Verdict

Featuring a powerful ultraviolet lamp that's will last for 9000 hours, the Philips UV-C Disinfection Desk Lamp kills germs and viruses around your home. It's easy to use, and comes with a motion sensor for safety, letting you use it practically anywhere. However, its high price is likely to rule it out for most people, although it would prove a useful addition to an Airbnb or waiting room, where lots of people come and go.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Long lamp life
• Proven to kill viruses

Cons

• Overkill for ordinary homes

Right now, given the pandemic, people are far more interested in keeping their homes squeaky-clean. The Philips UV-C Disinfection Desk Lamp aims to make the job easier, using ultraviolet light to kill germs and viruses automatically.

Simple to set up and easy to use, this device has been scientifically proven to kill germs, including COVID-19. Quite a niche product, in the right environment it could be a great addition, but it won’t suit everyone.

Philips UV-C Disinfection Desk Lamp design and features – Simple to set up and use

• Easy to set up
• Simple controls on top to operate it
• Voice prompts warn you about where and how to use this

From the outside, the Philips UV-C Disinfection Desk Lamp looks much like any other portable lamp. While many such devices are made from plastic, this tall and thin unit (354 x 175 x 166mm) has a metal body for good reason: UV-C light can destroy plastic, so metal is required to ensure longevity.

Inside, you’ll find two UV-C light tubes for emitting the bacteria-killing light. They’re fixed into the body and can’t be replaced. However, with a 9000-hour rated life, the lamp should last for some time to come, particularly since it offers just three options – 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 45 minutes – selectable via the timer button on top.

At the lowest setting, then, the lamp should last for 36,000 goes; 12,000 on the longest setting. It’s recommended that in a living room it should be set to 45 minutes,  30 minutes in a bedroom, and 15 minutes in bathrooms and kitchens.

The recommended times are for rooms of a set maximum size: 28m2 for a living room (max range of 3m), 20m2 for a bedroom (max range of 2.5m) and 13m2 for a kitchen or bathroom (max range of 2m). If your rooms are fall out of the sizes above, you can adjust run-times – upping the 15 minutes for a large kitchen, for example.

To turn on the lamp, you simply press and hold the power button for three seconds, which provides some protection against accidental activation. The lamp will convey voice instructions to help you choose the right option, whilst also warning you about the dangers of UV-C light, which is harmful to humans and pets.

Once you’ve selected the desired timer option, you tap the button again, and the voice tells you it’s time to leave the room and close the door. Although you can use the lamp in a room without a door, there’s more chance of a person or pet stumbling into the path of the light, so it isn’t ideal in rooms you can’t isolate.

Once the lamp is primed, it won’t turn on the UV-C lamp until the motion sensor detects no motion for 30 seconds. It makes sense, then, to clear the room of pets that may be quite happy to sit still.

Philips UV-C Disinfection Desk Lamp performance – Effective in the right situation

• Scientifically proven to work
• Sensitive motion sensor prevents damage to people and pets
• Needs the right setting to get the most out of it

A strong UV-C light comes out of the lamp, disinfecting the area around it to the specifications above. UV-C has been proven to destroy all known viruses including COVID-19. According to the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) at Boston University, Signify’s UV-C light sources cause a 99% reduction in COVID-19 after an exposure time of six seconds.

As such, the run-times of the lamp are good enough to thoroughly disinfect the room in which the lamp is in.

There’s nothing you can do while the lamp is on and running, bar coming back at the end of the run-time. If you should open the door early, then the motion sensor (5m range) will pick you up and turn the lamp off. Sure enough, every time I tried to surprise the lamp, the motion sensor was activated and the lamp was turned off.

Verdict

There’s no doubt that the Philips UV-C Disinfection Desk Lamp lives up to its claim of killing viruses and disinfecting areas, plus it’s easy to use. Nevertheless, it’s a niche product, and the advice received from an NHS A&E doctor was that this kind of product would be far more useful in areas shared by many different people, rather than in most people’s homes.

For example, if you have a business with regular visitors or a waiting room that’s used every day, then the Philips UV-C Disinfection Desk Lamp would prove useful. Likewise, anyone with a holiday home or Airbnb who wants to show that they’re taking cleanliness seriously could benefit from using the device. For most home users, however, proper cleaning with detergent and the use of a steam cleaner is likely to be more cost-effective.

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