Seems as bright as a small wall powered table lamp, but much easier to light up a whole room from the center, or hung upside down overhead. The flashing LED pilot light can't be turned off, but seems to draw almost nothing from the batteries. I store it with batteries next to it, not a bad idea anyway. If we loose power at night I will need a flashlight to install the 3 D cells, and then it will be easy to find when shut off. Long battery life is great for long power outages we have here every couple years. Plenty of light to cook and eat by.