Ryobi has come out with the P784K 18V One+ EVERCHARGE LED area light kit. There are actually a lot of little details that make this a very interesting new product; it’s not just an area light.
To start, this is Ryobi’s third Evercharge product. The first is this Ryobi Evercharge cordless hand vacuum kit, and the second is their 18V One+ Evercharge stick vacuum cleaner.
Advertisement
The Ryobi Evercharge product family works with their 18V cordless power tool batteries, and come with a wall-mountable charger.
The Ryobi Evercharge LED light has an auto-on feature, where if you keep it mounted to its wall charger, it will automatically turn on in the case of a power outage.
Ryobi says that it can deliver 400 lumens at high output, and when using a high capacity Lithium+ battery it can run for over 24 hours. There are 3 brightness modes, and the user manual says that the max runtime is 48 hours in low mode, depending on the battery pack used.
The Evercharge light looks fairly small and compact, although it’s probably not recommended to attach a much bigger battery while it’s mounted to the wall charger.
Advertisement
The light has a built-in 1-amp USB charging port.
The user manual says that USB charging will be active when the light is turned on, and for 4 hours after the light has been turned off. The light can be turned on and off again to continue USB charging for another 4 hours.
You can rest the light on any horizontal surface, and there’s also a folding metal handle that can double as a hanging mounting point.
The included Evercharge charger is easily mounted to the wall.
The kit comes with the LED light, a 1.3Ah battery, and the Evercharge wall charger.
Price: $80 for the kit
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
First Thoughts
This seems like a really neat idea, and I like the thought that went into it. I especially like that it has a USB charging port, so that you don’t need another device to charge a phone or tablet during a power outage.
It’s also great that this is sold as a kit, although I know some people would prefer a bare tool option as well. The kit makes the product more attractive to folks that might not necessarily be interested in buying into Ryobi’s cordless power tool lineup.
Here’s their promo video:
Advertisement
NewtonsApple
At just 400 lumens, this is really just an emergency light and doesn’t do double duty and a great work light. A higher output with a lower emergency setting would make this more appealing.
Stephen
I tend to agree. It’s not going to really light up a room. An incandescent 40W bulb puts out about 450 lumens.
On the other hand, though, ANY amount of light is good when the power goes out. Especially at night.
Personally, one of my 18V Bosch 4.0 batteries lives on the charger. The other is stored at 1/2 charge. If the power goes out, I pull out my 1800 lumen LED work light.
RickB
Its obvious by your comments you have never tried to use this lamp during a power outage or to assist others during a power outage.
These out an amazing amount of light and if you select the switch a second time, once off the charger the lumens are dimmed and it lasts a lot longer then at full setting which is required to operate correctly on the charger.
IF you need to direct the light flow one needs to merely place it against a solid object (aka a wall) and the light is refracted or as our forefathers did during the great war, place a piece of Aluminum foil around the back side which you don’t want light to show, thus redirecting the light.
Diamond Dave
Watched the video and looked at posted pictures. Looks like the wall base has the AC power cord running from it but I don’t see any electrical contacts on the wall mount that allows it to charge the battery while hanging from it?
Greg
I’ve got the ryobi evercharge hand vacuum unit, it’s got a similar wall base connector. It doesn’t interface with the battery at all. Where the (in my case the vacuum), hooks on to the wall base, is where the charging happens. There are exposed contacts, but they are hidden within the respective hook area that slots into the wall base. The battery must be attached to the vacuum cleaner to be charged.
So there is no direct charging just the battery, the battery gets charged when it’s attached to the device, and the device is attached to the wall base. Now, in a pinch you could charge other batteries, just remove the charged battery from the device, put a battery that needs charging in the device, and hang it back up on the wall base.
Sorry if that didn’t read very well, been a long day.
Jerry
I could see this as a camping lantern. Just enough to see inside a tent, plus USB charger for phones.
RickB
Depending on the size of the tent you might find you need to select the power switch twice to lower the amount of lumens in which the lamp is putting out as it can be very bright inside a confined space.
Mike
I like it. Be great for just a quick grab and go when you just need some light for a minute. I have several MKE lights which are all awesome, but something that is charged all the time and just hanging ready to go is great for anyone in the family to grab. You aren’t going to build a house off this as your work light, but finding something in the closet, filling up a tire at night, finding that last piece of Christmas decoration in the dark shed at midnight. If they did it bare tool I’d be a buyer first time I saw it. The last thing I need is more low AH batteries for the few green tools I have. If it’s on sale for like $69 at Fathers Day I’d buy 2, one for me and for my dad.
AL
Hate is a strong word but I’m gonna use it I hate when companies come out with great ideas or tools ( I saw the Ridgid work mat before I read this ) and they’re cordless. It is good for the free market I suppose. It seems to be the perfect brightness in an emergency situation (think power outage) or for camping. Some lumens are better than no lumens.
I can see people buying into this without buying into their tool lineup ’cause it’s really no different than a competitor with a similar product.
Doresoom
How would this work as an emergency light though if it wasn’t cordless?
AL
It wouldn’t work, unless you use a power inverter or another energy source. I was implying that there’s so many cool options from so many different companies and it’s expensive buying into a different battery ecosystem.
RickB
When you set up the lamp correctly, the lamp automatically turns on when the power goes out or you lift it off the charger hook.
It must be turned on and then put on the charger hook, where it will shut off and just sit there charging until needed.
Coach James
AL, why do you hate great ideas/tools that are cordless?
I have several of the 18+ tools and I think I may get one of these and try it.
AL
I was being a bit sarcastic. There’s so many tool brands that are good and they have so many cool cordless options. It’s expensive switching tools and batteries to be cordless.
Greg
Yea, I’d love to add a few items of a different color to my collection, but it goes from mildly expensive just for the bare tool, to feeling violated when it comes jump on to the battery ecosystem.
Really wish these companies would work on a universal battery platform. I know the batteries are where they make all their money, so it’ll never happen, but it would make things so much better for consumers.
AL
There’s an awful lot of nice tools out there for sure. I have a DeWalt cordless drill, 1/4 impact driver, and that neat little cordless gyroscopic screwdriver from them. After that it’s a cordless hackzall from Milwaukee and that’s it for me in the cordless department. I can’t seem to dedicate myself to one color and if I did I’m not sure which one it would be but probably Makita ’cause they have a solid lineup of 18v landscaping tools. I wouldn’t like being in a cordless ecosystem and having to deal with a cordless tool that isn’t very good which is why a universal battery platform would be the bees knees.
Bryan
Probably not interested in it myself but Ryobinis always making cool new products, well before the other companies. I like it. It’s why I’m invested in Milwaukee & Ryobi.
Flotsam
Another cool consumer oriented product by Ryobi. Gotta credit them for that. I kind of like the battery powered cooler they did. See it occasionally on Direct Tools Outlet for around $100. May consider it for summer camping trips
Ken
Worth mentioning this is not ryobi’s only battery powered light with a usb port. The p781 is available tool only for $35. The only thing it doesn’t have is the built in charger so it doesnt work as an automatic on always charged emergency light. But if you keep a bunch of ryobi batteries already anyway its a much more cost effective product.
Chrisk
Thanks for the post Stuart. I just bought it and will stop by HD tomorrow to grab it. I do not have any Ryobi tools but this looks like a no brained for my home pulse I’ve been thinking about getting a cordless vacuum anyways.
CaveSAR
Usually when the power goes out is also when the tones are dropping for our fire/rescue department – a tree attacking the wires, or a car attacking a telephone pole. So a couple of “emergency” style lights that automatically come on when the power goes out will be really useful to spread throughout the house.
I’m going to have to get one and see how long it lasts with a 6 Ah battery or 9 Ah battery. I have a Triplite surge strip in the living room with one always on outlet and individual switched outlets. So it will be nice when the power goes out to have a working night light. We also keep headlamps under the bed and several places around the house. Plus we have a couple of solar recharged lights, Biolite, Luci, but they aren’t “emergency” style lights that automatically come on when the power goes out.
Greg
My issue with the area light, is they give you information about one scenario, but they give you equipment that won’t live up to that scenario.
“Ryobi says that it can deliver 400 lumens at high output, and when using a high capacity Lithium+ battery it can run for over 24 hours.”
From Ryobi’s webpage:
Runtime: Over 24 hours (using a P108 battery)
Includes: P102 Battery
The P102 battery is 1.3Ah Lithium, not a “high capacity lithium+”
The P108 battery that is needed to reach that over 24 hour runtime, is 4.0Ah Lithium+
It’s just a bait and switch that gets on my nerves. “Here, buy this kit, a big portion of the price tag is the battery, but the battery can’t live up to the marketing wank we put on the box, you have to buy a completely different battery for the product to live up to that expectation. No, we won’t sell you the light without the battery you don’t want, that would be silly.”
Nathan
Yeah I’ll pass. I mean I like the idea and if I was already in ryobi tools it might appeal to me.
But, and I’ve not priced one, what is the cost of some other emergency light with backup battery kit. For camping I use something else. I would not mount that in my house anywhere other than the garage.
so there have to be other battery back up ideas.
Mike Giese
I have one as we do get power outages at times. Is nice to illuminate the basement while getting to other lights. I do have to say as a utility light I prefer the P780 as the top is covered and doesn’t shine in the eyes so easily. If I need a lot of light I grab the flood, P721. This one does a great job for what it’s intended to do, and yes it does have a Hi and Low setting.
Stacey
This is why I love Ryobi, tons of options on good tools that are both reliable and innovative at reasonable prices. The only thing that annoys me is that there is no bare tool option.
On a side note, I do wonder why some third party doesn’t develop a universal battery pack that could be dropped into a brand specific enclosure. They could easily take the battery business from these brands.
Stacey
Oh and perhaps more importantly, it would free you from brand lock-in.