I've used light therapy for over a decade. I don't get depressed (i.e., feeling gloomy) in winter (true S.A.D.), but I simply stop being able to get out of bed as the mornings get dark. Lack of light affects my sleep in a profound way; light therapy helps me immensely. As sunrise gets later, first I use a sunrise simulation alarm clock. (I like the Phillips Wake-up model now, but started with different ones that used incandescent bulbs ~30 years ago!) This helps me until early October. After that, I require more light to continue to function normally. My first therapy lamp was the older style Carex 10,000 lux model. It had skinny rod legs, two rods on each side leg. It looked ugly as anything, but it lived on my dining table every winter for several years because that was the location where I could consistently use it as I gave my toddlers breakfast. I still use that lamp over my desk, but its legs broke off years ago and now it rests on a wire shelf above my monitor. Understand that a fluorescent lamp will light up for 20,000 hours or so... but the 10,000 lux you need for therapy is only possible for the first ~2000 hours of a fluorescent bulb. For that reason, I've purchased other lamps since then. Next I tried Verilux models (no longer made.) The mechanical switches on two of my three cheaper Verilux lamps (vaguely recangular boxes, much thicker than the Northern Lights box I'm reviewing here) broke over time. One was garbage; the other is always on when plugged in. I now use that, on a timer, in my teen's room to help him wake up for school when it gets dark. My next really serious therapy lamp (because the small Verilux ones weren't powerful enough for me) was a Northern Lights floor lamp purchased in 2016. Amazon still sells it; it's the black, freestanding floor model called the Flamingo. That lamp sits at my living room couch, so I have the option of treatment while I read a book in comfort. It was high quality and seems to work as promised, so I developed a positive opinion of the brand. That Flamingo lamp still seems powerful enough to assist with my sleep issues, but I wanted an additional light to use in my bedroom first thing every morning. For this reason, I bought the Northern Lights Travelite box lamp. The Travelite is my slimmest, most "portable" therapy light yet. I debated buying this one vs. the larger Lux Bright box light, but I wanted the lighter weight option. I may try using this on a camera tripod, or on a picture ledge mounted above my pillow right by the bed. I wanted a slim, lightweight lamp for this purpose. My lamp came two days ago. I got some relief on day one, and felt a definite improvement by the second morning. For me, putting a lamp like this on a timer--so it comes on as my sunrise lamp nears its max brightness (at "alarm" time I set)--is the key to waking in a healthy way in late autumn and winter. The Northern Lights Travelite has a physical, mechanical switch, so you can use it on a plug in timer if you want to do this, too. Having tried all three brands, I believe the aluminum construction used by Northern Lights makes for a more durable, longer lasting therapy lamp compared with Verilux (cheapest electronics) and Carex (good light but flimsy stand.) I also think Northern Lights is the only brand to offer replacement bulbs, which also suggests their hardware is durable enough to still be in good shape after 20,000 hours of fluorescent bulb life.
