Cost: £22 – it can be got for a bit less £13 or so if you shop around.
Date of Review:
The Sales Pitch from Chemical Guys:
Ultra Bright is a 7″ long rechargeable detailing inspection light that illuminates your detail with clear and crisp LED light for detecting imperfections while polishing, or for illuminating hard-to-reach places around the car.
Use This Light To:
- Detect hidden scratches and swirls
- Finally get a perfect, flawless finish when polishing
- Detail at all hours of the day
- Light up dark cracks and crevices
- Illuminate your interior for the ultimate clean
Unlimited Uses Around Your Car
Think you have the perfect polish? Think again! Small scratches and surface imperfections aren’t visible in plain sight or even strong garage light, but ruin the finish of a fresh polishing job. The Ultra Bright reveals hidden scratches, swirls, and other paint imperfections when polishing, so your paint is truly perfect. After your polish, use it to effortlessly light up foot wells, engine bays, under seats, trunks, wheel wells, and cracks and crevices for the ultimate interior and exterior detail!
Crisp White Light For Polishing Perfection
Use the 150 lumen LED strip to illuminate broad spaces and inspect paint, or the single 130 lumen LED to shoot a focused beam at specific areas. Say goodbye to Dad’s old flashlight that emits dim, yellow light: the Ultra Bright emits a clear, crisp, white light that makes paint inspection easy! Use it anywhere and everywhere, then simply plug it in for quick recharging.
Ultra Bright: The Compact Light You Can Take Anywhere
Take the small Ultra Bright light anywhere you go! At only 7” long, the Ultra Bright easily fits in your pocket, tight spaces, small cracks and crevices, or any hard-to-reach area. The 3-way adjustable magnetic clip attaches to any metal surface for brilliant hands-free illumination.
Source: Chemical Guys – EQP401 – ULTRA BRIGHT RECHARGEABLE DETAILING INSPECTION DUAL LIGHT | Chemical Guys (chemicalguysuk.co.uk)
What You Get:
Product Description:
Pocket sized detailing light that is super light weight and only 7″ (18cms) long. Designed for looking for paint imperfections and swirl marks etc.
Instructions:
None, lets face it you don’t need any in order to turn a torch on and off.
Usage:
The torch has two options; spot at 130 lumens or the flood / bar at 150 lumens. The torch is ergonomically designed of sorts towards the bottom of the handle.
The power button is rubber covered with a cycle for spot/flood/off.
At the base there is the charging point hidden by a plastic cover. The plastic cover slides completely away from the torch to reveal a USB micro port. I can see this little bit of plastic getting lost very quickly.
Under the USB port there is an LED to show the charge status, red for not charged – green for charged.
The pocket clip has a built in magnet which will hold the lamp in place, but I found on a super slick surface it slid down the surface with a little knock. Not that you would actually stick it to your paint job like I have here.
The clip has a nice function to turn a few degrees from the centre to either side. This should allow a bit of an angled view while held in place.
Results:
Very disappointing to be honest from a big league player like Chemical Guys.
The pictures on the website show the light being used inside the car. That’s not where the paint swirls are! But, yes you can use it inside however the light is aimed at paint detailing is it not?
So outside on an overcast day, you can just about make out the light on the paintwork.
On a slightly brighter day, but NOT in full sunlight you can’t really see the light on the paint, only the reflection of the lamp. You can just about see the spot light when the lamp held a couple of inches away from the paint.
Looking at the reflection in the (dirty) paintwork, the sky was overcast with only very little sunlight coming through.
But, the lamp does have a crisp white light, when you can see it that is.
Rating: 2 out 10
Inside a normal car owners garage – it’s fine.
In a covered area – it’s sort of OK.
In a brightly lit garage – you can barely see it.
In daylight – forget it.
Inside the car for dark places – it’s fine.
Conclusion:
I’m very confused about this lamp. It’s for paint detailing and all about getting a perfect finish on the paint job. Yet the pictures are inside the car and not on the paint.
The lamp was worth a punt at £12 I paid for it, but I would have been well and truly hacked of if I had paid full price for it.
The lamp has limited uses where it can be used effectively and 130 or 150 lumens is just not bright enough for daylight use.
I even left a review on the Chemical guys website to say what I have said here – it’s not bright enough for daylight. The review was awaiting to be authorised a couple of days ago. As of today the review on their website has not been posted up. What does that tell you? They don’t want you to know its crap.
The bottom of the light should have been a rubber plug attached to the handle so you don’t lose it.
Would I recommend it? No
Would I buy it again? No