Tiltable if you want to light something up: a wall, a cabinet, a painting or a worktop. Fixed if you want even light across the whole room and a calm ceiling. Most living rooms need both, so it is not either-or but a choice per spot.
What tiltable means
On a tiltable spot the inner ring turns within the housing, so you can angle the beam. How far that goes differs per model, but it is enough to send light from the ceiling to a wall.
A fixed spot shines straight down and you cannot change that. That sounds like a limitation, but it is exactly what you want when laying a row of spots evenly across a ceiling.
When you want tiltable
- Lighting something up. A bookcase, a fireplace, a painting. Shining straight down does not help there; you need the angle.
- A worktop or kitchen island. Stand directly under the spot and you work in your own shadow. A tilted spot lays the light just in front of you.
- A sloping ceiling. On a pitched roof a fixed spot shines at an angle into the room. With tiltable you get the beam vertical after all.
- When you do not know yet. If you are renovating and the layout is not settled, tiltable is the safe choice: you can adjust later without drilling.
In our range the Faro and the Largo are tiltable. The Largo also comes with two or three heads on one plate, so you can light several directions from a single point.
When you want fixed instead
- General light. A grid of spots lighting the room evenly should shine straight down. Tilting only makes it uneven.
- A calm ceiling. Fixed spots always line up neatly. Tiltable spots sitting at slightly different angles show immediately, and they often end up crooked after a clean.
- Bathroom and outdoors. A hinge point is an extra seam. With a high IP rating, fixed versions are generally the better choice.
The Quadro is a fixed square surface-mounted spot, and most of our recessed spotlights shine straight down.
The third option: track
If you genuinely cannot decide, a track system solves it differently. You run one track with one feed point, and after that you can slide the spots, turn them, take them off or add more without ever drilling again.
That is the most flexible solution there is, and handy in a room that will change function. The Vetra is a 3-circuit track spot; how to wire such a track is in How do you wire a 3-circuit track?
What it does not solve
Tiltable is no solution for spots in the wrong place. You can steer the beam a fair way, but a spot a metre out of position cannot be tilted straight. Work out the positioning beforehand: How far should a spotlight be from the wall? and How far apart should ceiling spotlights be?
And tilting costs light where the spot used to shine. Light a cabinet with a tilted spot and that same spot no longer lights the floor beneath it. So do not count it towards your general lighting.
The range is at surface-mounted spotlights and recessed spotlights.
When do you need a tiltable spotlight?
When you want to light something deliberately: a wall, a cabinet, a painting or a worktop. Also on a sloping ceiling, to get the beam vertical after all.
Are fixed spotlights worse than tiltable ones?
No, they do something different. For even general light, fixed is actually better, because every spot then points the same way for certain.
Can you use a tiltable spotlight in the bathroom?
A hinge point is an extra seam, so with a high IP rating a fixed version is generally the safer choice. Always check the IP rating of the model itself.