At last year’s 2014 Milwaukee Tools media event the company introduced cordless lighting products with TrueView LEDs. These new LEDs deliver daylight color and retain colors without casting a blue wash over everything. This is insanely cool for when you’re trying to make connections in electrical panels and for low voltage wiring applications. Now, Milwaukee has improved the battery technology, LED components, and runtime to completely replace halogen lights on the jobsite. Two products in general that promise to improve jobsite lighting are the Milwaukee M18 Stand Light and the Milwaukee LED High Power Floodlight. We got to use and experience both.
Milwaukee M18 Stand Light Tripod Work Light
The compact Milwaukee M18 LED Stand Light with TrueView color weighs 15 pounds with the battery. It’s a tripod style LED work light and is super stable. This bright LED work light can extend up to 7 feet in height and rotate to throw 2000 lumens in any direction.
The beam is nice and even, and the heat sync and LED lens are completely shrouded and tuck into a guard when packed up for added protection.
Durability has also been a focus, and Milwaukee has adapted their mechanical designs to protect this light from drops, bumps, and accidental damage. They kicked it over (while operating) more than once, and we didn’t see any evidence of damage. When packed up it’s virtually indestructible.
The Milwaukee M18 Stand Light can run for 4 hours on high (2000 lumens), 6 hours on medium (1500 lumens), and 8 hours on low (1000 lumens) using a Milwaukee 5.0 Ah M18 RedLithium battery. Retail pricing has yet to be announced, but the light will hit the market in September.
Dual Power Milwaukee M18 LED High Power Floodlight
The dual power 3000 lumen Milwaukee M18 LED High Power Floodlight works with AC power or an M18 battery pack. It’s designed to replace the 500W halogen work light with something more durable, cooler running, and more flexible. It features 270 degrees of head rotation and has high, medium, and low settings (approximately 3000/1500/900 lumens respectively) for 2.5 hour, 4 hour, or 8 hour runtime on a 5.0 Ah RedLithium battery pack.
In terms of durability, Milwaukee uses large scale heat sinks across the entire LED pack with a ton of surface area to dissipate heat and achieve 50,000 hours of life expectancy. There’s also a limited lifetime warranty on all of Milwaukee’s new LED products. Lastly, the roll cage design serves to recess and protect the light head in all orientations. This light is as close to a “brick” as you get—so it should be a quick favorite for those tired of toting around fragile halogen work lights.
Milwaukee M12 LED Spotlight
Also available in September 2015, the new Milwaukee M12 LED Spotlight also got some love, though it’s not as dazzling as the other offerings. It will, however, shoot a beam over 640 yards (700 lumens of output). That makes it my new gator-hunting spotter! The light is activated via trigger (both momentary and on/off modes), and it’s even IPX4 rated to make it water resistant—perfect.
