LED Shop Lights: Toys Or Useful Tools?

LED technology has come a long way. These days, an LED does more than tell you when you're pressing a button on your TV remote. LEDs are being used in tail lights, traffic signals and just about anyplace else somebody can substitute an LED for an old filament style bulb. There is a large batch of LED shop lights that hit the market recently, so we tried one out to see if it was real enough for us.

I have to admit that we were sceptical of the LED shop light. LED flashlights generally suck, so why would the LED work light be much better?

We put it to the test in a real life scenario. Lighting the underside of a car when you're trying to work on it requires a decent light source. We chose the underside of the wheel well for our test.

The verdict? Well, I have to say that we were surprised at how well the LED light performed. It lit the underside of the vehicle pretty well. However, the focus area of the light was pretty small, which in a repair situation might mean you have to reposition the light often. It also didn't put out as much light as an old school incandescent bulb.

A couple of notes on the plus side: Most of the LED work lights we saw were cordless rechargeable units. Since they don't use much juice they last a long time. Also, since LEDs are almost indestructible, the lights should be very tough.

Click the image to see the LED work light in action.

...Or you could just get a fluorescent shop light!