Best LED Work Lights
If you a master at DIY projects who can’t bear to stop working because the conditions aren’t right, you’re going to spend some serious time thinking about proper lighting in your workspace. Working outdoors or even in a garage quickly gets complicated if you can’t see what you’re doing, which is why investing in the best LED work light options is so important.
We are in the midst of building a timber frame home on our five-acre property.
So far we’ve completed the garage, which gives us an ideal indoor space to work on projects. Finding ways to light the room hasn’t proven easy, and with darkness setting in around 6:15 due to the winter season, our construction days are getting short.
For this reason, we went on a search for the best LED work light options on the market and found two that are making a major difference for both our productivity and the safety of our work environment.
Will our favorite work lights make sense for your situation as well? Let’s look at the details.
Why Choose LED Work Lights?
Most project enthusiasts agree, a task can only go as well as the tools you use to accomplish it. Working in a dimly lit environment increases the difficulty of conducting precision work and it exposes you to injuries.
There are lots of options for work lighting systems, but the quality level varies significantly. Some aren’t sturdy enough to be trusted upright, while others lack the power to really light up a workspace.
It’s also common for work lights to only stay lit for an hour or two before their batteries die, or for the bulbs to become so hot that they are dangerous.
For this reason, we chose to invest in high quality LED work lights. These lights will stay cool to the touch, even when lit for hours, and they can run on battery power or be plugged into an outlet.
Determining the Best Lighting for Our Situation
When we assessed what was necessary for the best LED work lights for our situation, we knew that we wanted a battery powered option so that extension cords wouldn’t need to be dragged all around the property whether we’re working on our diy hot tub or cutting firewood at night!
Determining the best LED working lights for you comes down to understanding what’s available, and what your personal needs are. Below are some questions to think through when choosing LED work lights.
How Will You Use It?
Are you planning on using your light to brighten a single workspace, or do you anticipate needing to move it around on a regular basis?
We initially considered setting up shop lights in our garage but decided that they weren’t the best solution for us because they aren’t portable.
In a perfect world all of our projects would be done indoors, but at this stage in our building project we are working all over the property and need the flexibility of portable lights instead.
How Will It Be Mounted?
There is a different style of work light for almost every project. Some stand upright and have adjustable heights, while others are designed for hanging or are handheld.
Base-mount lights come with a stand while hanging or handheld lights are lighter and more portable, but also less powerful.
Choosing the wrong model for your task is inefficient!
How Bright Will It Be?
The bulb type in your light will determine how bright it will be.
There are three standard types: incandescent, LED and Halogen bulbs. LED lights are by far the most popular though, as they last longer, provide steady light, are more durable, and don’t produce heat. For these reasons, we didn’t consider any other options for our work lights.
Advantages of LED Work Lights
Working Light offer a number of advantages over standard bulb lamps.If you are thinking of installing some working lights or even replacing the ones you already have it’s worth taking a moment to consider these points.Below we’ve pulled together 10 key advantages of LED work lights.
1:LONG SERVICE LIFE
The greatest advantage LED work lights offer over traditional lights is their incredibly long lifespan. Typically an LED light can last up to 100,000 operating hours or longer.That is up to 4 times longer than the expected lifespan of a fluorescent light.Once installed, they are going to be in place, fully operational, for a long time to come.
2: ENERGY EFFICIENCY
LED lights are highly efficient and consume very low amounts of power.Referred to as luminous efficacy or useful lumens – these two measurements detail the amount of light produced per unit of power consumed.Work lights LED massively out perform more traditional technologies.On average, switching out to LED lights delivers a saving of 60-75% in energy costs.This is great news for both your pocket due to lower energy bills and for the environment too.
3: DURABILITY & RELIABILITY
LED lights do not contain any fragile parts such as glass elements or filaments.This means LED lights are more resistant to rough and tumble.They can survive a knock or a drop much better than a traditional light unit.This is an excellent advantage when it comes to works lighting as unexpected knocks and bumps can be par for the course.Their durability makes them a very popular choice for truck, van and tractor lighting.Our LED range comes with a 2 Year Warranty while our Strands Work Lights LED come with a 3 Year Warranty.
4: BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
LED lights are better for the environment.They do not contain dangerous materials such as mercury and are a safer choice for the environment compared to fluorescent or mercury vapor lights which come with the headache of specialist disposal at the end of their life cycle.
5: RADIATION FREE
LED lights do not emit potentially dangerous radiation energy in the form of Ultra Violet. Fluorescent lighting on the other hand is a source of potentially hazardous UV rays. It is believed that prolonged exposure to these lights can cause both skin and eye problems. If you want to avoid UV exposure, LED is the better option.
6: SAFETYN
Safety is a key advantage of LEDs that can sometimes be overlooked. Incandescent lights convert up to 90% of the energy consumed into heat energy. Aside from the concerning lack of efficiency here there is also an obvious safety concern the heating of the area surrounding the light. LED lights generate zero forward heat during operation. This means their housing is not reaching potentially dangerous heat levels.
7: LED LIGHT IS INSTANTANEOUS
LED lights turn on and off instantaneously. They do not require a warm-up period which is the case for metal halide alternatives. An added bonus here is that the action of switching the LED on and off does not cause a degradation of the light unit. It has no detrimental effect on integrity or performance.
