Anytime Dyson releases a product, we all take notice. That’s because the company has a well-deserved reputation for taking every day products, and improving on them… by turning them into, as the New York Times put it, ‘generational status symbols’. Big time. While Dyson has definitely made vacuums and blow dryers better, can it possibly do the same with the humble desk lamp? Meet the Dyson Solarcycle Morph.
Dyson Solarcycle Morph Desk Lamp
Summary
Overall, I have to say I thought this light was pretty gimmicky and overpriced on the surface. Now that I’ve had the chance to spend a couple of weeks with it, I have to say I have fallen unexpectedly in love with this light and think it’s actually wildly cool.
Pros
- Gorgeous, minimalist design
- Perfect size
- Fully adjustable
- Warm and cool light
- Adaptable daylight feature
- App or touch controls
- 360 degree movement
- Task or ambient light
Cons
- Price
- Could use more charging options
Dyson Solarcycle Morph Desk Lamp review
In this review, I’m going to try the light out in my home, I’ll show you what it can do that makes it special and Dyson-worthy, and talk about whether it really does bring more to the table… or to the desk. I’ll wrap things up with the pros and cons and let you know if I think I can recommend this light for you.
A word about my review of Dyson Solarcycle Morph
First off, I want to say two things about this lamp to frame this review. The first is to address the very high price of this lamp. At about $649 USD/$849 CAD, this lamp is going to be out of budget for most of us. I am hyper aware of that particularly in these budget conscious times.
The reason I’m reviewing it is for the second thing I want to say about this lamp and that’s that it isn’t just your run-of-the mill lamp or even an average smart light; Dyson positions this as a ‘fully automated lighting solution’ that dynamically adjusts its light based on local daylight.
No more fiddling with settings to get the light just right. But does it live up to the hype, and could you make a case either for the automation features, or even to just pick it up as a cool piece of furniture architecture for your office if you want to splurge? That’s what I’ll evaluate in this review.
And lastly in the housekeeping department, I would like to thank Dyson for sending me a sample of this light. While the company has provided it to me for this review it has not asked for or received permission to view the story in advance or to have any input, and I got to test and review it as I wanted to so you can consider these thoughts 100% my own.
What are you getting?
Calling the Solarcycle Morph a desk lamp is like calling a Tesla a car. Accurate but there’s a lot more to both the story and the development behind it.
Yes, Dyson Solarcycle Morph is an articulating desk lamp with LED light. It has a handful of special features that set it apart. I’ll go over the list then dive into each one in detail:
- Automatic daylight adjustment
- Motion detection
- Warm or Cool light tones
- Adaptable design (task or ambient light)
- App connectivity & personalization
- Built in charging
But first let’s get to the unboxing, assembly and set up…
Unboxing, Assembly & Set up
When I first opened up the box I assumed the light was in one piece but quickly realized it would require assembly. Fortunately the assembly is extremely simple. There are really only two parts that you have to connect; screw the light arm into the heavy weighted base and secure it with the included screw.
Then connect the power cable which sits perfectly inside a grooved channel in the base of the lamp. Once assembled the lamp is quite heavy which I like because it’s not going to go anywhere even if I brush past it.
The next thing to do will be to connect the lamp with the MyDyson app so you can take advantage of feature number one, and that’s the daylight adjustment.
All you really need to do is choose to add a product and follow the steps inside the app which will pair the light to your phone. From there you need to grant permission for the light to view your location (for the daylight adjustments) and then you’re ready to use it.
There are controls both on the lamp and you can use the app to make adjustments too.
I will say I actually thought the controls lived on the side of the lamp arm where you can see the small icons, but the truth is these are physical buttons that actually live underneath the light, which keeps them from marring the ultra minimalist design.
Let’s get to the special features of this light…
1. Light Tracking: Adapts faster than your mood swings
Unlike your usual smart lights that depend on a simple set of parameters like a preset schedule, the Solarcycle Morph uses a mix of your GPS location, and local time with an algorithm that adjusts the light to match the patterns of daylight.
While this all sounds high-tech and sophisticated, all it means is that it adjusts the type of lighting to what it thinks you need at certain points of the day – a feature you might’ve already seen in other, lower-priced, desk lamps and smart bulbs. In a nutshell, it will automatically adjust the light to be warmer or more yellow or orange in the morning and evening, and more blue or cooler through the middle parts of the day.
There’s all kinds of research that’s been written about showing that having more of a realistic daylight cycle even while indoors can help you feel more productive and boost mood. While everyone will have their opinion on this, I can say that the light did adapt quite well across the daylight spectrum in my office. When I started work very early the orange warm light was similar to sunrise, while by noon the brighter blue light kept the room illuminated. The effect is extremely subtle and you won’t necessarily notice it changing colour throughout the day.
All in all it’s a pretty cool effect and it works extremely well.
2. Motion detection for energy saving
The second special feature I’ll touch on here is actually one of my favourites. I am often in and out of my office throughout the day and then prone to leaving all the lights on. If you enable the motion detection feature on this light by pushing the motion detection button underneath the arm, the light will automatically shut off when it has not detected movement for more than five minutes. I think this is fantastic and it worked really well. As soon as I would step back into the office the light would softly dim-up and come to life again.
The only slight downside about this feature is that sometimes if I was sitting still at my desk reading something, there wouldn’t be enough motion to keep the light on and sometimes it would go out on its own. Not a huge deal since I was able to simply wave in the general direction and the light would turn on again. But perhaps it could use a secondary motion sensor somewhere.
3. Warm or cool light
I am a huge fan of warm light in the house. For the most part I will choose warmer colours of light or warm white light bulbs over the alternative without fail. I love the fact that this light can use either temperature or light, and adjusting it is as simple as tapping on the top bar of the light.
You can either touch to instantly switch from warm to cool or use the adjustable slider. Similarly there is also a brightness slider next to it where you can adjust the brightness quickly. These controls are also available inside the Dyson app if you want to get a little more precision than the small 1 inch touch buttons allow.
4. Signature Dyson build-quality: Light, but make it art
The design of this lamp is sleek, futuristic, and guaranteed to make your desk look like it’s ready for a magazine shoot. And like most Dyson products, the Morph is expertly engineered to look beautiful and work perfectly.
Most of the lamp is made of aluminum with some hard polycarbonate (plastic) yet it feels extremely strong and durable, and it doesn’t LOOK plasticky. I will say the lamp is a little taller at 19-inches in height, and the light arm is a lot longer than I expected, reaching 25-inches.
While this seems like overkill, I very quickly realized this could be the perfect size for a desk lamp. The articulating arm has the ability to reach right out over your work surface and lets you place the light almost anywhere you need it. The light arm swivels 100% of the way around the base, and the top part of the arm can also be turned to place light downward, sideways, even up towards the ceiling and at almost any configuration in between. You can literally get light anywhere in your office with this lamp.
4A. Versatile use cases: Task, Indirect, Feature, and Ambient
The versatility of the Solarcycle Morph is also one of its headlining features. While it shines best as a task light, it can also serve as a capable feature light and ambient lighting thanks to smart engineering decisions.
In its resting position with the LED facing the stem, it works well as ambient lighting with just a soft glow. The aluminum mesh construction acts as a diffuser that softens and more evenly distributes light across the room 360-degrees.
5. MyDyson App: Personalization at its finest
In addition to offering remote control over the light, the MyDyson app gives you three presets: Study, Relax, and Precision. You can also create custom presets that you can tune according to your preferences.
Study mode gives you the recommended brightness for reading, while the Relax preset sets you up with a soft warm light just bright enough for an evening reading session.
Dyson says the Precision mode gives off a type of light that reflects colors most similar to sunlight. For creatives who like to work at night, this means more accurate colours which can mean the difference between success and failure.
6. Built-in Charging
The final key feature I will touch on is both extremely convenient yet I think it could be improved even more. In the stem of the light is a USB-C charging port. I think this is actually wildly handy, particularly as a tech blogger who is often charging multiple devices around the office.
I actually wish the cable connection was not in the stem, but in the base instead to keep the light from looking cluttered. And since Dyson is already adding power ports here, I would suggest they go all the way and add three or four connections in here, and make the base a Qi charging surface, where I could place earbuds or small items to juice up.
Overall review: Dyson Solarcycle Morph
Overall, I have to say I thought this light was pretty gimmicky and overpriced on the surface. Now that I’ve had the chance to spend a couple of weeks with it, there is no chance of me letting it go unless someone prys it out of my cold dead hands. I have to say I have fallen unexpectedly in love with this light and think it’s actually wildly cool. Let’s go over the pros and cons as I see them.
On the pro side, the design of this light is super minimalist and will have design junkies salivating. It’s just the right size and fully adjustable in every direction.
It offers both warm and cool colours of light, and it’s adaptable daylight feature can really help keep you in sync with your circadian rhythms. With touch controls on the light, or in the app you can control however you prefer to interact with your light. And with the absolute multitude of ways you can place this light or aim the light as a task or ambient lamp, it’s incredibly versatile. The addition of a charging port here is just the icing on an already fantastic cake.
What are the downsides? It’s pretty easy to say that the price is probably the biggest detriment. It’s not what you would call affordable, but I also think this lamp is speaking to folks who are likely to have a Herman Miller office chair and a Selling Sunset desk; the people who don’t want a lamp, they want a statement.
The only other downside I would point out is that I don’t love the location of the charging port and would actually like to see better hidden and more charging and power options in a Version 2.
In short, if this light is in your budget I would advise you to add it to your cart immediately.
Dyson Solarcycle Morph sells for about $649 USD/$849 CAD and you can get it from Dyson or Best Buy.
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