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by Bill C. for webBikeWorld
It's been a very warm winter so far here in the
Mid-Atlantic, which is a real bonus for a couple of different reasons.
First, there have been many pleasant riding days with
temperatures in the '50's and low '60's, surely unusual in January.
But the real benefit is that it allows me to work in the garage without the
effects of the
bone-chilling cold. I've been taking care of all the leftover maintenance and repair
tasks that have been on hold since the summer.
"One of these days", I keep telling myself, "I'll hang an
industrial-strength trouble light from the garage ceiling". I wouldn't
mind having a worklight on a reel that I can reach up and grab, especially
if it's hard-wired into the electric system so I don't have to plug in an
extension cord whenever I want to use it.
But so far, I've only had time to peruse the various tool
catalogs that come in the mail, searching for the perfect worklight.
While researching various options though, I came across this LED cordless worklight made in Canada by Ultraviolet Systems, Inc.
The LED cordless worklight shown here is called the "Freedom
Light", and it's available in 27 LED, 30 LED or 60 LED versions.
I'm not sure what difference there is between a 27 and 30 LED worklight in terms of brightness.
But the 30 LED model is claimed to last
10 hours on a single charge (although the box claims 8 hours), so that's the
one I bought.
For some reason, the 27 LED unit is listed as having a 5
hour battery life, equal to the 60 LED unit. The 27 LED unit is
smaller, so perhaps it has a smaller battery, limiting the battery life.
These things are not cheap: we paid $83.00 for the 30 LED
version, and
the list price is around $102.00 (we couldn't find an exact list price).
The Freedom Light LED cordless worklight is not unique;
there are several brands of LED cordless worklights on the market. But
this one is well made when
compared to some of the other "world sourced" brands I've seen.
Besides, we'd rather keep the money right here in North America if possible.
The Freedom Light LED cordless worklight with 30 LEDs weighs
12.75 oz., or 362 grams. It has a very nice rubberized cover over
about 3/4 of its length, which is supposed to be oil and slip resistant.
The 30 LED lights are perfectly aligned in three rows of 10
underneath a heavy clear plastic (Lexan?) tube, and the quality of the
assembly appears to be excellent. The light is topped
off with a hexagonal rubber-like bumper top, which is a nice touch, because
it prevents the light from rolling around when placed on a flat surface,
like the floor.
The end of the worklight also has a rotating hook for
hanging the light. The hook is rather flexible, and although we
haven't experienced any problems with it yet, I wouldn't be surprised if
this is the first part to break, because it doesn't seem as robust as the
rest of the product.
The opposite end of the light is recessed and it hides a small on/off
toggle switch and a female charging receptacle. The light comes with a
100-240 Volt AC charger that outputs 17.5V at 500mA. The charger has a
tiny LED light that indicates power on, and the light recharges in about one
hour.
Cordless products usually have to be charged before their
first use, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the light was already
charged and ready to go right out of the box.
I'm not sure what my expectations were for how bright an LED
worklight would be; knowing LEDs as I do, I figured 30 of them would put out
a pretty bright light. I now realize that I'm of mixed emotions on
this, because on one hand, it's certainly not as bright as a worklight with
an incandescent or even fluorescent bulb, at least in my experience, but the
cordless feature is very nice.
If the overhead lights are on in the garage, the LED
cordless worklight just doesn't seem to add much illumination to the
subject. I'd rather use an LED head-mounted flashlight or a regular
flashlight for pinpoint work. The illumination from the worklight is wide and diffused, and it also has a very blue tint to it,
which is typical for LED lights, which don't put out white light (although a recent
discovery may change this).
But if the light in the garage is dim, the LED worklight
adds quite a bit of illumination. See the photo above of the front wheel of the BMW
R65 in the webBikeWorld garage. This photo was taken at night, when I
had all the overhead lights turned off in the garage and the garage door was
closed, so it was absolutely pitch black. The worklight cast a wide,
bright illuminating light all around.
The 30-LED cordless worklight is 14" (35.5cm) long, so it
could fit in a saddlebag if necessary, and would probably hide down in a
corner of the bag where it wouldn't take up much room. The light would
be a lifesaver if it was needed on a dark night for roadside repairs, and I
think it would be much better than a flashlight. This would also be a
good light for use inside an enclosed trailer or the trunk of a car.
Of course, the cordless aspect of the light is one of the
main selling points. Overhead worklights with retractable cords can be
awkward to use. Incandescent worklights get very hot and can even be dangerous
when working around a motorcycle, what with fuel vapors and other
combustible fluids. And if the bulb happens to lay on a seat or hose,
those parts could get burnt.
Conclusion
The Freedom Light LED cordless worklight does have some advantages over
corded worklights or trouble lights. However, LED lights still aren't
quite the equivalent of incandescent bulbs, so don't expect 100 Watts of
light out of the LEDs. They're claimed to be the equivalent of 13W of
fluorescent light, or 40W of incandescent.
