Flashlight Pickup Tool Review
You guys may know that I am a big time flashlight guy. I carry one with me where ever I go. So when the folks at HAYDEN Industrial Supply asked me to do a tool review for them, I jumped on the chance. One thing to remember about my reviews. These are my opinions based on experience.
Today we have the Catspaw Flexible Light and Pickup Tool. It combines 2 things I use all the time, a flashlight and a magnetic pick up tool. It is a pretty cool idea, but it can withstand the abuse I put flashlights through. Normally I like to give a tool a few weeks of real world use. In this case that was not really necessary.
About the tool
Like I said, the light is a great concept. It houses 3 LEDs, has a magnetic ring, and telescopes up to about 22.5 inches. It is a really cool orangey/copper finish that seems to hold up well. The button for turning the light on has both a hard on/off and a momentary on. That means you can just slightly push and hold the button and the light will stay on while you hold the button.
The Light
Right out of the gate I didn’t have good luck with the light. The battery pack was finicky and took some adjustment to get set properly. Once I got the batteries set, I found the light to be nice and bright. I did find the button to function rather poor. even a slight touch would turn the light off. As I sit here writing this, I still have to fiddle with the button to get the light to come on.
The Magnet
The magnet pickup is very strong. I was able to pick up and hold 4 sockets. That is much stronger than most pickup tools. The fact that the light extends out makes the magnetic pickup even better. The bad part about a strong magnet, it catches on everything metal. This causes the button to get pressed unintentionally.
Overall
I think this tool is a “C-” at best. The light is finicky and inconsistent. It can be the brightest light, but what good is that when it will not turn on. It also uses little watch type batteries. That is not practical for changing batteries. Plus the overall size of the light makes it too big for carrying on your person. For me this tool does not fit the bill.
This may have been one of the more harsh reviews I have done. But I owe it to you all to give you my honest thoughts about a product.
One more thing
The folks at Hayden were awesome and gave me a coupon code to pass on to you guys. Head on over to Haydenhasit.com and use the coupon code “humble-hayden” for 10% off your order of $25 or more. But hurry up because this code will expire 8/24/14
Thanks for the honest review. There are too many good flashlights on the market now to buy one that has that many problems. They need to go back to the “drawing board” on this one. BTW, I saw your link to this on Garage Journal.
Thank you for your honest review. I think sometimes people feel obligated to give a positive review on a product even when it doesn’t deserve it. As a moderator on garajejournal.com I often end up getting free stuff to review. It can really make your opinion biased. Hats off to you for keeping it honest.