You may or may not know, I love lighting solutions. The amount of different flashlights I own is borderline shameful. Who am I kidding it’s awesome! Today we are looking at the Makita Cordless 12 LED Flashlight! Also paired with 18v 2.0AH Battery and Charger Starter Pack if you need batteries and a charger.
Disclaimer ~ This post is a paid partnership with The Home Depot. The tools were provided to Humble Mechanic at no charge. Links to products included in this post are affiliate links to The Home Depot. The information listed in product description is either my personal experience, or information provided by tool manufacturer or The Home Depot
When it comes to lighting today, LED technology gives us amazing output in a small space. This light will put out 240 lumens from 12LEDs. You can also dim it down to 120 lumens if the situation requires it. People often forget how much better good lighting can make a job. It’s not as fun working on a project when you can’t see what you are doing. One great thing about making Youtube videos, you learn really fast about good lighting. I love that we have so many different lighting options today.
This light reminds me a lot of the first inspection light I ever bought. The options you have with how you set this light up are almost endless. As you see above, it’s nicely balanced on the intake manifold of my Passat. It stayed nicely right there while I was removing the spark plugs. It’s also great that the LED head rotates and folds to help get the light were you want it. So if you are working under the hood, or under the dash, you can probably get the light right where you need it.
Because the LED head folds, and rotates, you get tons of options. Now the light broadcasts rather wide. This can be a good thing if you are inspecting a larger area. Sometimes the issue you are looking for lives just beyond the drop off of light when using a pen light. This also means you can rest it on something, like the engine bay, use it as a hand held, or use the hook to hang the light from something like a coilover.
When it comes to batteries, the light will run on Makita 18v batteries. If you are already running 18v Makita tools, this is a simple add to the fleet. For tools like this, I am not as picky about the battery I use. I would be happy to run the bigger batteries on this verse something like an impact tool that will be in my hand more. The batteries I tested this light with were the 2.0ah batteries. Makita says the light will run 22hr on a fully charged battery, but they don’t list which battery that was tested with. Here is a little cheat code from some Makita battery chargers. A little bit of useless info, but its fun to play with
Pros of the MAKITA 18-VOLT LXT LITHIUM-ION CORDLESS 12 LED FLASHLIGHT
- Bright light with lots of adjustability
- Long run time
- Available as bare tool
Cons of the MAKITA 18-VOLT LXT LITHIUM-ION CORDLESS 12 LED FLASHLIGHT
- Not as bright as some lights of similar size
- Can be expensive if you have to buy batteries
Overall this is a cool light to have. It wouldn’t replace my pocket light, but makes a great inspection light. I would say if you are running Makita 18v tools it can be a great addition to the box. If you had to buy the light and the batteries, you are spending a lot of money on one light. That being said, it could be a gateway to getting on the Makita platform. When it comes to buying any battery power tools, I try to consider the tool I am interested in, as well as some of the other tools available on the platform. And of course it’s always recommended to head to the local Home Depot aka HomeDepot Motorsports and put the tool in your hands as see if it fits your needs.
