The Best Cordless Table Lamps (2025), Tested and Reviewed

Cordless table lamps first came on our radar during the post-covid outdoor dining boom in New York City. Nearly every restaurant relied on these adaptable sources of light—especially for use in DIY dining sheds where electrical wiring was a no-no. Some designs became famous in their own right, so much so that some establishments started having issues with theft.

When we started to try out these lamps ourselves, we quickly came to find out just how useful they could be around the home. Plain and simple, a lamp that can go wherever, whenever is really convenient. Bring them out for late summer dinners in the backyard, arrange them in difficult-to-light rooms with inadequate outlet distribution, or use them for extra task lighting when decorating cookies at the table. Sometimes I use mine like a chamber stick for navigating from my bedroom to the bathroom at night. The possibilities really are endless.

We’ve come to really love the adaptable nature of these cordless lamps, which is why we decided to test a bunch to find out the best ones. Below you’ll find our top picks, as well as our reasoning behind why we chose them.

The best cordless table lamp: The Poldina Pro

In a dining setting, the faux lampshade design of the Poldina Pro by Zafferano casts a lovely glow both upwards and downwards, illuminating the table as well as the faces of you and your fellow diners. It’s classic, neutral design that doesn’t scream touch control LED light, making it great for both casual and formal settings.

Like many of the lamps we tested, the Poldina offers three color temperature settings as well as dimmer controls; but unlike other lamps, the Poldina Pro will save your chosen color temperature setting, so that it stays that way whenever you turn it on or off. Other lamps will just make you cycle through all the options every time you use it. It’s a small difference, but one that sets it apart from the pack.

The rechargeable battery cell has about nine hours of juice in it, after which it will begin to flash on and off to signal that it's time to charge. Instead of a charging port in the lamp itself, the Zafferano lamps come with a convenient charging base instead.

Also, unlike its many imposters (and there are many similar looking wireless lamps out there, so don’t be fooled), the Poldina comes with a 1-year warranty on the battery and a 2-year warranty for any defects.

Both in its versatility and its functionality the Poldina Pro is a spectacular appliance to have on hand, not just for outdoor dining but for all sorts of makeshift lighting needs around the house.

What we didn’t like about the Poldina Pro

The lamp isn’t cheap, and while we feel that it is worth the extra money because of the unreliability of generic models, we understand that not everybody is prepared to spend that much on a cordless lamp.

What we looked for in table lamps

We limited our selection to rechargeable table lamps, leaving out disposable battery–operated table lamps. We wanted to get as many “name brand” lamps as possible, since they are able to offer warranties and customer service that generic lamps from Amazon won’t have. But due to the sheer popularity of some of those generic lamps, we chose to test the best sellers and highly-rated table cordless rechargeable lamps from Amazon as well. We also tried to test lamps that would look good in a variety of design schemes and have the potential to work as outdoor lamps as well as indoor ones and in a variety of circumstances, like as dining lamps or bedside lamps. We figured the best cordless table lamps would seamlessly blend in with any home decor scheme, and add warmth and ambiance wherever they’re needed.

How we tested cordless table lamps

We first evaluated the functionality and settings of each lamp. We wanted lamps that had unobtrusive controls/buttons that were still easy to find and operate. We then placed each lamp on a table outside (in my editor’s outdoor patio), and compared how well they illuminated the surrounding space. This is obviously a subjective test, but was helpful to rule out any lamps that were too harsh or dim. Finally, we tested how long the lamps stayed illuminated after a full charge, to find any discrepancies between reported battery life and actual battery life.

Others we tested

Zafferano Pina Pro

This is the lamp you are most likely to recognize as the table light from your most recent visit to a restaurant. They’re popular due to their compact size, which makes them unobtrusive on a cramped two-top. Like the Poldina Pro, the Pina Pro is dimmable and has three different color temperature settings. Ultimately, we preferred the Poldina over the Pina because we liked how the Poldina casts light in two directions rather than one, and the Poldina is more versatile around the home. However, this is still a fantastic lamp.

Balmuda Lantern

There’s an undeniable charm to the Balmuda lantern, which takes inspiration from those old-fashioned kerosene lanterns once common on railroads, ships, and in the hands of mysterious strangers on lonely moonlit paths. The light is controlled by a single knob, and it ranges from a bright white light to a dim flicker setting. Vibe-wise, this is suitable for indoor or outdoor use, as it creates a lovely ambiance with its gentle, diffuse glow. Our main issue with this light is that it had the shortest battery life of all the lamps we tested, going kaput after just three hours of continuous use.

Hay PC Portable Lamp

This lamp is fun and playful, but more suited for a spot on a bookshelf in a living room rather than on a dining table. It has a warm light, a dimmer that operates by touch, and has a long, 10-hour battery life. One frustrating thing about the lamp is that it comes with a special angled micro USB charger that allows it to charge standing up. However, if you try to charge it with a conventional micro USB you have to lay the lamp on its side. If you use the cord that comes with the lamp this isn’t an issue, but we mention it because we received a model for testing without the special charging cord. That meant we had to make do with the other cords we had. We even tried buying a generic angled micro USB cord on Amazon, but none of them fit correctly. All of this is just to say: If you buy this lamp do not lose the cord.

HAY Pao Portable Lamp

The shape and wide dome on this lamp isn’t ideal for a smaller dining table. Still, we wanted to test it out due to its popularity online. This is clearly a well-made lamp, and became the most sought after by other BA staffers based on its appearance alone. It has three brightness settings, however none of them were particularly bright. The dimmer is also on the bottom of the lamp, which requires you to pick it up to change the setting. We’d recommend this as a desk lamp or for ambient lighting in a living room rather than for the table.

Weilailux Cordless Mushroom Lamp

This is a more affordable alternative for those looking for a portable table lamp with more character. It is waterproof, holds an 8 hour charge, and offers a decent range of brightness settings. It’s broad, diffuse glow makes it suitable for a variety of places in the house. We think it’d be nice as secondary lighting on an outdoor table, or as a night light in a child’s bedroom, but maybe a bit too casual for a formal dining room vibe.

Generic Dome-Shaped Cordless Table Lamp

This is one of the popular-on-Amazon lamps we tried that appears under a variety of generic brand names like JONEMO and NEWSEE (if you see a brand name in all caps that looks like it was generated with a Boggle cube this is probably the kind of product you’re looking at). We chose to include it here because it’s a top seller. There’s always a small risk with buying generic products like these on Amazon, because their quality can be inconsistent. That said, the model we tested worked well. It had three color temperatures, a dimmer, and a battery that lasted around eight hours. Amazon reviews varied widely though, with complaints about lamps burning out after a few minutes. If you wanna roll the generic dice on this one, you might end up with a decent lamp, but given other users’ experiences, you might end up sending it back.

Generic Amazon Table Lamp

This generic lamp looks like a generic copy of the Poldina sold under a range of names like La Luz and KDG. Most models are dimmable, but only some provide color temperature settings. With the model we tested, the charging cord plugged under the shade rather than at the base, which we thought looked cheap and unappealing.

Generic Modern LED Table Lamp

Another extremely common style of generic lamp on Amazon, our biggest problem was the big ugly power button right on top of the base.