June Update: We'll be removing the ranking list with future episodes, these dont rank like power tools do and once you have these specs and info you can make your own decision! We'll also be recording lumen output over the duration test so you can see it charted how much output it loses over the battery life. Battery capacity will be based on cell rating not the USB charger due to the circuit losses, thanks for pointing this out! But we'll still use it to see how much current it accepts and charge time. Working on the next episode now! We realize videos like this will have far less uggas and duggas than our others, but we hope you’ll support our continued effort to do more and more mechanic’s type tools now and in the future with series like these, either way Friday’s on this channel will always have plenty of ugga duggas. That we promise. Also, if we make any missteps on this very technical topic, apologies as there's no electrical engineers here. We stuck a light meter to some foam guys! Recommend good or terrible rechargeable lights below!
Just make ugga dugga sounds with your mouth while running tests if the impact guys get butthurt lol. Also I've been pretty impressed with the quantum lights from harbor freight
I think the foam ball idea is ingenious! And your test results seem to be 100% in sync with the lab results. I would probably have settled on flat white paint for the inside and called it a day.
When recording a discharge test, I'd recommend locking your camera's exposure so as the light gets dimmer, the camera won't try to compensate. Like, lock it to normal overhead lights, turn on testing lights so they are overexposed, then as they die the light will get dimmer and dimmer.
I worked in a light output lab for years, many companys use raw lumins in marketing. This is a calculation from the led manufacturers based on input power and number of leds. I used a sphere everyday and it and not many people are using actual lumens
I have a couple Olights and streamlights. Some weapon mount, some handheld. Olight is brighter, but Streamlight lasts longer. Battery and overall life of the light.
Will do, and for the DeWalt, Ryobi, Milwaukee ect if they fit we can test em. We're limited to about 3.25" diameter on the round part and 10" in length on the stick light hole. Modifying the sphere might influence future results.
@@TorqueTestChannel www.harborfreight.com/ultra-compact-750-lumen-rechargeable-magnetic-floodlight-57187.html this Braun is very similar to the snap-on light you guys tested here, but advertises 750 lumen. Would love to see you guys test it since I just bought it a little while ago haha!
I am liking my 3rd Braun from HF. The first two were glitchy and malfunctioned in less than 6 months of very light use on vehicle interiors only. After replacing it twice my third one I have put through the ringer and is functioning well.
I'm not really interested in torque power tools, although these light lumen tests are pretty fascinating. But honestly, regardless of my interest level in any particular video/topic you're covering, you guys deserve to be noticed and more popular than you are. In particular, you deserve to be applauded for your professionalism, the quality and thoroughness of your testing and work, and most importantly, your integrity and ethics -- if only there were more review channels out there like this one. I've watched a few videos, and been blown away by your videos. I only wish you guys tested a wider range of devices -- here's hoping you become successful enough to branch out, and I figured I'd try and do my part and help you guys out with the algorithm a bit. Best of luck.
Honestly my favorite new RUclips channel! It's interesting to see how brands are fudging their number (or being truthful), and how they all compare with eachother. Excellent work! Also the subtle humor is great!
A very long time ago my father told me every light company has their own weird ass system for measuring light and because of that, any lumen or candela number was utter horse shit. Even with their own product line you cant trust numbers to be representative. This applies to light bulbs and flashlights.
Did you guys list out the info on the sources & specs for your parts ? (foam sphere- Diam?, Which brand Brilliant wh paint, the BaSo4 powder, and lastly the HD-450 meter ? ) Would love to see that info, as a hobby tester.
Magnets are important! How many here have forgotten their stick light was still stuck under the car they just test drove? :) My HF stick light went on a 4 mile test drive with me attached to the frame of my truck. I didn't remember until I went out to get mail later that night and there was light glowing from under the truck.
CRI would be a good one to add to the tests. Even a subjective bad, OK or good. If you want to get fancy and actually measure it take a look at the Minolta CL-70F. Maybe do light weight divided by magnet pull for the magnet ranking. A heavier light needs a stronger magnet but shouldn't get a higher ranking because it has one.
Would love to see some “head lights” tested. So much easier to use, as where you are looking is always illuminated. I have a couple of Milwaukee’s that do pretty well. Would like to see some other brands. Great vid! Thank!!!
I have a coast xph34r that I use everyday and it is 10x brighter than any other I've used. It's almost as bright as my streamlight 2020. Both claim 2,000 lumens. Would like to see both tested here
I'd like to see my daily carry Olight M2R Pro Warrior. Been carrying it for almost a year and I live it and they advertise max 1800 and lowest advertised 1 single lumen
For magnet testing, have your scale set vertical, and tare out the scale with just the plate hanging. This eliminates downward pull of the plate (gravity) vs horizontal pull of the magnet by having the force going the same direction
I feel that the scoring and testing of products with replaceable standard batteries should be reconsidered. If you need a light for all day use and it has replaceable batteries like 18650 then you would get multiple batteries and switch out. While not free, they are not the same cost as a 5Ah tool battery.
It's awesome that you guys are branching out to bring us the real numbers that tools perform at. I always did the brightness test on lights by shining them in my eyes. If I turned my head away n saw a big white spot after then I knew it was pretty bright lol
Nice to see the 65SL performed well. I've been a big fan of Astro Tools, especially since following Eric @ SMA. I purchased the 65SL myself over a year ago, as well as several other tool offering from Astro, and I've been impressed with the quality for the price on pretty much everything.
I'd really love to see you guys test olight lights. I just got one of their lights and it is amazing they advertise 2500 lumans from there headlight/flashlight and I believe it.
You have to remember that there are always losses with charging. The extra mAh that are listed are most likely losses as heat. And it's way better to charge those small cells slow. Fast charging ALWAYS damages the cells it the long term (like 1-2 years)
Oh man, this series is exciting. I've been a huge flashlight geek for a long time, and I'm really looking forward to a competent reviewer taking a look at more work oriented lights. There are a lot of great flashlight reviewers out there (I particularly like ZeroAir and 1Lumen, and there's a lot of great information on r/flashlight) but they mostly focus on enthusiast lights, which I love, but I'm excited to see a different perspective. While I appreciate having more data available, I'm not sure how useful focusing on honesty is for the rankings. Every established flashlight brand I've seen uses the same FL1 testing standard for the claimed numbers, and straight up lying about the 30 second lumen level is rare in my experience (not counting sketchy no-name stuff on Amazon, obviously). The most misleading thing about specs is usually the output over a long period. Most brands will say something like "1000 lumens for 3 hours" or something, which in reality means 1000 lm for 10 minutes and then 300 lm for the remaining time. It might be too time consuming to be worth it, but if possible having a output graph for the whole runtime would be very useful.
I carried an S2R2 as well! I loved that light but sold it to a friend because he wouldn't stop bothering me about it... So now I'm carrying a Olight Warrior Mini 2 and I have to say I think I might like it a little better. There's pros and cons to each but I'm really enjoying this one as well.
Flashlights are my thing. I cannot tell you how incredibly hyped I am for this. I WISH I still had my Pro Seeker 2 from o'light so I could send it in. My favorite flashlight I've ever bought.
I have the Seeker 2 Pro. Great light. Check out the ThruNite T2, it competes with the Seeker 2 Pro, cost much less, just as bright, wider flood, comes in natural and white light, has a 21700 battery, usb-c charging port built in to the light, and is more compact. It's an incredible light for the price. I really love my Seeker 2 Pro, but the ThruNite T2 is incredible, especially being that it cost almost half as much.
My favorite light is the nebo inspector RC. I got mine for 20 bucks and I carry it daily. After 3 years it has never let me down and it shines brighter and farther than any full size flashlight I have gotten my hands on. I would be ecstatic to see you run one through your test rig. Thanks for the awesome vids as always. Cheers.
I've got an embarrassing number of Olights. If any of their offerings catch your eye, there's a good chance I have a variation. I'd be happy to lend one out.
Could you also show what accessories the lights come with. Some don’t come with charging bricks or cables. If you buy a light and it doesn’t come with a way to charge it that’s a negative for me.
This was the first video of yours that I watched and I gotta say the quality is top notch. You have a fun, intelligent, instructional execution with everything you do. And you answer the questions I thought only I had. I'm gonna go start from the beginning il catch up soon haha
You guys add smart enough to come up emergency a scale for most anytime. Twist values for srewdrivers, grip pressure for pliers etc. Imma keep watching, liking and commenting.
seems like every mechanic that has a "tool addiction" has a stack of flashlights so this series is going to be a big hit. You boys (and or girls who knows, you're a disembodied set of arms) are on the right track
In the context of a mechanic, I'm not sure the color spectrum is that important since the human eye is remarkably good at adjusting to different light sources. That said, as a photographer I can tell you that color spectrum is very important for a camera to be able to capture images or video correctly. If you ever have to take a photograph or capture video for a client or yourself, you will most likely benefit greatly from a high CRI full spectrum light source. If you're making a new investment in lights why not look at all aspects at once, Cheap low CRI light sources tend to have missing or peaking wavelengths of light which causes colors to be reproduced poorly. If you use a prism to view the component colors of most artificial light sources, you will almost certainly see large gaps instead of a smooth transition between the colors. It's why florescent lights look green when captured on camera. CRI is also not the only important factor as tungsten lights have a CRI of 100 (the highest possible rating) but still appear yellow because they don't have enough blue to accurately reproduce colors. I don't want to make any assumptions about what Alexey was trying to ask for since it's very possible he was talking about something other than light spectrum like color temperature or CRI. My personal preference for any light source is as close to daylight (5000-6000K) with a CRI rating above 90%. I find warm light (2800-4000k tungsten or halogen equivalent) sources to be distracting and even find the output to appear more dim than an equivalent daylight light source since it lacks blue wavelengths and all of the colors are biased towards orange/yellow giving the appearance of a more dimly lit area. My advise from having purchased cheap led bulbs for home use that claimed a color temperature above 6000k is to also stay away from them because, from experience, people will certainly complain about the color. They we're even too blue/violet for me and I had to mix them in with warm white lights to be able to use them. Before getting into photography, I did automotive touch-up and I can tell you first-hand how incredibly important lighting is to accurately matching paint. Once again, in context, I doubt that really applies to flash lights but light sources in general. I would have never tried to match paint by using a flashlight. I would personally think a light's strength and spread are far more important to mechanics than light spectrum. I find it very distracting to have a narrow focused light source for most applications with automotive work. With the exception of inspecting tight spaces or cavities, I generally want a light that will illuminate a larger area so my eyes don't have to struggle so much with the high contrast between highlights and shadows.
@@tombryant4518 you can also make one with the webcam and a diffraction grading it's easy look it up has to be a webcam without an IR filter on it though
I’m gonna be a snob here, and don’t get me wrong, Olight makes a decent light and I own a few, but their tints are awful and not something I would use for work. They are a stash in a bag for an emergency or walk the dog light.
I'm loving all this new testing! I'm really interested to see the cheap imitation lights against the big brands. Astro continues to perform very well, also!
I’ve been seeing a lot of controversy about torque wrench accuracy. Can you test cheap vs. expensive? Harbor Freight up to Snap-on or Mac, or Matco. I don’t trust any opinion except your channels. Your immutable honesty means a lot to many people.
Very well done. I’m not sure anyone else could get as scientific with their comparisons outside of a pro level lab environment. Great expansion lately into lights and air hammers.
As a DIY mechanic, and a CNC machinist, I only buy Olights. And the most pocket friendly, none of those weapon lights. They all have magnetic tail caps. My daily carry is a 1200lm Baton 3, while at work I have a 2000lm Baton Pro. And yes, any of the notable Flashlight brands are honest. One time the light went out inside the a CNC machine I was setting up, so I just stuck my flashlight inside.
Great channel, I just subscribed. As a mechanic, highly relevant info. About this video, if you buy a light that uses 18650 lithium cells, those batteries are readily and cheaply available, so the charge time is irrelevant, just swap batteries. Also true of any work light made to be compatible with the cordless tools you own, just swap battery packs.
My favorite shop light is the Bosch 12v FL12, not just for lumens but it just works, durable (drove over them on accident twice) replaceable lenses, and actually work well in the many difference positions.
Just a little note in regards to the tool used to measure the battery capacity. There is energy lost to heat when charging a battery, so the reason that the lights seemed to go over advertised capacity is likely do to parasitic loss.
Great channel. Always interesting and helpful content. Really like the way you have been expanding into new territory like the light tests and the air hammers. Keep up the good work.
There is a Coast 7HP light which I like using. They have a kit which comes with two rechargeable batteries, and a replacement battery pack which is not rechargeable but takes 4 standard AAA batteries. This is good because you get an AC charger in the kit as well as 2 rechargeable batteries and the backup AAA just in case. It would be nice to see you test it out. Thanks.
Nice Sphere! Love how you can test drop light styles like the Astro. Look forward to seeing more tests. Note: Any lights that have ANSI FL-1 ratings on them are going to be pretty close to advertised because they have been batch tested using said standard.
The Milwaukee M12 service light 2367 is the best light I have ever used for working on vehicles. Told my buddy about it and he went out and bought one and concluded the same thing immediately.
Nice work guys! Setting up an awesome test rig (for a fraction of the cost) and sending out the lights for data to compare to your rig! Brilliant. I guess I finally need to subscribe.
Great video To coat the sphere i would put a bit of paint in, close it and rotate it evenly using some kind of contraption with motors (a few rollers should do). Experiment with different beginning fill levels or overfill, rotate, remove excess and rotate again. When the paint is solid fill it 1/4 with fine sand and rotate again until smooth.
I personally love my streamlight microstream. They make two kinds and I’ve had both (lost my first one). One has the high mode as default and the other has low as default. For me it’s a great EDC light because it’s tiny, but it packs a big punch. It’s slow to charge, and the battery doesn’t last super long on high mode, so I’d be interested to see y’all test it to see what the numbers are.
TBH, I'm not that interested in getting a charger with every device, they'll always be as crappy as possible. Even getting a cable is almost unnecessary. Half the time I dread it, as it may mean that they use some unique or just rare type.
One useful metric that's missing is the spectrum of light output. Often for inspection lights, a broad spectrum light can really make a difference, making it easier to distinguish colors or fine details (e.g. wire colors, wear patterns).
I find it interesting that the test jig is designed on trying to get a uniform-ish reflectivity of all the light produced, and that reflective light is what makes its way to the light meter. I'd assume reflectivity could vary with the spectrum of light produced. Is there a reason you didn't build a more linear test chamber painted on the inside with something like Musou Black? Then you could aim a flashlight directly at a light meter. It would be a different kind of measurement, but could give an interesting additional piece of information such as "in a perfectly dark infinite space with no reflective surfaces around, how well can you illuminate that raccoon in your garbage can at 12 ft away". Love the videos! Keep it up!
Test the nebo rebel headlamp. Best headlamp I’ve ever used and I own several headlamps well over $100. Including many olight, stream light, and others. I own two of them and I use them both eight hours each day and then recharge each one. been using them both for over two years. No issues whatsoever. On the lower setting it’s still got plenty of brightness for any task, and will last a full eight hours constantly on.
Nice to see a test scenario that more closely resembles real life working conditions. I would recommend a series of drop tests as well, since that's where almost all my high-dollar lights have failed at work. It sucks when the glass lens on that $130 light breaks on a 4-ft fall or when the solder joints or switch contacts on a $50 explosion proof flashlight fail after a few drops. Flashlight enthusiasts are generally not concerned with how well the lights work in real life (or they wouldn't always be looking for the most lumens). I've spent a lot on flashlights for work and been both impressed and disgusted at the same time. My latest experience is with the "lifetime warranty" on a $50 Pelican work light which failed, then cost me over $20 in return shipping and warranty fees, and which I've been waiting almost three months to receive the replacement. Work lights definitely feel like the biggest money pit in my tool bag.
I actually think that streamlight has the best advantage even with a slow charge time, because the battery is removable, you could - I'm sure - buy additional batteries and still use the tool while charging other batteries, where as the other lights are out of operation the whole time they're charging.
Love this channel :-) would be interesting to see the kelvin temperature of the lights as well, at work we changed the the building lights from Fluro's to led looks great when you walk around but the operators who work in the building complained they cant read there log sheets in the building. They had to go outside to see the log sheets because they looked blurry ?
Good thing about the Streamlight is you can buy another battery for it and just swap them out when it dies. Have one charging while using the other one. It would be pretty cool to see a video on headlamps. I use a Milwaukee one at work with a removable rechargeable battery, a lot of the guys use streamlight lamps.
Something to consider also, lights that use replaceable, rechargeable batteries have an advantage on a jobsite, as a light with 4 hr battery life can use one battery in the morning, and another in the afternoon, then both can fully recharge overnight. Lights with internal batteries run out of juice and cannot be used thereafter, until the next day.
I'm in! I use the headlight from Costco (3 pack Coast brand - they now carry a Duracell-branded light). I love my Coasts. I also use a Caterpillar-branded flood light and a Duracell-branded hand light. Why were you worried about charge time? Plug your damn tools in when you go home and they're fully charged for the next day! Sheesh.
Definitely beyond a "5th-grade science project" -- you built a very respectable integrating sphere for pennies, certainly good enough for home projects.
I didn't want to watch this video because I didn't want to be mad at you for doing a terrible job. Then you break out the barium sulfate... bravo boys, bravo. (photo science background)
Outstanding!!! hey, to get around having to multiple lights when one is charging, I got an Astro 80SL light with the quick swap battery charger. You should test that along with the Capri wand light. Thanks for branching out to testing lights
I always look for reviews on YT of items im about to purchase. I will definitely check this channel out before my next flashlight purchase. I've owned so many and have had many winners and losers. You will help me purchase only the best ones. Thanks.
Thanks, this really helped me. I do think that when "sellers" label them they did pretty much what I did. Convert lux to lumen in an open and maybe dark area. This is clearly how they got the 100k numbers or what ever. Thanks again!
Fast charging, while obviously handy, can also reduce cell life. One of the big advantages of using a light with (easily) removable standard cells like the 18650 is that you can just swap a new one in. Boom, 60 second swap and back in business.
The Milwaukee 2113-21 flashlight! I use it everyday all day and just can't say enough good things about it. With the additional charger and battery I am never without it. Also, best of luck with the channels. Love what you are doing here. Keep it coming!
I have the dr. Prepare light you spoke of in the beginning. I’m a lightaholic and it is just as nice as the Astro one everyone knows about. The ONLY downside is the battery life isn’t long lasting. It needs recharged after about 4hrs on the highest mode. I own a Cornwell branded Astro btw
I bought a portable work light, based on the fact that it could take AA cells for emergency use, while charging the 18650 cells...works great, and you can use rechargeable AA cells, too, so you can swap out AAs, or even keep a couple of 18650s on hand...
Might be worth adding some extra coats to eliminate light leakage and using a proper thick card coated in barium sulfate to cover all holes. I wish I knew the best technique for getting that stuff down on a surface, but iirc, some other folks had excellent results using it alone as the pigment in paint. Your paint additive and sand technique is probably fine, though. (I forgot exactly how they did it or I'd just say! It mostly involved ultrasonic-ing the mix to mix it super well for something crazy like a couple hours. Don't remember at all what the base was.) For the duration test, would it be possible to have the camera stay in the same iso and exposure the whole time, and then cut the videos side-by-side? It'll give a great indication of any dimming over time in addition to the duration. For the magnet test, would it be useful to test a thin plate, like if you were trying to attach it to sheet metal? What about like a nail/screw head? I don't know how often others do stupid crap like I do, but it's nice when you know you can mount something about anywhere metal! (especially as composite and non-magnetic metals/materials become more and more common, it's nice to know if all you got is some stupid cast iron latch part to anchor to, it'll still stay put!)
If looking for a pure white pigment, barium sulfate isn't what you want. Titanium dioxide is pure white. It's used as part of the Federal Standard 595 paint specification and is called out for manufacturing pure un-tinted white paint. I built an integrated sphere about 8 years ago when all of these LED flash lights became the rage. Within the same manufacturers light offering, the LED binning popped up as the lumen/lux rating on a bin changed from day to day.
I use the Protac 2XL with the 18650 battery. For intermittent use throughout the day, it’s awesome. I just let it charge overnight in my work truck when it needs it. For a shop light, I use a Snap-On light that claims 1000 lumens. It’s pretty darn bright. It lasts a couple hours at 50%.
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June Update: We'll be removing the ranking list with future episodes, these dont rank like power tools do and once you have these specs and info you can make your own decision! We'll also be recording lumen output over the duration test so you can see it charted how much output it loses over the battery life. Battery capacity will be based on cell rating not the USB charger due to the circuit losses, thanks for pointing this out! But we'll still use it to see how much current it accepts and charge time. Working on the next episode now!
We realize videos like this will have far less uggas and duggas than our others, but we hope you’ll support our continued effort to do more and more mechanic’s type tools now and in the future with series like these, either way Friday’s on this channel will always have plenty of ugga duggas. That we promise. Also, if we make any missteps on this very technical topic, apologies as there's no electrical engineers here. We stuck a light meter to some foam guys! Recommend good or terrible rechargeable lights below!
This channel keeps getting better and better keep up the great work Torque Test Channel
Just make ugga dugga sounds with your mouth while running tests if the impact guys get butthurt lol. Also I've been pretty impressed with the quantum lights from harbor freight
I think the foam ball idea is ingenious! And your test results seem to be 100% in sync with the lab results.
I would probably have settled on flat white paint for the inside and called it a day.
This was an excellent video. Brilliantly done.
Question Everything! And trust nothing!
When recording a discharge test, I'd recommend locking your camera's exposure so as the light gets dimmer, the camera won't try to compensate. Like, lock it to normal overhead lights, turn on testing lights so they are overexposed, then as they die the light will get dimmer and dimmer.
I worked in a light output lab for years, many companys use raw lumins in marketing. This is a calculation from the led manufacturers based on input power and number of leds. I used a sphere everyday and it and not many people are using actual lumens
Olight vs streamlight. Flashlights, or weapon lights your choice. Ton of possibilities with that rig. Great job.
And for a weekend mechanic, the magnetic tail cap if amazing!
I have a couple Olights and streamlights. Some weapon mount, some handheld. Olight is brighter, but Streamlight lasts longer. Battery and overall life of the light.
this is becoming one of my most favorite channels on youtube, no nonsense, no bullshit ads, on point content!
This and projectfarm
@@teaganroehl and AvE
Test the Braun from HF also like the lamps from ryobi and dewalt
Will do, and for the DeWalt, Ryobi, Milwaukee ect if they fit we can test em. We're limited to about 3.25" diameter on the round part and 10" in length on the stick light hole. Modifying the sphere might influence future results.
@@TorqueTestChannel www.harborfreight.com/ultra-compact-750-lumen-rechargeable-magnetic-floodlight-57187.html this Braun is very similar to the snap-on light you guys tested here, but advertises 750 lumen. Would love to see you guys test it since I just bought it a little while ago haha!
I am liking my 3rd Braun from HF. The first two were glitchy and malfunctioned in less than 6 months of very light use on vehicle interiors only. After replacing it twice my third one I have put through the ringer and is functioning well.
@@TorqueTestChannel it would be cool if in the future you built a bigger testing rig for work lights, especially the ones that accept tool batteries.
You need to use separate spheres, clearly the snap on loosened it up for the other lights
Headlights need this honesty testing done to them!
Like hooked up to a 12V car battery, no headlamp lens - just pure lumen output? We can take suggestions here.
@@TorqueTestChannel Yes, I think that would give the best results without having to test every model of vehicle lense!
@@TorqueTestChannel Be careful if you try that. You don't want to melt the foam testing dome!
Someone already has a channel specific to headlights
@@TorqueTestChannel regulate the voltage to either 12.8 or 13.4. Lo and high beam separately.
Nice how you're developing the channel. Humor really works. Nice work.
I'm not really interested in torque power tools, although these light lumen tests are pretty fascinating. But honestly, regardless of my interest level in any particular video/topic you're covering, you guys deserve to be noticed and more popular than you are. In particular, you deserve to be applauded for your professionalism, the quality and thoroughness of your testing and work, and most importantly, your integrity and ethics -- if only there were more review channels out there like this one. I've watched a few videos, and been blown away by your videos. I only wish you guys tested a wider range of devices -- here's hoping you become successful enough to branch out, and I figured I'd try and do my part and help you guys out with the algorithm a bit. Best of luck.
Hey really appreciate it! We're always working on new testing set-ups.
Wow! This is going to be AMAZING! I love flashlights 😊
I use a olight flashlight in our shop. It's more bright than any other in the shop. You should try one of those lights.
Honestly my favorite new RUclips channel! It's interesting to see how brands are fudging their number (or being truthful), and how they all compare with eachother. Excellent work!
Also the subtle humor is great!
A very long time ago my father told me every light company has their own weird ass system for measuring light and because of that, any lumen or candela number was utter horse shit. Even with their own product line you cant trust numbers to be representative. This applies to light bulbs and flashlights.
Did you guys list out the info on the sources & specs for your parts ?
(foam sphere- Diam?, Which brand Brilliant wh paint, the BaSo4 powder, and lastly the HD-450 meter ? )
Would love to see that info, as a hobby tester.
Magnets are important! How many here have forgotten their stick light was still stuck under the car they just test drove? :) My HF stick light went on a 4 mile test drive with me attached to the frame of my truck. I didn't remember until I went out to get mail later that night and there was light glowing from under the truck.
Left my $150 Snap On light stuck underneath a customer's car the other day. May still be there. I'll probably never know.
@srry next oil change guy will hit a jackpot. I recently inherited a 300ft lb Snapon Torque wrench. I wasn't gonna let the daughters get that.
Ran the astro 65sl for years, loved that light, until my apprentice ran it over. Still works though just a bit crocked 🤣
CRI would be a good one to add to the tests. Even a subjective bad, OK or good. If you want to get fancy and actually measure it take a look at the Minolta CL-70F.
Maybe do light weight divided by magnet pull for the magnet ranking. A heavier light needs a stronger magnet but shouldn't get a higher ranking because it has one.
Would love to see some “head lights” tested. So much easier to use, as where you are looking is always illuminated. I have a couple of Milwaukee’s that do pretty well. Would like to see some other brands. Great vid! Thank!!!
Stream light is good but pricey
I have a coast xph34r that I use everyday and it is 10x brighter than any other I've used. It's almost as bright as my streamlight 2020. Both claim 2,000 lumens. Would like to see both tested here
I'd like to see my daily carry Olight M2R Pro Warrior. Been carrying it for almost a year and I live it and they advertise max 1800 and lowest advertised 1 single lumen
What do you use it for? I bought a while ago and never used it.
@@noah2765 I daily carry it, I use it a lot at work. Walking my dog in my yard at night, etc
It has been tested by others at over 2000 at turn on or 1900 ANSI on turbo
For magnet testing, have your scale set vertical, and tare out the scale with just the plate hanging. This eliminates downward pull of the plate (gravity) vs horizontal pull of the magnet by having the force going the same direction
I feel that the scoring and testing of products with replaceable standard batteries should be reconsidered. If you need a light for all day use and it has replaceable batteries like 18650 then you would get multiple batteries and switch out.
While not free, they are not the same cost as a 5Ah tool battery.
Esp if they are USB rechargeable Li-ON ones. Just too easy not to swap in a new battery and plug the dead one to a USB and let it charge.
It's awesome that you guys are branching out to bring us the real numbers that tools perform at. I always did the brightness test on lights by shining them in my eyes. If I turned my head away n saw a big white spot after then I knew it was pretty bright lol
Distance and exposure time and that becomes scientific
Holy... the ingenuity you guys have to come up with these test is amazing. No wonder your channel is blowing up
Would love to see how some Olights compare. Been using their lights a lot and they seem really good. Plus a lot of them charge at 2.5A (supposedly).
Nice to see the 65SL performed well. I've been a big fan of Astro Tools, especially since following Eric @ SMA. I purchased the 65SL myself over a year ago, as well as several other tool offering from Astro, and I've been impressed with the quality for the price on pretty much everything.
I'd really love to see you guys test olight lights. I just got one of their lights and it is amazing they advertise 2500 lumans from there headlight/flashlight and I believe it.
I love the sense of humor 😂😂😂
How is this new channel one of the absolute best of its kind on RUclips? The guys who make these videos must be brilliant.
You have to remember that there are always losses with charging.
The extra mAh that are listed are most likely losses as heat.
And it's way better to charge those small cells slow.
Fast charging ALWAYS damages the cells it the long term (like 1-2 years)
Oh man, this series is exciting. I've been a huge flashlight geek for a long time, and I'm really looking forward to a competent reviewer taking a look at more work oriented lights. There are a lot of great flashlight reviewers out there (I particularly like ZeroAir and 1Lumen, and there's a lot of great information on r/flashlight) but they mostly focus on enthusiast lights, which I love, but I'm excited to see a different perspective.
While I appreciate having more data available, I'm not sure how useful focusing on honesty is for the rankings. Every established flashlight brand I've seen uses the same FL1 testing standard for the claimed numbers, and straight up lying about the 30 second lumen level is rare in my experience (not counting sketchy no-name stuff on Amazon, obviously). The most misleading thing about specs is usually the output over a long period. Most brands will say something like "1000 lumens for 3 hours" or something, which in reality means 1000 lm for 10 minutes and then 300 lm for the remaining time. It might be too time consuming to be worth it, but if possible having a output graph for the whole runtime would be very useful.
Why did I read that "420 bro" in a Matthew McConaughey voice? Lol
1:37 OKAY!
Alright Alright Alright
I don't know why but that little 420 bro made me laugh out loud for about 6 seconds
I'd love to see the OLight S2RBatonII tested. I daily carry it, I like it but am curious if the lumen claims are true.
Me too!! I hope the lumen claims are true, it’s such a bad ass little light.
I've been carrying OLights for years; currently have the Perun in my EDC. Such great lights...
in before the olight bashers show up.
Warrior Mini and M2R Pro would be awesome to see. Curious how many lumens they actually produce
I carried an S2R2 as well! I loved that light but sold it to a friend because he wouldn't stop bothering me about it... So now I'm carrying a Olight Warrior Mini 2 and I have to say I think I might like it a little better. There's pros and cons to each but I'm really enjoying this one as well.
Please do some Fenix flashlight tests!
Flashlights are my thing. I cannot tell you how incredibly hyped I am for this.
I WISH I still had my Pro Seeker 2 from o'light so I could send it in. My favorite flashlight I've ever bought.
I have the Seeker 2 Pro. Great light. Check out the ThruNite T2, it competes with the Seeker 2 Pro, cost much less, just as bright, wider flood, comes in natural and white light, has a 21700 battery, usb-c charging port built in to the light, and is more compact. It's an incredible light for the price.
I really love my Seeker 2 Pro, but the ThruNite T2 is incredible, especially being that it cost almost half as much.
I'm kind of obsessed with lights but not enough to do this level of work, really awesome stuff.
My favorite light is the nebo inspector RC. I got mine for 20 bucks and I carry it daily. After 3 years it has never let me down and it shines brighter and farther than any full size flashlight I have gotten my hands on. I would be ecstatic to see you run one through your test rig. Thanks for the awesome vids as always. Cheers.
I've got an embarrassing number of Olights. If any of their offerings catch your eye, there's a good chance I have a variation. I'd be happy to lend one out.
The OLight M2R Pro Warrior seems to be what everyone is mentioning if you got one, or another suggestion - hit us up! Torquetestchannel@gmail.com
@@TorqueTestChannel I've got serial number 1445 in blue. Email inbound.
Could you also show what accessories the lights come with. Some don’t come with charging bricks or cables. If you buy a light and it doesn’t come with a way to charge it that’s a negative for me.
Agreed! We'll get more into it in future episodes
Most of em now are a basic usb cord like your phone or any other small device
So glad to see this video! Perfect expansion of you subject matter and much needed. It is so hard to choose a flashlight online.
This was the first video of yours that I watched and I gotta say the quality is top notch. You have a fun, intelligent, instructional execution with everything you do. And you answer the questions I thought only I had. I'm gonna go start from the beginning il catch up soon haha
You guys add smart enough to come up emergency a scale for most anytime. Twist values for srewdrivers, grip pressure for pliers etc. Imma keep watching, liking and commenting.
seems like every mechanic that has a "tool addiction" has a stack of flashlights so this series is going to be a big hit. You boys (and or girls who knows, you're a disembodied set of arms) are on the right track
light spectrum is very important. I don't know is it possible to make a cheap rig to test it, probably some filters before lux meter.
Yeah maybe if these were for growing plants. Otherwise why would it matter?
In the context of a mechanic, I'm not sure the color spectrum is that important since the human eye is remarkably good at adjusting to different light sources. That said, as a photographer I can tell you that color spectrum is very important for a camera to be able to capture images or video correctly. If you ever have to take a photograph or capture video for a client or yourself, you will most likely benefit greatly from a high CRI full spectrum light source. If you're making a new investment in lights why not look at all aspects at once,
Cheap low CRI light sources tend to have missing or peaking wavelengths of light which causes colors to be reproduced poorly. If you use a prism to view the component colors of most artificial light sources, you will almost certainly see large gaps instead of a smooth transition between the colors. It's why florescent lights look green when captured on camera.
CRI is also not the only important factor as tungsten lights have a CRI of 100 (the highest possible rating) but still appear yellow because they don't have enough blue to accurately reproduce colors.
I don't want to make any assumptions about what Alexey was trying to ask for since it's very possible he was talking about something other than light spectrum like color temperature or CRI.
My personal preference for any light source is as close to daylight (5000-6000K) with a CRI rating above 90%.
I find warm light (2800-4000k tungsten or halogen equivalent) sources to be distracting and even find the output to appear more dim than an equivalent daylight light source since it lacks blue wavelengths and all of the colors are biased towards orange/yellow giving the appearance of a more dimly lit area.
My advise from having purchased cheap led bulbs for home use that claimed a color temperature above 6000k is to also stay away from them because, from experience, people will certainly complain about the color. They we're even too blue/violet for me and I had to mix them in with warm white lights to be able to use them.
Before getting into photography, I did automotive touch-up and I can tell you first-hand how incredibly important lighting is to accurately matching paint. Once again, in context, I doubt that really applies to flash lights but light sources in general. I would have never tried to match paint by using a flashlight.
I would personally think a light's strength and spread are far more important to mechanics than light spectrum. I find it very distracting to have a narrow focused light source for most applications with automotive work. With the exception of inspecting tight spaces or cavities, I generally want a light that will illuminate a larger area so my eyes don't have to struggle so much with the high contrast between highlights and shadows.
Lumens are for humans, and all they’d have to do to measure the different spectrums is buy a spectrum tester for about $700.00.
@@tombryant4518 you can also make one with the webcam and a diffraction grading it's easy look it up has to be a webcam without an IR filter on it though
@@mqe73M I’m not a tech guy at all, but I’m a plant guy. If it’s that easy, why is it not used at all in the horticulture world?
Hopefully you guys will test Olight's for all this data to please.
I’m gonna be a snob here, and don’t get me wrong, Olight makes a decent light and I own a few, but their tints are awful and not something I would use for work. They are a stash in a bag for an emergency or walk the dog light.
I'm loving all this new testing! I'm really interested to see the cheap imitation lights against the big brands. Astro continues to perform very well, also!
I’ve been seeing a lot of controversy about torque wrench accuracy. Can you test cheap vs. expensive? Harbor Freight up to Snap-on or Mac, or Matco. I don’t trust any opinion except your channels. Your immutable honesty means a lot to many people.
You guys are starting to step out, I like it. I think some transparency in comparison of all the different manufacturers/products is a great idea.
Very well done. I’m not sure anyone else could get as scientific with their comparisons outside of a pro level lab environment. Great expansion lately into lights and air hammers.
I work as a weld inspector and my favorite light is a Wuben L-50 from Amazon. 1200 Lumen rechargeable 18650 battery. Good size and tail cap switch
As a DIY mechanic, and a CNC machinist, I only buy Olights. And the most pocket friendly, none of those weapon lights. They all have magnetic tail caps. My daily carry is a 1200lm Baton 3, while at work I have a 2000lm Baton Pro. And yes, any of the notable Flashlight brands are honest. One time the light went out inside the a CNC machine I was setting up, so I just stuck my flashlight inside.
Great channel, I just subscribed. As a mechanic, highly relevant info. About this video, if you buy a light that uses 18650 lithium cells, those batteries are readily and cheaply available, so the charge time is irrelevant, just swap batteries. Also true of any work light made to be compatible with the cordless tools you own, just swap battery packs.
Great idea. Can you do power tool lights also? I do trade work and often use my ryobi or Milwaukee power tool lights for wide area light.
My favorite shop light is the Bosch 12v FL12, not just for lumens but it just works, durable (drove over them on accident twice) replaceable lenses, and actually work well in the many difference positions.
Can you rate flesh lights too?
*disappears for 3 months of dedicated testing*
Just a little note in regards to the tool used to measure the battery capacity. There is energy lost to heat when charging a battery, so the reason that the lights seemed to go over advertised capacity is likely do to parasitic loss.
I use that exact snapon light every single day, it's my favorite portable work light I've owned.
you guys are just gonna crush the dreams of every piece of equipment in the shop aren't you
This channel just keeps getting better. Love it guys.
Great channel. Always interesting and helpful content. Really like the way you have been expanding into new territory like the light tests and the air hammers. Keep up the good work.
Fantastic addition to your testing. Much respect for your methodology.
There is a Coast 7HP light which I like using. They have a kit which comes with two rechargeable batteries, and a replacement battery pack which is not rechargeable but takes 4 standard AAA batteries. This is good because you get an AC charger in the kit as well as 2 rechargeable batteries and the backup AAA just in case. It would be nice to see you test it out. Thanks.
Nice Sphere! Love how you can test drop light styles like the Astro. Look forward to seeing more tests.
Note: Any lights that have ANSI FL-1 ratings on them are going to be pretty close to advertised because they have been batch tested using said standard.
Another upload from the most under rated tool channel on RUclips.
The Milwaukee M12 service light 2367 is the best light I have ever used for working on vehicles. Told my buddy about it and he went out and bought one and concluded the same thing immediately.
Nice work guys! Setting up an awesome test rig (for a fraction of the cost) and sending out the lights for data to compare to your rig! Brilliant. I guess I finally need to subscribe.
Great video
To coat the sphere i would put a bit of paint in, close it and rotate it evenly using some kind of contraption with motors (a few rollers should do). Experiment with different beginning fill levels or overfill, rotate, remove excess and rotate again.
When the paint is solid fill it 1/4 with fine sand and rotate again until smooth.
Any way to do black lights for ac dye finding?
I personally love my streamlight microstream. They make two kinds and I’ve had both (lost my first one). One has the high mode as default and the other has low as default. For me it’s a great EDC light because it’s tiny, but it packs a big punch. It’s slow to charge, and the battery doesn’t last super long on high mode, so I’d be interested to see y’all test it to see what the numbers are.
Agreed I've loved both of my Microstreams.
This channel keeps getting better and better!
I love this content. It brings me joy to see products being tested. Your data point are useful.
This was a very enlightening episode. You guy's are very bright.
TBH, I'm not that interested in getting a charger with every device, they'll always be as crappy as possible.
Even getting a cable is almost unnecessary. Half the time I dread it, as it may mean that they use some unique or just rare type.
One useful metric that's missing is the spectrum of light output. Often for inspection lights, a broad spectrum light can really make a difference, making it easier to distinguish colors or fine details (e.g. wire colors, wear patterns).
I find it interesting that the test jig is designed on trying to get a uniform-ish reflectivity of all the light produced, and that reflective light is what makes its way to the light meter. I'd assume reflectivity could vary with the spectrum of light produced. Is there a reason you didn't build a more linear test chamber painted on the inside with something like Musou Black? Then you could aim a flashlight directly at a light meter. It would be a different kind of measurement, but could give an interesting additional piece of information such as "in a perfectly dark infinite space with no reflective surfaces around, how well can you illuminate that raccoon in your garbage can at 12 ft away".
Love the videos! Keep it up!
Test the nebo rebel headlamp. Best headlamp I’ve ever used and I own several headlamps well over $100. Including many olight, stream light, and others. I own two of them and I use them both eight hours each day and then recharge each one.
been using them both for over two years. No issues whatsoever. On the lower setting it’s still got plenty of brightness for any task, and will last a full eight hours constantly on.
Nice to see a test scenario that more closely resembles real life working conditions. I would recommend a series of drop tests as well, since that's where almost all my high-dollar lights have failed at work. It sucks when the glass lens on that $130 light breaks on a 4-ft fall or when the solder joints or switch contacts on a $50 explosion proof flashlight fail after a few drops. Flashlight enthusiasts are generally not concerned with how well the lights work in real life (or they wouldn't always be looking for the most lumens). I've spent a lot on flashlights for work and been both impressed and disgusted at the same time. My latest experience is with the "lifetime warranty" on a $50 Pelican work light which failed, then cost me over $20 in return shipping and warranty fees, and which I've been waiting almost three months to receive the replacement. Work lights definitely feel like the biggest money pit in my tool bag.
I actually think that streamlight has the best advantage even with a slow charge time, because the battery is removable, you could - I'm sure - buy additional batteries and still use the tool while charging other batteries, where as the other lights are out of operation the whole time they're charging.
Great idea. I waste so much money on crappy work lights. Looking forward to more.
Love this channel :-) would be interesting to see the kelvin temperature of the lights as well, at work we changed the the building lights from Fluro's to led looks great when you walk around but the operators who work in the building complained they cant read there log sheets in the building. They had to go outside to see the log sheets because they looked blurry ?
Good thing about the Streamlight is you can buy another battery for it and just swap them out when it dies. Have one charging while using the other one. It would be pretty cool to see a video on headlamps. I use a Milwaukee one at work with a removable rechargeable battery, a lot of the guys use streamlight lamps.
Had the astro 650 SL for like a month. Freaken loved it. Worked great until I crushed it with a liftgate.... definitely worth the money.
Something to consider also, lights that use replaceable, rechargeable batteries have an advantage on a jobsite, as a light with 4 hr battery life can use one battery in the morning, and another in the afternoon, then both can fully recharge overnight.
Lights with internal batteries run out of juice and cannot be used thereafter, until the next day.
I'm in! I use the headlight from Costco (3 pack Coast brand - they now carry a Duracell-branded light). I love my Coasts. I also use a Caterpillar-branded flood light and a Duracell-branded hand light. Why were you worried about charge time? Plug your damn tools in when you go home and they're fully charged for the next day! Sheesh.
Hey i love your content, I am actually really glad you are branching out to doing other things. Keep up the good work!
Definitely beyond a "5th-grade science project" -- you built a very respectable integrating sphere for pennies, certainly good enough for home projects.
You have a awesome channel. The time thought and dedication is crazy.
I didn't want to watch this video because I didn't want to be mad at you for doing a terrible job. Then you break out the barium sulfate... bravo boys, bravo. (photo science background)
The Snap On ECARD series of stick/ inspection lights. Preferably the ECARD062. I have 2 and love them
Outstanding!!! hey, to get around having to multiple lights when one is charging, I got an Astro 80SL light with the quick swap battery charger. You should test that along with the Capri wand light. Thanks for branching out to testing lights
I always look for reviews on YT of items im about to purchase. I will definitely check this channel out before my next flashlight purchase. I've owned so many and have had many winners and losers. You will help me purchase only the best ones. Thanks.
Thanks, this really helped me.
I do think that when "sellers" label them they did pretty much what I did. Convert lux to lumen in an open and maybe dark area. This is clearly how they got the 100k numbers or what ever.
Thanks again!
You absolutely killed it with this video!
Thank you I'm sure this will really informative as much time and effort as you put into everything
Fast charging, while obviously handy, can also reduce cell life. One of the big advantages of using a light with (easily) removable standard cells like the 18650 is that you can just swap a new one in. Boom, 60 second swap and back in business.
The Milwaukee 2113-21 flashlight! I use it everyday all day and just can't say enough good things about it. With the additional charger and battery I am never without it. Also, best of luck with the channels. Love what you are doing here. Keep it coming!
I have the dr. Prepare light you spoke of in the beginning. I’m a lightaholic and it is just as nice as the Astro one everyone knows about. The ONLY downside is the battery life isn’t long lasting. It needs recharged after about 4hrs on the highest mode. I own a Cornwell branded Astro btw
I bought a portable work light, based on the fact that it could take AA cells for emergency use, while charging the 18650 cells...works great, and you can use rechargeable AA cells, too, so you can swap out AAs, or even keep a couple of 18650s on hand...
Might be worth adding some extra coats to eliminate light leakage and using a proper thick card coated in barium sulfate to cover all holes. I wish I knew the best technique for getting that stuff down on a surface, but iirc, some other folks had excellent results using it alone as the pigment in paint. Your paint additive and sand technique is probably fine, though. (I forgot exactly how they did it or I'd just say! It mostly involved ultrasonic-ing the mix to mix it super well for something crazy like a couple hours. Don't remember at all what the base was.)
For the duration test, would it be possible to have the camera stay in the same iso and exposure the whole time, and then cut the videos side-by-side? It'll give a great indication of any dimming over time in addition to the duration.
For the magnet test, would it be useful to test a thin plate, like if you were trying to attach it to sheet metal? What about like a nail/screw head? I don't know how often others do stupid crap like I do, but it's nice when you know you can mount something about anywhere metal! (especially as composite and non-magnetic metals/materials become more and more common, it's nice to know if all you got is some stupid cast iron latch part to anchor to, it'll still stay put!)
If looking for a pure white pigment, barium sulfate isn't what you want. Titanium dioxide is pure white. It's used as part of the Federal Standard 595 paint specification and is called out for manufacturing pure un-tinted white paint.
I built an integrated sphere about 8 years ago when all of these LED flash lights became the rage. Within the same manufacturers light offering, the LED binning popped up as the lumen/lux rating on a bin changed from day to day.
I use the Protac 2XL with the 18650 battery. For intermittent use throughout the day, it’s awesome. I just let it charge overnight in my work truck when it needs it. For a shop light, I use a Snap-On light that claims 1000 lumens. It’s pretty darn bright. It lasts a couple hours at 50%.