Hey everyone. I was doing a little work in the shop today and decided to do a quick side by side comparison of my two magnetic base work lights: the Streamlight Stinger Switchblade, and the Braun Slim Bar from Harbor Freight.
The Braun has three modes: high, medium, and an end-firing single led that allows you to look into smaller areas or search for parts without blinding yourself. It’s advertised as having 390 lumens with an 11 hour run time…but I’m going to tell you right now, that’s a little misleading. While the 390 lumen figure seems reasonable, I’m quite certain that their 11 hour runtime figure is only if you run the single LED that fires out of the end of the bar. On high, you’ll get about a half hour of constant-on runtime out of it. My biggest complaint is that the bar doesn’t fold flat into the handle like the switchblade, however, it has a multitude of positioning options that the switchblade doesn’t have. It uses a standard 18650 rechargeable battery that can easily be replaced if needed. It’s a tough, reliable, inexpensive no-frills light that does a great job of…well…being a light.
The Switchblade, on the other hand, is a serious beast of a light. Everything about it screams professional grade, from the rubberized exterior, to the fold-flat blade, super powerful base magnets, and hanging hook that recesses into the handle when not needed. It has a double-sided blade with a blindingly bright 800 lumen LED array on one side, a slightly warmer but equally bright high-CRI LED array on the back side, and a UV inspection LED built in. Battery runtime is outstanding at nearly 4 hours (which is actually accurate based on real-world use). One of the only things that I dislike about it is that while the blade folds flat, you aren’t able to hyperextend the blade past the point of it being in line with the handle. This makes it a little awkward to use in some situations, and I find myself needing to use the high-CRI side of the blade in some cases. Additionally there is no end-firing LED, something that I actually find quite useful on the Braun. I have not tried to open it, but the batteries appear to be proprietary and non-replaceable. The quality is much, much better than the Harbor Freight light, but the cost is also about 4x more expensive.
So which one would I pick overall? Watch and see! Have a great weekend everyone.
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The high CRI is nice for when pointing it into an engine bay and not getting light bouncing off off aluminum or metal and making it even harder to see… that's a great feature…to me…the Streamlight is much more durable..I dropped my Braun once…its never worked right since….the Streamlight is a beast
I bought 3 Braun lights and they're complete trash. 2 of them broke at the swivel point and the other one just stopped working.
Thanks for a good, fair, opinion
Get a 3400 mah battery for the Braun.
Just FYI the 11 hour thing is labeled on the package as the tip light, but his half hour estimate for the main bar is wildly low. Out of curiosity I charged mine and then just left it on next to my desk on high until it died before making this comment. It lasted like two and a third hours continuously. This still isn't enough for a full day given that you'll be likely to leave the light on for extended periods when working and often end up forgetting about turning it off even if you don't need it for a bit.
Though it's worth noting that the battery it comes with is a no-name on the lower end of capacity for the type. You can find name brand (Panasonic and Samsung) 18650 cells that have almost 50% more amp hours for only like 6 to 8 bucks, and a small charger for like ten bucks. One extra batteries and a charger is honestly enough for any normal use, by the time a second battery is dead the other one will be plenty charged to use.
This is a superb video! I do not like that the Streamlight uses a non-standard battery. Having the UV feature is great but it's an over-priced product. I do like the Switchblade but it's not worth it.
I'll tell you now, the Braun does not hold up in a shop environment. The two main problems I have with it are the switch…. It fails… I've had five of these lights and they all fail. The other issue is the tip light… It ends up falling out. The Braun is not heavy duty, like… At all.
Great review! Reliability and durability are always the big downsides of going cheap, it's nice to see a long term review of the HF light. I always prefer to buy the best I can afford but the cheaper light would be great to throw in vehicle kits or just have multiples laying around.
nice review, thanks. i bought the stream light
Great comparison video! I'm also a Steamlight fan and have them in charges in my vehicles and around the property. That said I'm going to the Harbor Freight sale to pick up the US General box and plan on buying 4 of the Braun lights to leave in the tractor and atv's.
I use stream lights alot of my weapons love my stream light TLR 2 mount light
Good informative video a lot of helpful knowledge for somebody looking at lights
Capri has an amazing new light with a very powerful UV light
Only issue I have had with the bruan is the 4 screw bottom of light bar that bracket has cracked on one of them but was alot of automotive mechanic shop abuse
I have 3 of the bruan lights they work well
Love my switchblade light