USB Plug In Star Projector Night Light with Slide Discs

The ceiling turns into a star field at nine in the evening and the room stops being a room.

The head is a small white rocket sitting at the top of a flexible white stem that ends in a plain USB plug. Push the plug into a power strip, a laptop or a charger and two things light up: a warm glow at the collar under the body, low enough to read a clock by, and a picture thrown from the lens at the nose. Bend the stem and the picture moves with it.

The pictures come from small round discs that slide into a slot in the side of the head. Each one is a black disc with a tab to hold it by, and the set runs through planets, galaxies, the Earth seen from orbit, a whale and a full solar system. The maker gives the whole unit as 12.5 x 11.8 x 4.8 cm and rates it at 2 W on DC 5 V, model XKL-Q16.

Key Benefits

• Two lights in one body A warm collar glow that works as a night light, and a projection from the nose lens. They are separate, and you can see which is which in the maker's own photographs.
• Choose your disc count Sold as lamp plus 3, 6 or 12 discs, so the picture library is a purchase decision rather than a later hunt.
• Aims where you point it The stem is a flexible gooseneck, so the projection reaches a ceiling, a wall or a corner without moving the socket.
• Brightness and timer The maker lists a brightness adjustment and a timer. On the body there is a knurled ring around the lens, a toothed wheel on the side and a round button.
• Plugs straight into USB The plug is part of the stem, so there is no separate cable to lose. It runs on 5 V from any USB port.

Best for: a bedside power strip, a desk with a spare USB port, and a bedroom ceiling that has nothing on it. There is no battery, so it lights only while it is plugged in.

Why It Works

Most projectors this size sit on a table and throw their picture at whatever happens to be in front of them. This one hangs off the socket itself on a bendable stem, which puts the light source at socket height and lets the picture go straight up without propping anything underneath. The collar glow matters as much as the projection, because it is the part that stays on once the ceiling show has finished.

Quick Product Facts: model XKL-Q16; DC 5 V, 2 W, integrated USB plug; maker dimensions 12.5 x 11.8 x 4.8 cm; flexible gooseneck stem; warm collar glow plus a disc projection from the nose lens; supplied with 3, 6 or 12 slide discs depending on the version chosen; brightness adjustment and timer listed by the maker; no battery and no mains adapter.

How It Fits Your Routine

It goes into the bedside strip and stays there. In the evening the ceiling gets a disc, and at some point in the night the timer takes care of switching it off.

The discs get swapped less often than you would expect. One tends to become the house picture, and the rest come out when somebody new sleeps in the room.

Wipe the lens with a dry lens cloth rather than a tissue, keep the discs flat in the pack they arrive in, and unplug it before moving the power strip so the stem is not left carrying the weight.

FAQ

Does it come with a mains adapter? No. The USB plug is part of the stem and the packing list names only the lamp. You need a USB port already in place: a power strip with USB sockets, a phone charger or a computer.

Does it run on a battery? No. The maker lists DC 5 V through the USB plug and no battery of any kind. Unplug it and it goes out.

How many discs do I get? Three, six or twelve, depending on the version you choose. The price steps up with the count.

Will it fill a whole ceiling? The maker publishes no throw distance and no coverage figure, so we cannot give you a size. Its own photographs show it used at bedside height onto a bedroom ceiling.