VIVO VESA light review
TLDR; The VIVO VESA mounted gooseneck lamp is unreliable and you probably shouldn’t buy it unless you’re into micro soldering. Also Amazon Vine is a program where people get products for free in exchange for writing a review, and in my opinion results in biased and untrustworthy reviews.
Let there be light
As someone who spends a lot of time working on a computer I try to optimize my desk for maximum productivity. Over the years I have gone through various iterations attempting to perfect my workspace. About two years ago I decided to upgrade from an elevated laptop stand and a 24” 1080p monitor to a true dual monitor setup. I was looking for the most amount a screen real estate I could fit on my desk. I therefore bought two 32” 4k monitors and a dual monitor VESA mount to elevate the monitors to eye-level as well as keep my desk clear. One drawback to having such large monitors on your desk is that they block ambient light from the room and cast shadows on your workspace. My first thought was to get some of those clamp-on gooseneck lamps. However I could not find a suitable place to attach the clamps to. I then thought that there might be a product that attaches to the VESA mount itself, allowing me to securely attach lights to my desk. A quick Google search for “VESA mount light” brought me to this product by the company VIVO.
An answer to my problems?
This looked perfect, exactly what I was looking for! I had not had any experience with VIVO’s products before but this one seemed to be just what I needed and appeared to be the only one like it on the market. It had many positive reviews on Amazon and was only $20 so I ordered two. When they arrived I mounted them to my monitors and was quite pleased with the result. They worked as expected and kept my desk looking clean. Two months passed as a happy customer.
A problem with my answer
One day while working at my desk I noticed that one of my lights had changed to a different color temperature. I guess I should mention that these lights are adjustable in both brightness as well as color temperature (white light, warm yellowish light, cool blueish light). I keep both lights set to the white color temperature and one was now in the warm yellowish mode. I thought that was strange but maybe I accidentally hit the button that cycles though the different settings so I changed it back to white and went back to my work. Moments later and without touching the light the color temperature changed by itself. At first I thought maybe the membrane switch was stuck so I gently massaged the buttons to see if that fixed the problem. It did not. After two months working properly (and outside the Amazon return window) one of my two lights now randomly switched color temperatures all by itself. As time went by the issue got worse, sometimes the entire light would flicker or not turn on at all. This became quite distracting while I worked so I stopped using that light altogether. However, now half my desk wasn’t lit so I began looking at my options. After performing a more exhaustive search for higher quality VESA mounted lights I found no other similar products on the market. Given my experience with the VIVO lights I had I was not looking to spend another $20 to replace the light with another one that could very well have the same problem.
Amazon reviews
I don’t normally spend time writing Amazon reviews but given the fact that I made my purchase at least partially based on the positive reviews I felt I should warn perspective buyers about potential quality issues with these lights. When you write an Amazon review you can rate the product 1-5 stars, type a written review, and you also have the ability to attach photos and videos to your review. I filmed a 45 second video of the light in question malfunctioning and attached it to my review. I did not speak in the video since the video speaks for itself. I then typed a paragraph detailing my experience. I was careful to remain objective, factual, and not violate any of Amazon’s “community guidelines”. I would directly quote my exact review here but since Amazon declined to approve my review I no longer have a copy of exactly what I wrote but here is the quote Amazon emailed me in the rejection email:
“Broke after 2 months I bought 2 of these for my dual monitor setup. They worked fine for two months but then one of the lights started randomly flipping through the different color temperatures and/or flickering on/off entirely. This occurs frequently and without…”
The email goes on to say that my review didn’t meet their guidelines and they would not post it. I was somewhat confused by this as I was careful to not use profanity and to provide an honest yet critical review. The only thing I can think of was that I mentioned that I had noticed (after purchasing the product) that all the 5 star reviews were labeled as “Vine Customer Review of Free Product” and that had I realized that before I would have been more skeptical of the objectivity of their reviews. Perhaps pointing out the paid reviews violates Amazon’s guidelines, if so that is not made clear. I made my purchase guided by those positive reviews and in hindsight that was a mistake. For example one such paid review contains both of these statements:
“This item has been with me for such a short time that I am still breaking it in.”
And also:
“In short- if you want to waste money on cheap lamps that barely work, be my guest - but if you actually need something that won’t need replacing anytime soon, get yourself a good old gooseneck for your monitor.”
How can the reviewer make the claim that the lamp “won’t need replacing anytime soon” when they admitted that “This item has been with me for such a short time that I am still breaking it in.”. Had they actually used the product for a few months maybe they could have written a more representative review. But since they received their light for free they were in a hurry to churn out a quick review and move on to the next. I do not believe this type of compensated review provides an honest opinion of the product and can mislead consumers. Whatever the case Amazon refused to publish my review so I submitted a new, much shorter review. I did not include the video (which I would have found extremely helpful as a perspective buyer) and simply wrote; “I bought two of these for my dual monitor setup. They worked well for around two months before one stopped working.”. Amazon approved this much less detailed review and it is publicly viewable on the product listing as of the writing of this post.
The 45 second video Amazon wouldn't let me post:
Digging deeper
Although my attempt to warn others of the potential reliability issues with these lights was met with mixed success I still had a broken light with limited alternatives to replace it. If you are reading this you likely know who I am and that I generally don’t let broken things stay broken for long. If you don’t know me allow me to introduce myself. My name is Marc, I have been tinkering with anything I can get my hands on for the past 34 years. Throughout my years I have studied Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, I have a B.S. in Informatics from Indiana University, and an A.A.S. in Aviation Maintenance Technology from the Community College of the Air Force. I served six years active duty in the USAF as an “Aerospace Maintenance Craftsman”, Staff Sergeant, and graduate of the USAF’s Airman Leadership School. I got a perfect score in mechanical aptitude on the ASVAB. In short, if something is broken I’m going to find out why and fix it.
Fighting e-waste
Since I wasn’t thrilled at the idea of throwing away a two month old light I decided to spend my Saturday morning enjoying a cup of coffee while performing an autopsy on my faulty light. Here is what I found:
- These are 0/10 for repairability, but I guess that is to be expected these days.
- Despite having threaded standoffs behind the PCB these are held together with copious amounts of silicone RTV. (I guess screws are too expensive)
- After spending an hour carefully picking out the RTV I was able to access the back side of the board and quickly found the problem.
- A poorly soldered connection resulting in erratic light behavior.
VIVO light yellow:
VIVO light white:
- If you have access to an SMD rework station you can re-solder the package and the light will work properly.
- You will then have to RTV the thing back together so that the buttons will work to control the light.
In summary, this is obviously not a realistic solution for most buyers. Maybe you will get lucky and yours will be soldered properly but after reading some other buyers reviews I believe the quality control on these lights is not worth the risk. If you still want to order these, save yourself the time and have Amazon deliver your order straight to your local landfill.