Dewalt has come out with two new USB-C rechargeable LED lighting products.
The new task light, DCL182, features a pivoting head, magnetic base, and carabiner for convenient transport and storage.
There are 3 brightness modes, 1000, 500, and 250 lumens, with runtime of 3.5, 8, and 12 hours respectively.
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Charging is as fast as 85 minutes with a 5V 3A charging adapter (not included).
The task light is IP54 rated for dust and water protection.
Dewalt also has a new USB-C rechargeable LED flashlight, DCL183.
It features a primary light, side light, magnetic back, and hook for hanging on hoses or small pipes.
The flashlight delivers up to 1000 lumens. Runtime is up to 6.5 hours on low (brightness not specified). Charging is as fast as 75 minutes with a 5V 3A power adapter (not included).
The flashlight is also rated at IP54 for dust and water protection.
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Price: $99 for the task light, $99 for the flashlight
Use coupon code TOOLGUYD to save $10 off $79+ at Acme Tools, 1 use per customer every 30 days.
MM
The “task light” resembles the Olight Swivel, which I like a lot. It’s a very flexible design. This is more powerful than the standard Swivel and it’s three times the price. I’d personally stick with the Swivel, it’s plenty powerful enough to act as a worklight and I’d rather save the $$$. I also like the fact the Olight has both flashlight and COB functions.
If you need more power Olight has the Swivel Pro worklight which has 1100 lumens and a 5h battery for only $65, or the Swivel Pro Max which is 1600 lumens and a 10ah battery. Either of those has much longer runtime than the Dewalt if you need to light up big areas.
fred
The look reminds me of the Bosch one that I have:
https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-12-Volt-Cordless-Light-FL12/dp/B00OKGAERO
fred
I should have said that the Bosch is advertised as 330 lumens.
Jim Felt
fred. Several years ago I had acquired a number of then new mostly brushless 12v and 18v Bosch tools and noticed this same multi use LED.
To this day they have remained our most used small lights. Magnetic. Hanging. Free standing. Changeable batteries too.
Their much bigger brothers similar to the GLI18V-2200CN have proven very useful too.
TonyT
The FL12 is absolutely awesome. It’s small, tough, good run time, and provides plenty of light in the real world.
Peter Fox
Absolutely, I have 4 of them and they are one of the best compact worklights I have ever used.
I hope they update it eventually with brighter LEDs, a few more modes/brightness levels and a battery gauge. If someone ever makes a light with the same form factor and those improvements they will have the perfect compact worklight.
Bonnie
“COB functions”
I’m not familiar with this acronym. I assume you’re not referring to close of business or the chairman of the board :).
MM
In this case “COB” means “Chip On Board”. Basically it refers to those kinds of lights which have a large, broad, LED emitter with many individual LEDs instead of a single bulb like a traditional flashlight. The Olight has two modes, it has both a COB light for wide area (like the Dewalt Task Light), and it also has a narrow beam flashlight. The Dewalt Task Light is COB only. It doesn’t have the normal flashlight mode.
The new Dewalt flashlight mentioned here is two modes though, the normal flashlight mode, and the “side light” which is a COB.
Stuart
Not quite.
If these were truly representative of COB technology, there wouldn’t be discrete emitters as shown in the product images.
The easiest way to understand COB vs. traditional lighting is to consider a glove vs a mitten. In a glove, each finger is covered individually whereas in a mitten all of the fingers are arranged more closely together.
You can have multi-COB arrays, but they’re less common.
Given the appearance, it’s hard to tell if these are surface mount LEDs or COBs.
The Olight Swivel is an example of a definitive COB light, as its main emitter is singular and continuous. https://www.amazon.com/OLIGHT-Rechargeable-Magnetic-Worklight-Emergency/dp/B09FLWV7VY/?tag=toolguyd-20
The Dewalt DCL077 is a COB light – https://toolguyd.com/dewalt-led-worklight-dcl077b/ .
Jared
MM makes a good point about the Olight being a better value, but price aside, up to 1000 lumens from a little worklight like that from a power tool company seems impressive.
P.s. Pretty sure those brightness levels and their respective runtimes aren’t in matching order.
dust
i bought the olight version with a built in speaker. the speaker is cereal box quality
Mark M.
I was excited about that task light until I saw the price…good lord. I’ve had the Klein version (56403) for a couple of years and that thing is FANTASTIC. Very bright, tons of mounting solutions, compact, and doubles as a charger. If I lost it today I’d go out and buy two more. They are also $40, which I thought was a little steep until I saw $99 on the DeWalt.
jonah
I agree – the Klein version of this light is a much better value. 400-500 lumens is perfect for task lighting. I can’t imagine a circumstance where I’d ever want 1000 lumens and if I do I’ll grab my Unilite instead.
Wayne R.
Hey, that’s a great idea, normal charging device (not included) to a captive battery. All this time I thought they were intent on swappable batteries…
Stuart
Lights with built-in or replaceable batteries are not mutually exclusive.
Wayne R.
Of course, yes. But these days, I’m sure you’ll agree that most device cases like those in this post are sealed up hard, just like the swappable battery cases – opening up almost all of these things is difficult to the point of not being worth the effort.
It’s difficult (for me) to consider a battery powered light/anything for purchase that doesn’t allow easily swapped cells. The “Oh, I can’t work on it now because my light is charging” only happens once for most of us.
Hon Cho
USB-C charging is nice and the future but I still am reluctant to buy products where the batteries are not readily replaceable. Not clear whether or not batteries can be replaced without destructive teardown and prices mention are high.
Greg
My thoughts as well. I’ve bought rechargeable lights in the past and they just did not last or perform very well.
Jim Felt
So far I’ve avoided that issue like the plague. No interchangeable batteries? Not going to buy it.
Big Richard
It’s a little more clear in the manual:
“The charger and battery pack are not serviceable. There are
no serviceable parts inside the charger or battery pack.
The work light is not serviceable. The LED light bulbs and
battery cannot be replaced by the user.”
reno
Not sure why you’re showing this really an old item at double the price from all the other companies that have already been selling it just other me to item SBD need to get creative again.
Milwaukee is killing them with new ideas
MFC
DeWalt. Make some real 20/60v lights and start competing with Milwaukee. I have stuck with DeWalt because of Flexvolt, but it’s tempting to go to Milwaukee because of their Light offerings and seamless integration with Packout.
Jack D
For a third of the price, I can pick up the Braun version at Harbor Freight, at 750 lumens, it seems a fair trade…i can even buy three and feel better about it! I suppose that’s what happens when you have a brand value…
Adam
I believe you runtimes are swapped for the task light.
An extra cost of course, but having them double as a power source as they are already USB-C couldn’t have hurt.
Stuart
Thank you, *fixed*!
Nathan
Bet they.fall to 69 before the end of the year
AlexK
If I had this task light, I would use it to shine a light on my (just delivered today) m18 track saw.
Not sure why lights have gotten so expensive. Is it what the market will bear or is there real expense in some of the parts? I like the look of the flashlight but wouldn’t spend a hundred on a flashlight.
Maybe there are some trades that need a thousand lumen in a flashlight, but for lots of lumens, I’d use a bigger light, with the option of plugging into wall power. I took out my NEBO big Larry 2 while typing this. It’s not exactly comparing same with same, but it has a front light, side light and magnet on the end. Also, there is a keyhole in the pocket clip so it could hang on a nail. I think I paid around thirty bucks and like it.
I was working with someone today who had a flex volt battery on an impact driver. When I tried it out on 6″ T30 screws, it worked great, but very heavy. Then he put a 5ah 20v on the driver and it felt almost as light as my m12 fuel impact driver (which also did great on those long T30 screws). I like Dewalt stuff, but so far, no tool of theirs has been different enough to add another battery platform.
Wayne R.
I agree about the almost absurd prices on such lights. Is it like the barely-deserved-yet-hyperpriced cachet people give to Yeti products?
Kingsley
Should be on their 12v platform. Lithium batteries die after a few years and I alway have some charged up.
AlexK
I have all my original m12 batteries and ryobi batteries. The oldest is over 10 years old and they all still work.
I don’t use my tools every day. Some, like in my heated vest, got used very often and ran until empty. The ryobi gets used in the string trimmer and run empty. Maybe I don’t get full charge. I don’t notice, and I haven’t marked dates and usage on them, so this isn’t scientific. I look at it like solar panels (which I don’t have). If they last x amount of years and then only get 70% efficiency. Don’t get rid of them, just add 30% more panels. Any of the new tools I get that come with batteries, I don’t use unless I need more for a job.
Please let me know if I’m missing something or wrong.
Jerry
I’m always on the lookout for a newer better flashlight. However, neither of these peak my interest, at least at these prices. I recently bought a Ryobi flashlight along the lines of the second DeWalt you have pictured here. Not sure on output but high is bright enough to see across the yard, low is just.right for close up work, and uses a rechargeable battery that can be swapped out in seconds. I have not seen the DeWalt flashlight, and I assume it will be built stouter, but it better be at $100 vs $40 for the Ryobi.
PW
$100 with a non-replacable battery? Hard pass! No. Do not want!
I’d take Milwaukee’s weird one off battery platform over this. I’m so tired of disposable products, it just feels like I’m buying literal landfill waste.
JJP
I got used to the freebie Harbor Freight ones but got tired of AAA or getting new ones so I found these on Amazon.
WARSUN Led Work Lights Rechargeable Magnetic Mechanic Light Portable Worklight for Camping Car Repairing 30w 1200 High Lumens
They’re surprisingly well built and rechargeable which is what I like. They recharge slowly and the batteries do degrade faster than I would hope DeWalt would but for the price I just replace it. Normally I’ve abused it enough by the batteries demise it could use replaced anyway.
For the tasklight, seems like a really old idea that DeWalt is just seeing how much they can sell their name for.