A Quick Look at Koncept's Mosso LED Task Light

Koncept's Mosso LED task light is yet another award winning lamp. Here are some of the accolades it has received in the past year.

• NGL Winner 2012
• Chicago Athenaeum's GOOD DESIGN Award 2011
• 2011 Spark:Pro Bronze Award
• Benelux Office Products Awards Nominee 2011

So what makes it such a great light?

It's beautifully styled in an all aluminum body made from 38% recycled materials. The sleek upright and horizontal arms are supported on a 9 inch diameter base. The light head sets it apart with its slightly curved rectangular shape. This holds an array of 42 LED bulbs giving a powerful light output yet only consumes 10.5 watts at full power.

The head is able to be swivelled through 360 degrees which is quite a useful feature as it means you can use the light as a form of ambient lighting to give a diffused lighting effect.

And of course the light can be dimmed. This is easily controlled through a slider on the topside of the light's horizontal arm. You can either slide it to gradually alter light intensity or alternatively just tap the strip. Both methods make it rapidly controllable.

The light is finished in either silver, black or white. It comes with a choice of light color output of either cool white (4500K) or warm light (3500K), either will work well with cool white giving more accurate color rendition.

The lamp has a 5 year manufacturer's warranty, however with the bulbs rated at 50,000 hours use it's going to last a lot longer than this.

Watch this short video to appreciate what makes the Mosso special. Here's where you can read more about this light.

Standing Desk User Review

Dave Hamilton of incredibly popular Mac Observer's Mac Geek Gab podcast decided to give a sit-stand desk a try. He had rigged his own version, but wanted something that would allow him to move from sitting to standing with ease. Here's what he started with:

From TMO blog:

Dave decided late last year to switch to a standing desk setup. He was unsure about wanting to stand full time so he purchased the Ergo Depot Medium Duty Adjustable Height Desk, which is motorized to allow the user to change from standing to sitting-level heights. Although it took him a few days to get used to it, Dave now loves standing while he works and has only lowered the desk to sit four times since he received it.

Despite not sitting very often, Dave still recommends an adjustable height desk for users interested in this method of working. With a regular desk, a user can simply adjust the height of their chair to reach a comfortable and ergonomic position. That’s not possible with a standing desk so if you are particularly short or tall, you’ll want to make sure the desk can be adjusted to the proper height.

Dave's desk, formerly known as the Medium Duty desk, is our AD117 frame paired with the large cutout top:

This combination offers plenty of space for all of the things you need close at hand and stable enough that you trust the desk to lift valuables like a couple of iMacs and an iPad.

We love seeing our desks in use. If you have some photos of your setup, please send them over for us to feature here on the blog. And of course, if you are a fan of Apple check out Dave's podcast.

Selecting a Sit-Stand Desk: Standing Elbow Height

There are many things people take into consideration when switching to an adjustable-height desk. How does it adjust? What’s the lifting capacity? How high does it go?

The last question might not seem as important as the first two, but a desk that isn’t tall enough can make the difference between ergonomic and not.

Luckily, it’s pretty straightforward to determine how high you need your desk to raise. We call this measurement: Standing Elbow Height. Nothing fancy, just a clear measurement to make sure your decision is the right one.

As we discussed last week, one of the key components to an ergonomic workstation is the neutral reach zone. If your work surface is too low you’ll likely spend time reaching and straining at the shoulders, rather than resting comfortably with your arms parallel to the ground.

Our desks are in the 45” - 53” height range which works for the vast majority of clients. People over 6’2” would want to take a look at something like the Adjustable Desk 129 model, as it raises to an industry-leading 53”. That probably wouldn’t be necessary for many of you, but but if you are planning to use the desk with something like a treadmill (more on this idea coming soon—hint, we’re not convinced it contributes to healthy working) you’ll need something that moves taller than some of the other options out there.

If the desk you are interested in is right on the edge of not being tall enough for you, think about adding casters (if available) to get another 2 - 3” of height.

Click here for a very quick video on how our desks adjust to standing elbow height.

Sit-stand Desk Video Demonstration

"Is it really just a button?"

Yes, it's really just a button.

It's a question we answer at least a couple of times per week. People have a hard time understanding just how easy it is to adjust our electric sit-stand desks. We put together a short video showing how quickly you can move from sitting to standing, and how simple it is to adjust the desk.

We'll follow up later this week with how to decide what desk height range you need in an adjustable-height desk.

The desk in the video is the AD129, to see more just click here.

Ergonomic Keyboard System

Ergonomic tools are a great addition to your sit-stand desk and ergonomic workstation. We've talked this week about the neutral reach zone, so we thought we'd put together a quick video illustraing how easy and adjustable a keyboard system is.

Keyboard systems have grown as a category since the drawers you might be used to. Take a look at our favorites from Humanscale and ESI. Adding flexibility to your workstation, wherever you can, makes a big difference.