If there is one thing the cub scouts taught me, it’s always be prepared. A close second; neckwear sucks. I didn’t like the bandana thing then, and I can’t stand wearing ties now. Clothing aside, one of the best ways to prepare for anything is always make sure you can see. A good flashlight is invaluable in any situation after sundown and even in daylight when you are trying to find the nut you dropped down into the engine compartment while on the side of the road changing a blown coil.
I have carried a Maglite flashlight in all my cars since I started driving. Some cars, like my 911, have an ideal location for storing one. Most cars however do not and you end up with the thing rolling around, thunking back and forth battering your trunk liner in turns. You can either bolt down your maglight, or find an alternative. We found these small LED rechargeable flashlights from 12V Spotlight and haven’t been in the dark since.
The cheap packaging belies the quality aluminum unibody construction. The cases are machined, knurled and then anodized for years of torture resistance. They plug right into your accessory socket or cigarette lighter and charge when not in use. They come charged right out of the package so open it up and you are ready to go.
The lamp is a half-watt LED, which doesn’t sound like much, but your average full-size maglite is only 1 watt. Remember these things are tiny, about the size of a car’s cigarette lighter. The battery, which is sealed inside is a Ni-MH cell and provides about 180 minutes of light on a full charge. If you can’t fix what is wrong with your car in 3 hours, you should have called the wrecker long ago. Not only are these lights tough, they are water resistant. The packaging claims they are full submersible. We of course believe what we read and immediately dunked one in a glass of ice water. We found the 12v Spotlight to be waterproof, but we also saw just how much crap is floating around in our tap water.
The 12v Spotlight comes in just about every color you can imagine. Even pinks and purples you probably don’t want to imagine. When the light is recharging in your car’s power socket, the reflector glows with a soft red color. At first we thought this might be an issue, since quite often it is pointing at the driver, but it turns out it is dimmer than your interior lights. When the car is off, it actually looks like a security system light.
Overall: we love the quality look and feel of the light. We also like the quality and quantity of light output. The only downside we noticed, one staffer with a Honda can’t get his spotlight to seat in the power socket. It comes with a spring clip for use in cigarette lighters, but that seems to make the fit worse. It does fit in the other cars we have tested.
I like wearing ties… but I LOVE 12Vspotlight! Heheh!
Thanks for the great review – “If you can’t fix what is wrong with your car in 3 hours, you should have called the wrecker long ago.” made me LOL
I like to do the ’spotlight in beer’ trick, but the end result (audience astonishment aside) is a slightly grubby spotlight in my mouth… no one of my better ideas.
FYI – Factory Power Charge is 70% full, so give it that extra bit of juice to REALLY see what the spotlight can do!
Send us info about the Honda Fit-Clip problem and we’ll see if we can work out the trouble so you can GET LIT!