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Black & Decker has a new LED Snake Light, BDCFSL01, with different types of light sources at the ends and a flexible gooseneck tube between them.
The new Snake Light has a “large space light” on one end – a bulb-shaped floodlight – and a small directional spotlight on the other end.
The gooseneck has a braided covering.
Black & Decker says that the light is ideal for the office, dorm room, or home.
Digging through the online user manual, the only place the max brightness is disclosed, the light delivers up to 500 lumens with the large light, and 150 lumens with the small light.
Runtime is up to 15 hours at the lowest setting for the large light, and up to 4.5 hours for the small light.
The color temperature is 5500-6500K for the small light (cool white), and 3800-4500K (warm to neutral white) for the large light.
Holding the power button activates stepless dimming for lowering the brightness.
The built-in battery recharges via USB. They don’t disclose the type of USB connection. A cable is provided, but you’ll need your own power adapter (this is typical these days).
Black & Decker shows it being used wrapped around poles.
It can also be used free-standing.
Example applications show the light being used as a space light when camping, work light, and reading light.
Price: $35
I really liked Black & Decker’s older Snake Light, which I reviewed 9 years ago. The only negative was that the older model charged via a 2-pin 9V power adapter rather than USB.
Black & Decker certainly revamped the design. As the new model looks much more like a “lifestyle” type of lighting product than a worklight, it seems tool users are far from their target demographics.
One thing I find curious is that the large area light outputs a different color temperature than the spotlight. Generally, I like neutral lighting (~4000K) for close-up floodlights and worklights, and cooler lighting (~5600K daylight to ~6000K) for spotlights and search lights. Black & Decker’s emitter selection seems to mirror this.
I gave up on waiting for a modern Snake Light. This isn’t quite the update I envisioned, but it still seemed worth examining. In my opinion the new model doesn’t look well-suited for the tool box, but maybe this will improve its appeal with broader range of users.
