The lights are going out

Those who have read my earlier ramblings will know how much I use a magnifier lamp to assist in painting as I do tend to concentrate on 6mm stuff!.  Well a few days ago I noticed the light was flickering and next day it had failed completely.  Now I have had this lamp for the best part of ten years and my first thought was on the lines of 'oh bugger I'm going to have to buy a new one!'.  However in a fit of eco friendliness I checked the make and model and tried to get a replacement for the failed circular fluorescent tube.

Another 'oh bugger' moment now occurred as the website listed on the label no longer existed.  But wait there was a limited company named as the maker on that same label so perhaps my google fu would find that.  A couple of minutes later and I found myself looking at the web pages of the manufacturer - Shesto Ltd.  Not, as the name might lead you to suppose, a Chinese business but a long established British brand.  A quick search of their product lines resulted in yet another 'oh bugger' moment as they no longer make the model of magnifier lamp I own.  Still there were replacement light tubes with similar model numbers so nothing ventured, nothing gained and I rang the sales line.  To be fair I was expecting that there would be no direct replacement, or a minimum order, or trade only sales, but what I actually received was some of the best customer service you could ever hope to get.

The lady on the sales line went off and checked the model number and the bulb details from my burnt out tube and compared the spec to the current items they stocked and confirmed that although the part number was different the one they now stocked should fit and...get this...'if it doesn't work send it back and we will refund you' !  All for an order of one bulb costing under £15 including postage.  I tried to order from the website but got an error so called them back, and was again met with the same excellent customer service.  So order made I settled down to await the delivery.

The replacement lamp* arrived within 48 hours and was the one I needed.  It went into place easily, only seven screws to deal with and that included the cable retainer gadget.  The whole process took under 15 minutes from start to finish.  Its really nice to have a bit of kit which is designed to allow a home handy man to replace pretty much all the electrical parts.

I can heartily recommend Shesto Ltd, they stock a range of lamps and tools for hobbyists, the price isn't exorbitant and the quality of the products is great.  All in all worth checking out.  Now that I can see what I'm doing again it's back to painting!

* For those who like the technical details it's a 12w 6400K bulb, 6400K is the kelvin colour temperature and for what it is worth is on the top end of daylight bulbs.  If you need to know more about the temperature colour I found this useful explanation on line https://www.energystore-usa.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=23.