Home Depot Deal Alerts & Discussion Thread

The Defiant 500-Lumen Utility LED Light is $9.97 at Home Depot. It runs on four AA batteries which are included. Actually the batteries provided are Defiant alkaline batteries with a 2023 expiration date.

The light is cool white and the beam is very homogeneous over about a 160 degree cone. The advertised 500 lumens looks accurate. Since I'm going to store it in the trunk of my car, I replaced the alkaleaks with AmazonBasics High Capacity Ni-MH AA batteries. Plenty of room is provided in the battery compartment for these slightly over-sized high capacity batteries. The overall build quality of this utility light is actually quite good.

This Home Depot special has been posted on BensBargains.com off-and on for a week, but I haven't noticed it in this thread. Pardon if I've double posted.


Edit: If anyone is interested in some limited test data on AmazonBasics High Capacity Batteries, check out this post. << Conclusion, you may be better off with Eneloop batteries for longevity. Edited.>>

Nice work light. I might have to check it out.

Costco had a deal recently on a pack of 2 CAT 500lm work lights for $9.97, and they had 2 brightness levels, but that deal seems to have expired now.

After watching some youtube reviews, I ended up picking one up. The main complaint about it is fairly short runtime - realistically about 2 hours, but with plenty of NiMH cells on hand, I’m not too worried. Otherwise, it seems like a pretty good utility light. I like it. Thanks ActiveAl for heads up!

Pete, thank you for the photos, the YouTube tip, and helpful info about the run time. I looked at several of the YouTube videos, and this one was my favorite. In it, the guy disassembles the Defiant utility light, puts in a tripod mount, adds a stick-on heat sink to some very hot resistors on the circuit board, and reassembles. It is a little long (35 min) but was entertaining.

I thought I’d verify runtime on this Defiant 500 utility light. This is using AmazonBasics High Capacity NiMH cells and ceilingbounce app:

Test #1: NiMH

As you can see, the light flatlined after about 24 minutes and it would not turn back on. The cells were at 1.27V when I pulled them out and were fairly warm. I put in another set of cells, and the light still would not turn on. I waited half an hour. Still no signs of life. I opened it up, but did not see any burned elements and nothing smelled burnt. I put the light back together and it started working again. Weird. I’m currently recharging my NiMH cells so that I can redo the test and see what happens this time.

Wondering if it’s some kind of overheat protection mechanism that shut it down? Maybe this light wasn’t designed to run on as much current as NiMH cells can deliver? I haven’t come across anything that would suggest that…

Anyone else care to do a runtime test on theirs?

Test #2: NiMH

This time I had the light standing vertically up on its long side. The previous run where it failed, I had it standing on its shorter side - maybe it did not like that?

The light was still on when I ended the run at about 120 minutes, but the light was fairly dim at that point. Cells were down to around 0.9V after I pulled them out.

EDIT
Test #3: Alkaline

FYI, the light continued to run for a long time past 120 minutes, at this low, roughly 4-5% light output.

Initial lumen output on NiMH was about 35% higher compared to alkaline. But from about 100 minutes onward, the light output on alkaline cells was actually higher than on NiMH, although both were fairly dim at that point - only good for maybe a night light.

My question is how badly does having the tweeter in front of the woofer affect the bass?

i bought these instead .... Baby said.. bump bump

” My question is how badly does having the tweeter in front of the woofer affect the bass?”

If you play Electric Light Orchestra tunes it really rocks otherwise it sounds like Barry Manilow kicked in the nuts.

FYI, I found a “stereo” version of this light on Gearbest

This one can be powered by either AA cells or 18650. It also has 2 USB ports - not sure what exactly they’re for, or what the lumen output is.

Pete
I believe the micro USB is for charging and standard USB is power bank function, I purchased one but has not arrived yet.

Yeah, but charging which cells? The 18650 cells maybe. I don’t think it would be a good idea to charge 4 AA NiMH in series.

Also wondering if you can also use the micro USB port to power the light from a wall plug without any cells in it.

Please let us know when you get it, if you can.

Modes: High, Low, & Strobe! LOL! Why on earth would they include strobe??!!! I’m interested in hearing more about this light (or various other similar models on GearBest).
(Now this thread is going off-topic.)

-Garry

According to Gearbest, you can't run it on USB power alone. Here's the correspondence:

Dear ActiveAl,

Thank you for your inquiry regarding https://www.gearbest.com/led-solar-lights/pp_009306164569.html

Your original question is "Can this light be operated without batteries on USB power? Thanks!"

Here is the answer from Our Customer service Team:

"

Hello ActiveAl,

This product can be charged and you need to use it after charging.

Let me know if you need any further assistance.

I was also curious so I contacted them through the Ask a Question link on the product page, and got a reply within 36 hours.

Agreed. Having a low mode is nice - I wish the Defiant light had it. But strobe? That’s idiotic unless maybe if you plan on using it as a disco light.

Also, to get back on topic: final update on that Defiant 500 lm utility light from HD: it ran for 72 hours non-stop on alkaline cells. Granted, the light output was fairly low after the first two hours or so, but still usable to find your way around in the dark, at least during the first 24-36 hours - roughly 10 lumen (guess).

Thanks. I also asked them a question, but never got a response. I was hoping they would just post the answer in the Q&A section on the product page.

I just noticed that dchomak hasn’t been on BLF for over 3 months now. Hope everything is ok with him. Unlike him not to post Home Depot deals for such a long stretch!

-Garry

Indeed, i always looked forward to his posts
I also hope all is well with him.

@pete7874 — When the gearbest light finally comes, can you let us know the color temperature as well as all the charging stuff?

I did not buy one.

Oops — that’s what I get for reading too fast. Maybe @Klotski will be able to help us out…

This is the one I bought https://www.gearbest.com/led-solar-lights/pp_009610562020.html?wid=1433363

-No light wont work with Micro USB without batteries it does with batteries installed.
-Micro USB is for charging the 18650 batteries only
-The 4 AA NiMH are not charged with Micro USB
-USB port is supply for power bank output
-UI starts in hi, low then strobe
-I was using some batteries from a laptop pull that measure 65.MM and they fit really loose.
I like the light and I am going to try and find one without the strobe function.