Adjustable Over Mirror Light on a Swing Arm in Brushed Chrome

Light at the mirror: an arm that pulls out and swings, for shaving or for anything that needs the light in front of the face rather than above it.

Bathroom lighting is the one part of a house where getting it wrong is a safety matter rather than a taste matter, and it is sold almost entirely on photographs. Every listing here states the zone the fitting may be installed in, the IP rating with both digits explained, the colour rendering index, the lumen output and the efficacy in lumens per circuit watt. If a fitting is not suitable above a bath we say so on the page you are buying it from. If a mirror is backlit and will not light your face, we say that too.

Specification

• Zone: zone 2 and outside the zones. Zone 2 is the 600mm band beyond zone 1 and the 600mm radius around a washbasin tap. It is not rated for zone 1, which means not directly over the bath
• IP rating: IP44. The first digit, 4, means protected against solid objects over 1mm. The second digit, 4, means protected against splashing water from any direction. It is the minimum for zone 2 and it is not enough for zone 1
• Dimensions: 600mm long by 40mm high by 60mm from the wall
• Light output: 700 lumens at 86 lumens per circuit watt, giving 168 lux at the face from 400mm
• Colour temperature: chosen above
• Colour rendering: CRI 90, with R9 above 50, which is a good deal better than the eighties that this category usually offers and is enough for everything except colour matching makeup
• Dimming: mains dimmable, trailing edge
• Electrical: Class 2, hard wired. Not supplied with a plug, which would not be lawful in a bathroom
• Fire rating: not applicable to a wall or surface mounted fitting
• Standards: BS EN 60598 for luminaires, BS EN 62471 photobiological safety at the exempt group, BS EN 55015 for electromagnetic emissions, UKCA and CE marked
• Weight: approximately 2.2 kilograms
• Guarantee: five years on the fitting and the LED module, two years on the driver
• Finish: the same triple plate with a directional brush, which hides limescale spotting far better than polished does and is the sensible choice in a hard water area
• Mounting height: 200mm above the top of the mirror for a bar, or 1600mm to centre for a vertical pair, which is the height that lights a face rather than a forehead
• Glare: an opal diffuser, so the source is not a visible line of dots in the mirror
• Lux at the face: 168 from 400mm, which is the number to compare between fittings and the one almost nobody publishes

What arrives

• the fitting
• a wall bracket and gasket
• fixings for tile and for plasterboard
• a drilling template
• installation instructions

Installation

A registered electrician. Electrical work in a room containing a bath or a shower is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations in England and Wales. That means it has to be done by a registered electrician or signed off by building control. Replacing a like for like fitting on an existing circuit is not notifiable. Adding a new circuit, a new socket or a new spur is. Get the height right before you drill: 200mm above the mirror for a bar, 1600mm to centre for a vertical pair. Ten centimetres too high and the light lands on a forehead and leaves the eyes in shadow.

Choosing between this and the alternatives

There are three places to put light at a mirror and they are not equal. Vertical fittings each side at eye height are the best, because they fill the shadows under the brow, the nose and the chin. A bar above the mirror is second and perfectly good. A downlight in the ceiling behind you is the worst, because it puts your own shadow on your face, and it is what most bathrooms have. If you change one thing in a bathroom, change this.