OttLite L18336 18W Crane/Clamp Desk Lamp

The lamp is attractive, very stable thanks to a heavy base, and the light output is very natural (close to noon sunlight) and evenly spread. The lamp arm actually stays where you stretch it, which is unusual for desk lamps. Unfortunately, the lamp arm friction knobs are fragile, and break easily.

This was purchased for my husband who had this identical desk lamp that we had purchased a number of years ago. It finally gave out, so this was a replacement. So happy to find it on Amazon as his eyesight is poor to say the least and he needs all the help he can get. This lamp can be placed right over anything you are looking at and gives off good light. We used the clamp before, but this time decided to use the base. It's very heavy and works better than the clamp I think. The clamp did leave a mark on his oak wood desk. Overall I have good comments but the one negative comment would be this; the tool they include to help you attach the base to the lamp is worthless. Use pliers to turn the bolt, and trust me, your frustration level won't be as high as mine was.

This was purchased for my desk as I am a professional calligrapher and appreciate the quality of light that OTT provides. However, it does not stay in position correctly, and the light is constantly falling down. I know of no way to keep it in place. It has become an expensive source of irritation.

Received OttLite L 18336 through Amazon on Dec , 2015 and it worked and now I can't get the light to turn on. All the plugs are connected and outlet works but the product is terribly defective. Now I wish I had gone to lighting store and bought that I could return to be fixed. Always frustrating to get a product that was not properly manufactured.

I bought my lamp new, about 6-8 years ago, for under one-hundred dollars, and only today replaced the bulb (but that's another review).The lamp, when straightened out completely, measures 34" from the base pivot to the head pivot. The head swings up and down, and rotates *about* 140 degrees.The 18W bulb (75W equivalent) can cover a pretty large area. Do to the physical size and brightness, I wouldn't recommend this for computer use unless you like really bright light. But as a general task light it's very effective.The only real downside I've found over the years, is the droop factor. The size and weight of the bulb cause the head to droop and it's tough to get it positioned horizontally. Over the years it's become worse, and there's no excuse for that.There are three adjustable pivots that should add sufficient friction to the arms and head movement to keep in stationary in any position it's placed. But even fully tightened, it often sags, leaving the light too low and the head pointing down 45-50 degrees below horizontal. This is the main reason I give it only 2.5 stars. It would have been 5 if I reviewed it right after my purchase.Two caveats to new/potential buyers:*The "screws" at the pivot points will bottom out or reach maximum tightness before they completely lock up the motion of the arms or head. Using a screwdriver to try to tighten the pivot points sufficiently is ill-advised. First, tightening them sufficiently will become impossible. Second, at that point a screwdriver will probably break the screws. Use your hands, only.*Somewhere in time, Ott changed the base and socket of the lamp and bulbs respectively. There were protrusions in the lamp's socket and notches in the bulb's base to allow proper fitting. I think this was to restrict use to bulbs manufactured by/for Ott. If you were to get a New-Old-Stock lamp, new bulbs wouldn't fit without minor modification to the socket. The new bulbs look different than the old bulbs, which caused me some confusion. This may not be an issue if there is no NOS.Just a couple of things to think about.I haven't broken any parts yet and hope not to. At some point disassembly of the pivots and some shade tree DIY repair may be in order, assuming it's possible. Considering the lack of available spare parts, when the ballast goes, so will the lamp. I'll replace it with an LED task light, most likely.If reasonably priced spare parts including the ballast were available, this could be a 5-star product. As it is, 2.5 is the best I can muster.

I like OttLite bulbs because of the quality of light they offer. I use the clamp feature with this lamp, which allows me to position the lamp the way I want; it;s nice to have both the clamp and flat base options. My only complaint is that the joint between the part that holds the bulb and the upper part of the arm keeps coming loose, so that the head droops down.

My mother has macular degeneration, and has to have lots of light. we have a few ottlites and knew it to be a good brand; this one has the option of adding a clamp-on to it, which is why we got it; this way even at the dinner table she can see what's on her plate. have had it for over a month and it stays fastened/doesn't move, the arm has plenty of positioning options, and it lights the expected area well.

I have had this lamp since 2004. In 2007, the wire in back snapped loose. This wire runs upward from the center piece between the bottom legs to the center piece between the lower and upper legs. It snapped because the wire is held in place by s small steel barrel, which fits inside a small receptacle incorporated in that lower center piece. Unfortunately this part is ill-designed because it lacks sufficient metal to counteract the force exerted by the wire. In 2007 Ott-Lite replaced the part and I successfully installed it. Now (January 2011) the metal of this new part gave way again and just like the first one, just broke off. You can see where the metal gave way. It is just poorly designed. I called Ott-Lite and they are not sure they have spare parts of which they could send me one. I am waiting!!!!! Very strange because they are still selling the lamps per their web-site. Unless I hear soon I am going to have to look for an alternative.