-day home trial
5-year warranty
Free delivery
Hand-built in Great Britain
Quote WEB2606 at checkout or on the phone
Click to view specifications
Heavyweight (most popular): 152cm, 6kg, 23cm base.
Lightweight: 144cm, 3kg, 20cm base.
Replaceable LED bulb rated for three years of life, under a 5-year warranty on the light. 6 watts, pennies a week to run.
Not sure which one? Answer five quick questions.
Tell us how you read, and we will point you at the right light.
What will you read under it?
Choose all that apply
How do your eyes feel right now?
Choose one
What frustrates you about your current light?
Choose all that apply
Will it stay put, or move around the house?
Choose one
Once you are settled, do you mind reaching up to adjust it?
Choose one
Where will your light live?
Choose one
For the way you read, we recommend
Not what you expected? Call free on 0800 032 9364 and an adviser will help you choose.
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 three 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.
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.
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.
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 reading light beside your chair carries the same engineering.
Before you order.
A few straight answers.
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 are the best reading lights?
For most people the best reading lamp here 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. If you want one rule, the best light for reading is the one that rebuilds daylight.
Pick the HD Pro instead if you want the remote or the cordless battery, and the HD Essential if you want the same daylight at the lowest price. All three are true daylight lamps carrying the same spectrum; 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.
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 90-day home trialMore questions
Should I choose the floor light or the table light?
It 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 the three side by side.
Most popular
HD Original
Our most popular reading light
|
HD Pro
Our latest and best
|
HD Essential
Daylight made simple
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | All-round reading | Cordless and remote | Simple value |
| Offer | Up to half price | Save £150 | Up to half price |
| Finishes | Black or White | Black only | Black or White |
| Beam | Adjustable, shapeable | Adjustable, shapeable | Wide, even, fixed |
| Dimming | Stepless with memory | Stepless with memory | Press-and-hold |
| Remote & cordless | ✕ | ✓ optional | ✕ |
| Home trial | 90 days | 90 days | 30 days |
| You save | Up to £225 | £150 | Up to £200 |
| Table light price | From £199.99 | From £224.99 | From £174.99 |
| Floor light price | From £224.99 | £349.99 | From £199.99 |
| Start my 90-day trial | Start my 90-day trial | Start my 30-day trial |
What bulb does it take, and what does it cost to run?
All three reading lights here run on LED, which is why a lamp this bright costs pennies a week. The HD Original and HD Pro use a replaceable light engine rather than a bulb, and the HD Essential takes a replaceable LED bulb.
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 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. Once a finish sells out, it is not restocked.
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.
The strongest prices of the year end on 30th September.
White is selling quickest, and once it goes it is not restocked. You get up to half price with code WEB2606, at checkout or by phone.
Start my 90-day home trial90 days to read by it in your own chair. If it is not for you, we collect it free and refund you.
Or call free on 0800 032 9364, Mon–Fri 8:30am–5:30pm.