This DeWalt Work Light Is 35% Off During Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days—and It Frees Up Both Hands In Dark Places

3 min readFor me, there are few things more frustrating than a repair you can reach but can’t quite see. Doing a job the right way requires eyes on the target. If you’ve ever had a slightly loose wrench slip against a nut because you didn’t have enough light, you feel the pain of my own scraped knuckles.Amazon currently has a huge selection of DeWalt tools on sale courtesy of their Prime Big Deal Days event, but this DCL182 Rechargeable Work Light merits a bit of standalone attention, in my humble opinion. At $81.52, it’s roughly $37 below Amazon’s normally listed price of $119—a 31 percent discount on something that might be less glamorous than a new circular saw, but awfully useful when you’re wedged in a crawlspace trying to find the source of a plumbing leak. In the dark places in my house, I wield mine like it’s Frodo’s Light of Eärendil.Those are the times you want to put away your phone flashlight as a quick and clever workaround for precious available light. And it’s enough with the metallic taste of that small pocket flashlight wedged between your teeth. I’ve been there. Too many times to count, in fact. You need one hand for the wrench, another to grab a hold of whatever you’re tightening, and—somehow—a third to aim the light. Good luck with all of that.The DCL182 allows you to navigate that problem in a few ways. There are two magnets in its base which enable attachment to a metal surface, while its carabiner provides another option for either hanging or carrying it. The head pivots and rotates so you can direct the beam toward your work instead of constantly maneuvering around the light. Think about working beneath a car hood, searching for a dropped screw beneath a workbench, or installing a faucet with your entire body stuffed in a kitchen base cabinet. Those are the situations where a big light simply won’t fit—and a smaller one is never enough. You need an ample amount of light where your hands are actually working.You get three brightness settings on the DCL182: 250, 500, and 1,000 lumens. DeWalt rates the runtime at up to 12 hours on a single charge, but that’s on the lowest setting—not to be confused with 12 hours at full brightness. As an added bonus, the light’s housing is both dust and water resistant. These DeWalt lights are tough and stand up to a jobsite beating. I personally own more of them than I do dress shirts in my closet–no surprise to anyone, I’m sure.Another aspect of this particular light that I like: You don’t need to buy into DeWalt’s battery platform for this one—which makes the current deal even better for those on separate cordless ecosystems. This light has an integrated battery that charges through USB-C. Yeah, I know that sounds a little old school, but I actually find it refreshing that a light like this can have universal use and appeal. The charging cable is included, but you’re on your own for the power adapter—which always confounds me, to be honest. So at $80, this light is hardly an impulse buy at checkout. But if your repair routine regularly involves balancing a flashlight on a stack of books, leaning your phone against your toolbox, or recruiting your kid by saying “hold this right here” only to feel like you’re battling Darth Sidius seconds later, this light's appeal is pretty clear.Buy the drill for making holes. Buy this light so you can see what the heck you’re drilling into–and keep those basement goblins, giant spiders, and scraped knuckles at bay.Shop the DeWalt LED Work Light DealOther DeWalt Lights We RecommendGreat for Interior Paint PrepBest for Auto Engine WorkPaul Russell Smith is a former NYC ironworker turned screenwriter (Grace Point) and home renovation specialist. He lives in a crooked old farmhouse in Stockton, NJ, where he’s just as likely to be clearing a clogged pipe as rewriting a third act. When he’s not working, he enjoys hiking, pedestrian beer, and cooking over a live fire. His self-proclaimed spirit animal is the English Bulldog.