To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Looking for battery powered led work light quality unit only

To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
I

IndyGarage

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2010
Messages
9,734
Location
Indy
I've been using the Milwaukee M12 LED lights for several years in the shop. I have the lantern - which I use most often. The magnetic flat face light - which is good but a little less useful, because the body is a little bulky and it doesn't magnetically stick to anything but a flat surface, and the one that is on a tripod - which is very good for lighting an entire area.

I use those lights almost continuously when I'm working on things in the shop. On the highest setting, which I almost always use, they don't last a long time, but I have plenty of batteries and just switch them out and keep going.

At home I have the Makita 18V LED light - it's like a stick that can be positioned many different ways - it's very useful too.
 
F

FordTruckWench

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2015
Messages
539
Location
California
I have a pair of lights from Flood-It. I'm very happy with them. One charge lasts for hours. Their website is myfloodit.com , though you can't buy from there. The product is made in China, though the brand probably is not Chinese - it is hard to find out anything about the company.
 
P

plinker

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
4,286
Location
Northern Wi
Stream light has a couple nice lights, switchblade & flipmate. The switchblade also has a UV light, both have the normal tint led and a sunlight(?) tint.

For the most part I use ATD/saber 80340 lights, great magnet & decent battery life. Plenty bright. A pen light is helpful too.

Biggest problem with under dash lighting is not much is magnetic so you usually have to swivel the lights base to prop it up. A head light may be practical at times.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
C

Coach James

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 24, 2005
Messages
8,933
Location
Sandhills of North Carolina
I started using one of these a couple weeks ago. Has magnets to hold in place and puts out a lot of light. One of these gives decent light to my entire 30 x 40 shop. Not enough to do fine work, but plenty to move stuff around. For under the car, it's great.

Harbor Freight Tools – Quality Tools at Discount Prices Since 1977

Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!
www.harborfreight.com www.harborfreight.com
 
OP
G

GophersGarage

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 19, 2012
Messages
720
Location
Ontario Canada
Thanks guys
I do have the Milwaukee under hood clamp long bar style lights it’s very good

I do like the Astro/Braun style hand light is more what I am thinking
 
H

HoosierBuddy

Well-known member
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
2,931
Location
Southern Indiana
I have a few, but prefer the ones that work with my power tool batteries. In my case, I went with Makita 18V years ago and have stuck with it, and have many batteries of various AH around along with 2 chargers, so battery swaps are not an issue. These batteries are so much better than anything your are going to find in a stand alone work light.

At home I use this Makita Flashlight


At work we have these flood lights, which can operate from 120V or off a makita battery.


They are mounted on these stands:

 
H

humpty

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
547
Location
Minneapolis, MN
I have the Astro 80SL and it's been great!

I was originally looking for something that was on the Red M12 platform but there wasn't anything in a form factor that I wanted. I was reluctant to try another platform but the 80SL uses the same battery as my flashlight and head lamp so that is a plus.

humpty
 
B

Bacon!

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2016
Messages
402
Under-hood or exterior automotive work is one thing, where a larger wand style with a very broad beam is best, but for interior close quarters like under the dash as you mentioned, I find myself using my Nicron N9 more than anything else.


Point being, one light won't be best at everything. For most exterior wheel/well work I'd rather a corded flood light on a tripod, or a wand for undercarriage or under-hood. Lumens don't mean nearly as much as form factor, how well it can both be aimed and stay out of your way (you aren't creating shadows due to placement) while doing so. If the light spills into your eyes from where you have to place it, then it's too big.

Along with that size issue, I'd rather a light with standard, user-removable and rechargeable cells, not USB charging where the tool is down for that length of time. For example if it takes standard (not protected) 18650 cells, I have several charged and ready to go, could work for days before I had to bother recharging them in groups of 4 (# of bays my charger has).
 
M

myworld

New member
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
1
plinker said:
Stream light has a couple nice lights, switchblade & flipmate. The switchblade also has a UV light, both have the normal tint led and a sunlight(?) tint.

For the most part I use ATD/saber 80340 lights, great magnet & decent battery life. Plenty bright. A pen light is helpful too.

Biggest problem with under dash lighting is not much is magnetic so you usually have to swivel the lights base to prop it up. A head light may be practical at times.
Click to expand...
I use a small needle nose vise grip to grab something under the dash and use the Braun harbor freight magnetic lite to attach to the body of the VG-
 
W

webscrounger

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
507
Location
Midwest
Just FYI - There's a hundred good worklights available. You might want to think about if you have, or are thinking of building, a specific line or power tools and then start or add to that platform. Long run, it's more convenient to have one, or two, platforms that share tools, batteries and chargers than a chaotic mix of multiple batteries, tools and chargers that need to be handled individually.
 
D

dnschmidt

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 3, 2014
Messages
7,285
Location
Phoenix, AZ
I think for under dash work you've got to wear a headlamp. Now if it were 1955 and dashes were made out of steel that would change the equation but it 2021 and if you can find a piece of steel from which to hang a lamp in a modern dash you're a better man than I am. Astro makes a very cool little standalone lamp (the 70SL https://www.astrotools.com/product/700-lumen-rechargeable-micro-floodlight/) that's pretty handy in this situation but I think a headlamp, think Ivan of Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics, is the best solution.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom