Spotlight

The bad news bears strikes again! I was out Saturday night doing a little prefishing , well to make a long story short and after screwing up dang near everything all ngiht, my spotlight dies about halfway back to the access at 1 AM. The good news is that I was on the main channel and the clouds cleared for just long enough for me to do a 3 mph speed run to the access .

So now time for the question. What is the best spotlight to use. I would prefer a rechargeable battery with a 12volt plug in adapter for nights when I need a litte extra “umph”, but don’t know if this is possible.

Any recomendations would be appreciated. I need to upgrade before the weekend if possible.

Sears has one I use 12v battery with a cig adapter. 1 million power works great. It is the one with a silver case and black rubber bottom $29 or $19 on sale.

I picked one up at Auto Zone a few weeks ago that seems to do pretty well. It was around $30, 2 million candepower, rechargable, it has a LONG cig lighter cord for running off boat battery(not a charge cord), it also has a handy little LED light on the handle.

Many of the rechargable spotlights out there have cig lighter cords.. but they are for charging, not running. If you run off that cord you can screw up your light.

I picked up one that was 1 million candlepower for about $7 at menards a couple weeks ago. It has both a cigarett plug in and a plug in for an outlet at home. It was cheap and works well.

I bought a 1 million CP rechargable last year. Battery is dead this year. Even when it did work, the charge was only good for about 20-30 minutes. I’ll never get another rechargeable. If you want a light that can run for a long time, get a 12v spotlight that runs directly from your trolling battery or starting battery (cigarette lighter attachment). I got one at Walmart for 10 bucks this year and it works great. Couldnt even find one at Sportsmans Warehouse or Gander Mountain. All they carry are the recargeables which are way over priced if if ask me…

Go ahead and get the rechargeable but only expect the recharge battery to last about one season. Make sure it has the AC plug-in and enough cord to make it useable in the boat. I had the same problem as Mile 832. I got a 2 million power rechargeable spotlight at Northern Tool & Equipment on a special sale for about $12 last year. This year it won’t hold a charge but about 5 minutes but that is no problem. I run a 2 socket AC adapter off my trolling motor battery and I run an AC power inverter for my other fishing lights in one AC socket and just plug my 2 million Power spotlight into the other adapter socket. The spotlight has a long enough cord to work perfectly when I need it.
I do carry a backup 6 volt battery spotlight for emergency situations. I don’t want to get stuck without a light on the river at night.

That is sweet, Dtro!

Hey Dtro, how much are those?

dtro.. I looked at them lights a few days ago at Cabelas.. nice, but $265?

Thats not an option that will fit my pocket book.

I do agree weight is an issue with rechargable lights.. bigger they are, the heavier they are.

The co-pilot can get a workout until I mount some fog lights to the boat!

I have the same problems and take two rechargeable lights along. If one runs out I put it on the charger. I have another buddy that mounted a halogen headlight on the front of his boat with a switch. It points forward all the time but that is usually the way we are going.

My experiance:

$44 super duper cordless = junk after one summer.

$10 Fleet Farm special with a cord = going strong in summer number 5.

ditto, 7.99 wally world corded 1 mill candle power season 3 and still going vs recharge light half season at 3X the cost …granted the cord is not always convienent, but at least they work

CA

My 02 cents…

Go with TWO cheap spots..with cords…but also check the weight…lighter is better!

I have 3 spots in my boat…

1.5 mil corded very light weight
2.0 mil corded much heavier than 1.5
and

one 6v lantern battery light.

Besides the weight…holding the 1.5 and 2.0 mil candle power light side by side at night…I can’t tell the differance in the beam.

Since they get bounced around alot…inexpensive is the way I’ve been going…

PS unless I can talk someone into holding a rechargeable…they are way too heavy for me!

If you do go cordless check to see if you can turn it on when using the cigerette lighter power cord. The cheapie I have from sears only lets you charge it. So when, and it will, dies on you out on the water you have to wait for it to charge a little, unplug it and then use it.

Thanks Runt! That would be…annoying!

Thanks for the input everyone. I think I will go out and spend the $12 and get a top quality cheapy

12 BUCKS!!!!11!!1!!!

$9.99 brinkman 1 millions at wally world. lock on switch, too.