My scheduled eased up, and I unboxed this Makita cordless LED worklight today. This is the XGT model, and they also have an 18V worklight with the same features and specs.
I really like it.
Makita sent it over for review consideration. I was roughly familiar with its features: the head pivots and rotates, there are multiple brightness settings, and you get multiple mounting and hanging options (magnetic back, hook, handle, flat base, 1/4″-20 threaded socket on the bottom).
While I only spent a couple of minutes with the new Makita worklight, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
There are 2 parts in the box – the main worklight, and a plastic shield. The shield slides onto the magnetic base, hiding it from ferromagnetic surfaces, loose steel fasteners, tools, and other stuff. When you want to use the hook or magnetic base, you can mount the shield to the back of the lamp head.
Fold the light closed, and a sensor deactivates the light.
The handle is positioned such that worklight – with battery – is perfectly balanced in your hand.
I had to put it down, and the small footprint let it fit in a narrow space on my cabinet.
I love the though that went into the design.
How much does it cost?
At the time of this posting, the 18V worklight is $99. The XGT version is also $99. That seems very reasonable for the features and build quality, which felt very solid.
Here are its 3 brightness settings:
- Medium: 800 lumens
- High: 1200 lumens
- Low: 500 lumens
Runtime:
18V worklight (DML819) with 18V 6Ah battery (sold separately):
- Low: 22 hours
- Medium: 14 hours
- High: 9 hours
XGT 40V Max worklight (ML013G) with XGT 4Ah battery (sold separately):
- Low: 29 hours
- Medium: 18 hours
- High: 12 hours
Both weigh around 1.9 lbs (each), without battery or the magnet cover.
One thing that surprised me, in addition to the fold-close auto-shutoff, and the perfectly balanced handle, is the order of operations.
I’m a little confused about the brightness modes.
When I press the power button, the light activates in medium mode. A quick press increases the brightness. Another quick press lowers the brightness. At first I thought it was medium-high-low, but I’m not so sure now. I’ll have to take measurements for the formal review.
If I pause for too long, and then press the mode selection button, the brightness drops down. It then drops down again with a second press of the button.
I’ll need to ask about this. But, it mirrors how I use lights.
The brightness tuning seems about right, where I would say Makita’s most popular batteries on either platform will give you a work day or shift’s amount of runtime. Drop to medium or low brightness, and that’s plenty of runtime.
I really like the light – this is gonna be a “for keeps” test sample. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Thank you to Makita USA for the test sample.
I posted a quick video to social media (set to music, maybe keep it on mute), and plan to take more photos and better video once I’ve spent more time with the light.
