I am in need of a NEW spot light 
…after mine starting losing its charge very quickly (it was 8yrs old)I decided to see if it was IMPACT resitant 
,well not to my surprise it WASNT.so now its time to peplace it .
What do you catfishers have and why do you like/dislike it?
If you have a really good one your pleased with please include name,power and any model #’s in your response so I can research it.
It’s a LONG SLOW ride back without one 
Thanks in advance Jeff
I am using a 120 Lumen flashlight by Streamlight. It serves double duty on my Mini 14. I bought it at Streichers and the link will take you to the exact light. Maybe it’s overkill for most…but it fits in my pocket and lights up the whole boat like daylight! And I can see 4-5 cans down river!! 
The batteries last a long time!
i have a cyclops 3.5 million candlepower, corded light. it was 30 bucks at gander mountain.
there are a lot of good lights out there, my only suggestion is to stay away from the rechargeables, they don’t last very long and are heavy to hold on to for extended periods of time.
http://www.cyclopssolutions.com/HTML/spotlights.html
Thor S-35012vr
also, forgot to mention, i always have a bright led flashlight with, so that if my spotlight dies, i can run off of my gps and still light up the cans good enough.
http://www.swissarmy.com/MultiTools/Pages/Product.aspx?category=flashlights&product=V2A-MR&
and i also keep in my boat a 12v plug to battery post clamp adapter, so if my 12v outlet craps out, i can hook the spot up directly to the battery.
similar to this:
and if all that fails, i idle back to the launch and have a few beers…
I use this one. I got it at Wal-mart, and don’t remember the price. Plugs into AC or a 12v socket.
V-1 Million Power Series Cordless/Rechargable spotlight
Yo Jeff!
I can’t say there’s one good light…but I can say redundancy in night fishing is a very good idea. Just ask the three boaters that were yelling for help last night because their battery went dead.
When looking for a spot light for navigation, I look for a light weight light that operates on a long life power system. The 12 volt batteries in my boat.
I’ve found all the cordless rechargeables to be too heavy to hold for the length of time needed to get back to the launch. Although I really like the cordless feature, the charge just doesn’t last long enough to ensure I have without a doubt..enough juice to get me home…not to mention if I would have sometype of problem where I would need to use the light more than normal. Corded is the way to go for navigation IMO.
Now, for landing a fish, I do plan on finding a rechargeable to have in the boat. Weight isn’t a problem and not having a cord is very nice…less of a tripping hazard and that’s a good thing.
One thing I would suggest is not to fall for the $19.95 corded light. I can’t recall the brand name…but it comes in black and white models. It will last about two to four boat rides…speaking from experience. 
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Now, for landing a fish, I do plan on finding a rechargeable to have in the boat. Weight isn’t a problem and not having a cord is very nice…less of a tripping hazard and that’s a good thing.
You use a spotlight to land fish?! You don’t find that maybe just a bit of overkill? Isn’t that what the headlamp is for?
I got a cheap, yellow, 1 million CP, wired model at Fleet Farm. It weighs next to nothing. The plug sucked (kept wiggling loose), but I soldered a better one on and it stays put now. It’s not the greatest light, but it does a decent job, and when I break it, I won’t be heart broken. I’ll probably just buy another of the same. I also keep a 1 million CP rechargable Coleman in the boat. It’s a nice light, but it’s heavy and it starts to loose some brightness on longer runs. I like having it for landing fish, lighting up spots to cast to, trailering the boat, etc, plus, it’s good to have backup!
I use a 2 million candle job I picked up at Walmart. It has two rechargable batteries that snap in the back of the light. Works for me.
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You don’t find that maybe just a bit of overkill?
No, not at all. If I was fishing with a regular cat guy…yes. Most of the time my boat has first timers in it and light…lots of light is a good thing.
Also would use a rechargeable for casting, looking for gar..deer, beaver and wood cannons on the way out of a wood stump infested waters.
I’ll echo what everyone has said about the rechargeables. I hate em. Too heavy and go dead way to soon.
Those cheap $9.99 1 million CP lights that RW mentioned work just fine and almost free at that price.
I’ve had good luck with a 3 million CP Q-Beam light I bought at Wal-Mart.
I would guess with LED, HID and Lithium ION technology steaming ahead there should be some good options in the near future for llighting.
If you want to spend a bit more, the best handheld I’ve seen is an HID Vector light that can be picked up for under $100 and if you are lucky closer to $50 if on sale.
Ralph Wiggum has it right. The cheap yellow corded one from Fleet Farm. I have two in my boat. If one craps out, I’ll just buy another.
Stay away from rechargeables.
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I use a 2 million candle job I picked up at Walmart. It has two rechargable batteries that snap in the back of the light. Works for me.
That’s how I roll too. Always have both batteries charged.
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I got a cheap, yellow, 1 million CP, wired model at Fleet Farm. It weighs next to nothing. The plug sucked (kept wiggling loose), but I soldered a better one on and it stays put now. It’s not the greatest light, but it does a decent job, and when I break it, I won’t be heart broken.
I use the exact same light. I hard wired it to a smallish 12V cranking battery. I think they are about 6 bucks at FF.
I’ve tried many others…
Rechargeables suck, too heavy, and don’t last long enough…unless you buy a low powered light. 2,000,000 CPR dies much faster than 200,000.
Until now, with the cheapest light i’ve ever bought, i’ve never had one last more than about 2 months. The way I see it…the more you spend on a spotlight…the more $$ you’ll be tossing in the river in a fit of rage some night!!
That Swiss Army light Perch44 has is pretty sweet as well. One of those would be great for a backup light. Plenty bright to navigate with under most conditions.
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Now, for landing a fish, I do plan on finding a rechargeable to have in the boat. Weight isn’t a problem and not having a cord is very nice…less of a tripping hazard and that’s a good thing.
You use a spotlight to land fish?! You don’t find that maybe just a bit of overkill? Isn’t that what the headlamp is for?
If you guys want a light for landing fish and working in and near the boat in the dark this is the set up you want. I use a clamp on work light I bought at Menards ($10) and I plug it into a 100 watt power inverter I bought at WalMart ($17) that plugs into a rechargeable Black & Decker Start-It 300 amp Jump Starter 12 volt Power Supply ($35). I use a yellow low watt (23 watt) florescent bulb in the work light that uses very little power and provides lots of light but keeps down the bugs. The clamp light has a 15′ cord and you can clamp the work light anywhere in the boat – I have a bimini top on the pontoon and I am able to clamp it up high so I get lots of coverage from the light. As a matter of fact I run two clamp lights on the pontoon, one on the bow and one on the stern – they work great when sturgeon fishing in the fall. The power supply will run that light for hours and is simple and easy to recharge plus it comes in handy as a back up starter battery if you should ever have issues with your boat’s starter battery.
You will find yourself using that clamp on light just about everywhere around the boat at night. It works great for taking out the boat at the landing late at night – it lights up the boat and trailer making the take out process safe and easy.
If you want to run a plug-in hand held spotlight for running up and down the river but don’t want to hook it to your boat batteries then the Jump Starter is perfect. It will give you hours of on & off spotlight operation.
Plus if you ice fish the Jump starter and clamp light provide hours of light for inside a permanent or portable ice house. This set up has all kinds of night fishing applications.
wow… lot of ideas about lighting! Since I share a single battery w sonar and aerator, wouldn’t a rechargable that plugs into a cig. lighter allow me to run of the charge, and then tap into the battery if the charge gets low?
I’m not sure how quickly the spot would drain my old battery, I get several hours using the aerator and sonar….
Shawn
Most of the rechargeable lighs that plug into the cigarette lighter actually won’t RUN off the cigarette lighter, they’ll only recharge. The charger module will usually only supply about a 500 milli-amp current to the batteries, optimal for charging them but not enough to run the lights.
I have two of the lights that Dtro showed above hard-mounted for running on the front of my boat, but I took out the batteries an wired it to my 12 volt battery in the boat. So that’s an option if you want the candlepower and lumens that a handheld HID light rechargable has, but you don’t want the heft of a battery-powered rechargeable…just take out that heavy battery and add a cord to run it directly off your 12 volt system, off a cigarette lighter, etc. They’re still big, yes…but they are at least lightweight behemouths at that point.
Since those HID lights are hard-mounted to my boat for running, I also keep a sub-$10 spotlight in the rear for things like casting, pointing at beaver and muskrats, lighting up areas when formulating anchoring plans, etc.
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…pointing at beaver…
Oh, I don’t even know what direction to take this
Saw a beaver out fishing the other night… at least I thought it was. Been a while since I’d seen one… 
I know if you’re willing to spend the money on one I can recomend the litebox by sure fire. They work great and run along time. but the cost 100 buck or better.
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Most of the rechargeable lighs that plug into the cigarette lighter actually won’t RUN off the cigarette lighter, they’ll only recharge.
Thanks that’s very helpful… looked at a few lights yesterday, I just want a cheap 1 mil. CP or less light. I think I can get enough run time using the 12 v battery, plus my 4D halogen headlamp works pretty good (just not enough for those really wide places…
great info guys!
Shawn
I just went throught all of this with my boat. I got ECFFD in a bad way. I justed started going for the big ones this year sofar gon a got a 30#er. I used yellow side marker lights off a semi trailer for the in side (easy on the eyes)got 6 of them with 3 switches. For seeing down river I grabed my head light off my old harley put a spot light blub in it screwed a long bolt in and 1/2 of roll of ducket tape some wire and a switch works great and it is corome
This one has yet to fail me. Roughly $10 from Menards. Unknown candle power, and the light is made of magic.
Simplicity at its finest….
here is what I made. Took the head light off my harley and screwd a long bolt. Bought a 40w spot light blub put it in it and used about 3/4 of a role a ELC. tape putting a switch on it. Mad a wiring harness. It works great can see 300 400 yards on a clear night
I’m just curious why you didn’t just buy a spotlight?
Harley leaked oil?
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Harley leaked oil?
Isn’t that a given?
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I’m just curious why you didn’t just buy a spotlight?
I’m guessing to save money and it’s a lot funner to make stuff… 
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I’m just curious why you didn’t just buy a spotlight?
I’m guessing to save money and it’s a lot funner to make stuff…
I’ll second, third and fourth that statement… It fun to tinker and create…… sometimes.
Lighting is usually the start, once you can see good… the rest is cake
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