Husky 180 LED worklight at Home Depot

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DvxHerb

Well-known member
Hey everybody,

What are your opinions of the LED worklights starting to appear at home improvement stores?

Husky has a 180 LED version at Home Depot. Sorry, I could not find a link.
 
Wow!
half way through that video I felt like I wanted to throw that 126 LED into the trash can--LOL!
So far, it looks like Comer rules in price/performance/usability.
 
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So it proves nothing except that lamp x looks worse if you color balance for lamp y. Else it was a waste of time watching it. Don't people who make these things know how to edit? I'm profoundly underwhelmed.
 
Richard Crowley said:
So it proves nothing except that lamp x looks worse if you color balance for lamp y. Else it was a waste of time watching it. Don't people who make these things know how to edit? I'm profoundly underwhelmed.
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Exactly! Primo: I did not see a bit of difference, except a lack of WB. Secundo: both shots were quite garbage like due to dark shadows, which just shows the limitation of on-camera light.
 
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Richard Crowley said:
So it proves nothing except that lamp x looks worse if you color balance for lamp y. Else it was a waste of time watching it. Don't people who make these things know how to edit? I'm profoundly underwhelmed.
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A bit of an assumption don't you think? I did not see any indication of color balancing to one light or the other---maybe I missed that. If that was actually the case, then I would agree the demo would not be worthwhile. I don't think it was though. The Comer is 4200K and it did look a tad blue in the video. I suspect a wb preset was used but that is just a guess. It should have been stated.
If by "know how to edit" you imply that he did not acknowledge a wb preset or any color grading, I'll agree that it would be more helpful to state the conditions of the test. If you have something constructive to add, that would actually be helpful to me and probably to others who come here to learn.
 
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In order to be even halfway valid, the camera would have been properly white-balanced for each light independently.

By editing, I mean that half the length of the video was watching the lights being turned up and then down again. This a waste of the viewer's time that should have been editied out. And more importantly, it diminishes whatever comparison value there is when looking at one image vs. the other. Cutting back and forth between the images is much more effective at displaying differences, just as switching back and forth instantaneously between speakers or whatever is a valid way to do A/B comparisons of sound.

And lastly, the heavy-handed editorial remarks puts the entire exercise in question about not only the validity and methodology, but also the bias of the "reporter". Bad reporting is worse than no reporting at all. Note that the video received similar criticism on the Vimeo site.

I have seen very few decent equipment reviews on YouTube, Vimeo, et.al. If someone has some to recommend, I'd be interested in hearing about them. And I'm talking about BOTH the production value of the review itself as well as the content (and in many cases the knowledge and experience of the "reviewer").
 
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ok, now we're on to something here---excellent points.
Now that you mention it, seeing each light with the cam white balanced to it would be interesting since it would show the effect on indoor ambient lighting (had there been any). I have seen demos of the Comer lights with natural backlighting which are enough for my own purposes (run and gun outdoor fill) but I agree it would be nice to see something more in depth and produced to a higher standard. Hopefully all this will inspire those who are inclined to do just that.
 
Richard Crowley said:
In order to be even halfway valid, the camera would have been properly white-balanced for each light independently.

By editing, I mean that half the length of the video was watching the lights being turned up and then down again. This a waste of the viewer's time that should have been editied out. And more importantly, it diminishes whatever comparison value there is when looking at one image vs. the other. Cutting back and forth between the images is much more effective at displaying differences, just as switching back and forth instantaneously between speakers or whatever is a valid way to do A/B comparisons of sound.

And lastly, the heavy-handed editorial remarks puts the entire exercise in question about not only the validity and methodology, but also the bias of the "reporter". Bad reporting is worse than no reporting at all. Note that the video received similar criticism on the Vimeo site.

I have seen very few decent equipment reviews on YouTube, Vimeo, et.al. If someone has some to recommend, I'd be interested in hearing about them. And I'm talking about BOTH the production value of the review itself as well as the content (and in many cases the knowledge and experience of the "reviewer").
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Really... ? You are going to blast me on something I did in 5 minutes?

I was shooting INDOORS... camera is set to INDOOR 3200K WB... INDOOR 3200K gels are compared... Usually we use lights indoors, so they are usually going to be around indoor lighting...

If you use a 'cool' LED light indoors (like the husky LED this forum was originally mentioned about) and WB to it... all the lighting around it will look like crap.

I don't have the time nor reason to make you think the comer is a much better light... obviously you haven't used one. I wish someone had ran a test exactly like this, so I could see the difference in Temp and learn... which is why I posted it relating to the topic at hand... Not to be judged on my QUICK editing and lack of color grading, which makes no sense.
 
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Next time I plan on making a blockbuster out of a quick comparison, I'll let you know.

Untill then, keep your comments to yourself if they are going to be insulting - That is not what this forum is about.
 
MadHMC150 said:
Next time I plan on making a blockbuster out of a quick comparison, I'll let you know.

Untill then, keep your comments to yourself if they are going to be insulting - That is not what this forum is about.
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Sorry if you think this is some sort of personal attack. It most certainly is not. I have no clue who you are. My only concern is people viewing "product reviews" online and thinking there are some sort of definitive evaluation (see the initial comments in this very thread if you want to see what I mean.)

Please continue to post videos of your experiments. I just encourage a more scientific method and objective evaluation.
 
For the record...

The 126 LED light is waaaaaaaaay off on it's color balance. And the included "gels" don't improve that at all. However, it's very bright and very cheap. I use it when I'm out in a very dark area and have no other light. I have found that the light with the CTO gel seems to balance to fluorescent.
 
NextWaveG said:
For the record...

The 126 LED light is waaaaaaaaay off on it's color balance. And the included "gels" don't improve that at all. However, it's very bright and very cheap. I use it when I'm out in a very dark area and have no other light. I have found that the light with the CTO gel seems to balance to fluorescent.
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I don't understand what you mean?
How can a light be way off on it's color balance? Do you mean the temperatur is not 5400K as stated by manufacturer or that the single LEDs differ in color?
Obviously the included 3200K gel of the 126 LED is garbage, but if this light is as bright as you desribe it, I don't see a problem getting 4 or 5 gels to adjust color temperatur to your needs in both directions, it'll cost just a few bucks; the 5 times more expensive comer just has 2 color temperatures to offer as well.

I think judging the quality of a LED video light by it's color temperature isn't fair, it's very subjective and a matter of personal needs.
 
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stip said:
I don't understand what you mean?
How can a light be way off on it's color balance? Do you mean the temperatur is not 5400K as stated by manufacturer or that the single LEDs differ in color?
Obviously the included 3200K gel of the 126 LED is garbage, but if this light is as bright as you desribe it, I don't see a problem getting 4 or 5 gels to adjust color temperatur to your needs in both directions, it'll cost just a few bucks; the 5 times more expensive comer just has 2 color temperatures to offer as well.
I think judging the quality of a LED video light by it's color temperature isn't fair, it's very subjective and a matter of personal needs.
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Easily. Most LEDs have a tremendous blue/green spike. Sure, you can put "4 or 5 gels to adjust color temperatur to your needs" but are your gels truly correcting the color temperature, i.e. correcting for both blue and green accurately?. See NextWaves comment about balancing to Fluorescent (Flos also have a green spike). Secondly, what does that do to the effective output power of the light? If you can satisfactorily correct a blue/green LED light and make it work for you, go for it. Whatever works, works. If it doesn't work out, it's not the gels. Brightness is not the only criteria that you need to consider. The Comer outputs at 4200K so that a bare minimum of gelling is needed to correct in either direction.
 
Are you a Comer salesman? ;)

I don't know if the 126 LED really is greenish, that's why I asked NextWaveG what exactely he means with "way off". The vimeo test video didn't quite help evaluating it properly.

If it is, you are absolutely right, but my point was that the basic color temperature of the light is not a measurement for quality. If it has green spike or the LEDs vary among each other somehow in performance, then yes, it's a quality issue. But some comments suggested that "cool" LEDs (which for example most Litepanel LEDs are with 5600K standard) are worse than Comer's neutral 4500K color temperature. And that is not a quality issue, it's a personal position.

The OP was asking about LED worklights from home improvement stores, I think he's rather aiming at a cheap LED solution than a 270$ Comer that's not even steplessly dimmable. The 126 LED is 40$, dimmable, portable, bright. I just didn't understand why it has been closed down as an option right away.

I didn't say "put on" 4 or 5 gels btw, I said get 4 or 5 gels :)
 
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LEDs do tend to be a little green...the 126 LED is ridiculously green. It's in the 4000k range. The main dissadvantage with this light is that it's hard to use it with other lights. By itself, use a white balance card and you're fine. The gels that come with it though don't end up at 3200k.
 
Thx for the reply NextWaveG!
Sounds like 1/2 Minus Green isn't enough to do the job on this one?!
 
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