Daylight Lamps - a summary

A number of people are a little confused by the decisions needed to choose a daylight lamp. Here is some information to help clear things up.

1. You can buy a fancy Ott Lamp for Eur 100 or more. Ridiculously expensive, especially if you already have multiple lamps in your house. Example of an Ott lamp here, or google Ott-lite leuchte faltbar
2. There are daylight bulbs available for the most common lamp types. These bulbs are much cheaper, Eur 10 to Eur 20. Plug into your favorite lamp and go. Examples of daylight bulbs are available here, or google tageslicht lampe and choose a store like amazon or Weltbild.de
3. Most of the stores in the Stuttgart area that I have checked do not have daylight bulbs available. 
4. Every once in a while Lidl or Aldi sell lamps with daylight bulbs for under Eur 20.  That's where I got my table lamp. Here's an Amazon lamp that is the same manufacturer

There are a few things you have to know to choose your bulb.

1. In which type of lamp do you want to use it? The common types are
1. E27 - the same socket as the traditional bulbs, same size both US and Germany
2. TL style - like my current lamp
3. Special lamps like LED or Halogen may require special bulbs, but not always
2. How much lighting do you need? The old measurement of watts needs to be translated to the new type of bulbs, for example, an energy-saving lamp might be officially 20 watts, but produce light equivalent to the old 100 watt incandescent bulb
1. Evening reading light needs about 50-100 watts equivalent
2. Work light should be 100-150 watts equivalent
3. Make sure the daylight bulb you buy has a color temperature in the range of 5500 Kelvin to 6500 Kelvin. This is needed to give you the daylight feel. 5000 Kelvin just isn't quite good enough for me. 

Some links to current offerings

• Hornbach hardware store:  Philips Energiesparlampe Tornado E27, 32 watt - "regular" bulb type, an equivalent wattage of about 150 watts, and a color temperature of 6500 Kelvin. For Eur 10. Not bad.
• Amazon: Walimex bulb - regular type, but this one has a color temperature of only 5400 Kelvin, and might look a little yellowish. 
• Amazon: an LED bulb similar to the Walimex
• Now, go compare prices with Ottlite itself, or one of the places where Ottlites are sold in Germany

You can make yourself crazy with these lamps, but it's not worth the trouble. Buy a bulb or a lamp and get on with quilting.