Does anyone know of a decent shop light I can get my dad for Christmas? We’ve been through at least three different ones already, we are lucky if they last 6 months. (That’s probably long) Or is it that’s just the shelf-life for all of them? The end up getting beaten soo bad that they are too covered with electrical tape to function as a light anymore.
I’m almost willing to try a hat with lights on it. They’re everywhere.
Is he using his shop light as a hammer? How does it get so beat up?
The only problems I ever had with shop lights was breaking the filament in the incandescent bulb. This happened every time I dropped the shop light. The other problem was heat. The incandescent bulb made the light too hot to touch.
These problems don’t exist with the newer florescent or LED shop lights.
I just bought a rechargeable cordless work light at Home Depot for $20 and love it. It’s shaped like a traditional drop light and has LEDs that are very bright. I’m hoping it’ll last a while. So far, it been working great.
I like the fluorescent lamp drop lights. The only drawback is that they’re not so good in extreme cold. The new LED drop lights are supposed to be good too. If you just need it for the shop, I wouldn’t bother with the hassle of the rechargeable LED lights. Stick with something corded.
What I am sure of is that you shouldn’t buy another old style incandescent bulb drop light. I threw mine out the day my father caught on fire while changing a fuel filter underneath a fuel injected Jeep. He was not familiar with fuel injected vehicles and didn’t know the fuel was under pressure. When the gas sprayed out and hit the hot bulb, it exploded and caught the gas and my father on fire. Mom had to put him out with the fire extinguisher. He only lost his eyebrows and arm hair, but the doctor said it could have been MUCH worse.
I’ve always preferred the old incandescent “bulb in a cage”. But it osunds like he needs something more bombproof. There are a lot of different lights out there. You may want to shop some.
Question: is it the cords that get beaten up? If so, perhaps you should seek out one with a metal spring around the cord to keep it from getting pulled sideways.
Has anyone ever tried putting a CFL bulb in one of the old bulb-in-a-cage kind?
I’d hate to think about cleaning up the mercury if you broke the CFL bulb.
I’m sticking with my florescent shop light.
My shop lights take a beating, and so this is the one I use. http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200313478_200313478 These are inexpensive to purchase, are tough, and if required replacement florescent tubes can be purchased and so can the protective acrylic tube around the lamp can be replaced.
Tester
Yup. If you read the package for those bulbs you’ll see that dispozal has to be handled as hazardous waste because of the mercury vapors. If people read the packages on the things they buy instead of just believing the latest speel from TV’s talking heads nobody would buy those bulbs.
Here’s a little different idea - go to a sports store and get him one of those headband LED lights - might just solve lots of problems, I’m going to try it out myself! Thanks pleasedidgevan2 for the idea!
Thank you all for the opinions. It is very helpful. I’m not sure what he’s doing that kills them so badly but they usually end up with the wiring hanging out of them or just really fritzy, blinky. Like you have to beat on it to get it to work. He does have one of those headbands with lights on them but he seems to like the regular old shop lights better. That and he specifically asked for a new one for Christmas when I asked him what he wanted.
Bombproof is about right!