now some people might say the lumio is a novelty item but to those people I would
say this look at the root of the word novelty it's novel which to me says
you're just being closed-minded because it's in the shape of a book that is to
say judging a book by its covered that was a joke but this video is actually
very serious this is an unusual product for us but I got a special request to do
a video about it and I was intrigued so I figured what the hey let's try
something a little different
the Jazz mini is a beautiful and compact aluminum stand for your smartphone that
even holds tablets up to 8 in Click now to learn more in our journey to
determine what exactly lumio is we'll
start with their website hello.com seems to suggest that in fact lumio is
something much more than just a lamp with words like Simplicity possibility
and Beauty well I don't know anything about that stuff but what I do know is
that lumio is an LED lamp in the shape of a book it features an environmentally
conscious construction that is recyclable although it doesn't allow the integrated battery rated at about 8
hours to be replaced and you can choose from three different finishes cherry
maple or walnut also the pages are made of waterresistant tyvec the way it works
is and I have to admit it's actually about as captivating as most of the
pictures in their Gallery suggest you simply open up what looks like a fairly
ordinary hard cover book and an internal switch which automatically turns the
lamp on and reveals a surprisingly powerful light source brightness control
is strictly analog that is to say you control it by opening up the book more
or less the spine is made of wood like the rest of the cover which gives it
strength and mounting flexibility so you can open it up on a flat surface prop it
up like a book open it up fully and pin it there with the neodimium magnets
embedded in the cover and the included magnetic widget or put the included
leather strap on the widget and hang it for a completely different effect there
are some other creative ideas that were included with the kickstarter launch
video such as sticking it to a metal surface such as a shelf when you're
trying to get something from inside a closet um but honestly unless I was
planning for a place to put my lumo like if I were to run out and specifically
buy a metal shelf or a small table to put next to my reading chair that has a
metal surface um I just didn't find many
places that I could stick it that would make a of sense I mean the fridge
perhaps if the light included with my fridge was already broken perhaps and
there in lies the problem a big part of the pitch for lumo is convenience pull
it out when you can't find something in the dark pull it out when you need to
read a book under a kitchen cabinet instead of 3T to the right where the
lighting appears to be perfectly adequate or and this one really made my
eyes just about roll out of my skull onto the floor pull it out an emergency
situation what defines a convenient solution in my eyes is something that's
easier and or faster than the other way to achieve an objective and given the
popularity of smartphones with integrated flashes uh you're more likely
to have one of those handy than a lumio in any of the above scenarios so in
short I think those things are lumio trying to be something it's not it's not
really any more convenient than a flashlight and if those were better than
other Solutions I'm sure we'd light our houses with them and carry them around
too but we don't and besides for $160 I
can get a pretty cool flashlight and a book to like point it at instead if I'm
looking at this from a purely pragmatic perspective so we need to detach from
practicality a little bit to correctly evaluate what lumio isn't and what it is
what it isn't is something I'm going to start carrying around with me all the
time it's just not useful often enough to justify the extra pound of weight and
the stress of you know worrying about accidentally damaging its pages with the
other junk in my bag so it falls into the same category as tablets for for me
needo when I'm at home and it's nearby but really too bulky to make part of my
everyday life what it also isn't is a light fixture its 500 Lumen rating puts
it in the neighborhood of a 40 W bulb which is an impressive feat for
something so slim and battery powered and honestly it works well and looks
awesome to the point where I'm sure folks would consider putting you know
metal plates on a wall to accommodate it
but the issue is that the design doesn't allow it to hook up to your house wiring
in any way that would be practical and
I'm not going to build permanent fixtures in my house around a light that
needs to be charged somewhere else every time before it can be relocated and then
used what lumio is to me though is a
really cool fashion statement that has the added benefit of actually coming in
handy from time to time I mean say what you will about how expensive it is
lighting Products are expensive in general so it's not totally out to lunch
there but if you pull one of these out and put it on the table for a romantic
dinner or bring it out to impress some friends when you sit down to drink some
wine and play a game of settlers of kitan or something it's a fantastic
conversation starter and I've seen people spend a lot more than $160 on
stuff that's legitimately useless and with lumo it was kind of cool to use my
latest gadget to play superhero when my wife was cross-stitching in bed and
needed a bit of extra light I stood up walked over to the bed and whipped it
out for her the lumo that is and she was like oh cool that's perfect and propped
it up on the headboard so she could see what she was doing not exactly Earth
shattering and not the kind of thing that I typically spend that kind of money on but certainly better than
useless thanks for watching guys the link for where to buy this product is in
the video description below the like dislike and share buttons which you
should use accordingly also in the video description is a support link that we'd
love for you to use if you appreciate what we do you can get a t-shirt give us
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hear your comments on where you would use the lumio or if you would use it at
all please feel free to post those and thanks again for watching and as always
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