Best Light for Workshop Use?

OK, here goes another of those "what's the best light for..." questions.

Up until yesterday, I thought my PT Surge was a pretty decent light for use in my shop, where I use it to peer into the dark inards of engines, bandsaws, generators, under the tool cabinets, behind the benches, and just generally supplement the existing lighting in the shop. Then I dropped in from a 39" height bench onto the concrete floor. It wasn't on, but still suffered from the fall. I cringed as it fell. (The lamp pins got bent, and the battery contacts got bent so bad they didn't make contact)

So,here's my wish list:

cringe-free falls onto concrete
AA NiMH cell power
rechargable via a wall mount bracket
able to withstand 24/7 charging
the more rubber on the outside, the better
no 'aircraft' aluminum, thanks
bright - but doesn't need to be quite as bright as the Surge
under $100 - prefer under $50

Haven't spent too much time looking, but so far, the Stealthlite rechargable looks fairly close, but I don't really like their super-narrow beam and there's no rubber to break falls...

I don't really want to spend time making a custom or modded light - basically I'm looking for an OTS solution.

Any ideas?

Something to look at but it doesn't meet the AA requirement but if you have cordless tools in the workshop you can get a light that uses the same batteries. I have one that came with my 9.6v makita drill, best light I have ever owned, dropped it many times without problems.

Hello Jim,

A little over a year ago I gave a friend in Alaska a Mini Mag AA modified with a BB400 from the sandwich shop. He works as a mechanic and uses this light almost every day.

I checked with him this summer and he could not believe how much better this light is. It looks like it got dropped down a garbage disposal then dragged behind a truck for miles and miles, but it still works. He wears it in a holster and has dropped it from waist high several (hundred) times on concrete, black top, in the mud, in the snow, etc. The lens is all scratched and he has had to re-seat the sandwich a few times (the sandwich is secured in the battery tube by a steel clip ring) but other than that it is working fine.

I am very impressed.

Tom

How about the UKE 4AA Rechargeable? It is fairly bright and extremely durable. The UKE 4AA standard version is only about $15, the LED version is only $20.

At the small two man shop where a friend of my Dad works (and does a lot of stuff for us) they have a 3AA Luxeon Task Light as the main shop lite, and the other man has a 3AA Twin Task.

The Task Light looks like hell! The lense is cracked badly. But it still works.

How about a Streamlight Poly-Stinger? I've got one on my shop, and it is now my most used light, mainly since it is very durable, and doesn't eat batteries like most of my other flashlights in my shop do. You won't find many (any?) rechargeable lights that are wall-mount chargeable AND use NiMH AA's.

-Keith

for workshop use, i would get the Underwater Kinetics Rechargeable, AND an Underwater Kinetics 4AA eLED. i was going to say get the eLED replacement lamp, but the whole light only costs a few more dollars.

with the UK Rechargeable, you've got bright output for 2 hours. plus a slow or fast charger. also an assortment of plug-ins so you can charge it in the car in addition to an outlet. plus, pretty cheap replacement bulbs.

then with the eLED drop-in, you've got a rechargeable drop-proof light with constant output of 12 hours.

Quickbeam's UK Rechargeable review
Quickbeam's UK 4AA eLED review

total cost is a few bucks over your $100 budget tho.

Thanks for the ideas.

I have looked over these lights and it looks to me as if the PolyStinger might be the best for what I need. Any experiences with the SL Syclone for this type of use? I see they claim it'll take AA cells, and there's a rechargable version in my price range.

But, will it survive the 1 meter drop test onto concrete???