Night Lights: Why Stepless Dimming Is the Specification That Matters

Stepless dimming means she can find the level that works rather than choosing between three the manufacturer picked. Fixed brightness steps are the reason most bedside lights are either uselessly dim or fully waking, and a continuous dial is the difference between a light that stays on the nightstand and one that gets moved to a shelf.

Warm light at night is the setting people actually want. A cool white LED at 3am is unpleasant and hard to settle after; the reason to look for adjustable colour temperature is so it can sit at the warm end where it belongs, whatever it does during the day.

Rechargeable means it can be carried. A night light that unplugs and comes with you down a dark hallway is doing something a plug-in one cannot — which matters more, not less, for an older recipient in an unfamiliar or badly lit house.

• A mother or grandmother whose bedside has no convenient socket
• Someone who gets up in the night and would rather not turn on the main light
• A guest room, where a soft light is more welcoming than an overhead
• Anyone who likes a small pretty thing on a windowsill

• Solves a small, nightly, real problem
• Portable, so it goes where it is needed
• Inexpensive enough to send as a small gesture

The things worth checking before you order — this is where gifts like this most often go wrong.

• It is a night light, not a reading lamp. At its brightest it is still ambient light, and buying it as a bedside reading light will disappoint everyone involved.
• Check the charging cable type and include one if she does not have that kind. A light that needs a cable nobody in the house owns is a light that gets charged once.
• Touch controls are easy in daylight and less obvious in the dark. If the recipient is elderly or has limited dexterity, a physical switch is often the kinder design.
• Battery life claims are usually quoted at the lowest brightness. Read the specification for the figure at full output before deciding how often it needs charging.