Xiaomi Yeelight LED Table Light review

Xiaomi Yeelight YLTD02YL LED Table Light review

Intro

When looking for a lamp there are a lot of factors that you have to consider: you have to find the right design of the armature, it needs to be energy efficiency, the strength and color of the light needs to be correct and it should have the right price. You often spend way to much time in local shops finding products that are way to expensive and that are not a 100% fit of what you expected and needed. Because of all of these uncertainties, it was a bit of a shot in the dark to order the Yeelight LED Table Light, but I soon find out it really brightened up my day.

please check out our one minute review:

Where to buy?

I bought the Yeelight LED Table Light at Gearbest.

Specifications

The specifications below are as stated on Gearbest. Please note the Yeelight LED table light has two variants: one with a built-in battery and one without. The variant reviewed is the one with a battery.

• Brand: Xiaomi
• Type: Desk Lamp, Table Lamp
• Features: Creative,Dimmable,Eye Protection,LED,Luminous,Rechargeable
• Voltage ( V ): DC5V
• Light Source Color: Warm White, White
• Bulb Included: Yes
• Overall Height ( CM ): 37.5cm
• Overall Length ( CM ): 35.1cm
• Style: Modern Style
• Shade Material: ABS
• Electric Products: Excessive Built-in Battery
• Wattage: 5W
• Switch Type: Touch
• Power Supply: Built-in battery, USB
• Color Temperature or Wavelength: 2700-6500K
• Product weight: 0.6500 kg
• Package weight: 1.0900 kg
• Product size (L x W x H): 33.70 x 35.10 x 15.00 cm / 13.27 x 13.82 x 5.91 inches
• Package size (L x W x H): 40.00 x 23.00 x 23.00 cm / 15.75 x 9.06 x 9.06 inches

Expectations

Judging by the specs and the elegant design as shown on the product page it should be good. Xiaomi has the reputation of releasing affordable design products of very good quality.

Packaging

The Yeelight LED table light is packaged in a cardboard box, which protects the LED lamp well.

Does it fit your mailbox?

No. The dimensions of the box are way too big!

What’s in the box

The box contains the LED table light, a USB cable, and a product manual (no power brick is included).

Features

The main features of the Yeelight LED table light as stated on Gearbest:

• Pleasingly Simple Design with Elegant Appearance
  • Designed with the concept of simple, aesthetic and practical. Applied bionic design, swan-neck-like light arm combines with large luminous surface to achieve a unique appearance
• Durable And Practical Lamp Arm
  • A choice of high-quality metal memory hose with stable performance, skin-friendly silicone jacket and ABS as the material
• Professional Optical Diffusion Plate
  • Using high-quality beads, the color rendering index is up to 88. A large number of optical diffusion points are arranged on the inner surface of the lamp plate to make the light more uniform
• Built-in High Capacity Rechargeable Battery
  • With a built-in 2000mAh Li-ion battery, the lighting time is up to 5 hours ( 4000K color temperature, 60pct brightness )
• Easy to Operation
  • One click the brightness key to cycle 5-mode brightness from 20pct to 100pct
  • One click the color temperature key to cycle 5-mode lighting from 2700K to 6500K

Build Quality & Design

The build quality is what you can expect from a Xiaomi product: pretty decent. From bottom to top:
The base feels very solid, it has rubber pads for grip and an on-off switch that overrules the touch switch on top of the base.

On the back of the lamp foot is a micro-USB socket for powering and charging. The top and sides of the table lamp foot are made of hard ABS plastic (non-shiny). On top of the foot, the three touch buttons can be found.

• The on-off touch button, with an integrated battery indicator (red = battery charging, orange = low battery)
• The brightness touch button, which cycles through 5 modes of brightness (from 20% to 100%)
• The color temperature touch button, which cycles through 5 temperatures (from 2700k to 6500k).

The first part of the lamp arm is solid ABS plastic, the middle piece is made out of silicone and can be bent freely. Under the silicone surface is a metal memory hose to keep the arm in the bent position. The lightning unit itself is covered by a plastic diffusion plate which provides a uniform spread light. The top part is the only part that feels less solid than the other parts and feels a bit plasticky.

Heath / Power consumption /Noise

Even when leaving the LED lamp on for a longer period, the LED light does not get warm.  That is because it is only a 5V/5W light unit.
The supplier states that the lighting time is up to five hours, at 60% brightness. I got to more than five hours, but (probably) not at 60% brightness.

Portability / Mobility

The product itself is portable due to its built-in battery. The lamp is flexible enough to fold in the arm and put it in a backpack or suitcase (I would suggest folding it in a towel, the base is pretty scratch resistant but the top is not.

On the product page was suggested to extend the built-in battery by connecting a power bank. This works pretty well: you simply connect the power bank to the micro-USB slot and the internal battery life is extended with the capacity of the power bank.

Usability

The LED lamp is marketed as a LED Table Light, but this is a bit of an understatement. Of course, it can be used on a table, desk or any other surface in the house, but the applications are much broader than that. The built-in battery (and the possibility to simply extend its capacity by connecting a power bank makes this product very useful for applications outside (warning: the product is not waterproof), on camping or to light a place with to power source nearby.

Home automation compatible

One of the big drawbacks of the product is what you see is what you get: there are no built-in Bluetooth or WiFi functions to connect the lamp to a bridge.

Alternatives

The are other rechargeable LED lamps, but only a few are desk lights.  They are cheaper but lack the capacity (in battery and lightning) and some of the functionalities the  Xiaomi Yeelight LED Table Light has. I also expect the built quality and the design to be less premium.

One examples is the BRELONG LED Desk Lamp Simple Folding Rechargeable light

Pro / cons

Pros

• The design and build quality are very good.
• The brightness and color temperature can be adjusted.
• The energy efficiency and its built-in battery make it a very flexible lighting source.

Cons

• Not a smart light, so cannot be controlled by an app or smart home solution.
• The power plug is not included.
• Finding the touch-sensitive button in the dark takes a bit of practice.

Price quality

The price quality of the product is good. It is not the cheapest LED lamp you can get on Gearbest, but the design and its functionality make it worth your money.
There is also a Yeelight LED Table Light available without the built-in battery, choosing that one can save you about € 10 on the purchase price.

Verdict

When looking for a desk lamp the Yeelight YLTD01YL LED Table Light is a good option to consider. It has an elegant design, an internal battery and its build quality is very good. When using a power bank you can extend its capacity which makes it a lamp you can also use outside the house or at a place that lacks a power supply.