Way back before computers completely took over our lives, life seemed a lot simpler. If it were up to me, I’d live without computers, microprocessors, cell phones, texting, e-mails and tweets (whatever that is). I long for the time when cars were more simple to work on, I used to love tinkering with my own cars, improving on them, repairing them, and just playing around with them. Heck, I even worked as a dune buggy mechanic in Hawaii for a time. Today, with all the computers running cars and trucks, I can’t hardly figure out anything on new vehicles, you need a computer to hook-up to the computer on your vehicle, in order to find out what’s not working right on your rig, and even then, sometimes it’s still a hit or miss proposition when it comes to making a repair.
Back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, backyard and shade tree mechanics used to have a flashlight or a shop light, to use when working under the hood of the car. Many shops still use traditional shop lights these days – the incandescent bulb still hasn’t died off completely. Now, I’ll readily admit, a flashlight wasn’t the perfect source of light when working under the hood of a car, and shop lights were difficult to get to stay in place and shed their light where you needed it. Okay, so maybe everything back in the stone age wasn’t perfect….
I received the Maxxeon WorkStar 2000 Technician’s Floodlight for testing for SurvivalBlog readers, and I’m impressed with the product, I’ll admit that right up front. What we have is a fully rechargeable work light, with magnets placed on it, so you can firmly attach it to just the right place under the hood of a car or truck, to produce a very bright 270 Lumens of pure white light – no dark spots at all. It gives you a “flood light” where you need it most. The WorkStar 200 is basically a hands-free light, you can stick it to any metal surface or hang it with the retractable hook or mount it permanently with a camera tripod socket in the base. Heck, you can even hold it in your hand if you wanted to – retro!
The WorkStar 2000 doesn’t use a reflector like so many flashlights do, instead it uses a fresnel-like lens that creates a huge floodlight beam – no shadows, no rings no hot spots, just pure light. Additionally, the neck of the light rotates 360-degrees and the head also tilts 180 degrees, so you don’t have to keep moving the light around from one surface to another – just move the head. Neat! You can also use the belt clip, to clip the WorkStar 2000 to you belt or pants pocket when moving around the shop from one rig to another. You also get two power sources for recharging your light – one for the power outlet in your shop and another for the accessory outlet in your vehicle. BTW, the rechargeable battery is the NiMH type and will last for years. You also get two power settings, on high the light will shine for over 2-hours, and on low you get 8-hours of run time. For many purposes, the low setting will suffice for many of your needs. However, if you need the super-bright high setting for those hard to see areas, you’ve got 2-hours of power there. Recharge time is about 3-hours.
So, where does the WorkStar 2000 fit in, for the Survivalist of Prepper? Well, first of all, don’t kid yourself into thinking your bug out vehicle won’t break down or need maintenance – it will! And, you can count on Mr. Murphy being on-hand when your rig does stop or need maintenance – and you will need light to work under the hood, under the the rig or under the dashboard. Believe me, it’s no fun trying to find something wrong if you can’t see what you’re doing. Sure, an ordinary flashlight will “suffice” if that’s all you have, however the WorkStar 2000 can do the job better than any flashlight can – period!
How many times have you had the bulb burn-out in a flashlight? Well, that’s happened more times than I care to remember over the years. The WorkStar 2000 has LED lights that will last a lifetime. Just a few short years ago, LED lights didn’t product very much light. Sure they were economical to use, but honestly, they didn’t throw all that much light. Times have changed, and the WorkStar 2000 is solid proof of that.
You can also use the WorkStar 2000 for emergency lighting in your home when the power goes out – use the low setting, that’s all you’ll need. If you’re camping and you need light in your tent, the WorkStar can take care of that, and you can hang it from the center of your tent and direct the light where you need it. If you’re one of those people who insist on walking late at night, in the dark, or early morning hours before the sun comes up, you can clip this light to your pants to light the way for you and alert on-coming vehicles you are on the road. The light also produces a “white” enough light for some photography work, or for producing those YouTube videos – how many of those have you seen that were poorly lit?
One word of advice though, don’t look directly into the super-bright light that the WorkStar 2000 produces – take my word for it – you’ll have a black spot in the center of your vision for a while if you look directly at this light – I didn’t do it on purpose, it was an accident, but you only have to do this once to know you shouldn’t do it again! I’m smart – just not all the time!
The WorkStar 2000 retails for $119.75 with $9.99 FedEx or USPS shipping to the USA and $19.99 to Canada (UPS). When I first received this sample, I didn’t think it had many uses, ok, I was wrong. This light is also great when it comes to working under the hood of your car in bright sunlight – yeah, there are still a lot of dark areas under the hood even in bright sunlight. And, many lesser lights simply wash out – the WorkStar 2000 didn’t wash out in the bright sunlight. Maybe the good ol’ days weren’t as good as I remember them to be. The WorkStar 2000 sure would have come in handy back in my day when working on rigs.
Also, be sure to check out some of the other Maxxeon lights that they offer on their web site. However, if you work on vehicles a lot, this is a must have item in my humble opinion. It is well made, very durable and comes with a one year warranty as well. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio
Pat’s Product Review: Maxxeon WorkStar 2000
