Milwaukee introduced their new M18 Rover magnetic flood light at NPS17. It builds on the strengths of their M12 Rover compact light, featuring a folding and rotating light panel, a larger clamp, and more powerful magnets.
With its 1500 lumen folding and rotating light panel, you can position the light exactly where you need it after you stick or clamp the light in place. This is a huge improvement over the M12 Rover, where you can only aim the light in the needed direction by adjusting where it’s clamped or mounted.
Advertisement
Here are the relevant specs for the M18 Rover magnetic flood light:
- 1500 lumens
- Folding, rotating head
- 2″ spring-action clamp
- Magnets can hold 25 lbs of weight
- IP54 rated (dust and water spray)
- Rated for 9 foot drop
- TrueView LED technology
They demonstrated the holding power of the M18 Rover’s magnets by hanging a cinder block off the light while it was attached to a metal surface vertically. While you probably aren’t going to store your cinder block this way, it drives the point home that when you stick the light to a ferromagnetic surface, it’s going to stay there.
If you don’t make use of the magnets, the 2″ spring-loaded clamp can be used to grip a wide variety of materials.
The light has 3 output settings: high, medium, and low. Here’s how the runtime breaks down for each of the settings when it’s paired with a 5.0Ah M18 batttery:
- 4.5 hours on high
- 10 hours on medium
- 20 hours on low
Milwaukee said the light will be available in Q4. They haven’t announced the price yet.
Advertisement
ETA: Oct 2017
Price: TBA
First Thoughts
I’m really excited about this light. My favorite general purpose work light has been the Ryobi One+ Dual Power worklight. Even without magnets, its rotating base that doubles as a stud and joist clip allows me to aim light where I need it most of the time. The only issue I have with the light is that it has a slight green/blue tint.
Last year I was hoping the M12 Rover would be just as useful. While it is a nice little light that lasts a long time, I sometimes have issues trying to shine light where I need it. Since the angle of the light is fixed, the only way to adjust the aiming is to reposition the light with its clamp or magnets.
With its new rotating and folding light panel and better color lighting (TrueView), the Milwaukee M18 Rover magnetic flood light will hopefully solve the issues I have with the M12 Rover and the Ryobi One+ worklights.
Check Out More Milwaukee NPS17 New Tool Coverage
More Photos and Usage Ideas
One demo had it attached to steel scaffolding.
The handle is a convenient attachment point for a tool tether, if using it at height.
You can still achieve complex positioning with the clamp or magnets.
M12 Rover LED vs. M18 Rover LED.
The M18 version is larger, but still reasonably compact and portable. Side by side, its greater magnetic mounting strength is definitely noticeable. Neither worklight slides down under their own weight.
Dax
Do they mention any measurement of Candela?
Joe
Milwaukee has the best lights to choose from….I’m a Dewalt guy and I wish I had that many choices
Ryan
I really wish it had a USB port like the Bluetooth speaker. Paired with a 9.0 battery it would make a great light for a 3 or 4 day camping trip.
William
Agreed, with a USB port this would be perfect for camping, emergencies, car kit.
Jeremy Brown
M18 lantern is great for this, directional or omni by rotating the housing makes it very useful and the usb charging doesn’t hurt
Charles
M12 or m18 which will be the better light for the money?
Michael Quinlan
Fifteen years ago I started my collection of DeWalt tools, and kept adding to it over the course of about 10 years, but never really replaced anything other than batteries. Now it seems that power tools and such have joined consumer electronics in having (too) frequent update cycles, compelling users to buy newer/better tools to replace existing tools that are still perfectly functional.
I’ll probably end up buying one of these the first time it’s available with a free battery. After all, I do have *some* self control.
Power Kid
One thing missing from this write up (Or maybe I just missed it) was power of 1 year old M12 Rover. Looks like 1000 Lumen vs. 1500 as stated above in this new M12.
Benjamen
That’s a good point. Here are the complete runtime/lumen specs for the M12 Rover with a 4.0A:
Low — 200 Lumens (15 hours)
Medium — 400 Lumens (7.5 hours)
High — 1000 Lumens (3.5 hours)
It takes about about 14W*h of energy to get 1000 Lumens so 0.014W*h/Lumen
We don’t know the Lumen breakdown yet of the modes for the M18 Magnetic Rover yet, just that it runs 1500 Lumens on high for 4.5 hours.
So it’s 20W*h of energy to get the 1500 Lumens, so 0.0134W*h/Lumen.
They are pretty close to the same efficiency.
Ryan Jacob
I’m really torn about waiting for this new M18 or purchasing the m12. Right now they have a deal going where if you buy two qualifying m12 tools you get a free charger and 2 batteries. I could get 2 M12 Rover lights and a free charger and batteries to go along with it.
Stuart
Tough choice. Which worklight better suits your needs? If you don’t need what the M18 offers beyond what the M12 offers, that makes your decision easier. And if you change your mind, you can always buy the M18 later on, perhaps when a good promo comes around.
Jay
I Really love this light however I find it could use a better handle to get a blue collar hand inside. Also the head on mine has come loose. Battery is a bit hard to extract as well. Dispite all this I still go for it every time.
EDGAR CENTENO
Is this a class 2 Div 2 lights?
Stuart
I don’t think so. Milwaukee doesn’t explicitly market it as such, and so you would have to check with them directly. They would also be able to direct you to any of their cordless lights that are.