For years I used either incandescent or cfl bulbs at my tying desk and the color of materials and degree of eye strain associated with tying two dozen size 18 adams seems about right.  A few weeks ago the good people at OttLite sent me their FlexArm Plus Lamp to review.  To be honest, I was a bit skeptical at first.  After all, light is light. Right?  I could not have been more surprised by the difference the Ott bulb made! Here are a few things I noticed:

Here is the same fly with the exact same camera settings using the OttLite for illumination.  Notice the background and how the soft full spectrum light does not blur or distort the color. 


The idea behind OttLite is that brighter light is not necessarily better light.  Often bright lights emit too much heat, product glare, and contribute to eye strain by forcing the eyes closed in an attempt to endure the intensity.  The OttLite 508 technology counters all of the negative effects of overly bright lights by providing a cool running, full spectrum light that balances brightness and contrast.  OttLite bulbs are also extremely energy efficient and are rated to10,000 hours. 



The OttLite FlexArm Plus Lamp is an all purpose hobby/craft lamp.  It has an adjustable height that ranges from 10" all the way to 30" and comes with both a pedestal base and a C-clamp attachment.  The design is perfect for tying flies, in part, because it provide plenty of clearance thus eliminating constant adjustment and hitting it with your hand or a bobbin when tying.   The bulb provides plenty of illumination for working with small flies and the softness of the light has done wonders for reducing eye strain while tying. 

In Sum

I was surprised by how big of a difference the OttLite made.  If matching the color of natural insects is important to your tying, then the true full spectrum light of an OttLite bulb is indispensable.  The difference in selecting the right color of dubbing or hackle is hard to describe when using an OttLite compared to an incandescent or cfl bulb. Additionally the reduction in eye strain I experience when using the OttLite compared to other lights is unbelievable.  I never realized how much glare I was fighting from my incandescent (way to bright) bulb and more recently my cfl bulbs (way to yellow).  In short, I'm sold on the OttLite!  The FlexArm Plus Lamp works prefect for my tying desk.  It offers plenty of light and the long adjustable arm stays out of my way when tying.  I'm even thinking of picking up a travel size model for tying on the road.






Disclosure- OttLite provided the featured product free of charge for me to review. I was not compensated in any other way for this blog post.