Makita LXT, LED flashlight. Awesome light which uses standard rechargeable Makita batteries.

These little flashlights are perfect for my needs. Very compact, rechargeable and durable. The handy strap allows the light to be attached to the wrist or to any object on a work site.

 Usually, when I use a light at work,  it's in one spot,  as when tearing down chimneys.

 Rather than focusing light onto the chimney,  I prefer to illuminate the ceiling and have the reflected light illuminate the entire area without shadows. The heavy rechargeable battery holds the light on the perfect angle for this task. Just one of these,  shone on the white ceiling of this 150 square-foot kitchen, gives enough light for someone to get around safely. With both of them shining on the ceiling from different angles,  shadows were further reduced and it's nice and bright.

 When using the 3 amp hour battery the light works for 15 hours. The slimmer 1.5 amp hour battery,  runs the light for 7.5 hours. This is the most comfortable one if you're planning to go for a walk with light in hand.

This light will be attached to my electric bike, for a far better headlight than are commonly used.
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My Coast headlamp,  goes from a dull glow to blindingly bright,  according to how it's adjusted. When attached to a hard hat and used in conjunction with the little flashlights, I get a shadow free work zone.

Modern LED lights are such a wonderful tool. Fantastic to be able to work into the early winter evening without any light issues.

I run neutral white tinted lights, usually an extremely floody single 18650 Armytek headlamp and a cheap chinese single 18650 Convoy S2+ pocket light. The pocket light often gets used for the same ceiling bounce trick you mention.

The Convoy S2+ lives in my pocket 24/7. I get lots of impressed reactions at the brightness, or the neutral tone of the light that allows colours to appear normal, unlike most cool white LED flashlights. I also get some great reactions when I stick it into ponds to check for fish, since it's IPX-8. And yet, it's only a ~$25 light!

With shitty scavenged 18650s from old laptop batteries, I still get several hours per battery depending on brightness settings, and I can keep spare batteries in a coat pocket since they're about the size of a shotgun shell.

It sounds like you know a lot more about the technicalities than I do.
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 I forgot to mention, that these lights cost $20 Canadian or about $14 American, from Amazon.

 The batteries are about $40 for the small and $75 for the large. I already have five Makita batteries which I use in an array of tools.
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I'll soon review my new 24 watt work light. It's awesome and cost $22.

Nothing too fancy; 18650s are the most common lithium cell around. Your Makita batteries are probably comprised of 5 or 10 of them depending on capacity. They scale all the way up... same thing in a Tesla vehicle, just a few thousand of em! The number just indicates the approx size; 18mmx65mm.

I like using single cell lights; having a pack go bad because one cell has failed is annoying. Also less likely to have issues with the cells if they get out of balance. With packs like yours presumably the onboard electronics and charger handle this... at least, I haven't heard of any of them exploding!

Because my batteries are used and don't have protection circuitry, I only use lights which will signal a low voltage condition, and cut off if it gets too low; overdraining these batteries is a good way to wreck them, and occasionally abused cells can explode, which is serious bad news!


The quality of low voltage protection in powertool batteries seems to vary. The Ridgid tools I've used have always shut off before power fade was noticable; a good thing! Not so with some Dewalt tools I've used, or my current Bosch set; I won't be buying any more of either. I would expect good behavior from Makita, given the prices!


Looking at your lights and my lights, I wish someone would sell some sort of whole room lighting system using the easily swappable powertool batteries, and a handful of better quality LEDs able to be positioned around the room. Especially with the newer 5+AH batteries you could light a cottage for a whole weekend on a single charge!

My brother just bought a new Nissan Leaf, electric car. It has a 170 km. range. I could buy a car like that, for less than the cost of bringing the power poles to my cabin. The car can power a cabin like mine for weeks on a charge. That's the mobile battery bank of the future. Imagine an electric pick up truck that can power table saws, jackhammers, pumps... Make a line of tools to fit a bank of removable batteries that are tied into the massive battery bank hidden in the floor. Many contractors would go for such a truck. No more messing with generators.

I still use the little lights, but I have bought two larger Makita lights. Both are far more powerful.

The photo was taken in the dead of night. The battery goes for about 6 hours on a charge. The light takes all Makita 18 volt batteries.