Yes, as a second lamp. A rechargeable lamp is very good at putting a soft pool of light where there is no socket, for an evening at a time. The cordless table lamps we sell give 96 to 325 lumens at full power, against about 800 from an ordinary LED bulb, so do not buy one as your only reading light.
That gap is the whole argument. A rechargeable earns its price on a dining table, a shelf, a hall console or anywhere a lead would spoil the look. It loses wherever you sit for hours and need to see. Below is what the numbers mean, where each kind of lamp wins and which ones we would buy. The range is in rechargeable table lamps and rechargeable floor lamps.
The short version
- Buy a rechargeable lamp for a place with no socket. Keep a plug-in lamp for reading and for the main light in a room.
- Trust a run time only with a brightness beside it. The Elstead Luna lists 5 hours at full power and about 22 at 20%.
- IP20 means indoors only. IP54 is tested against splashing. IP65 adds dust-tightness and a water-jet test.
- Do not charge one while you sleep or while you are out. Use the charger the maker recommends, and unplug it when it is done.
- Expect the battery to fade over the years. Our working figure is the 300 to 500 full charges makers typically quote for lithium-ion cells.
Where does a rechargeable lamp beat a plug-in lamp?
Anywhere the lead is the problem. A lamp belongs where the room needs it, and a socket is where the electrician put it. These are the jobs we would give one:
- The dining table. A table in the middle of a room has nowhere to plug in. A low lamp on it does more for a dinner than any ceiling light, and nobody trips over anything.
- Shelves and alcoves. Run a lead down a bookcase once and you will not do it twice. The Endon Bridport in our picture is the job exactly.
- Hall consoles and mantelpieces. A lamp here is on show from every angle, and so is its lead.
- Garden tables and covered terraces. Provided the IP rating says so, which we come to below.
- Rooms you cannot rewire. Rented flats and finished rooms, where this is one option among several in how to light a room you cannot rewire.
- Power cuts. A charged lamp carries on. It is a useful side effect, and only works if you kept it charged.
Are rechargeable lamps worth it compared with a plug-in lamp?
Only where a plug-in cannot go. Put side by side on light per pound, the plug-in wins easily. The Endon Hayfield (£103.00, checked 2nd November 2026), 590mm tall with a natural linen shade, plus an ordinary E27 LED bulb (£9.60, checked 2nd November 2026) comes to £112.60 and gives about 800 lumens. The Novena Capo is £269.00 and gives 325. That is about two and a half times the light for well under half the money.
The rechargeable has a real answer. The Capo dims from 5% to 100% at a touch, and the Hayfield has an inline switch and is listed as non-dimmable. But we would not pay for that answer in a chair you read in every night. Keep the plug-in wherever a socket is in reach and you use the lamp for hours at a time. Our table lamp guide for living rooms covers those.
Be honest with yourself. A lamp you forget to charge is an ornament. If you will not remember, plug it in.
How bright are rechargeable lamps, and can you read by one?
Bright enough to find your glass and see a face. Not bright enough for an hour with a book. Our bedside reading guide asks for 400 to 800 lumens, with about 500 a sensible floor. We checked every cordless table lamp live on our site, and the brightest, the Novena Capo family, stops at 325. The dimmest, the Elstead Luna (£61.25, checked 2nd November 2026), gives 96.
Aiming helps. The Novena Sereno is a clamshell that opens towards the page, so its 145 lumens go where you need them. That will do for a chapter in bed, in our view, and we would not ask more of it. For colour the one to know is the Astro Halo Portable in light bronze (£151.80, checked 2nd November 2026), 214 lumens at CRI 90, the highest colour rendering we list on a cordless lamp. The Novena lamps list 80 or above. What CRI means is worth two minutes.
So for a small flat or a bedroom, the plain answer is plug-in beside the bed if a socket is within reach, and rechargeable if the socket is behind the headboard and you only read for a few minutes. The same goes for a desk: for hours of work, plug in.
How long does a rechargeable lamp last on one charge?
Plan on 4 to 15 hours at a brightness you would actually use. Run time and brightness trade against each other, so a run time with no brightness beside it is half a figure. The Les Jardins Bateak solar lamp (£177.90, checked 2nd November 2026) lists 8 hours at 200 lumens, 16 at 100 and 31 at 50: halve the light, double the hours, near enough. The Elstead Luna lists 5 hours at full power and about 22 at 20%.
Now the big number on the box. The Endon Sunset offers up to 30 hours. Its battery is 3.6V and 3,600mAh, which is about 13 watt-hours, and its LED is 2W. At full power that works out at about six and a half hours before any losses. That sum is ours, not the maker's, and it is why we read the 30 hours as a low-setting figure. The Sunset's lowest is 40 lumens. We read the Bridport's up to 50 hours the same way, on its 50 lumen setting.
So treat a headline run time as the best case, and buy for the evening you have. A three-hour dinner on a low setting asks almost nothing of any lamp here. Six hours at full power on a garden table asks a lot.
What is the best rechargeable lamp?
For most homes we would start with the Endon Bridport: warm brass plate under a matt opal glass dome, 283mm tall, with the LED hidden behind the glass and three touch settings. It looks like a lamp and not a gadget, and at £49.85 it is a small bet on an idea you may be trying for the first time. Non-solar cordless table lamps on our site run from £39.95 to £269.00. Here is how we would split that.
- For a proper shaded lamp: the Novena Capo, a pleated fabric shade on a tapered cement or marble base, 350mm tall. It is the one that does not read as cordless at all, and it shares the top output with the Tocca and Punta.
- For a garden table: the Novena Cristallo, a fluted glass shade on a slim stem, 265mm tall and IP65.
- For a dinner table that needs to stay low: the Elstead Luna, a globe of pale stone 117mm tall that sits under everyone's eyeline. It is the dimmest here, and on a dinner table that is the point.
- For a run of tables: the Novena Asta, a disc head on a slim stem at 323mm. It stands above the plates and casts down.
- For a small budget: the Endon Sunset, a brushed gold mushroom 225mm tall.
Look first, then check the size against the spot. On a shelf, measure the height above it as well as the depth: the Bridport needs 283mm clear and 180mm front to back, the Capo 350mm and 210mm. All prices below were checked on 2nd November 2026.
| Lamp and price | Lumens at full | Listed run time | Charging |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endon Sunset, £39.95 | 129 | Up to 30 hours | USB-C, cable included |
| Endon Bridport, £49.85 | 200 | Up to 50 hours | USB-C, cable included |
| Novena Asta, £149.00 | 191 | 11 to 12 hours | 6 to 7 hours |
| Novena Sereno, £155.00 | 145 | 11 to 12 hours | 6 to 7 hours |
| Novena Cristallo, £199.00 | 244 | 12 to 13 hours | 3 to 4 hours |
| Novena Capo, £269.00 | 325 | 11 hours | 5 hours |
How long do they take to charge, and is it safe to charge one overnight?
Listed charge times on our table lamps run from 2 to 3 hours up to 10.5 hours, so charge during the day for use at night. Check what comes in the box first. The Endon lamps come with a USB-C to USB-A cable, so you need a USB plug or port. The Novena lamps list the adapter as not included, so you need the plug the listing names: 5V 1A for the Asta and Sereno, 5V 2A for the Cristallo and Capo.
We would not charge one overnight. Scottish Fire and Rescue's advice on lithium-ion batteries is not to charge while you are asleep or away from home, to use the charger the maker approves and to unplug once the battery is full. The government's safety message on e-bikes and e-scooters says the same about chargers and unplugging. E-bike batteries are far bigger, but we would take the same care with any lamp battery, and beside a bed above all. Charge on a clear, hard surface in a room you are in. That last part is our advice.
The same fire service lists the signs to stop using or charging a device: extremely hot to the touch, swollen or leaking, hissing or cracking sounds, an unusual smell, or taking longer to charge or not charging fully. If you see smoke or flames, it says to get out, stay out and call 999.
Can you dim a rechargeable lamp?
Yes, and without a wall dimmer, because the control is on the lamp. The Novena lamps here dim smoothly from 5% to 100%. The Endon lamps step through three settings: 50, 120 and 200 lumens on the Bridport, 40, 80 and 129 on the Sunset. The Astro Halo has four. For a dinner table we would pay for the smooth dim, because the right level changes as the meal goes on. For a shelf, three steps are plenty.
Colour is the other control. The Capo offers 2200K, 2700K and 3000K, and the Asta 2700K and 3000K. The Bridport is fixed at 3000K and the Halo at 2700K. In a room you sit in we would choose 2700K, and our warm white guide explains why. If you want to dim a whole row at once, the Novena remote (£69.00, checked 2nd November 2026) pairs with lamps listed as remote-ready, the Capo among them.
Can you use a rechargeable lamp outdoors?
Only if its IP rating says so, and plenty of them say no. The digits are defined by the IP code:
| Rating | What it is tested against | Where we would use it |
|---|---|---|
| IP20 | Fingers and similar objects. No protection against water. | Indoors only. Capo, Sereno, Bridport, Sunset, Halo. |
| IP54 | Dust limited, water splashing from any direction. | A covered terrace or garden room, brought in afterwards. Asta. |
| IP65 | Dust-tight, water jets from any direction. | A garden table. Cristallo. |
| IP66 | Dust-tight, powerful water jets. | A garden table that lives outside. Bateak. |
Our rule of thumb: a lamp that spends the night on a garden table should be IP65 or better, because one night you will forget it. The check is the IP figure on the lamp's own listing, so read the number and not the word 'outdoor' in the name. The Asta has 'Outdoor' in its title at IP54, and it is meant for covered use. Charge any of them indoors, dry. Our guide to IP ratings goes further on what the digits do and do not promise.
Solar is the other route, and our solar and rechargeable range charges either by panel or by USB-C. The Bateak takes 5 hours by USB-C. A panel needs daylight, so in a British November we would expect the USB-C port to do more of the work.
How long does the battery last, and can you replace it?
Expect a few years of nightly use before it holds noticeably less, and much longer with occasional use. That is our working figure, and it assumes lithium-ion cells. Battery University says makers typically rate those in consumer products at 300 to 500 full charge cycles, so check your lamp's instructions for its own. Take the Asta at 11 to 12 hours. Four hours every evening means a charge about every third night, roughly 120 a year, so two and a half to four years. The same lamp on a dinner table for three hours, twice a week, needs a charge about once a fortnight, 26 a year. At that rate, cycles stop being what limits it.
You can help it along. For lithium-ion, the same source says there is no memory effect, so you need not run it flat, shallow discharges are kinder than deep ones, and heat does the lasting damage. Keep it off the radiator shelf and out of a hot conservatory.
As for replacing it, treat it as sealed. We do not sell spare cells, and we would not open one. When a lamp does reach the end, keep it out of the bin. Scottish Fire and Rescue says lithium-ion batteries never go in household waste and that most local recycling centres take them, and we would treat any lamp battery the same way.
Are rechargeable floor lamps any good?
As a feature, yes. As the lamp that lights your sofa, no. A floor lamp gives its light from high up across a good stretch of room, and that is where a small output shows most. The Novena Anello Floor (£215.00, checked 2nd November 2026) gives 200 lumens from a tilted disc on a slim 1.3 metre stem, for 9 to 10 hours. It is a lovely line in a corner and a dim way to read. The Novena Slancio Twin (£295.00, checked 2nd November 2026) does better for a reader: two heads that rotate and dim separately, 273 lumens combined, 1.2 metres tall and IP54.
The 500 lumen lamps in our rechargeable floor range are solar garden pieces, from £809.47 (checked 2nd November 2026). If there is a socket within reach of your sofa, buy a plug-in. Our best floor lamps names the ones we would choose, and our floor lamp guide covers height, type and placement.
Are rechargeable lamps any good on restaurant tables?
Yes, and this is where they make the least compromise. Nobody is reading a novel, there is rarely a socket by the table, and a lead across a dining room is a trip hazard you would rather not have. The Novena Asta lists 11 to 12 hours, which covers a six-hour service with room to spare, IP54 for a covered terrace and a 6 to 7 hour charge. If the same lamps work lunch and dinner, the Cristallo's 3 to 4 hours suits better.
The sum for eighteen tables: eighteen Astas are £2,682 and three of the Novena 6-Unit Charging Station (£157.90, checked 2nd November 2026), which has six charging points and stacks three high on a single plug, are £473.70. That makes £3,155.70 at the prices above. Check that the lamp you want suits the station before you order, and run one lamp through a full service at the brightness you will actually use before you buy eighteen. Charge them every day. A lamp that dies at the pudding is the one thing a diner will remember.
So should you buy a rechargeable lamp?
Decide where the lamp will live before you decide which lamp. If there is a socket in reach, buy a plug-in and enjoy the extra light. If there is not, measure the spot and start with the Bridport. We would have both in the same room: a plug-in from our table lamps beside the chair, and a rechargeable on the table or shelf the lead could never reach.
Frequently asked questions
Is there such a thing as a cordless lamp?
Yes. A cordless lamp has a built-in battery that you charge by USB or a small adapter, then use with no lead at all. 'Cordless' and 'rechargeable' describe the same lamps. They are LED, so there is usually no bulb to change. Output runs from 96 to 325 lumens across the table lamps we sell, which suits a table, shelf or console better than a reading chair.
How long do rechargeable lamps last?
On one charge, plan on 4 to 15 hours at a useful brightness. We read figures of 30 or 50 hours as the lowest setting. Over the years, our working figure is the 300 to 500 full charges makers typically quote for lithium-ion cells: two and a half to four years if you use one for four hours every evening, and far longer if you use it a couple of times a week.
Do rechargeable lights save electricity?
No, not in any way you would notice. At the Ofgem cap of 26.32p per kWh for October to December 2026, five hours a night for a year costs about £3.84 on an 8W plug-in bulb and about 96p on a 2W rechargeable, before charging losses. The plug-in gives about four times the light. Nobody should buy either to save money on electricity.
Can I leave a rechargeable lamp plugged in all the time?
We would not. Fire service advice on lithium-ion batteries is to unplug once charging has finished and not to charge while you are asleep or away from home, and we would take the same care with any lamp. And a lamp that never leaves its lead is a plug-in lamp with less light and more fuss. If the socket is that close, buy a plug-in.
Can you use a rechargeable lamp while it is charging?
Assume not unless the instructions for that lamp say you can. Do not plan a room around it either way, because the whole point of the lamp is that it has no lead. If one regularly runs out mid-evening, dim it a step or two, since halving the output roughly doubles the hours, or charge it earlier in the day.
Do rechargeable bulbs work in any lamp?
Do not count on it. The rechargeable bulb we sell, the Novena Sfera Core (£115.00, checked 2nd November 2026), is a 95mm frosted orb, and Novena names a Sfera Core bulb as the power behind its Capo, Tocca and Punta lamps. Its listing gives it no screw cap, so we would not plan on fitting it to an ordinary lamp holder. For a standard E27 lamp with a socket nearby, a normal LED bulb gives far more light.
Is a rechargeable lamp cheaper than one that takes AA batteries?
Over time, for anything you use regularly, we would expect so. A 2W rechargeable used five hours a night costs about 96p a year in electricity at the current Ofgem cap, and you are not buying new cells. A lamp used for a few minutes a week is the case where batteries can make sense, because the upfront price of a rechargeable takes far longer to justify.
Why is my rechargeable lamp not holding a charge?
Batteries lose capacity with age, use and heat, so it may simply be tired. But Scottish Fire and Rescue lists taking longer to charge or not charging fully among the signs to stop using or charging a battery, alongside swelling, heat, hissing and unusual smells. So stop using it, do not open it, and recycle it at a local recycling centre, never in household waste.
