Husky 84-Watt Portable Tripod Fluorescent Work Light - Review
Husky has just released a new tripod work light and they were nice enough to let us try out. It's an interesting design, and one we've never seen before.
The light comes folded up, looking sort of like a camera tripod with a very large central shaft. At the end of the shaft is a small light. Once the legs of the tripod are set up, the shaft stands upright with the light on top. When you plug in the light (which is made easy by a nice 12' cord), the light on the top lights up (it's blue). Now, here's where it gets interesting. At this point, you find a little locking tab that you press and once that's done, you can now grab the little blue light and pull the main light out of the central shaft, where it's been nicely protected. Once the light slides up to as high as it will go, it locks into place and automatically turns on. This, we weren't ready for.
To say that this light is bright is an understatement. To say that it is approximately three times brighter than the sun is probably more like it. We've stared at welding arcs that weren't as bright as this light. In fact as soon as we turned it on, every moth in a three town radius was immediately drawn to it and died of sheer pleasure upon seeing it. There is no doubt that this light will indeed light up a room.
With this light, there will be no more fussing with multiple work lights; looking for a place to clamp them, moving them each time your work takes you to a different part of the room. Now, you can just plant this puppy dead center in the room and the entire space will be brighter than if the noon sun was coming through the skylights.
The light does need a lot of room to operate. Sitting on the tripod, with the bulb extended, it stands 5' 4" high, making it difficult to use in cramped spots like crawl spaces. Although you could fold up the tripod and go in with what essentially looks like a shoulder mounted light cannon, that's pretty impractical. But that's sort of the point; small work lights are designed for crawl spaces, but not large rooms. Finally, here is one that is designed for illuminating an entire room (think something the size of St. Peter's Cathedral).
We set it up in the yard and if you check out the photo (click to enlarge), you'll see a tree with a chain hanging off of it. That tree is about 30' away from the light. Even though the pictures do little justice to how bright this light is in person, you should be able to get a sense of what this light is capable of (i.e. extending our horseshoe playing well into the evenings)
The Husky Fluorescent Work Light comes with a shoulder strap for easy portability and one set of bulbs. The whole deal costs about $60 and is available exclusively at Home Depot. Sure, it's a lot more than your standard work light, but this is no standard work light. If you're in a situation where you think you might need it, you probably do and it will be worth it.
One more thing worth noting: operating this light, you feel like someone out of a science fiction movie disarming some sort of pulse beam of mass destruction; sliding cylinders, things locking into place, strange blue lights emanating from the top of the device. It's all very satisfying to your inner nerd.
At Home Depot
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Posted by Tool Snob at October 3, 2007 5:20 AM
I've seen this at Home Depot. _DON'T BOTHER_ until they get work lamp bulbs -- ( "Cool" or "White" light). The design if this work lamp is VERY cool (I'd say sexy, but for a work lamp?). I really wanted to buy it, _until_, I unpackaged it in the store and turned it on to verify it was functional. I'm glad I did. The bulbs only come in "_WARM_ white" -- like what you'd use in the bedroom - not in a work area where 'Cool white' or similar is a standard.
It _might_ be possible to replace the stock warm-white bulbs with alternate-manufacturer bulbs, but the 42W-bulbs in the Husky were very thin, and most high wattage bulbs appear to be wider (not talking about the screw-in part, but the white ballast part above that). The bulb type takes a standard size screw-in bulb -- not a mogul. But possible alternates (maybe I get a chance to do some measuring, I can see if they'd work out). Would be "The Designers Edge", E-410-45W -- a Cool white 3U or 4U bulb (if you can find the bulbs separate from the fixtures). And -- (these two look big), the Eiko 85W CFL Model SP85/50/Med (~$25@ NorthernTool.com) or the replacement Wobblelight Bulb -- another 85W Fluorescent, Model WL62260 (~$40, also @Northerntool.com).
Even _if_ (and that's a big IF, given the size of those bulbs, you have to add in the price of the replacement bulbs to the Husky Light). BUT, if they fit -- the product seems well designed, and is *excellent* in appearance and function (I just cannot stand warm white for work conditions, but this could be a 'personal preference').
A just picked up a couple of these portable work lights from the Home Depot here in Honolulu. If you're lucky to find these in your area, be sure to open the box and inspect the included light bulbs. They come packaged in a flimsy plastic blister package.
As I unboxed the first unit, I could hear the glass clinking around and sure enough there was phospor powder dust spilling out of the lens tube.
Again, I recommend inspecting the the unit before you leave the store or give the box a shake test to listen for broken bulb(s). I didn't notice the clinking until I got home. Other than that minor annoyance, it is indeed pretty bright and used it to tape and mud a room this evening. It is great work light and there is minimal heat produced. My halogen work lights heat up a room in minutes.
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