The Ultimate Shop Light?

I've needed a good shop light for too long. Between the usually convenient but sometimes cumbersome teeny flashlight in my phone, to a spring-clamp 10" diameter aluminum reflector with a simple switching base served me well enough for years.

One day the big reflector light stopped working reliably. There was a flaky wire connection somewhere close to the base, and I just decided that it had lived a valliant and selfless life and it was time to move on.

While watching YouTube videos on changing the tensioner pulley on a 2002-2006 Honda CR-V, I noticed a particularly competent Canadian shop used these shop lights I had never seen before, and they seemed to work in so many situations. Bless YouTube for making it easy to pause and seek videos frame-by-frame (< and > keys) I spied the brand name of the lights - Astro Tools.

The light was cordless, could hang by a hook, could hold its own weight with a magnetic base, was heavy enough to stand on its own on a concrete floor, and could direct light in a sharp beam (flashlight), one strip of bright LEDs, or 360-degree illumination by powering the two LED strips - one on each side.

When you were done, just set it on the magnetic charging base (which can also charge your phone) and it's ready to go the next day. They claim over 3 hours of running on high power between charges.

They were easy enough to find and not terribly expensive. Surprisingly they are manufactured by a pneumatic tool company called Astro Tools. They don't even show the light on their Amazon homepage, yet it looks to be a very nicely developed and built product. I suspect this was a passion project from someone inside the company who had a vision of what the ultimate work light could/should be and was able to build it. They have a few more lights, each of which looks just as innovative as this one.

There are two versions of this light -- either with or without the wireless charging stand. I ended up just going for the standalone light without the wireless charging stand. I didn't think with the little I would really use it if that convenience would justify the money and space. Looking back I think I should have just got the wireless one. It's just too slick to pass up for the $10 price difference. D'oh!

Anyhow, I just wanted to mention this very cool and well thought and executed product. We need more products like this!