Help me find a work light

Hello everybody, I need help finding the perfect light for at work. I'm an auto tech and I previously had an LED Lenser V6 that I bought from one of the tool trucks, but it didn't really cut it. It had absolutely nothing to grip onto, it wasn't magnetic at all, It would turn on in my pocket, and didn't have a clip on it, it also wasn't regulated, the LEDs were exposed and collected dirt, it ran on AAA's, it would roll away, basically it sucked, well not really it was an ok light, and now serves my mother well, as I just got a 4Sevens 123^2 tactical.

While the 4Sevens is a huge step up, it's still missing a few things and I think that I could do better, or maybe I've just been bitten by an expensive bug .

Here is my list of wants/needs, I've done some research, and that led me to the 4Sevens, but I still haven't found a light that meets all of these requirements. Maybe you can help me find the perfect light, or at least one that is closer.

Pocket-able with a pocket clip.

knurled / some sort of grip

magnetic (can be retrieved with a magnet on a stick, or has a spot to put a magnet on it)

300(ish) lumens (but brighter can always work too

lithium batteries

focusable beam

regulated power supply (buck+boost)

medium / max modes

UI where you don't have to cycle through all of the modes

It has to be tough, I've already dented my 4Sevens tapping on an EGR valve.

forward clicky is preferred

Price isn't really an issue, but I would like to keep it reasonable (under $300)

Any suggestions?

Um good luck with all that.

Consider what I have though.

Its a stainless steel itp A1. Link for illustration purposes.
http://goinggear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_19&products_id=486

32 bucks, and the clip is steel, decent strength and can be reversed to fit your cap or removed.

I like it because it doesn't come on accidently being a twisty. The steel is tough and magnetic unlike aluminum or titanium which are the usual suspects.

The light uses a CR123 or rechargable CR123 and produces a floody beam of up to 200 lumens. It is NOT adjustable, but most adjustable beam lights suck bad.

You likely already have RCR123s so you should be good there.

I am not sure how regulated it is but as long as you recharge it reasonably often and use AW protected batteries, that shouldnt be an issue. The CR123 has enough voltage to not need a boost circuit.

The UI is low,med,hi so its pretty simple with no disco modes, but yeah you do have to go thru them by twisting.


I think this will be one of your best bets if you really want a tough light that is magnetic with a decent clip.

And did I mention 32 bucks? If it gets beat up, no biggie. You don't want to buy some 200 dollar light which could be damaged.

Pocket-able with a pocket clip.
>not a problem

knurled / some sort of grip
>not a problem

magnetic (can be retrieved with a magnet on a stick, or has a spot to put a magnet on it)
>Most Aluminum lights are not magnetic by themselves. 2 rare-earth magnets will work well regardless of the light since the batteries are magnetic. Another option is to buy a metal clip and use that.

300(ish) lumens (but brighter can always work too)
>how about 500? the nailbender linger special will get that much and goes for about 40-something. 300 OTF would be possible with a dereelight or Thrunite 1.5A xpg module thats available for about 30-something. Surefire LX2 is a great light and is very tough

lithium batteries
>no problem here

focusable beam
>not happening with the brighter more expensive lights, you can try the Wolf Eyes Krait or Defender III though. You best option is to add a defuser or buy 2 lights; a flood and a spot.

regulated power supply (buck+boost)
>pretty much all lights in the 40+ price range will be regulated. buck, boost, buck-boost depends on battery type its set up for.

medium / max modes
>Eagletac is the only company i know of that does med/max.

UI where you don't have to cycle through all of the modes
>Jetbeam's lights have a selector ring that will take care of that. Otherwise some surefires work with a low-high switch. Eagletac does this with a head-twist selector.

It has to be tough, I've already dented my 4Sevens tapping on an EGR valve.
>Eagletacs, dereelights, surefiires, jetbeams are all very tough.

forward clicky is preferred
>Eagletac, Dereelight, some Surefires (you can buy a forward clicky) and some Fenixs do... not sure about the Fenixes

Price isn't really an issue, but I would like to keep it reasonable (under $300)

My suggestion:
G2L + Dereelight XPG 1.5A module
Surefire LX2
T20C2

Whizz in to Tesco if you have them,they trade with another name if you are in the US,pick up a pile of there AA cell lights and replace as you break them.Many UK techs are doing this and all the ones I know are still on the first,cost here in the UK are about $15 in your money.

The tool vans are really cheesed off trying to push there $100 + lights.:devil:

Tip They add bits of shrink wrap to cushion falls off ramps,some have stuck neo magnets on them.

mcnair55 said:

Whizz in to Tesco if you have them,they trade with another name if you are in the US,pick up a pile of there AA cell lights and replace as you break them.Many UK techs are doing this and all the ones I know are still on the first,cost here in the UK are about $15 in your money.

The tool vans are really cheesed off trying to push there $100 + lights.:devil:

Tip They add bits of shrink wrap to cushion falls off ramps,some have stuck neo magnets on them.

Click to expand...

I'd normally agree with this as I own one of them myself... but having first hand experience with higher performance lights and the necessity for them to be reliable in working environments, I can't on this occasion. Honestly, reliability is one of the first things I consider when choosing a new light to buy or when selecting one of my existing ones for a particular task. As far as the Tesco lights go, I appreciate that they're more solid and perform better than you'd expect from a supermarket branded light, but I certainly don't trust it to carry all the time and wouldn't dare trust it to use at work. Instead, it stays in the kitchen drawer for blackouts.

And please, don't ever buy a tool van light. I've seen people get scammed out of their hard earned cash by tool salesmen just because the light had "snap-on" engraved on the side far too many times :thumbsdow

Matt7337 said:

I'd normally agree with this as I own one of them myself... but having first hand experience with higher performance lights and the necessity for them to be reliable in working environments, I can't on this occasion. Honestly, reliability is one of the first things I consider when choosing a new light to buy or when selecting one of my existing ones for a particular task. As far as the Tesco lights go, I appreciate that they're more solid and perform better than you'd expect from a supermarket branded light, but I certainly don't trust it to carry all the time and wouldn't dare trust it to use at work. Instead, it stays in the kitchen drawer for blackouts.

And please, don't ever buy a tool van light. I've seen people get scammed out of their hard earned cash by tool salesmen just because the light had "snap-on" engraved on the side far too many times :thumbsdow

Click to expand...

The idea came from one of my Jaguar customers,he is a bit of a flashalochic like us and he left his expensive light under a customers bonnet on more than one occasion,so he bought a Tesco lamp and thought it would suffice for a time and if he left it,so no big deal,after a month or so light was still working well so nipped in and bought a handful on one of there offers but still on the first,other mechanics in the workshop did the same and all are performing well.In his tool cabinet he has a real nice Surefire as a back up but the Tesco lamp is still performing.The anodizing is rubbed raw and now is more or less silver rather than the black he bought.I visit the workshop every 2 weeks and we have a private joke about the light,it sits in a home made sheath on his work pants.Because of this I nipped in and bought 1 and the following week I bought the next size up the double c cell type.He himself is amazed that it still performs as well as it did from new over 12 months ago now.He spent more on the Eneloops that feed it than he did on the light itself.

I really like the looks of the lx2. That style of pocket clip (both forward and reversed) is my favorite type of clip, and the beam profile is perfect. I'm not a big fan of the tight hot spot and wide spill that the 4sevens has. I much prefer a larger spot and little or no spill. The wide beam profile of the 4Sevens was awesome for grilling last night, but not so much at work. I also like the UI, simple and quick.

The thing that I don't like is the aluminum body. Have I mentioned that I'm hard on my work lights? Do you know of any drop-in modules for it that would boost it's output up into the 300 lumen range, if so I can learn to not use it as a hammer. I've already started the habit of using my knife instead since I dented the 4Sevens light.

And thanks for the advice everyone.