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One of the most important accessories you’ll need for car repair is an underhood work light. Here’s a list of the 5 best underhood work light worth every penny!
Changing that spark plug or checking your oil can be pretty hard without the right lighting in place– especially if you’re trying to fix something at night.
Fortunately, there’s a good solution to this type of problem– an underhood light.
Underhood lights are specially designed to help give you the ideal illumination for checking even the smallest parts of your car under the hood.
Of course, not all underhood lights have top quality performance. That’s why you need to choose the best underhood work light you can find.
How exactly do you do that?
That’s where we come in.
We created a list of the best work lights for mechanics plus a buying guide to help you zero in on the one that suits your needs the best.
Comparison Table: 5 Top Rated Underhood Work Light
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What Is An Underhood Work Light?
If you’ve never used an underhood work light before, let us briefly explain what it is.
It’s a lamp that’s attached to your car’s underhood area. It’s used to provide light under the hood so that you won’t have a hard time identifying the parts. These are often used by mechanics in their job. However, it is also widely used by regular car owners when they do their regular maintenance jobs.
Tips When Buying Underhood Work Lights
Now that we’ve explained what an underhood light is and what it’s used for, let’s proceed to some tips on how to choose the right one. After all, if you’re only going to choose one out of the 5 choices, you might as well choose the best LED underhood work light for your own specific needs and wants.
Here are some factors you’ll need to consider when choosing your automotive LED work light:
Brightness
First, let’s talk about brightness. This is important because it determines how well-illuminated your work space will be. If you need strong illumination, then you’ll obviously need a lamp that has a high lumen count.
At the very least, we recommend that you get a lamp with 350 lumens. There are also some that have 600-700 lumens while there are also really strong ones that provide up to 1000 lumens on its strongest lighting mode. The brightness all depends on how much light you’ll need for your work station.
Running Time
Another thing you need to take into consideration is the running time of your light. This factor ultimately depends on how long you need to use your light continuously. There are some with batteries that last for 3 hours straight while there are some that last for 6 hours straight when at the highest lighting mode.
The tip here is to see which ones produce the most lumens. The higher the lumen count, the shorter the battery life. Again, your choice is based on what you need.
Lighting Modes
Typically, there are only 3 lighting modes that these lights produce– low, medium, high. These choices pertain to the light’s strength. However, there are also some lights that have extra lighting modes such as strobe or SOS lights. These ones are usually used for emergency situations. If you feel like you need these kinds of lighting modes, choose the lamp that has these extra modes.
Weight
In general, we always look for the lights that are not too heavy because we need to bring them around in our cars in the event the car breaks down on a dark and lonely road. That’s why weight is something that you really have to take into consideration.
Of course, you also won’t want a lamp that’s too light because that sometimes indicates use of low-quality materials in the construction of the light. We prefer the ones that only weigh a pound or less so that they’re easy to bring around. Under hoods will also be able to take the weight of these kinds best.
Mounting
The last thing to take into consideration is mounting. If you’re going to mount your light under the hood or at the side of your car, you need to make sure that it can stick properly. That’s why we usually prefer the ones that have a powerful magnetic base as compared to the ones that just use adhesive. The magnetic based types are not only stronger but have mounting bases that last longer.
Others have hooks for mounting. That’s also good because these ones can be used for more than just underhood car repairs. Lights with hook mounting can be placed pretty much anywhere and can be utilized for various jobs.
5 Best Underhood Work Light (Reviews 2020)
1. Neiko Cordless LED Work Light
Via: Amazon.com
The cool thing about this work light is that its batteries are really powerful. Going to the specifics, the rechargeable Li-ion batteries have a capacity of 4000 mAh, which allows it to last for around 5 hours or more at its highest lighting mode.
It also comes with an overcharge protector and an indicator that shows whether or not your battery is already on the low side.
Best Features:
- Has 60 very bright LED lights that can produce a total lumen count of 350
- The rechargeable battery has a capacity of 4000mAh and can last for 5 hours
- Made out of very strong aluminum housing, making it very durable
- Has a USB charging cable, making it easy to charge anywhere at any time
- Has a strong magnetic mount with 360-degree rotating hook
2. Dr. Prepare LED Work Light
Via: Amazon.com
While most of the work lights are just focused on car repair under the hood, this one is a more multipurpose type that can be used for pretty much any job that requires strong illumination. This light comes with a hook that can attach to branches, trees, and even walls.
So, if you’re looking for something that can be used for more than one purpose, this is a pretty good choice to have.
Best Features:
- Features a COB LED light that produces up to 700 lumens of power
- Dial switch allows you to easily change the strength of the light to the level you want
- Has a long battery life of 10 hours at a capacity of 2200mAh
- 360-degree swivel with a magnetic base
- Made out of ABS material for durability
- Hook allows the work light to be used for many purposes
3. ATD Tools 2000 Lumen LED Underhood Light
Via: Amazon.com
If you want an extremely powerful underhood light, then may we suggest this one. To be specific, this one has 2000 lumens, which is the highest count that you can find on this list. Of course, this underhood light has a weak battery life which is to be expected since it emits so much light.
But if you’re a mechanic who needs raw power, then this is definitely the underhood light that you’ll want to have.
Best Features:
- Very high li-ion battery capacity of up to 4400mAh
- Has a voltage of 7.4 V
- Has a very powerful lumen count of 2000
- Powerful hook mounting
4. OEMTOOLS 600 Lumen Multipurpose Light
Via: Amazon.com
One of the best things that you’ll notice about this light is its number of lighting modes. Most of the underhood lights have just three modes which are low, medium, and high. This one has a strobe light and an SOS light.
If you’re the type of person who drives around outdoors a lot (like road trips), then this will be great to have in case of emergencies. For instance, if your car breaks down in a dark road and you can’t seem to fix it, turn on the SOS light so other passersby can come to help.
Best Features:
- 600 lumens of power
- Has a running time of 5 hours at its highest level
- Includes both strobe and SOS lights in its list of lighting modes
- Magnetic mounting
- 12 ounce weight
5. Milwaukee LED Underhood Light Kit
Via: Amazon.com
Last on the list is the Milwaukee LED underhood light. This one is one of the most reliable since it has a great balance of all the features that you’ll want in an underhood light. You can say that it’s an all-rounder product. It has a lumen count of 1350 lumens, 2x grip surface, mounting hooks, and two brightness options to choose from.
Best Features:
- 1350 lumens of power
- Comes with a Finish guard hook that allows it
- Has double the gripping power of regular underhood lights
- 4-hour battery life at its highest power level
Conclusion
Going through this list of 5 best underhood work lights, we now know what options you have when it comes to picking out underhood lights. Now, if you were to ask us which one we will pick out of the 5, our choice will definitely be the Milwaukee LED Underhood Light Kit . You see, when we pick underhood lights, we want the model that gives the best value for money.
As we mentioned above, this one has a balance of all the features that you’ll look for in a work lamp. It has a strong power level, great mounting options, powerful gripping, and a pretty decent running time. With all of these features, it’s pretty easy to see why we chose this as our very own top pick.
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