The LED Light Mine is Still a Thing
This is the STKR LED light mine, a hands-free task light with 12 magnets for flexible aiming.
Aside from the brand name – STKR used to be Striker – the light mine doesn’t seem much different from when I first learned and posted about it 12 years ago.
The light mine features a 15 lumen LED, on/off switch, and runs on LR44 batteries. It’s about the size of a golf ball.
STKR says that you can replace the batteries, but it requires an abundance of care. It can be difficult to open the housing, requiring a slotted screwdriver to depress the locking tabs – but not too hard or you can break the tabs.
The included batteries are shrink-wrapped for isolation, and you’ll need to replicate that with shrink wrap, electrical tape, clear packaging tape, or other means, as long as you leave the contacts exposed at both ends.
Price: ~$8-9 each, $21 for 3, $31 for 5
There’s also the Light Mine Pro, which is larger (baseball-sized), brighter (250 lumens) and powered by 3x AAA batteries. It has a red light, and 11 magnets for convenient mounting and positioning.
The Pro has 4 lighting modes – low power spotlight, high output floodlight, red light, and blinking red light.
The Light Mine Pro is made by Risk Racing, which is a STKR (formerly Striker) sibling company.
Price: $21.49 each
Both products seem to have mixed reviews. I don’t know why Striker changed their name to STKR, but both light mine versions have been on the market for more than 10 years.
I revisit the products every now and then. They look cool, but I’m never convinced as to whether they’d actually be useful for lighting tasks.
I’m not thrilled that the golf ball-sized Light Mine’s batteries aren’t easily replaceable, and the baseball-sized Light Mine Pro seems a bit larger.
And so, I haven’t bought one yet, and probably won’t – at least not anytime soon, but the lights still seem cool enough to talk about.
Curiously, I can’t seem to find any 3D-printed versions online. I’d think this would be a good candidate for something like that.
