Hardware Review: Temperature Controlled Faucet Light
I came across this Temperature Controlled LED Faucet Light a while back while browsing the web, and just recently decided to purchase one. They're not expensive (under $20), and I figured it help keep us from burning our hands from the hot water that sometimes comes out after washing dishes. When it arrived, I hooked it all up just like the instructions said. It wasn't too difficult, and in fact the hardest part was unscrewing my faucet's cap. Once it was installed, it was time to test it out; I turned on the water and the blue light came on, then as soon as the water got warm, the red light came on. Success!
So then this is a great product, no?! Well, it is... in theory. Unfortunately, in execution it still needs a lot of refinement. First off, this thing is big, like 2 1/2 inches long, and thicker than a lot of faucets. So even if you have room length-wise to still fit your hands under the water, it is still an eyesore, looking like some kind of mutated metal growth on your faucet. The actual LED light portion may look cool, but that's only the tip of the faucet. I didn't tell my wife I was getting this as I wanted to surprise her, so when she got home saw this thing attached to the faucet, she asked what that ugly thing on the faucet was. That pretty much says it all right there.
The second issue I have is there is no screen on the bottom of it, so the water comes out... how can I descibe it... it's clumpy, like water from a hose. It's not smooth like when the water goes through the screen on the typical faucet (or at least all faucets we've ever had). This makes for a lot more splattering of water when it hits things, like when washing your hands. This was immediately noticeable, and has become very annoying. I'm sure it could be fixed if they just placed a little screen on the bottom of it, though maybe they tried that and it interfered with the LED lights. If that's the case, they need to find some way around that problem.
The third issue we've had, and I don't know if others experience this as well, but our device sometimes has leftover water in it after the faucet is turned off, and this water keeps the light turned on. Eventually, the water will fall out and we'll hear a little splash, then the light will turn off, but still, this is annoying. Why? Because when were watching TV or something at night, this bright blue light is clearly visible, and thus distracting. Now, this happens I'd say 40% of the time, so we've actually taken to lightly smacking it when it does happen in order to knock the water loose.
And the final issue I have with it is that, in broad daylight when standing over the faucet, the light is not very visible. I know the light is aimed downward in order give the water color, and it looks really cool in the dark, but how about redirecting some of that light at an upward angle so it can be clearly seen while standing over the faucet looking down? The whole reason I wanted this is so we could know if the water was hot or cold, so having a clear view of the light would be really helpful for that.
Anyway, so that's my roundup of this interesting little device. The package includes six small watch batteries (the device uses three), two faucet adapters (we had to use the big one), a screen (which is put on the top of the device, and not the bottom where it seems like it would do more good, and the device itself. If you're thinking about getting one of these, I'd say wait until they can refine it a bit more.