Everybody needs light. One of our major complaints is that manufacturers keep putting incandescent bulb-based lights into their combo tool kits. In the age of lithium-ion and LED-backlit televisions, incandescent just seems so… 2004. In either case, we love the new line of high-intensity LED lights that have been coming to market from various manufacturers. Ryobi uses this technology to a reasonable degree in its Tek4 Ryobi RP4400 LED Flashlight which is part of the Ryobi Tek4 cordless tools lineup. While not as bright as a competing 12V version we handled from a competitor, it’s also just half the price – and half the weight! The Tek4 Ryobi RP4400 weighs in at just under 7 ounces and will run for 6 hours straight. That’s one heck of a worklight!
The Ryobi RP4400 light turns on by twisting the neck of the flash light. It’s pretty much all or nothing. We liked the light output we got from this work light. It was bright and a more-or-less “white” light, whereas incandescents are typically a very “yellow” white.
We only found a few faults with the Tek 4 LED Light. One was that it wasn’t fully waterproof, only water resistant. While this isn’t a big knock, there is some competition in this area and it seems like a fairly easy feature to add. Another thing that stumped us was that the first time we inserted the battery and cranked down the lid to the battery compartment, the LED lamp wouldn’t light. After a moment we unscrewed the battery compartment lid a tiny bit and the light would come on. As it turned out, screwing down the battery lid too far results in some kind of short or maladjustment of the battery which keeps the flashlight from working. Overall it’s a great product and one that should be a no-brainer for anyone already in possession of at least one other Tek4 tool.
