When I started testing alarm clocks earlier this year, I had high hopes that either the Loftie or Hatch Restore 2 — both newer, feature-packed smart clocks that frequently make appearances on TikTok — could provide my room with some gentle but much-needed lighting. While both did a great job simulating that early-morning glow that can ease you into your day, neither provide the right kind of light to help me find my phone charger while keeping my room dim or to read a book before bed. But then Loftie sent me the Loftie Lamp. It can be paired with the company’s alarm clock or used on its own, and besides automatically turning on and gently increasing in intensity to wake you up, it can be set to turn on when it’s time to start your nighttime routine. But most important for me, it works just as well as a stand-alone light as it does for keeping me in a circadian rhythm. Plus I love having my room already lit before I head in to brush my teeth.
Without any lights turned on, the lamp looks like most others with a shade but on the more minimalist, high-design side. The white polycarbonate base is particularly nice looking, almost like frosted glass, and the decorative metal mesh shade provides an accent color (you can get it in white, black, silver, peach, and a limited-edition pistachio). The magic happens when the lights — which illuminate the entire cylindrical base — turn on, which you can do via a button on the back or with the automated routines you set up through the phone app.
Unlike most bedside lamps, which use a single bulb at the top to emit light, the Loftie’s entire base is translucent, allowing light to emit from the entire thing. The app has two color wheels you can use to set either solid colors or custom gradients. One wheel is a standard rainbow spectrum, allowing you to choose nearly any color you’d like. Even vibrant colors like hot pink end up looking like pastels thanks to the translucent base, and they all made my bedroom feel like a scene from a Wes Anderson film or a James Turrell installation. The other wheel goes from blue to orange, sort of like the light you’d find on a Kindle or another e-reader with a built-in light, if you’re looking to produce a cooler or warmer tone in your room. The lamp looks good in each color and gradient setting, and the light it casts is pleasant and can completely transform the room.
At its brightest, it’s enough to be my sole source of light in the evenings. At its dimmest, the light glows just enough for me to make it to the bathroom without bumping into things or tripping but wouldn’t wake someone else up, and there are plenty of settings in between. Loftie has 33 presets, including solid colors and gradients that evoke the feeling of sitting on a beach or watching a sunset.
I could get a cheaper automated light for my nightstand with a traditional bedside lamp and a smart LED bulb, but even with adjustable brightness, there’s something about the translucent shell of the Loftie that softens the harshness of the LEDs. And a regular lamp with its lone bulb can’t produce as much light as the Loftie Lamp can.
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