Review: ProTek RC Foldable Aluminum LED Pit Light

The Perfect LED Solution to Any Pit Space

If you’re an indoor racer, I’m sure you can agree that not all pit spaces are equal when it comes to light. Sometimes you’re lucky and secure a spot under a high-hanging fluorescent, but is that really enough? If your eyes are whacked out like mine it’s not and having a separate stand-alone pit light is a necessity. While doing some research, I only had two major requirements; it had to be portable and could be powered by a USB adapter. After digging around a bit, I think I found my candidate for long term use; enter ProTek RCs LED Pit Light. This aluminum unit fit both my requirements and then some – it even had a brilliant feature that I didn’t even know I needed until the first time I used it at the track. You’ll have to read on to find out what that was…

What’s In The Box
Opening the box reveals a canvas protective case with which all the contents are contained. The case is reusable, allowing safe storage and transportation of the Pit Light. Once open (via a full-length zipper), we find the folded light and two power-option connectors; a USB cable and a banana-plug cable. This allows you to connect the LED Pit Light to either a DC power source or USB port.

Performance
For the initial test (and photography), I set the LED Folding Pit Light up on my home work bench. Set up was very easy; I unfolded the light and, using the included USB cable, connected one end to the USB port in my battery charger and the other end into the light. Boom – done.

The light has three sections; an aluminum base that features a small tray in it, the central neck and the lamp head itself filled with 28 LEDs. The controls are located on the neck; four touch-sensitive buttons in all. The bottom one is the power button, turning the unit on and off. The next one up, labeled TC, allows you to change the color temperature of the lights (3000K, 3500K and 4000K). The third one up decreases the brightness and the top button increases the brightness of the LEDs. Along the side of the central neck are the two powering ports; one for the banana plug cable and one for the USB cable.

As I mentioned earlier, initial testing was done at home on a large workspace. While I do have quite a bit of light already in my workspace (via overhead fluorescents), the LED Pit Light was like a spotlight directed right in front of me. I played around with the different settings – dimming and color temp change – but found the maximum brightness and 4000K setting to be the best. It’s a great combo of bright, white light that makes everything easy to see.

My next test was at my local track, OCRC Raceway. This is where I ran into a bit of an issue, however, it also presented a fix. OCRC’s pit tables are low with an elevated spine running down the middle. This spine is useful for setting your cars on when not in use. As I unfolded and set up the LED Pit Light, it came in contact with this spine. The only solution was to move the light forward into my pit. This was fine, but every now and then I hit it while doing maintenance on my buggy; there was even one or two occasions where I knocked it over. I really like this light but this was becoming a major downer.

Knocking it over, though, actually helped me solve the problem. You see, the ProTek LED Pit Light has a 270° swiveling head; this meant I could turn the entire light sideways and just swivel the head to meet my needs. Oddly enough, this not only gave me the room I needed but also sprayed more rays of light directly into my pit. Win win situation right there!

Conclusion
ProTek’s aluminum LED Pit Light has been a fantastic addition to my pit area. It blazes a very bright light directly where I need it and the swiveling head is a very welcome feature. Its other details – light dimming, the parts tray and its foldable construction – well, they’re certainly nice to have. I’m also a fan of the fact that since it uses LEDs, there’s very little heat that dissipates from it. The $60 price tag is a bit on the high side, but I’ll tell you from experience that it’s hard to put a value on a versatile, reliable and absolutely radiant lighting source that helps old guys like me see.

Setup: 1=Complicated – 10=Easy – 10
Appearance – Fit & Finish – 10
Durability – 10
Value – 9.5
Price – 7.5

Connect
AMain Hobbies, www.amainhobbies.com
ProTek RC, www.protekrc.com

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