Garage Equipment Supply
(800) 261-7729
www.GESUSA.com
Price $129.00
Rating 4 stars out of 5 stars
As far as I'm concerned a shop can never have enough light, so when I was tasked with testing the Daisy Chain lights, I jumped on it like a chicken on a June bug.
Essentially the Daisy Chain system consists of a series of interconnected portable fluorescent lights (in electrical parlance, a daisy chain is string of electrical devices controlled by a single switch) that can be strung together like Christmas tree bulbs to provide nearly any level of illumination you might need.
Each 18-watt light is 3 feet long and has two magnets and two ratchet hooks to hold it place. The master unit comes with a 25-foot cord and each sub unit has a 5-footer on it so you can string the things out at a good distance if you need to. The basic set comes with one master and one sub unit, and additional sets of lights (up to twenty, in fact) may be added on as needed. A plastic shield protects the lamps from damage and works well enough; mine have seen some pretty rough service, including being dropped from the shop rafters at least once.
Although the Daisy Chains are intended primarily for auto shops, they're extremely handy for motorcycle and general garage use. In addition to hanging them directly above whatever it is I'm working on, I've stuck mine to the edges of my lift to illuminate the sides and bottom of bikes, hung them above my drill press to eliminate a shadow that was driving me nuts, and poked them under work benches to help find an errant "C" clip. I even used them for their intended purpose when I stuck them to the frame rails of the wife's Jeep wagon so I could see what I was doing when I replaced her rusted out brake lines.
One gripe-which isn't so much a complaint as it is a suggestion-is that the Daisy Chain lights use a dedicated oddball style plug to connect the sub units to the master light and to each other. If a conventional plug were used, the last light in the chain could double as a power tool outlet.
Another downside is the price; at $129.00 for one master and one sub unit the Daisy Chain Lites are not cheap, and the fact that the lights can only be purchased as a set makes them that much more so. However, the price is offset by the Daisy Chain's overall high quality and versatility. -MZ