Please help me toast myself!

December 26, 2006 4:19 PM

Any recommendations for a natural sun lamp?

Not one of those wimpy little 70 watt incandescents. A real one. In an ideal world it would be like an entire wall of lamp so bright that it feels like I'm at the beach.

I know this world isn't quite ideal.

posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great to home & garden (8 comments total)

I want to have to wear shades, and possibly sun screen.

As it stands the room is so dark that I need spelunking gear.
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 4:22 PM on December 26, 2006

Just a shop light with two natural light bulbs is so bright that it disturbed visitors to my home. Hung on the wall it gave the effect of a window. But even a 100-watt full spectrum incandescent improves life and saves your eyes when reading. 70-watt, what?

I have a fancy SADS lamp here and it's no better than the shop light. I guess it has half the length of light tube of the shop light.

Those big halogen lamps as used in grow rooms (I've seen them in operation at the hydroponics store) are what you'd love, but you would have to have an electrician in for that and they are hundreds of dollars. I don't think you need to go there. It seems like you are starved for basic decent lighting.
posted by Listener at 5:13 PM on December 26, 2006

Just remembered, I've also used a ten-dollar outdoor floodlamp mounted on a wall indoors. Very bright and warm. Don't leave it on alone in the room. Not so convenient and definitely not stylish but does feel a bit like the beach. Maybe need 2 for a non-Canadian beach. :)
posted by Listener at 5:15 PM on December 26, 2006

I've been happy with Microsun products: the expensive "special" bulb lasts for several years, and augmenting it with store-bought "natural white" lights is sufficiently bright to fool my circadian rhythms into "noon" mode at any hour of night.
posted by little miss manners at 7:42 PM on December 26, 2006

Lights of America sells high-power, high CRI fluorescent outdoor flood fixtures at Home Despot; their 65W (which is brighter than a 300W halogen and almost as bright as a 500W) is less than $60.

It's, as I recall, CRI or about 85, and 6000K. That's good enough for amateur filmmaking; it's probably good enough for you too.

I would give you a URL, but last time I looked, Home Despot still uses Broadvision for their website, which sucks.
posted by baylink at 8:42 PM on December 26, 2006

Fantastic! I'm investigating the Home Despot option first, since I can do that one in person. Failing that, I will investigate other options.

And as is my usual, I will now hand out Best Answers like beads at mardi gras. Thanks!
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 12:58 PM on December 27, 2006

Hmm... or maybe not, since the best answer buttons don't appear to be doing anything. but thank you all for your input!
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 12:59 PM on December 27, 2006

Take a look at the Sulfur lamp, which has light more like sunlight than any other artificial source, produces <1 % of its output in the ultraviolet and less than any other source in the infrared, has achieved 100+ lumens per watt (~6x better than incandescent), and is made from common non-toxic materials.br>
It might kill your Wi-Fi, though.
posted by jamjam at 4:02 PM on December 28, 2006