Desks are fantastic pieces of furniture that serve as awesome workstations, but their usefulness is severely hampered if you can't see what you're doing on them. There are a myriad of lamps available on the market that can help you keep your desk well-lit, and one of the best kinds are swing arm lamps, which are highly adjustable and often look pretty cool. Of all the different swing arms available, we think that the Phive CL-1 LED Architect Desk Lamp is the best option, as it's bright, can extend up to almost 33 inches, and can rotate 180 degrees — all for a very solid price.
Best Overall: Phive CL-1 LED Architect Desk Lamp
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Of all the different swing lamps available to purchase, the Phive CL-1 LED Architect Desk Lamp is the best one overall. This is mainly because of the combination of a bright and adjustable light with incredibly adjustable positioning. It allows you to bring effective lighting to anywhere on almost any desk since the swing arm can extend up to almost 33 inches. In addition to that, it can rotate 180 degrees, and it clamps to your desk for excellent stability. Finally, the whole thing is constructed out of metal, which ensures that it's durable and damage-resistant.
Best Elite Pick: BYB E430 Desk Lamp
The BYB E430 Desk Lamp is essentially a more versatile, and more expensive, version of the Phive CL-1 LED Architect Desk Lamp. On top of the bright lighting, high adjustability, and durable build, the lamp also has touch control, four different color modes, and a memory function that remembers your settings. It also has six different preset brightness modes, too, which you can opt to use instead of creating your own customized setting. Finally, the light is designed to eliminate glare completely. This is the lamp you need if you work at your desk often.
Best Gooseneck: Ominilight Gooseneck Desk Lamp
This metallic lamp offers high-quality lighting with three different dimness settings, and the gooseneck nature of the lamp allows you to rotate it a full 360 degrees easily. However, it's not as long as the previous lamps on the list, meaning that it's best suited for people with smaller desks.
Best Modern Design: HAITRAL B009 Lamp
This lamp from HAITRAL has a sleek and rounded appearance that will appeal to fans of modern aesthetics. The light isn't adjustable, but it is bright, and the adjustable arm has a length of 22 inches, which will be sufficient for most people. In addition, the map is metallic and sturdy, and it can be rotated 180 degrees.
Best Wooden: Tomons Desk Lamp
If you're looking for something that uses mostly wood instead of metal, than the Tomons Desk Lamp will be perfect for you. Like the HAITRAL lamp, you can't adjust the light brightness, but the light itself is high-quality and will be more than sufficient enough to light up your desk. The wooden arm is less damage resistant but thicker than the metal arms of the other choices, so the overall durability is the same. The neck isn't as long as other choices on the list as well, though, so don't buy this lamp if you have a large desk.
Best for Kids: VOGLEE Desk Lamp
If your little one needs a lamp, this is an excellent choice. Its lampshade design eliminates the need for rotation, and while the overall length of the lamp's neck is on the short side, this won't be too much of a problem for young children with small desks. The light itself, while pretty bright, isn't adjustable. However, the real reason you should get this lamp is for the novelty of it, as your child will have a fun time using its stickman-like design to pose it.
Best Budget: Globe Electric 56963 Desk Lamp
If you want a quality lamp but don't want to spend too much, the Globe Electric 56963 Desk Lamp is an awesome choice. Unlike the other lamps on this list, the lighting quality isn't amazing, although it still does an adequate job of keeping your desk lit up. In addition, like the HAITRAL lamp, it has a medium-sized arm that will be sufficient for use with most desks out there, and the lamp is made out of metal for strong durability, too. For the price, you can't ask for much more.
Bottom line
Swing arm desktop lamps are some of the best desk accessories you can get your hands on to keep your surface lit when the sun is down or when the sky is cloudy. Not only will this allow you to work with better efficiency, it will also help you reduce eye strain, too, as trying to squint to see things in the dark isn't healthy.
There's a wide market for swing arm desktop lamps out there, and there's a strong chance that at least one of the lamps we featured on this list will appeal to you depending on what you're looking for. Ultimately, however, we think that the Phive CL-1 LED Architect Desk Lamp is the best option available for most users as it offers a ton of value and versatility for a fair (though slightly expensive) price.
