As you might have seen, Milwaukee has a new LED penlight flashlight out, model 2105.
It can deliver 100 lumens of light, it’s waterproof and dustproof with an IP67 rating, and it’s built with 6000-series aluminum body. It also features a protective rubber “bite zone,” for those inevitable times you need to use it hands-free and have no obvious clamp but your mouth.
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(Note: Holding a flashlight in your mouth is never recommended!)
The Milwaukee penlight flashlight seems to be a lot thicker than most other penlights. Why?
Thanks to our friends over at Coptool, we have an answer. It’s super-thick, because it’s super solid, made from very thick-walled aluminum tubing.
Here’s the video from their Instagram channel:
So… that’s why it’s so thick.
There are a couple of possibilities for why the flashlight is so thick. Maybe it’s for heat dissipation? Better ergonomics with gloved hands? Extreme durability? Maybe this made it easier to waterproof the assembly? A combination of these and possibly other factors?
I have one of these for testing, and it is indeed larger than any other penlight I have ever used. But, it’s still fairly portable, although it sits more comfortably in a tool bag than my pocket.
Price: $20
Buy Now(via Ohio Power Tool)
See Also: Acme Tool | Home Depot
Thanks to Coptool for sacrificing their flashlight for the greater good! Is it really a sacrifice if the flashlight technically still works when the two halves are pressed together?
Brian
That explains why it feels soo dense and heavy for the size. I wish the light was a little less warm than it is but I still like it a lot. I’m happy with my purchase…they need to market that picture, that and a comparison of the thin-walled flashlights. Heck, that’s a lot thicker than a maglite, the industry standard in durable box store flashlights.
SteveW
Maybe a Maglite was the standard, about 20 years ago. Since then Streamlight is a reasonably priced option that is light years beyond anything Maglite offers in the same catagory-single AA lights, double AA, triple AAAA (nice and thin, did you even know there was such a thing?), rechargeable, etc…
All my Mags were disappointing in one way or another, the big 5-D cell had funny optics and eventually became unreliable whether it would come on when switched on. The double AA was never what you would call bright at all. The single AAA was the closest to being what I expected but by then my expectations were very low.
Mike (the other one)
Their LED lights have come a long way.
Farid
…or, perhaps they just wanted to have a cylindrical profile and this was the easiest way to make it. (;-D
Heat dissipation sounds very plausible.
Jimie
I’ll hazard a guess that it’s for heat-dissipation. Though at 100 lumens, its LED really probably only dissipating 0.75 W so robust heat-sinking is probably overkill.
I own a lot of Milwaukee gear but for folks looking for a small EDC flashlight, I’d recommend taking a close look at offerings from Fenix or ArmyTek or Olight. (I really wanted to include Nitecore in that list as I have a bunch of their lights but sometimes their fit-and-finish needs a little improvement).
Dan
I agree. I also have some Fenix, Olight, Thrunite, Jetbeam and Sunwayman. By far my favourite edc flashlights are the Sunwayman V11 and Jetbeam RRT01, both with infinitely variable brightness using a magnetic ring.
dave9
Completely unnecessary for heatsinking an LED at 100 lumens. Take a look at the minuscule head on an Olight I3 , 1 x AAA powered light at 90-120 lumens. The milwaukee is built for at least 2W or more, but to me it looks like that at the last minute they decided it should have longer runtime over brightness but they already had a run of super thick body tubes made so they went with it.
Woody
I use my Fenix LD01 quite a bit due to its small size and bright beam. This does look to be a well constructed light.
Joe Hanson
Heat dissapation is all I can really think of and the strength is a side benefit is my guess since strength isnt really an issue with a lot of the flashlights these days and weight is important on something you might want to carry in a pocket everyday.
mla
Heat. Those rechargables can get prettt hot.
Bolt
Marker light
Kevin
Cop Tool will now get to practice their TIG welding…
Dennis
The better to club you with.
(But most likely ergonomics.)
Nathan
current throughput?
If it’s like others doesn’t it use the body as the electrical ground or negative side?
ANd at the same time as mentioned it’s heat dissipation for the LED set.
Does it allow use of non- alkaline batteries? I haven’t looked into on but I do like the idea.
TJ
Not current throughput. The cross-sectional area required to handle all the current of a couple batteries is miniscule. This light is around the area of 2/0 wire good for 200 amps.
Heat dissipation/durability.
PO Toolson
Thank you for sharing! The battery compartment looks very tight to me. I imagine it would be very hard to get a corroded battery out. That has heppened to me several times with other flashlights especially when I used cheaper batteries!
Steve
I love Milwaukee but a penlight that thick could be problematic. Coast makes a mighty fine penlight…cheap and sturdy.
James C
Do they, or will they, also make an AA version? If so it would allow them to share components (e.g the head) and manufacturing steps between an oversized AAA body and more normally sized AA body tube diameter. It’s not uncommon to do that in the flashlight industry.
Robert Fejes
When starting with the design phase you would be working with two primary concerns: What size do I make the reflector and bezel for proper performance and how much space do I need for the battery pack. I the case of this product there seems to be quite a deviation in what one would normally choose. The following are my opinions regarding the extremely thick design:
Electrical resistance – no
Thermal conductivity – probably not
Strength – no
And as Farid Stated:
Aesthetics – yes (baton/kubotan shape)
Manufacturing costs – maybe (machine work with only one size round stock instead of two and an increased inventory cost of two sizes of stock, one for the head and one for the body)
Stuart
Thabk you for the insightful opinion!
Bryan
Looks like they tried to re-invent the wheel…..
Alick
Need another test : drive over it and see if the tube bends and the battery gets stuck 🙂 there are many grades of aluminium.
Seriously, it’s probably marketing as it’s not necessary for heat dissipation. I have a pocket flashlight rated at over 1000 real lumens (not pretend Chinese ones) that isn’t as thick as this. Hot sweaty hand is pretty good at carrying away the heat from the body of your light.
ToolOfTheTrade
Because it’s obviously meant to be durable and that’s how they designed and wanted to make it. Would you rather have thin POS that stops working after you drop it from 3′? If you ask me, all flashlights should be made like this. Nothings worse than dropping a $20+ flashlight and it breaks because it was made out of plastic. If I’m paying $20 for a pen light, it better last a long time. I wish headlamps were made like this. They should start making power tools like this again also. I’m still having a hard time trying to figure out why they thought plastic would make a better housing than aluminum other than they cheapened out for the sake of sacrificing durability.
Stuart
Metal = heavier, more expensive, not as impact resistant.
Modern plastics are plenty strong, durable, and impact resistant for today’s power tools. Metal is still used when and where extra strength or durability is needed.
Charles
If they started with .750” stock and punched it out for the battery, clean the outside, and roll in the knurl. Call it good enough. Turning it to a smaller size is added cost without added value. Yes it’s more weight but these small commodity items are harder to ship because of bulk not weight.
Plastic is generally more expensive than metal. The only reason plastic wins out over metal is finishing processes, going back to my first point of reducing steps in the manufacturing process.
Stuart
Can they punch it out? I’d think that it would be cheaper to extrude tubing of the specified ID and OD than to start with a solid cylinder.
Charles
Pardon my slang. Drilled to diameter.
You’re correct extrusion is the go to for the majority of odd size or custom diameters. However I’m sure someone ran cost analysis and determined if custom dies and extrusion were cost effective. But knowing it’s a new product wouldn’t the primary run be a testing bed for further developement? We see this as new tool, fuel tool, upgraded tool, upgraded fuel. If this is the new tool the next versions will likely be as good but smaller or same size but more capable.
Of course I’m just spit balling 😉
Hang Fire
I’m thinking aesthetics, and maybe it’s easier/cheaper to make it of solid cheap aluminum, than a thinner shell of a better grade, and put a plastic sleeve in it.
Smite
so, I have this penlight sitting in front of me, and I think focusing on the cross-sectional thickness alone may be misleading. If you look at the thickness of the material in the threaded areas of the cap and body, it is much thinner, but still plenty beefy to be strong. Instead of a coke-bottle shape that would be either a custom casting, or annoying to machine, they stuck with a straight-walled body.
I’m going to go with Aesthetics and manufacturing costs as to the ultimate reason for the thickness.
Wayne
I think it was a couple of years ago that a Duracell package at Costco caught my eye; I think it was $24 for four flashlights with, !, Duracell batteries! As I have enough lights to irritate Honeypie, I deferred.
A few months ago the same package, I think, was $14.
The other day it was $8. Four lights, nice & bright. Hand them out like Halloween candy. Way better than those crappy cheapies at Harbor Freight for almost the same price.
glenn
My guess is for durability and to give it some added weight for a more quality ‘feel’. However I think its more for aesthetics, particularly after being used and knocked around a bit, as it wont dent or bend or crush from accident or misuse.
Eg; I have a very old penlight from the late eighties, one of the earliest examples I had ever seen, and it is made from very thin aluminium and while it still works, it doesn’t look so great anymore. And at the just released $25AUD each, I think I will replace it……and perhaps buy a couple more.
Cubbie
Why is holding a flashlight in your mouth “never recommended”? I can understand “isn’t recommended” but “never recommended” sounds like I must be missing something regarding my safety!
dave9
Yeah I hold my flashlight in my mount at least 4 times a week, though it is a very small, light weight, Olight I3, and I have heatshrink tubing on the body tube to save my teeth and lips some wear. That’s what I’m thinking, is that you could chip your teeth on knurling.
Joseph EagleBear Verrett
I think it was to make the smart feel dumb, the dumb feel smart and in the end, if it works and sales in the market place then they achieved what most companies are after anyway…more profit…less complaints = Win – Win.
david
The light is no thicker than rayovacs indestructable lights. It is not for heat dissipation but for durability. I could throw my light as hard as i can on steel and it would never break or bend.
Bob
I picked one up today and being somewhat of a flashaholic I’m impressed for $22 OTD, The switch is a forward clicky with just two modes OFF and ON 100 lumens. I love that in an EDC utility light. All these smart switches with multiple modes and button pushes are annoying to me.
My example is built well and finished well. Thanks for being the enabler!
John
What’s the brightest a pen light can get? In lumens?