Have you ever had one of those moments where you’re working on something, inside or outside, and it’s not quite dark but you drop something small into a place that IS dark and although you can turn on your flashlight, look and see it, you can’t reach it? Or, if you CAN find a way to reach it, you can’t do that while shining your flashlight into that spot so you’re fumbling around either blind or in the dark trying to get your fingers on what you were just looking at with your flashlight? Well, Impeltronics has a solution and although I thought it was quite gimmicky at first, I’ve found it to be pretty handy: a magnetic telescoping LED flashlight.
The Impeltronics Extendable Telescoping Magnetic Flashlight uses 3 LEDs being driven by four LR44 batteries. It doesn’t produce enough light to be considered a “handheld tactical” light, in my opinion, but it’s almost perfect to keep in your cruiser glove compartment or trunk (as long as it’s not lost in the pile of stuff you’ll need it to search through in the dark).
Now before I get into the “handy” uses of the light, let me run through the features:
- 3 LED Flashlight helps find your object
- Telescopes 6” to over 21” long for reaching
- Flexible LED Head for 360° directional rotation
- Magnetic Head for retrieving your object
- Magnetic Tail for retrieving even heavier objects
- Includes (4) LR44 Batteries to get you started
- Pocket or Belt Clip for quick action
The magnetic head can reportedly lift and hold up to a three pound object, while the magnet in the tail is over twice that strong being capable of lifting up to an eight pound object. The 6” long light stretches out to over 21” in length and the extended head has a flexible neck allowing it to be turned 360 degrees. The push button on/off switch is directly behind the lamp assembly and there’s a removable steel clip that allows you to carry the light a tad more securely in your pocket. The light is available in five different colors to include:
- Pink
- Red
- Blue
- Black
- Silver
The price posted on the Impeltronics website is only $20.99.
The one improvement I’d make on the light, were it up to me, would be to change it over to be powered by common everyday AA batteries. I’m not an electronics engineer and I don’t know if that’s even possible, but I’ve never even heard of LR44 batteries before and would have to check out their replacement cost. AAs can be found in every convenience store and aren’t expensive.
Now, as to the uses I found for this little light…
I carried mine around clipped into the right rear pocket of my 5.11 Tactical “Royal Robbins” pants. If I was in my carpenter’s jeans, it got clipped into the utility pocket on the right leg. If I was dressed nice (a rarity, I admit), it was clipped into my inside jacket pocket.
It’s pretty light so the weight wasn’t an issue. When it was in my back pocket it was kind of uncomfortable when I was sitting in my truck or car. My habit became, as I was climbing into either vehicle, to slip it out and drop it in the center console. Of course, that inevitably meant that when I got out of the vehicle to go into stores and such, I left it in the vehicle.
During the period of testing I used it as a light source several times, a couple of those times extending the head so I could get the light farther down into a dark spot for a better look. Just the ability to do that was convenient. One on occasion I had dropped a nut about two feet down behind a generator I was working on. Without moving the whole generator, I needed to get that nut and could only reach my hand about a foot in because of the cramped space. Out came the light, extended and on, and that reached down and picked up the nut with no problem.
So, while this isn’t a tactical light, it certainly has its uses. With the magnetic head at the base/tail end as well, it could be used as an emergency marker on your vehicle, placed on the side and facing on-coming traffic if you broke down on the side of the road. The most obvious placement for it, in my opinion, is a work shop or vehicle, but if you’ve got it in your pocket then you have it when you’re in those places too.
For more info, check out Impeltronics online.
Stay safe!
