Portable Work Light Recommendation

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spewking

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Many of you have permanent and awesome lighting set ups, but as a weekend warrior, such is not feasible for me.

I am looking for a portable lighting solution. I like the stands so the height is adjustable. Lowes has a 2 light portable on a stand with 2 100 watt bulbs with 10000 lumens output. It looks cheap and likely won't last.

Can you recommend a sturdy portable light, e.g., brand and where to buy? For a standard garage, how much wattage/lumens do you recommend?

Lastly, do you have an opinion about halogen or going with LED? I guess the LED benefit is low(er) heat output, but the output is much less (lumens) and does not appear adequate for a standard garage with typical overhead lighting.

Any comments appreciated.

Thanks,

David
 
I would highly recommend NOT getting Halogen Lamps. Here are the pros and cons why:

CONS:
1. The heat that the lamps generate can make your garage real warm
2. The wattage used will trip the breakers (it did for me on numerous occasions)
3. You have to be far from the lamps otherwise it is possible to get burned by them.
4. Attract alot of flying bugs.

PROS:

1. They are real bright
2. You can see every imperfection on the vehicle so your correcting is real easy.

I moved to LED Lights and (1 Halogen Dual Light/w Stand) and here is the reason. Pros and Cons for LED Lights:

PROS:

1. Less wattage used. Have not tripped the breakers in my garage since the change.
2. Significantly cooler than Halogen Lamps
3. Cooler Garage = less fatigue
4. Electricity Bill is less as my total wattage output is about 400W as opposed to triggering breakers with halogen and using about 1000W

CONS:

1. You have to really get the right LED Lights to come close to Halogen Lamps. I FINALLY found a couple but spent a lot of $$ to get the right ones.
2. The WHITE light is a bit of an adjustment to me then the warm yellow light the halogens generate.
3. Even with all the LED lights that I have so far; still aren't as bright as Halogen Lamps.

I have compromised with 1 Dual Halogen Lamps/w Stand and the rest LED. I am hoping that will change next week as there was an AGO post to where the OP used a photo stand with dual sockets that can use very powerful LED Lights. I just ordered them and will see if they can replace the halogen lamps. Additionally, I am hoping it will be just as bright as the halogen lamps (I am pretty sure as I have one of the LED Bulbs as my garage light), only way to find out is to test it.

Sorry for the long post but this is what I have been doing all summer to prepare for future details at night. BECAUSE, the halogen lights are too hot and waste quite a bit of electricity.

I hope I have helped you. I have even more suggestions, however, don't want to bore you. I do have the types of LED lamps that are pretty good to save you the headache I went through. BTW the LED lamps at Home Depot or Lowe's aren't that strong!
 
Mittenz said:
Portable Lights
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:iagree:

Thank you for this!! This is the post that I read!! I followed his suggestions and got the stand and sockets. However, I got even brighter LED Lights. They are supposed to be 2000 Lumens using about 50 Watts but will have to wait until I test them.

I got everything on Amazon
 
Another vote for Husky LED work lights. I picked up this 2500 Lumen LED work light (Husky 5 ft. 2500 Lumen Multi-Directional LED Work Light-3PL-TP-DF-24W - The Home Depot) a few months ago and could not be more satisfied with it. Feels well built, decent amount of height adjustment (gets fairly low too, which my old halogen work light couldn't), plenty bright and of course the LEDs do not get nearly as hot as halogens. Can't go wrong for a little over $100 with tax. If your going to use the work light for paint correction (polishing), I think a LED light is a must. I could definitely tell that my old halogen work light was putting some heat on the panel I was working on. This is not good for many reasons including an increased chance to burn thru the clear coat while polishing and drying out the compound (dusting/not as effective).
 
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