I hate work lights. Exploding incandescent clamp lights. High temperature halogens poised on top of rickety tripods just waiting for a nudge to topple over and burst into flames.
Hated all of them. Always have. For three decades.
That is, until I tried the cordless Milwaukee Rocket M18 LED Tower Light/Charger.
The Rocket is unlike any shop-, job-, or work-light I’ve ever seen. First of all it’s stable, with sturdy, tripod legs that set up within seconds. The telescoping center mast adjusts the LED array from 4- to 7-feet high, but with the battery and its electronics at the bottom of the mast acting as ballast, you’d have to tackle it hard to tip it over. A bump won’t do it.
What really sets this work light apart are the three multidirectional LED light heads. Each light can be independently adjusted up or down, or you can turn them all in the same direction and shoot a hard, directional side light when you’re looking for imperfections in drywall or finishes. Spread them out and you get a broad wash of illumination.
The diffuse quality of the LED lighting will be a welcome sight for anybody who has stared into an engine bay at night and seen more shadows than engine. Like sunshine, LEDs give you illumination and detail even in the shadows.
LEDs also put out a lot of light using very little power and generating very little heat. Using Milwaukee’s M18 system, 9.0 amp-hour battery and the Rocket set at high-power (3,000 lumens), you get 4 hours of battery life. At 1,700 lumens, you get 8.5 hours of battery life and at 900 lumens the battery will last 17 hours. Most other work lights I’ve seen generate 800 to 1,300 lumens.
