Best Torches for DIY Workshop, Automotive and 4X4 Adventuring Outdoor Use
I actually trust these torches, and I carry one every day
A reliable torch is ridiculously useful and a real asset when the chips are down (at the roadside, in the rain, pitch black, urgent problem to solve, etc…
But if you’re going to carry a torch every day, it needs to tick four non-negotiable boxes.
It needs to be bright enough to be useful.
It needs to be tough and rock-solid reliable.
It needs to be small enough that you actually carry it.
And it must not be so precious that you leave it behind because you might damage it.
Check out the Olight range. (Sale ends June 26 @ midnight. Use code AEJC10 for 10% off non-sale items.)
That’s why I keep working with Olight. Four big ticks in four vital boxes. Olight is a long-term commercial partner of AutoExpert, and they do send me the torches, but they’re not controlling or reviewing what I say about them. I work with Olight because I believe in the product and use it every day.
Olight’s EOFY sale is on now (ends midnight 26 June) and I’ve picked four products worth your attention.
AutoExpert limited edition Olight Baton 4 Premium Edition
I’m genuinely excited to announce this: my first official collaboration with Olight.
This is the Olight Baton 4 Premium Edition, in its bespoke charging case, with exclusive AutoExpert livery.
There are only 150 AutoExpert Baton 4 Premium Editions available, and they’re 40 per cent off using this link. Add my code AEJC40 on checkout to get 40 per cent off this exclusive torch.
The Baton 4 itself is small — properly pocketable — so there’s no excuse not to carry it. Pocket, handbag, glovebox, camera bag, desk drawer, centre console: easy.
But despite its size, it is preposterously bright.
The charging case is the real clincher. It gives you storage, multiple recharges, and it also functions as an external power bank.
That matters.
A torch with a flat battery is not a torch. It’s a small aluminium disappointment.
I shoot a lot of vlogs with a Sony ZV-1 M2, which is a great little camera, except the battery life is trash. So I plug it into the Baton 4 case. Problem solved.
Same deal for flat earbuds, a dead phone, or any other small USB-rechargeable device you need to keep alive at the wrong moment.
A dead phone is a proper first-world fail. A dead camera halfway through the best take ever: same problem. Ask me how I know.
So, if having a torch in your pocket every day makes you feel like a prepper — even though you acknowledge that light is quite useful during periods of unscripted darkness — put this in your bag instead.
Because a dead phone at the worst possible time is legitimately worth prepping against.
The AutoExpert Baton 4 Premium Edition is the small, premium, self-contained EDC torch kit — with backup power — and only 150 are available.
Olight ArkPro in hi-viz orange: my favourite EDC torch
The ArkPro is my EDC of choice. Get one here.
And yeah, “EDC torch” is the kind of thing people say from deep inside their backyard bunker, next to the stockpiled tins of beans and the gas mask.
But this thing is extremely practical on a daily basis.
EDC is just the stuff you carry to extend your capability envelope. It’s a zero-sum game. You cannot carry everything, so everything you do carry has to earn its place.
The ArkPro earns its place.
First, it’s flat. That matters more than you might think. It conforms to you better than a round torch. It sits better in a pocket. It will not roll off the bench, or into the abyss, or over a cliff.
The button is also easy to index because the body has an obvious orientation. You know where the switch is without having to rotate the thing like you’re trying to crack a safe.
The hi-viz orange variant is especially good because black is tacti-cool, but orange is easy to find in a bag, toolbox, glovebox or dark corner of the shed. It’s the opposite of stealth. That is the whole point.
For automotive, filming, workshop use, roadside drama and underbonnet inspection, the ArkPro is brilliant.
You get several tools in one: spot beam, flood beam, UV and laser pointer.
I don’t use the UV a great deal personally, but it has legitimate inspection applications. The laser pointer, however, is excellent. You can use it with the spot, with the flood, or on its own.
If you’re standing on a factory floor trying to tell the electrician on the scaffold exactly where you want the light fitting, that’s suddenly very easy.
For me, the ArkPro gets the fundamentals right: beam shape, intensity, runtime, grip and accessibility under pressure.
It is the perfect EDC torch. No bunker required.
If you only want one torch with the maximum real-world capability envelope, make it this one.
Olight O-Pen 3: pen, torch and pointer in one
The O-Pen 3 is mightier than the sword.
It looks nothing like a torch. You’re carrying a pen. There is no need to explain that to anyone.
But hidden in plain sight is a torch and a laser pointer. Visit the Olight store. (Search ‘O-Pen’)
That is the whole point of good EDC: multiple useful tools in one lightweight package.
It does not scream “special operations fantasy”. It’s just a pen, dude. But if you work around vehicles, tools, machinery, classrooms, meetings, inspections or any job where you constantly need to illuminate a small thing in a dark place, it is extremely useful.
You know the situation.
“Dude, see that little clip up there? To your right?”
Except they don’t. Because it’s black plastic, in a shadow, designed by someone who hates mechanics.
With the O-Pen 3, you can write, illuminate and point with the same object.
And it is actually a decent pen.
It flies well under the radar and performs when you need it to. That’s a very good combination.
During the next zombie apocalypse, you could also conceivably use it to prevent your brain becoming the next meal deal at undead Macca’s. Hypothetically.
It is quite robust.
Olight Marauder Mini 2: serious light for the car, 4X4 or boat
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the entirely overt Marauder Mini 2.
This thing is perfect in your 4X4, boat, caravan, property vehicle or emergency kit. Get one here.
I doubt there are trousers in existence that make it a genuine EDC proposition, but that’s not the job. It’s a searchlight and a floodlight — both in epic proportions — but dimmable if you don’t need MCG levels of luminosity at that precise moment.
The Marauder Mini 2 is for lighting up a huge area.
Finding lost livestock.
Finding the dog.
Locating something onshore from hundreds of metres away when you’re in the boat.
Roadside breakdowns.
Recovery situations.
Search and rescue.
Or, again, if the zombies act up at 2am.
When the chips are down and you need serious light, the Marauder Mini 2 is the one.
It’s the torch I put in the cars. Mine lives in the cup-holder with a pair of ninja-grip gloves to stop it rattling. They kind of go together.
This is not the subtle pocket torch. This is the “something has gone wrong and I need huge, dependable light right now” torch.
Which Olight should you buy?
Here’s the simple version.
If you want the limited AutoExpert collaboration, get the Baton 4 Premium Edition. Small torch, brilliant charging case, backup power, 40 per cent off, only 150 available.
If you want the best all-round EDC torch, get the ArkPro. That is my daily carry.
If you want a discreet pen, torch and pointer in one, get the O-Pen 3.
If you want serious light for the vehicle, boat, 4X4, caravan, property or emergency kit, get the Marauder Mini 2.
Thanks to Olight for the support and the sensational product line-up, which continues to evolve. And if you want the exclusive AutoExpert Baton 4 Premium Edition, I would get in quickly. There are only 150 available.
