Not grokking the demographic

We need a bedside lamp for my father, to replace the floor lamp that's been next to his bed for a while.

Specifically: we need something he can turn on and off without standing up.

Hey, how about a reading-light type of thing that clamps to the headboard?

Consult the banana-vector site.  Lots of headboard reading lights.  But...

The ones that look, at first glance, suitable either have (a) losable remote controls, with a confusing array of functions, or (b) wired controls, with a confusing array of functions.

Whatever became of "on" and "off"?  It's a freakin' light fixture; it should have a light switch.  Specifically, it's a light fixture for the sedentary... like old people who have limited manual dexterity and don't take well to retraining when it comes to turning lights on and off.  There should be a bloody great rocker switch either as part of the base or somewhere near the lamp end of the cable with provisions for mounting to a headboard or similar.

Comments

[Rob]

I have a small lamp with a toggle on/off that sits flat on the base and has a USB outlet, got it at Walmart a few years back. One of the easiest bed side lamps to turn on or off that that I have ever had.

[Eric Wilner]

Unfortunately, there isn't really a place to put a sits-flat-on-base lamp - it needs to clamp to the headboard. We're exploring possibilities, in among all the other stuff we're juggling right now.

[Rob]

Build a shelf for the lamp?

[Eric Wilner]

Possible, or maybe buy a clamp-on lamp and rewire it to use a simple switch in easy reach.