Nachteule makes night-time reading more 'enlightening'

Reading at night can be problematic. Firstly, there can be arguments in bed between partners – one who wants to sleep with the light off, the other who wants to read with a light on. Then there’s the issue of inadequate bedside lighting or the shadows on your pages cast by an overhead light. Well, if you wear glasses, the Nachteule (night owl) light may help solve your night-time reading problems.

Designed and engineered in Germany, the Nachteule claims to be the world's smallest, lightest, and most powerful personal reading light you can clip to your glasses - ideal for reading at night in bed, as a passenger in a vehicle or traveling in a plane or camping, map-reading, etc.

“It's such a simple idea - you would think it would already exist on the market - but not this small and powerful. It's obviously made for people that actually wear glasses, but you'd be amazed how big that market is!” says Barrett Conway, VP of Business Development, Leuchtkraft GmbH.

The Nachteule light may have taken more than year in production (over 35 prototype versions) but it sold out on Amazon.de almost immediately. Set for a public showing at Silmo in Paris next month, the Nachteule is sure to have some fans.

The light uses the newest LED white light technology to produce the equivalent of a 60W bulb. It’s powered by a lithium-ion battery which Conway says should last up to 40 hours (average usage @ 20min/day = 120 days of overall usage).

And weighing 8g, wearers will hardly notice it’s there.

Get a closer look at modeling of the Nachteule here (site is in German now, the English version will be up shortly).

The Nachteule retails online for EUR€19.95 (USD$29.50 approx.) at time of publishing.