Oh my where to start. I do a lot of paper work and usually during the evening but hate having the main light on. This lamp is a god send. The battery life does depend on what light you have , the brightness and the amount of time but I actually keep mine plugged in the majority of the time. I haven't noticed any dullness or flickering . As I've said the paper work is written and reading and this lamp preforms even better then described. It looks really nice as well.