Dyson may be known for its vacuum cleaners but the company has long been branching into new markets. One of those is lighting, through Jake Dyson, son of the company’s founder. He set up his own company in 2004, designing energy efficient lighting, before it was acquired by the Dyson company in 2015.
Since then, Dyson has designed a series of LED lamps, designed to be versatile and efficient. The Solarcycle Morph is one of the latest, offering an adjustable lamp that is energy efficient and can be used in a number of locations around your home.
The key question is: would you pay €700 for a floor lamp? Because that is what the Dyson lamp will set you back.
It all depends on what value you place on the lamp’s additional features. Because it’s not just a standard on-off lamp; the Lightcycle Morph is an intelligent light that can help balance out the effects of the changing seasons, with adjustable light temperature that can track the passage of the sun throughout the day to provide the right light at the right time.
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Dyson’s reasoning behind its development is that we spend 90 per cent of our time indoors, so being able to adjust the light for different uses can be helpful. For example, you need a brighter light when working or trying to concentrate on a task than you do when you are relaxing in the evening.
The Morph, as the name suggests, can be adjusted to different purposes. Flip the light’s head to point up and you get enough light to illuminate a good portion of your room. Rotate it towards a wall to bounce the light off the surface, or to highlight a picture or other feature. Point it downwards into the stem of the lamp and a magnetic seal will push the light through an amber filter, turning it into some great ambient lighting.
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On the light itself, you get manual controls for turning the lamp on and off, with a number of buttons to set it to auto mode, turn the solar tracking feature on and off, activate the motion sensor and control the intensity and colour temperature of the light.
It also links in with an app so you can control the device without lifting more than a finger. However, this control is limited because it is Bluetooth only, so you need to be in range of the lamp.
A lot of the Solarcycle features can be automated. For example, when you initially set up the lamp, you are given the option to set your location. That allows the Solarcycle light to sync with natural daylight, and your light will automatically change colour temperature and brightness throughout the day to fit in with that cycle. Add your year of birth into the app and the light will make the necessary adjustments for your age – apparently we have different requirements as we rack up the years – to make sure the light is perfect at all times.
Study mode sets the colour temperature a bit brighter and adjusts it in relation to your local daylight to exceed the brightness recommendations for studying laid down by the Illuminating Engineering Society’s lighting handbook
But you can also opt for one of the many modes available in the app. Relax offers a low-intensity warm colour temperature that is bright enough to read a book or newspaper – assuming you haven’t moved to digital – but isn’t too glaring. Study mode sets the colour temperature a bit brighter and adjusts it in relation to your local daylight to exceed the brightness recommendations for studying laid down by the Illuminating Engineering Society’s lighting handbook.
Precision mode, as the name suggests, is a high-intensity, concentrated light, while Boost mode will give you short periods of brighter, cooler light before fading back to previous settings. It’s good for making sure your attention stays on a TV show or book when there is a high likelihood that you may fall asleep. You can also set your own custom modes, too, set to your own preferences.
The Wake Up function turns the lamp into a daylight alarm clock of sorts, gradually brightening the light over a 30-minute period. If you have this in your bedroom, it’s a more natural way to wake up and preferable to the standard alarm clock.
Overall, this is a very versatile lamp that can fit in almost anywhere in your home.
Good
This is a versatile lamp that can transform from task light to ambient in a matter of seconds.
The adjustable light temperature means you can manually adjust the lamp to whatever suits you at the time, whether that is relaxing, reading or trying to stay awake to concentrate on an important project.
There are plenty of modes, but away mode is also a handy addition. Activate this and your lamp will turn on and off randomly between 4pm and 11pm, in an attempt to make it look as if you are at home. The LEDs are energy efficient, and although they are not user replaceable, they are supposed to last an estimated 60 years. By which point, you probably won’t be too bothered about having a €700 antique lamp that no longer works.
Bad
Although you can link your Dyson account to Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home smart speakers, you cannot control the Lightcycle Morph through these smarthome hubs. That is because the Lightcycle Morph does not have wifi, and connects to the Dyson smartphone app through Bluetooth alone.
It’s also expensive, particularly for the floor lamp version. At €700, it is not the most budget-friendly of devices, even taking into account the energy-saving LED bulbs it uses.
Everything else
There is a USB C port in the stem of the lamp, so you can charge a mobile device while you are relaxing. Plus the motion sensor will turn the light off if it does not detect any motion for a set amount of time, meaning you aren’t burning electricity unnecessarily.
Verdict
A versatile lamp but at a cost.
