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Full Spectrum Lighting - Is it any better?

Posted by Cliff on from the as-long-as-it-works-with-a-prism dept.

lennon asms: "Lighting in my apartment sucks. I am giving some thought to full-spectrum lighting fixtures, like the the Vita-lite. Some places say it's not any better than regular lighting, others say it's just great. What do you think?" I find the quality of lighting in my work environment to be very important. Would lights such as these be better than your standard soft-white or flourescent bulbs?

10 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Bounce the light by Usquebaugh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I really like soft diffused light, I have 40watt bulbs that I bounce off my walls and ceiling the reflected light is much softer.

    If you have to do a lot of paper reading then this is not the best solution but for staring at a TV or monitor it works well for me.

    Of course the other solution is not to do any work after dark!

  2. Works for me by maetenloch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I put full spectrum bulbs in my office several months ago, and so far I've been very happy with them. I have a private office, but unfortunately without any windows so the only light sources are fluorescent lights. I got the full spectrum lights from Home Depot for only about $6 (GE I think). There are some other specialized manufacturers that charge $40+ for their bulbs, but as far as I can tell, they're essentially the same as the ones i got at Home Depot.

    The difference is quite amazing - I never realized how sickly yellow the old lights were. The new lights have much more blue in them, and really do seem more like natural sunlight. Now I feel like I have skylights in the ceiling.

    I can't tell if changing the lighting improved my performance, but it did make feel more comfortable and alert in my office. My co-workers like to keep their office dim except for their monitors - not me, I find that a dark room strains my eyes and makes me sleepy. I may be an exception since a lot of programmers like a dim room setup, and in our main office the engineering wing has no fluorescent lights on at all. Still I find that I do my best work in a naturally lighted environment. Without windows, full spectrums lights are as close as I can get.

    1. Re:Works for me by Judg3 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I believe he's talking about the GE Reveal bulbs. And I'd have to agree. A few months both bulbs in my office went out, so I ran down to the store and picked up a four pack of the 100 watt Reveal bulbs (only 2.99$). Brought em home, pulled one out - saw the weird pinkish coloring (could be pink, i dunno - im colorblind), decided to give em a try anway... And I was amazed.

      The colors now are crisp and clear, and the price is just pennies or so above the normal cost of a 4 pack of regular bulbs. I went out and switched most of my house over, and will never go back! I used to think the headaches I got from staring at my PC all day was eyestrain, after I put these bulbs in they went away.

      Amazing what a 30 cent change in lighting does, eh?

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    2. Re:Works for me by billn · · Score: 2, Interesting

      As normally diurnal creatures, natural sunlight stimulates hormone releases that support wakefulness in humans. Adding full spectrum lighting likely trips the same response.

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      - billn
    3. Re:Works for me by Bryan+Andersen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've found that the intensity of the light is almost more important than the color ballance. Good color ballence is esential for some tasks, but most interior lighting is just way to dim. I'm a strong beliver in full spectrum lighting but it isn't everything. I light my appartment with number of full spectrum fluorescent lights and regular ones. Right now I have 4 tubes on. I can turn on as many as 12 at one time. They are all reflected off the ceiling and provide a very even light level all over my appartment.

  3. Full Spectrum - the only way! :) by Stillman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We had FS lighting installed in our offices at the beginning of erm...last year.

    I could not go back. I used to get headaches on a fairly regular basis that I just put down to tiredness/stress/whatever. They went away after about two weeks with the new lights.

    I find I can work longer hours with no problems - except an annoyed wife!

    I also find I can concentrate a lot better.

    My cow-orkers have all noticed similar benefits - we were discussing it at our christmas function.

    So, yeah, on the whole...get those bad boys! :)

    --
    Prisoner #655321
  4. Borders Book Store by Perdo · · Score: 1, Interesting

    They have natural full spectrum lighting. My red headed girlfriend worked there. She was always very carefull in the sun. She hould come home burnt every day. We went on vacation and she lost her burn. Back to work and she got burnt again. She mentioned it to her boss and was "let go" for "administrative reasons".

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    If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.

    1. Re:Borders Book Store by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      That sucks. You should have reported this to OSHA. That way, when she was "let go" you could try to go after them. Boarders Book Store is a very horrible place. There was an article a few months ago on /. about how they were going to place face-recognition software in their stores to compare with their own list of shoplifters. If you do some searching in google, you will find out that they are VERY VERY anti-union. So far as to close up shop once when the employees were going to join a union. I boycott the store, and I now have all of my friends and family boycotting them too. I know thats not a big acheivment, but its a start :)

    2. Re:Borders Book Store by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Funny, I shop them *because* they stand up to the union. C'mon, Borders isn't a career. There's no need for a union. Quit. Work at McDonald's and double your pay. I can't imagine them staying in business if they were forced to give in to the demands of a union. The margins are too small. Just witness the price differential between US cars (unionized labor) and Japanese cars built in the US (nonunion).

  5. Color Temperature and Bulb Quality Affect Light by stinkydog · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The quality of flouresenct light is affected by many factors:

    Color Temperature
    Bulb Quality (you get whast you pay for)
    Power and Ballast quality (Flicker)

    For some other thoughts check this out. It is about lighting fish tanks and not cubes but it is still applicable. I supplement my flouresents with an incandescent bulb for better quality of light. More information on lighting theory is available here.

    Try some of this if you want a different color.

    --
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