The $2 Portable Light Harbor Freight Users Swear By

The one thing that a home tool kit is absolutely not complete without is a reliable flashlight. Even if you don't make a habit of working at night, you never know when you'll need to shed a little light on a situation, like working in an engine bay or inspecting a dark corner. Naturally, flashlights are readily available anywhere and everywhere, though the prices can vary a bit depending on the brand and what kind of features a light has.

Let's assume that you've got a particularly lean budget for adding new tools to your kit. You need a new flashlight, but you can't afford anything that costs more than a couple of bucks. Well, as it so happens, Harbor Freight sells a compact flashlight within that exact price range, $1.77 to be specific. The perks of a dirt-cheap ultrabright work light should be self-explanatory, but if you're not sure, it's worth noting that this item is exceptionally popular amongst Harbor Freight shoppers — at the time of writing, this light has a user rating of 4.8 out of 5 based on 46,119 user reviews.

Harbor Freight's portable flashlight is equipped with a powerful, ultrabright LED bulb, which produces 144 lumens of illumination when activated. It's not as overtly bright as a traditional light bulb, but it's got a nice, focused beam, perfect for lighting up small spaces or providing a bit of emergency light during a power outage. The light also features both a magnetic base and a 360-degree folding swivel hook, so you can stick it or hang it pretty much anywhere if you don't want to carry it around. The light is powered by AAA batteries, three of which will get you up to 48 hours of light.

Users leaving reviews on the light's Harbor Freight store page, as well as commenters on social platforms like Reddit, have a very positive opinion of it. The microscopic price tag, unsurprisingly, is a big selling point across the board, though users also generally agree that it's usefully bright despite how compact it is, which makes it great for just about any usage scenario. Some users will keep one or even several in their tool box, in the closet for emergencies, in a camping kit, and in their car's glove box. The only real sore spot between some users is that, if the light is left alone for too long with the same batteries, it may experience some corrosion, though that's more a problem with leaving batteries in too long than the light itself.