work light on drills

[narrowboatboy]

I wish the work light would stay on after trigger press, i have a CXS and the diff between light on and power is almost one and the same, the makita 10.8 for instance comes on and stays on for a couple a seconds after release

 

[mrboult]

Yes. It's my only issue with the CXS. I was hoping for the sake if others that they might have changed it on the newer models.

It's stranger still as their other drills don't seem to turn off so quick. Though the BHC doesn't stay on too long either. Personally I like the always on of the PDC/DRC.

 

[narrowboatboy]

yes i would like a brief trigger press stay on 2 or 3 secs to find screws in dark places on my cxs also

 

[pingvinlakrits]

The DRC does this. It is a bit more unwieldy than the CXS though.

I wish for a separate button for on/off as on the DRC and some other brands.

 

[Staniam]

While this does seem to be a head scratcher of a miss for Festool, its nothing that can't be overcome.

All I do is set the forward/reverse switch to the middle lock position and you've got our light. Sure you have to keep your finger on the trigger but is that really a huge problem?

Maybe in the future Festool will change this as it is a little annoying but once that "light" (no pun intended) flicked on in my head about the switch, I pretty much forgot about the issue.

 

[Cheese]

I guess I'm not understanding the problem. If I put very light pressure on the trigger of my CXS & C 15, the LED comes on and there is no rotary motion with either drill. As long as I maintain light pressure on the switch, the LED remains on. What am I missing?

 

[narrowboatboy]

your finger must be more delicate than the rest of us, when I'm upside down under some kitchen unit trying to control my finger so gingerly as to give me some light to guide bit onto a screw, a micro mm of pressure more and with the bit turning in nit what I crave

 

[JeremyH.]

I'd like a small delay. But what I'd also like is an on/off switch for the light. Why not have a small flashlight you can use with you?

 

[sae]

The new Metabo/Mafell drills have accelerometer activated lights.

The light placement could be better though, they could take some cues from DeWalt or Bosch.

 

[Wuffles]

The new Metabo/Mafell drills have accelerometer activated lights.

The light placement could be better though, they could take some cues from DeWalt or Bosch.

Bosch have copied that from Makita/DeWalt. We had a "light off" about a year ago and my Bosch was dire, on a 10.8 & an 18 model too. The others were brighter than the sun and managed to really light up the workpiece.

My year old Metabo 10.8 is pretty bad too.

 

[pingvinlakrits]

Sometimes you need that little extra light that the drill can provide - say inside a cabinet. I have had several drills where you can activate the light separately, stand the drill up and have it provide light while working, like my former Hitachi drill.
Just the way I want it.

I was very happy to see that the DRC does this and has a great little light to boot. Still, I wish they would have provided the same for the CXS too. But now I got myself a little pocket flash light that is always (well, mostly always) with me.

If you need to preplace a drill or some small fixture by hand - or both hands - the CXS does no good in having to press the trigger to activate the light only to have the light go out as soon as you release the trigger.

A few weeks ago I was adjusting a sliding door sitting _inside_ a closet with no lights inside. The DRC provided me ample light to see what I was doing while working the roller mechanism with a manual screwdriver.  Awesome sause.  

 

[Holmz]

I got a couple of LED lights and they work for a while unplugged.
Heaps of light and pretty cool.

Sort of like a camera... Some have a built-in flash, and some require you use a powerful external one.

 

[demographic]

The new Metabo/Mafell drills have accelerometer activated lights.

The light placement could be better though, they could take some cues from DeWalt or Bosch.

Bosch have copied that from Makita/DeWalt. We had a "light off" about a year ago and my Bosch was dire, on a 10.8 & an 18 model too. The others were brighter than the sun and managed to really light up the workpiece.

My year old Metabo 10.8 is pretty bad too.

Hmm, I've seen a Metabo with that.
Not entirely sure about it, seems like a solution looking for a problem. I never had any trouble just touching the trigger gently to get the light on without starting the bit turning, plus does it light up when its in the van on the way home?
My Metabo jigsaw does it (lights up when I move it) but its on a cord so it can't use power when its unplugged.

The best LED lights on any drill I've used yet it on the new De-Walt impact screwdrivers. Its got three LEDs so there isn't a great big screwdriver bit shaped shadow in the way of whatever I'm doing.

 

[pingvinlakrits]

Demographic: on the Hitachi and on Festool DRC you have to manually activate the light in order to keep it on so you have your worklight built in with virtually no risk of it activating in the Systainer. (Depending on your driving skills.)

A separate switch is an elegant solution to a minor inconvenience. Working under a deck on a gloomy day the Hitachi worked wonders. Working under a flight of stairs in a server room the DRC worked wonders - both thanks to the "sudden need" of some extra light. During the summer I hardly ever bring a separate flash light but when you need it it is nice to have it "built in" to a tool you always have on site.

 

[TelcoRandy]

I'm siding with Henrik, I really like how my PDC has a manually activated light. Sometimes you don't need light, why have it turn on at all? And when you need it, it's great to have it turn on/off on demand instead of having to feather a trigger switch. Just my $0.02.