If you’ve eaten at a restaurant in the past couple of years, a cordless table lamp has likely illuminated one of your meals (and if you’re like me, you may have also fidgeted with them until you were asked to stop). These stylish, rechargeable LED light sources are practical alternatives to candles and battery-operated tea lights for both indoor and outdoor seating. They are also—my colleagues and I have come to learn—really great to have around at home as well.
Our top picks
- The best cordless table lamp: Zafferano Poldina Pro
- A smaller option: Zafferano Pina Pro
Plain and simple, a lamp that can go wherever, whenever is really convenient. Bring them out for late summer dinners in the backyard, arrange them in difficult-to-light rooms with inadequate outlet distribution, or use them for extra task lighting when decorating cookies at the table. Sometimes I use mine like a chamber stick for navigating from my bedroom to the bathroom at night. The possibilities really are endless.
We’ve come to really love the adaptable nature of these cordless lamps, which is why we decided to test a bunch to find out the best ones. Below you’ll find our top picks, as well as our reasoning behind why we chose them.
New in this update: We tested a new lamp, the Louis Poulsen Panthella 160, and added the Zafferano Pina Pro to our top picks as a more compact alternative to our winner.
The best cordless table lamp: Zafferano Poldina Pro
Zafferano
Poldina Pro Rechargeable Table Lamp
Pros:
- Variable light temperature
- Long life
- Charging base
Cons:
- Expensive
Size: 4.3″ x 4.3″ x 15″
Battery life: 9 hours
Materials: LED bulb, polycarbonate diffuser, aluminum body
Light temperatures: Candle Light 2200K, Warm White 2700K, Bright White 3000K
Colors: 18
Weight: 3 lb.
What we loved: In a dining setting, the faux lampshade design of the Poldina Pro by Zafferano casts a lovely glow both upward and downward, illuminating the table as well as the faces of you and your fellow diners. It’s classic, neutral design that doesn’t scream touch control LED light, making it great for both casual and formal settings.
Like many of the lamps we tested, the Poldina offers three color temperature settings as well as dimmer controls, but unlike other lamps, the Poldina Pro will save your chosen color temperature setting, so that it stays that way whenever you turn it on or off. Other lamps will just make you cycle through all the options every time you use them. It’s a small difference, but one that sets it apart from the pack.
The rechargeable battery cell has about nine hours of juice in it, after which it will begin to flash on and off to signal that it’s time to charge.