We are all familiar with the 500w halogen work lights around that are the standard in lighting any unfinished space. These things are cheap, a heavy duty grade version goes for around $12 at Ohio Power Tool and certainly they can drop well below that for the lower quality units. The problem is these things get knocked around, become wobbly and quickly unsafe. Not to mention the flaming hot bulb inside that can start a fire within seconds of contact to anything flammable. Couple that with the bulbs that break if you sneeze too hard around them and it seems to be a pretty inefficient light source but cheap no question so we put up with it. The new Voltec 180 LED Worklight 08-00703 ($79, Ohio Power Tool) does offer some serious improvements over the status quo.
The LED lighting option has been threatening to take over for some time but the price just isn’t there yet for most applications. These lights do offer several serious advantages that make them the best alternative for sure. To start with they are cool to the touch so much less chance of starting a fire. LED lights are tough; if they drop no worries the bulbs will outlast the housing. Never need replaced… well at least not for like 20,000 hours. They also use much less energy which probably isn’t a big deal for temporary work lights unless you are talking about so much less energy it becomes feasible to run off a small battery for say 4 hours. This unit in fact does just that, which also explains the higher price.
Unfortunately we haven’t quite found the ultimate construction worklight because this unit does have some short comings. While it is very bright at 450 lumens it gets drowned out pretty quickly with the 500w halogen next to it. This cordless work light more closely resembles a 40-60w household bulb. Still if you are looking for a lot of light in a cordless unit this really is an awesome solution. Voltec also offers several heavy duty 16, 30 & 60 LED flashlights using the same rechargeable technology and have magnet bases for nice over the shoulder lighting.
While this isn’t the end all be all it is very exciting to see this kind of progress, with prices coming down on LED and batteries a 1000 LED cordless work light can’t be that far off.
