Gadgets

Lumie Dash Review: TikTok-Ready Design

Published

3 months ago

September 18, 2024

Empowerment

At a glance

Expert’s Rating

Pros

Attractive design

Light and portable

Precisely adjustable brightness

Cons

Non-adjustable angle

Expensive

Our Verdict

The Dash is a design-led SAD lamp that’s light and compact. You can adjust its brightness minutely, but sadly not the angle of the light itself. If you could do that, it would be a more or less perfect device.

Price When Reviewed

Not available in the US

SAD lamps can help sufferers of Seasonal Affective Disorder boost their energy and mood over the winter months. If you experience a downturn over the winter months, even if you haven’t been diagnosed with SAD, a SAD lamp or light box could help.

That’s because our body clock is hardwired to follow the natural cycle of light and dark and most of our bodily processes – most obviously our sleep cycle, but also our gut, lungs, liver and pancreas – have a circadian rhythm that’s disturbed by fewer hours of light in winter, and less bright light overall.

A SAD lamp can help to smooth this disruption. But you won’t get the same effect from an ordinary lamp. SAD lamps mimic outside light and have a brightness of 10,000 lux.

In this review, we’re looking at the latest release from specialist brand Lumie: the Lumie Dash.

You can compare it to other Lumie models in our round-up of the best SAD lamps we’ve tested.

Design and Build

Compact build

Light at just 415g

Two colour options

In previous years, light boxes were chunky, unwieldy devices – hard to find space for and far from design-led.

The Dash is the antithesis of these old models. It’s compact, around the same size and shape as a travel mirror or a table tennis paddle. The light itself is around 16cm in diameter, and it stands on a base of 8.5 x 6.5cm.

It has a very cute design. The Dash wouldn’t look out of place on a highly curated social media feed.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Its size and weight mean it’s portable, packable, and easy to find a spot for on your desk or on a table. It weighs just 415g, 50g less than a tin of beans. However, you will need to have it plugged in for use.

The Dash wouldn’t look out of place on a highly curated social media feed

The Dash comes in two colors: pistachio white and terracotta pink, the latter of which we’re testing. You can compare the color options on the John Lewis website.

Performance and Features

Minutely adjustable brightness

Angle of lamp not adjustable

Touch panel operation

The Dash is easy to set up: it’s just a matter of plugging it in. Its controls are equally simple. There are highly responsive touch panels built seamlessly into the base. Lightly tapping or holding the – and + symbols will let you switch it on, off, and adjust the brightness minutely.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

To use the Dash, Lumie advises that you should stand it in front of you, about an arm’s length away, so that the light can reach your eyes directly.

You should try to use it for half an hour per day. The best time to use it is in the morning, but it may also help you to recover from the post-lunch slump.

I haven’t been diagnosed with SAD, so I can’t speak to the therapeutic effects of this or any other SAD lamp. Still, I do experience a downturn over the winter months and I’ve enjoyed using the Dash.

The Dash delivers 10,000 lux and has a CRI (color rendering index) rating of 95+, which means that it shows colors extremely accurately when compared to natural daylight. A CRI of over 90 is considered excellent.

However, it won’t be as useful as the similarly featured Lumie Task lamp (read our review) for drawing or crafting, as you can’t adjust the angle of the Dash, so you won’t be able to point it at work on your desk.

The Dash is fixed at an angle of around 65° from horizontal, so its face is pointing up towards you, which is ideal for letting its light hit your eyes wherever you stand it. But that does limit its usefulness for other jobs.