Black & Decker has released a number of energy saving and monitoring products as part of their Energy Series. We've already covered the Thermal Leak Detector and the Power Monitor so now we're moving on to the last of the line, the Black & Decker AutoSwitch.
The AutoSwitch is a unit that you place over an existing light switch which converts it to a motion sensor light. The unit has a switch, so there's still a manual override and you also have the ability to set it to a sensitivity of 1, 5, 15, or 30 minutes.
If you're the type who comes home from vacation and realizes that you left every light in the house on for over two weeks, then it might be a product worth looking into.
Of all the major tool companies, it seems that only Milwaukee is really digging into the flashlight and giving it the respect it deserves. Last year, they released their 'brighter-than-a-thousand-suns' 12-Volt LED (our review here), and now they're coming with an LED upgrade for those of you who want to convert your incandescent work lights to the updated bulb.
According to Milwaukee, the upgrade kit works on most 9.6 to 28-volt cordless lights. This includes, not only Milwaukee products, but other leading brands as well (DeWalt, Makita, Ridgid, Ryobi, etc.). There's no indication of how you'd go about discovering if your light falls under the 'most' category, but a call to Milwaukee is probably the best place to start.
The full press release is after the jump, if you're interested.
There are very few tools we keep in the truck at all times. The small space behind the seat is prized real estate and not to be wasted on redundant tools that are easy to come by on a job site. Instead, we reserve this spot for those special tools, the ones that can do things no other tool can. The ones that, when you need them, you need them. Over the past few months, we've narrowed down our repertoire to a select few. They are as follows:
Hitachi 12-Volt Right-Angle Impact Driver (our review here): This tool is worth it's weight in gold, which, oddly enough, isn't all that much because it's so light and compact. It has a clearance that is so small it can fit anywhere and while it's powerful enough to drop a 2" screw in a 2x4, where this tool shines is with the small fussy tasks, like working up in a shade pocket or behind a fan coil unit.
Fein MultiMaster (our review here): With the expiration of Fein's oscillating tool patent, the market has been flooded with other models by everyone from Craftsman to Bosch to Dremel to Rockwell. But the funny thing is that even though there are now a ton of oscillating tools on the market, the Fein still has no real competition. This isn't to belittle the others, we've tested out the majority of the new tools and they're fine, it's just that the MultiMaster is nearly a work of art. Once you hold one, you'll know what we're talking about.
Milwaukee Hackzall (our review here): Of the tools on the list, this is the one that has elicited the greatest response from the rest of the site. It has been affectionately dubbed, "the turkey carver" and it's constantly getting borrowed by carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and anyone else who needs to make a quick, no-hassle cut. The only downside to the tool is that it comes with the single worst case in tool history.
Milwaukee 12-volt Power Port and Flashlight (our reviews here and here): This is sort of the emergency kit and hangs out under the passenger seat next to the first-aid bag. It's always good to have a flashlight on hand and the Power Port is good for a quick cell phone charge here and there (the truck stops charging when the engine is off).
...and those are the ones we keep close at hand. Granted, we've been in the finish phase of the job, so these are all detail oriented tools, good for the small fussy stuff. It's likely they'll get cycled out during the framing of the next job, but for now they're there, constantly getting us out of trouble.
HItachi Right Angle Impact Driver at Tool Barn
Fein MultiMaster at Amazon
Milwaukee Hackzall at Amazon
Milwaukee Power Port at Amazon
Milwaukee Flashlight at Amazon
Instant Switch is a way to activate (and deactivate) any outlet from a remote location. To use it, all you have to do is plug a little gizmo in any outlet and then plug in your light, computer, etc. into the gizmo. Now, place the switch anywhere you want to (within 60 feet) and it now controls the light via a wireless signal. The switch has a dimmer on it as well.
We're not big fans of overhead lighting, so we tend to have lamps all over the place. The only problem is that we spend quite a lot of time wandering around dark rooms feeling for the switches (and stepping on the cats). That said, something like this might be nice to have.
Milwaukee recently entered the 12-volt fray with a work light and because it's an LED, according to Milwaukee, it's twice as bright as a regular incandescent bulb. The light has a good, solid, ready-for-the-job-site feel to it and it fits the hand just like a lightsaber would (our second Star Wars reference in a week!). It has a small magnet along the handle and the head pivots 90 degrees with seven hard stops along the way, making it very easy to direct the light. It also can stand up on the battery end, aiding the process as well.
And what a light it is. It's absolutely blinding and we're suspicious of the claim that it's twice as bright as a regular light. To us, it seems about ten times brighter. And not only is this thing bright, it's focused too. Even at 50' away the line between what is being lit and what isn't is very clearly defined. In fact, it reminds us of the spotlight from a 1960s prison movie or the cartoon intro to the Pink Panther movies. There's no gray area with this light, when it's on there's the area that looks like daylight and the area that is black.
We had it at work for a while and in that setting it's ideal. The magnet lets it hang nicely from a metal stud or a pipe and the pivoting head does the rest. We had to cut a hole in the ceiling of a little curtain pocket where there was no way to fit us, our Fein, our ladder, and any sort of regular sized work light. So we took the Milwaukee and used the magnet to attach it to a metal junction box and easily completed our task. Without the tool, it would have been a real struggle.
We also took it along for a few night time walks in the woods and there, if you can believe it, it was too bright. There was a good moon out so for the most part we relied on that but from time to time, we'd need to click the light on to find the path. The Milwaukee light would do such a number on our night vision that we would end up walking into things. It's sort of an odd circumstance, and not really one that many people are going to run into, so it's not a complaint, just an example of how bright this little guy is.
Oh, and we forgot to mention that it's very durable. We dropped it a few times and it never seemed fazed and when we were at Milwaukee HQ a while back a few guys were practically treating it like a soccer ball and it always kept on shining.
At almost 50 bucks (battery and charger not included) we're sure a lot of you are thinking "I can get a quality light for half that price. And you probably can, but it likely won't be as bright and it definitely won't be compatible with your other 12-volt Milwaukee tools.
This is a new low for us. Usually on days where we don't have any time to post something up, we glom onto the work of our fellow tool bloggers or we do a quick youtube search for something like "excavator mishap." But here, we're going to take a reader's comment, add some photos and some links and voila, insta-post!
Reader Joel, who is obviously flashlight obsessed and knows far more about the tools than we do, left this comment on our review of the AltusLumen PAD-L:
The AltusLumen PAD-L Flashlight is one that is built with the company's ecologically-friendly mission fully in mind. AltusLumen states that it is the first "sustainable portable LED," that "the main housing is made of recycled and recyclable aluminum and polycarbonate," and finally that the light "is over 75% recyclable at the end of its useful life." This is all fine and good, but if the flashlight doesn't work that well, we're not really going to need to know what parts of it we can recycle, because we simply won't be buying the thing in the first place. That said, when we tested out the AltusLumen it was to see just that: is this a light worth buying? Does it work? Is there anything that sets it above the thousands of other flashlights on the market?
As we've mentioned, we recently spent six days without power. Two of those days (the middle two) were spent elsewhere but we decided to return to the house to keep the wood stove going and to keep an eye on the pipes, hoping that we wouldn't have to go to any major preventative measures such as draining them or fussing with anti-freeze. During the course of the episode, we realized that there are a few items that came in really handy. And when we say, "really handy," what we mean is, "we couldn't have gotten by without them."
The items that achieved MVP status are as follows:
Now that they have attained total dominance of the multi-tool world, Leatherman has set its sights on the house of Maglite with the release of their three new LED flashlights; the Serac S1, the Serac S2, and the Serac S3.
Each light has an aluminum body, with the larger two having stainless steel bezels. The lights range from "fun-size Twix"-sized (S1) to "roll of quarters"-sized (S3). Because of the Leatherman name our guess is that they can take a beating. They look to us like they'd be good in the glove box, the kitchen drawer, the backpack, or the toolbox.
If you want to compare the three lights for yourself, Leatherman has set up this page where you can see all the stats side by side.
But for something this small, they sure aren't cheap. The S1 goes for $25, the S2 $50, and the S3 $70. Pretty expensive for something that weighs 2.6 oz.
Oh, and FYI, according to Dictionary.com a Serac is, "a large irregularity of glacial ice, as a pinnacle found in glacial crevasses and formed by melting or movement of the ice." So if that doesn't make you feel rugged while you're using the light to find your car keys, we don't know what will.
Leatherman Serac S1 at Amazon
Leatherman Serac S2 at Amazon
Leatherman Serac S3 at Amazon
You know those creepy photos you can find on the internet, the kind with the frog that wandered too close to the nuclear power plant and now has an extra arm growing out of it's forehead? That's what we think of when we look at Stanley's new 3-in-1 Tripod Flashlight. We've got one of their standard tripod lights and are so used to it that this thing looks like some kind of ghastly genetic mutation. See it there with its freaky little, stunted silver legs and it's three heads all perched up top crowding each other in some Darwinian competition for to be the dominant head?
It's probably a nice light, but it sends a shiver up our spine.
Husky has a new big light out on the market and if it's anything like their last one, you should be able to blind orbiting astronauts with it. Their latest portable sun is called the 20 Million (probably in reference to it's freakishly large candlepower) and it looks like it would be a good thing to have in the trunk of your car.
The light uses a replaceable 100 watt Phillips H-4 dual filament bulb. When fully charged, the light lasts about 25 minutes at full power. It comes with 12-volt DC and 120-volt AC adapters so recharging it shouldn't be a problem. Also included is a shoulder strap and a work stand. Since it's made for outdoor use, the 20 Million is weather-resistant.
Maxxeon, a company that specializes in work lights geared towards auto mechanics and other professionals, offers a little light called the WorkStar 1200.
Its features include a retractable hook; two magnets in the body so you can stick it against the hood of the car while you work; and an interesting head with two swivel points, allowing you to position the light in just about any way imaginable. The light also has a squared off body, so when you're not using the magnets, you'll be able to easily stabilize the light on it's side. The Workstar is cordless and can go for about five hours on a charge.
From the features, it's easy to see that although it would be a great light for a mechanic, it would also be a nice light for anyone in the trades (we're thinking plumbers and electricians), as well as any serious DIYer. It looks like a quality item and, because of that, it's going to cost you quite a bit more than your average work light. The Workstar retails for just under $100 at Amazon and almost $140 if you get it straight from Maxxeon.
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.
Black & Decker AutoSwitch
Continue reading: 
Newsletter
Subscribe - RSS
Craftsman 10" MiterMate - Review
