Benq Screenbar Plus test: the LED office lamp that can be forgotten

The manufacturer BenQ is known for its screens and video projectors, but less for its accessories and lighting. Yet BenQ has lamps for our monitors, desks, and even pianos. In this range of desk lamps, BenQ offers the ScreenBar Plus, LED lighting that attaches directly to the screen and promises optimized, glare-free lighting adapted to your desk. Thus, this accessory aims to provide you with greater comfort when you work on your computer, especially when editing your photos or editing your rushes.

We were able to test the ScreenBar Plus and after several months of daily use, it's time to present our complete review of the BenQ ScreenBar Plus lighting solution.

Introducing the BenQ ScreenBar Plus

BenQ offers several models of its screen light bar: the ScreenBar, the ScreenBar Plus (with remote control) and the ScreenBar Lite (for laptops). Each of the models has its specificities, but they all offer the same main function: to illuminate your desk with optimal light by reducing glare on your screen.

Said like that, it might sound gimmicky. But still, if you spend between 5 to 7 hours a day in front of a screen, you need good light. This must be sufficient and above all uniform, without causing reflections or shine on the screen, in order to save your eyesight.

BenQ has understood this and its products aim to replace the traditional lamp found on your desk, which is not optimal for several reasons. The lamp base often takes up space. Very often, to illuminate your desk evenly, you will tend to place your lamp in the field of vision in relation to the screen. Finally, to avoid reflections on your screen, the angle of the lighting must be perfectly adjusted, which is not often the case, especially with desk lamps that offer circular lighting.

To address this issue, BenQ created the ScreenBar Plus in 2019, a USB LED lamp that attaches to a computer monitor.

Here are the technical specifications of the BenQ ScreenBar Plus (with remote control):

Installation and operation of the BenQ ScreenBar Plus

The BenQ ScreenBar Plus is a 45 cm LED bar. It is fixed on the upper part of the screen with a patented clip system. The bar can be fixed on screens with a thickness of 1 to 3 cm, or even more, thanks to the counterweight present in the clamp which stabilizes the assembly. This is reminiscent of the system of colorimetric probes, but much better thought out.

So the ScreenBar Plus is compatible with almost any desktop monitor on the market, unless you're still using a CRT. We haven't tested with a curved screen, but the slight curvature shouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, if you have a webcam on your screen, it could be annoying.

The lamp itself is made up of an aluminum alloy tube with a series of aligned white and orange LEDs, protected by a plastic glass.

It is possible to adjust the lighting angle of the tube by 20°, which allows you to precisely adjust the way the light will illuminate your desk. Indeed, if the lamp is too low, it will illuminate the surface of the screen – in a grazing way – and thus reveal in broad daylight that you are not dusting your screen enough. The goal is of course to illuminate the work area of ​​the office, and not the screen, to avoid any reflection.

Once the clamp and the bar are fixed in the center of the screen, a flat micro USB Type A cable is used to power the lamp. You can connect the cable directly to a USB port on your screen if it is sufficiently powered, or to a hub – solution chosen in our case – which avoids having to plug / unplug the light each time you plug in his computer. The cable is approximately 1.3m.

On this "Plus" version, a wired remote control is used to make the main settings. It has a weighted and non-slip base which prevents it from wandering on your desk.

This remote control, which reminds us a lot of the "hotkey puck" of BenQ monitors, offers the following options:

In use, this remote control is very practical. Arriving in front of the screen, press the main button and it lights up. It is then up to you to choose your setting, depending on the atmosphere you want to give.

Personally, I choose a rather neutral temperature – around 5500 K – which is close to daylight. Above all, this allows me not to (too) distort the rendering on the screen if I do photo editing. It should be noted that the temperature goes more towards orange at 2700 K than towards blue at 6500 K. The choice of lighting at 2700 K may be useful to rest the eyes more, for example in the evening.

A word on the lifespan of this lamp: BenQ advertises a lifespan of 50,000 hours for its LED strip, which is not replaceable. If it is estimated that you use the lamp 7 hours a day, 5 days a week all year round, you should have peace of mind for 20 years.

BenQ ScreenBar Plus lighting quality

Once set, it's time to get to work. Before testing the BenQ ScreenBar Plus, I used a TaoTronics desk lamp that had multiple lighting modes, 5 brightness levels and an articulated arm. Switching to the BenQ ScreenBar, I immediately appreciated the quantity and quality of light provided.

Here is what my old light looked like in different “configurations”:

By placing it just above the screen, the BenQ lamp evenly illuminates the entire desk, where a conventional lamp illuminates one side more and above all is reflected in the screen of the computer. If you have documents to consult regularly on your desk, this offers real comfort. It's hard to explain in writing, but the tube construction spreads the light across the desk, and doesn't focus the light in one place like a conventional lamp. This provides real comfort.

At the start of the test, I was also afraid that this lamp would degrade the visibility of the screen, by a halo of light coming from above. Fortunately, this is not the case, thanks to a "fine" adjustment of the orientation of the LED tube which acts as a barndoor for the lighting and does not pollute the display on the screen.

In this regard, BenQ states that its lamp does not emit “hazardous” blue light (IEC/TR 62778 rating) or flicker compared to other LED lights. And it is true that the lighting is quite comfortable and useful for winter days when the ambient light is quite low.

After a few days, I found myself not noticing the lamp anymore, it was so integrated into my desk and my screen. The absence of screen reflection is also really appreciable. Of course, this lamp also avoids any direct light in the eyes of the user.

The remote control is really practical, but I would have appreciated a way for the lamp to turn on at the same time as the computer, whether by plugging it into a hub or on its screen. Damage.

Also note that the auto mode, which allows you to adjust the brightness, resets the temperature setting. Slightly annoying in my case, but it is important to note it.

The lamp has a CRI (color rendering index) of over 95, which is a very good number for LED lighting. This allows for good color reproduction.

The maximum illuminance is given for 1000 lux. As a reminder, lux is a unit of measurement of illuminance – and not of the power of a light. A lux is the illuminance of a surface which receives, in a uniformly distributed manner, a luminous flux of one lumen per square meter. The maximum illuminance of 1000 lux thus provides sufficient brightness for a workplace. BenQ never talks about lumens, and rather indicates that its lamp is capable, via automatic mode, of an illumination of 500 lux, a recommended value for an office work surface. BenQ announces a useful surface of 74 cm wide by 35 cm deep.

In use, I have noticed that if the room is in total darkness, the lighting can quickly be too bright. So it's up to you to modulate the light either manually or using the remote control, even if I would have liked to have an even greater latitude of brightness, to offer only a very small trickle of light.

Who is the BenQ ScreenBar Plus lamp for?

If you ask me, I would really say that this lamp – or its little sister the ScreenBar – is aimed at anyone who sits in front of a computer screen for many hours every day. To avoid damaging your eyesight, additional lighting – and well thought out – is really recommended, ask the occupational medicine.

No matter what you're doing, if you spend many hours behind a computer screen, lighting like the BenQ ScreenBar Plus comes in handy. And to my knowledge there is no quality alternative on the market at the moment, except for a model sold by Xiaomi which seems to copy BenQ's ScreenBar in every way.

BenQ ScreenBar Plus: tested and approved

In conclusion, the BenQ ScreenBar Plus lamp offers a very pleasant and comfortable lighting solution. Its different settings – temperature and brightness – thanks to a well thought-out remote control allow it to adapt to all situations. For a photographer, it will of course be necessary to pay attention to the atmosphere that you will give to your room so as not to distort the appreciation of the colors of an image.

With the rise of telecommuting, a good workspace is essential. If you're lucky enough to have an external monitor, this product from BenQ is a great choice. Besides, I really wonder why no one has thought of creating this kind of product before… BenQ should also make bundles with its screens to offer this office system.

The BenQ ScreenBar Plus is priced at €129 on the BenQ store as well as on Amazon.

If you hate wires, the Classic version of the ScreenPlus – sold for €99 – is also worth considering.