Husky 4W LED -- underwhelmed

This light has been out for a while now, and I wondered if I was missing something interesting so I bought one to see what all the fuss was about.

I am totally underwhelmed by it.

It is fairly bright for a 2D light, but not astonishingly so. That would be good if it weighed as little as a 2D light, but this thing weighs as much as a 6D light! It is 675 g, or 1 lb 8 oz.

The beam pattern is a small bright spot with some useful over spill. With a spot rather than a flood, it would seem to be aimed at outdoor use, but does it fit this purpose? It has a slippery metal case and no mount points for a lanyard. If you are going to carry this light outdoors, you will have to carry it in your hand and that will get tiring quickly. It is really too big and impractical for a coat pocket.

So from the weight and the ruggedness, this seems to be a home or workshop light, rather than a light to carry outdoors. Yet the beam pattern is a tiny hot spot. For use close up and indoors, a wide even flood would be much more useful. Even by the roadside changing a tire or fixing a breakdown the flood pattern is what you would want.

In summary I really don't get this light. It is heavy and cumbersome, much less bright than you would hope for in compensation for such size and heft, and it doesn't seem to fit any common usage patterns of EDC, outdoorsman or home and workshop. Don't bother with it.

Boy are you brave. I think there are some here that are going to have your hide for saying that.

I agree though. It is a useless unreliable peice of junk. But its fun. The beam on mine will carry some 600 feet or so down an already well lit street. I think thats what the attraction is. The only thing impressive about it is the reflector design which keeps the center spot tight a great distances.

And yes its useless for changing a tire or working around the house but - stand it on end and point it at the ceiling and it lights up the whole room. You bought it because your a flashaholic and had to try it.

I think your expecting way to much from a ~$30 light.

I agree with everything the OP said. Though, the darn thing looks so cool! That and it's the light that got my collection started, so I keep it for sentimental reasons.

For the record: I got the Taskforce 2C, Nitecore D10 (Q5 AND GDP), rebadged Fenix L1T (THAT was a deal at Costco), a Dereelight CL1H v4, DBS v2, and then my Fenix LD20. Since I like a light that can tailstand, the Husky has that going for it too and pointed at the ceiling, I think (correct me if I'm wrong) a brighter hot spot will mimic a ceiling light fixture more accurately.

To each his own.

Mr Happy said:

This light has been out for a while now, and I wondered if I was missing something interesting so I bought one to see what all the fuss was about.

I am totally underwhelmed by it.

It is fairly bright for a 2D light, but not astonishingly so. That would be good if it weighed as little as a 2D light, but this thing weighs as much as a 6D light! It is 675 g, or 1 lb 8 oz.

The beam pattern is a small bright spot with some useful over spill. With a spot rather than a flood, it would seem to be aimed at outdoor use, but does it fit this purpose? It has a slippery metal case and no mount points for a lanyard. If you are going to carry this light outdoors, you will have to carry it in your hand and that will get tiring quickly. It is really too big and impractical for a coat pocket.

So from the weight and the ruggedness, this seems to be a home or workshop light, rather than a light to carry outdoors. Yet the beam pattern is a tiny hot spot. For use close up and indoors, a wide even flood would be much more useful. Even by the roadside changing a tire or fixing a breakdown the flood pattern is what you would want.

In summary I really don't get this light. It is heavy and cumbersome, much less bright than you would hope for in compensation for such size and heft, and it doesn't seem to fit any common usage patterns of EDC, outdoorsman or home and workshop. Don't bother with it.

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Well, the reason I like this light is for about the same price as a 2D M@g light:

1) This light has a very solid feel to it.
2) With the mass of the aluminum head and the cree, it should never go into thermal shutdown, like a M@g would
3) WRT lumens, it blows away anything that a stock M@g can offer
4) WRT runtime, IIRC it is very comparable

I would use it about the same as I would use a M@g: Throw one in the car/truck or just keep it around the garage. Or keep it as a "lender" light.

I am just excited to see lights like this show up as part of mass-marketing, this will help lower the cost yielding a better price/performance/value.

I agree that this is not an EDC light, but I wouldn't EDC a 2D M@g either, so I don't quite understand this comparsion.

The word I use is that it's a good "beater" light.

Mr Happy said:

It is fairly bright for a 2D light, but not astonishingly so. That would be good if it weighed as little as a 2D light, but this thing weighs as much as a 6D light! It is 675 g, or 1 lb 8 oz.

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A 3D mag weighs a little over 2 pounds, with each D-cell contributing 5.15oz. I don't know how much lighter the Husky could be.

With the mass of the aluminum head and the cree, it should never go into thermal shutdown, like a M@g would

I have a husky headlamp that uses large Al head but near as I can tell it is not heat sinked to this. I wonder if this is the same problem with the Husky flashlight.

Mr Happy said:

This light has been out for a while now, and I wondered if I was missing something interesting so I bought one to see what all the fuss was about.

I am totally underwhelmed by it.

It is fairly bright for a 2D light, but not astonishingly so. That would be good if it weighed as little as a 2D light, but this thing weighs as much as a 6D light! It is 675 g, or 1 lb 8 oz.

Don't bother with it.

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I told you you were going to get your butt kicked

After thinking about your post, and while I agree with you, the question begs to be asked: WHAT WERE YOU EXPECTING? I ask this with repect as you and I have been invovled in some of the same threads here and you seem to know your stuff. You have also seen the umpteen pages of posts about this light. With that said, you say its not astonishingly bright for a 2D. Lets face it. I dont care how many D's it has, with a single, single die emitter, you are not going to get much brighter than this. The overall light output on this easily (well maybe almost) equals my Fenix L2D Q5 And P2D Q5 and those lights cost twice as much. In other post's you have made I remember you saying regulation is important to you. This light has very decent regulation. For a flashoaholic this is just one for the collection.

Well now, let's see. I admit to some factual error regarding relative weights. A 2D Mag does admittedly weigh almost as much as this when it has 2 D cells in it -- it's just a couple of ounces lighter. I guess I am not a fan of big metal lights of any kind, so that prejudices me a bit against the breed. To compensate for something big, heavy, metal and clunky I perhaps was expecting miracles from the light output.

Yes, it is bright. Relative to other LED lights, the brightness of the hotspot and the total light output are very good. It does indeed beat other lights of similar price, and blows away smaller LED lights at that price point. This leads me to feel that failing to spread all that light out with a larger spot and a mildly dimpled reflector is an opportunity missed.

Why am I disappointed then? Partly because I have another light I like a lot in comparison. It is a Rayovac 2D industrial (sadly no longer made, but it looks like this in 2D format). Adapted to use 6 Eneloops and a 6D xenon bulb it is half the weight, has a very usable light output, is focusable, has an ergonomic rubber grip, has soft rubber bezels and will not leave big dents in anything you happen to drop it on, and has a large metal clip ring for hanging. I think it is almost perfect as a beater light, and was much less than half the price of the Husky.

What I'd like to see is that kind of light with a similar LED in it, and let someone figure out a clever solution to the heat sinking.

i agree with op that it i s kinda bulky and too narrow of a hot spot to be really usefull for up close utility work. Thats why i returned my copy that flickered, then stopped working for a lowes task force cree. that light is more usefull to me for my intended usage at work.

Mr Happy said:

Why am I disappointed then? Partly because I have another light I like a lot in comparison. It is a Rayovac 2D industrial (sadly no longer made, but it looks like this in 2D format). Adapted to use 6 Eneloops and a 6D xenon bulb it is half the weight, has a very usable light output, is focusable, has an ergonomic rubber grip, has soft rubber bezels and will not leave big dents in anything you happen to drop it on, and has a large metal clip ring for hanging. I think it is almost perfect as a beater light, and was much less than half the price of the Husky.

What I'd like to see is that kind of light with a similar LED in it, and let someone figure out a clever solution to the heat sinking.

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So it's a modified Ray-o-Vac 2D then... not fair to compare modded lights with off the shelf butt-ugly-as-sin Husky LED offerings eh? :green:


If you want Buck Rogers aesthetics I'd be gravitating towards an EdgeTAC Spear, now that is a BEAUTIFUL light!

All your complaints about this light have been mentioned dozens of times (at least) in just as many reviews. What were you expecting.... a floody, belt carry EDC?

Couldn't you feel its weight, and see its size when you picked it up off the shelf?
I don't get it... "Hmmm feels way too heavy. Hmmm looks way too huge.... I think I'll buy it anyways". :thinking:

But I'm with you, in your opinions... its far to big and heavy to be of any use to me. IMHO the 145L 3-AAA Husky looks more interesting, knowing that an 18650 cell fits.

?????

I guess I wasn't expecting much and it blew me away! For the price I think it's simply fabulous.

The beam is perfect for outdoors. Great spot with plenty of side spill.

Five or six years ago you would have paid $400 for an LED light like this!

Now you can get it for under $30

The Husky 2D tactical light is what the name implies..... "Tactical". It is heavy, bright, has sharp fin edges, and a sharp scalloped bezel to be used if necessary as a defensive tool. That why I keep it in my truck door pocket next to my Surefire 6P. Recently I was at a party and someone let the hosts dog out the door and it ran into the woods. It was a small, short-haired "Peaglel", (half Pekineese, half Beagal) and probably would not have made it through the night with the cold weather and coyotes. Many people were out searching for the dog and I could shine my Husky on searchers that were 80-100 yards away and light up their whole area, (which my R2 Surefire can't do). I finally shined it in front of some people and deep in the woods the dogs eyes reflected, and the pooch got returned to the owners. The Husky is just a cheap, heavy light but I find it very useful and am quite happy with mine, but I have other lights for other uses.

While this isn't a light I would like to carry around, it really works great as a light to see the addresses on houses. I keep my Husky under the front seat in my car and there is no light that will from the street light up a house address as well. Because the hot spot is so narrow it doesn't shine in people's windows as much as another light with brighter spill, and no matter what the distance is from the street I can usually easily read the house numbers.

M@elstrom said:

off the shelf butt-ugly-as-sin Husky

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Someone else called this light "fugly", but I like your description better. Leaving performance aside, this thing looks like it should have a fireworks fuse hanging out of the bottom.

toolpig1 said:

Someone else called this light "fugly", but I like your description better. Leaving performance aside, this thing looks like it should have a fireworks fuse hanging out of the bottom.

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i would like to see that, an anodised strike-bezel firework...

toolpig1 said:

Someone else called this light "fugly", but I like your description better. Leaving performance aside, this thing looks like it should have a fireworks fuse hanging out of the bottom.

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This just inspired a (semi)-serious thought:

I wonder if an airline would allow this light as a carry-on, given the way it looks?

Should there be an additional consideration when evaluating lights? - It could be called the "bambi" factor, as in how innocent does it look?

Good point, look how many semi-automatic firearms have been the focus of those who wish to ban guns. It's always based on the intimidating, military style of the weapons, even though they function exactly the same as many others that are never discussed.

I'm sure that you could carry this "butt-ugly-as-sin" light on a plane, but not until TSA has pulled it from your bag and thoroughly inspected it. My wife just had her little Nuwai ALX-2611 pulled from her purse and examined prior to boarding a plane. For those of you who travel frequently, the "Bambi" test might be worth consideration.