After spending so much time in the shop lately under and inside vehicles I have come to be very fond of lights.  Any kind of extra light that can be brought to bear on a project is aces with me, with extra points for taking a beating.  The Husky Tough Brite lantern looks like it’d live up to its name.

This rechargeable lantern is rugged in design — made of tough plastic wrapped in a durable rubber hide that raises its survivability factor in the shop many fold.  Another advantage: weather resistance (read: slightly water resistant).

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Mike R. writes, “Since cheap LED flashlights have been popular, here are 10 for $4.70 shipped from a reliable webstie.  They’re very bright for their size, and at less than $0.50 each, they’re basically disposable.  Black and clear are available at the site.  The only downside is that the shipping time is about two weeks.”

Well, it looks like we’ve finally hit bottom in terms of LED light pricing — unless anyone out there finds someone who’ll pay us a few bucks to take a dozen.

White Flashlight Keychain 10-Pack [DealXTreme]

Sizod — henceforth to be called the King of deal-finding — sent in this sweet sale today: a 2-pack of 9-LED aluminum pocket flashlights for $6.  Hell, we thought we’d found a deal when we saw some LED flashlights for $4 each at HF.  Compared to this, HF is price gouging.

From GoldenGadgets.com, these lights are powered by 3 AA batteries, and 3-3/4″ long by 1-3/16″ in diameter, and feature aluminum bodies.

Damn.

2-Pack of 9-LED Aluminum Pocket Flashlights [GoldenGadgets.com]

Reader Sizod tipped us to the fact that Amazon’s selling Black & Decker’s StormStation all-in-one rechargeable power source/radio/light — which we wrote about back in June — for $60 with free shipping right now.  Froogle’s finding it for more like $75 to $100, so this looks like a pretty good deal.

If you’ve been considering one, now may be the time.

The StormStation [Black & Decker]
Street Pricing [Froogle]
Buy It Now from Amazon [What's this?]

If you’ve been jonesin’ for a multi-LED flashlight — but aren’t willing to shell out $40 for one — Harbor Freight may have your ticket with this nine-LED light selling for a whopping $5 right now. 

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Kythri writes: “These nifty dynamo flashlights have been out for a while, but this latest from Dorcy is awesome.  I bought a simple 3 LED 2-pack at Costco a couple years ago, but all mine does is switch between constant light and blink modes.

“About a year later, again at Costco, I bought a 2-pack of the upgraded ones (you can never have too many flashlights, especially ones that don’t need batteries!).  The upgraded model adds a alert siren and AM/FM radio, complete with a hidden telescopic antenna.  Niftier and niftier!

“At Sears about a month ago, I saw the Dorcy model.  It does everything above, but it also has a Cigarette Lighter-style adaptor that plugs into the flashlight, and gives a 12VDC output.  Obviously, I wouldn’t expect it to power much more than a cellphone, like they advertise, but it’s definitely a great addition.  I’ll undoubtedly be picking up some of these for my wanna-be ’survival’ pack.”

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I swear by my 2 AA Maglite.  When I was playing in a band, I used to carry one around in my gig bag.  (Ever try fixing your rig on a dark stage?)  Later when I was recording I carried one in my gear bag for the same reason.  I also keep one in the truck’s glovebox.  I love the fact that they’re as durable as the big ones, but much more portable.  Now they’re available with factory-installed LEDs.

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Trevor D. (of SoCalMotorcycles.com) writes: “The post about Maglight LED conversions brought my flashlight to mind:  If you want an invincible, focused-at-any-distance, brighter than a 3-D-cell Maglight, totally water and oil/grease/coolant/unknown-goo proof flashlight that’s preferred by law enforcement everywhere with easy access to replacement parts (any gun store) – get a Surefire! You’ll never go back.”

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I’ve always liked Maglite flashlights because they’re durable and because they have such a nice heft to them.  If you invested in Maglites back before LEDs became all the rage — like I did — then you’ll love the fact that Maglite is now offering 3-watt LED “upgrade kits” for their older C and D-cell-sized flashlights.

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For her birthday a few months ago I gave my wife a Coast V2 dual color Tac Torch. I was mystified why she would what one at first but after playing with it for a bit I understand now:  It’s the best of both worlds – a tough, lightweight LED flashlight that casts a powerful beam in two colors. 

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Unless you’ve been under a rock lately (and even then it depends on which rock), you’ve probably seen all the new high-powered LED flashlights that’ve invaded stores this year.  LED flashlights have met comsumers with mixed results: some rock and some suck.  But one’s really risen to become the gold standard for such items: the Stinger. 

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I know.  Most Toolmongers hate the “extreme” moniker.  But hey — don’t you think it’s fair to call any handheld flashlight wih 30 LEDs just a bit extreme, considering that one to four generally gets the job done?

Besides the 30 LEDs, this light also features a rechargeable Ni-MH battery pack, which makes me just a little bit wary of the EZ-Red’s “Will not overcharge!!” claim.  On the other hand, I like the idea of an LED-based floodlight for the shop.  I’ve broken a couple of the old bulb-in-a-cage type lights and one fluorescent type.  This light looks more durable.

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Here’s something that just struck me as a cool idea — a flashlight whose body unfolds into a tripod stand.  I know I’ve personally balanced my share of flashlights precariously on things around the shop (and under the car) trying to put the light where I need it, and this would have made things quite a bit easier: Unfold it, plunk it down, adjust the head to point the light — all done.

An important note: I didn’t really see the utility of this for quite a while as all the pictures I saw showed it in “tripod” mode.  I thought, “Who cares?  Just stick any light you have on a tripod!”  Then I saw how it folds up into a standard flashlight-shaped form-factor.  Bam!  I get it.

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At $25.45, this is probably one of the least expensive Snap-on tools you’ll ever buy.  Seriously, though, what a great idea: You simply pop your “C” battery-powered flashlight into the clip, attach the magnetic base to the car you’re working on, your toolbox, or whatever other ferrous metal you might find in the area, then swivel the light to face your work.

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