Milwaukee M12 Light – Compact Flood Light 2364-20

Yes, you guessed it right, Milwaukee is shining up your life again with their new release.  Funny thing is that this is only the start of it.  When we were at their media event, they showed us a bunch more lights that will be coming out, but that is for another day.  Today we are here to talk about the Milwaukee M12 light, which is a compact flood light model 2364-20.

How many times have you been working on something and you need a little more light?  Sure, we have all been there.  We grab our trusty light, turn it on and then go to work.  However, sometimes the light actually hampers our capabilities.  In fact, it casts a shadow and doesn’t do any good.  Well that is where the Milwaukee M12 light comes into play.  Not only is this light bright, but it’s compact, so you can get it into tighter spots.  But as the man from the infomercial says, “But wait, that’s not all.”  So not only do you get the light, but the light has a couple of different ways to let you really adjust where you want the light.  Obviously you can set it up on the base and shine the light.  However, there are also two very strong magnets so you can attach this to a metal surface.  There is also a key hole where you can hang it from a screw or nails.  Because this light has a nice handle, you can also hang it from a wire.  One cool feature to this light is the spring loaded clamp.  Just pull the clamp from the bottom and you will be able to hang it on a joist, stud or something else.  So as you can see, you should be able to work in any condition and completely eliminate shadows.

In regards to brightness, this light has it.  According to Milwaukee, the Milwaukee M12 light is equivalent to a 250w halogen bulb.  On the top of the light, there are three functions.  First, there is an on/off button.  Right next to that is a mode button that allows you to turn it from high, medium and low.  The last item is the battery status gauge.

Having a light is helpful, but not if the light isn’t a true white or natural.  You need a light that is a true white in certain circumstances so you can identify key things, such as wiring coloring, painting and more.  With the Milwaukee M12 light, you get this type of light, a true white light.  On high you get 1,000 lumens, medium you get 400 lumens and low you will get 200 lumens.  Running the light on high will yield about 3.5 hours of work time, medium is about 7.5 hours and low is 15 hours of work time.  These figures reflect using a M12 4 Ah battery.  Your times will be reduced with the compact 2 Ah battery.

When the battery is low, you will get a visual alert and I don’t mean the light will just turn off.  So what about toughness?  Well, it’s a Milwaukee so you know this was at their top of the list when designing this light.  The outer candy shell is made from an impact resistant plastic and will survive a 9′ drop.  If that isn’t enough, even the lens has a chemical resistant coating to protect it in harsh conditions.

Now I always have to look at the negatives to any light, but in all honesty, I can’t find any.  For me, this light meets both criteria, it’s strong and bright.  Having the different hanging options is a huge plus.  So in reality, I can’t see anything that should be improved on with the Milwaukee M12 light.  If I had to pick one thing, it would be the battery.  The battery isn’t always the easiest to take off the tool.  Not that it’s hard, but because of how the base comes out, there isn’t a whole lot of room to get your fingers in there and depress the battery tabs.

Milwaukee M12 Light Specifications

• High Mode 1,000 Lumens | 3.5 hrs
• Low Mode 200 Lumens | 15 hrs
• Length 7.5″
• Height 5.5″
• Width 5.75″
• Weight 2.19 lbs

Bottom line this is another hit from Milwaukee Tool.  While Milwaukee lights are a little pricey, they don’t cut corners.  The lights are solid and can take the day to day abuse of the job site.  With the retractable hook and strong magnets, the Milwaukee M12 light is truly portable, useful and compact.  Anyone looking for a compact light, I would suggest taking a look at this light.