I went through like 3-4 high end speciality lighting stores checking out LED lamps and back in 2007 only the Balmuda performed as good as it looked. If you check out the Balmuda they only use 4 LEDs, but each diode was extraordinarily bright. So when we were moving into new offices I wanted to get a dozen more Balmuda Highwires for my management staff, but they don’t make them any more so I had to start the hunt all over again. I spent the time to look and test out the current generation of LED lamps from all the major manufactures. I don’t know why so many of these lights are so dim (most were about 40 watt bulb in brightness) or were stuck using LED technology a generation back (even Balmuda used only 4 LEDs back in 2007, why are these companies using like 20, 30, 40 lousy LEDs in a single lamp). If we’re spending hundreds on a lamp the quality better be there.

The only lamp that stood out were the desk lamps from IMG Lighting. The lighting quality is as good, maybe a bit better, than my Balmuda, and it seems to use the same formula as the Highwire by using a few high quality LEDs instead of a bunch of low quality ones. The other LED lamps from other makers were sleek in design, but they fell short when it came time to “shine.” Again, whats the point of a lamp if it won’t light up a desk. In the end, we bought IMG Lighting’s lamp for our offices and we’re very happy with them. I think Balmuda takes the cake when it comes to design with its sleek milled aluminum, but it was also expensive at $650 (back in 2007 too!). The IMG Lighting lamp it is great value for money.

By far the OSRAM, Philips, or Cree LEDs have the best diodes and tighest quality control. They’re alot more expensive. Too bad so many companies don’t use them more because if you don’t start out with good LEDs, you don’t get a good lamp.

The OSRAM LEDs are the most expensive.

i think its just a cost issue. the high-end diodes by OSRAM and Cree are still expensive, but they score best in terms of lumen per watt consumption, lumen and lux output, and color rendering index.

If you manage to damage the LED, you will need to replace the entire lamp for two reasons. #1, they’re not designed for replacement, #2, it’s hard to damage the LED without also damaging the lamp, unless there is some electrical screwup.