BecomingJulie
Bluelight Crew
GOOD: A Bosch 18V lithium-ion cordless hammer drill, with one-hour charger and spare battery (five 18650s -- can easily be re-celled when needed, even after "original" replacements discontinued). Battery packs have integral test button and three-LED bargraph to indicate state of charge. Beautifully balanced in the hand, no seams to dig in. Easy action keyless chuck. 20 torque settings for screwdriving. Hammer action with short stroke and fast rate. Trigger is touch-sensitive with a decent length of travel for precise speed control. Cold white LED illumination operates at first touch of trigger, before motor starts. Not that you should be drilling in the dark anyway, but it's important to see where the hole is going to be before you start drilling it,or to line up the screwdriver blade with a screw. All in a tough polypropylene case with a proper pinned hinge (not just bendably thin plastic) with room for charger and UK plug, at least two spare batteries (not counting the one on the drill, and enough room for extra-high-capacity 10-cell versions if you so wish) and some drill bits and hardware (screws, Rawlplugs and so forth). There is even a hole for a padlock, not that that would stop anybody from cutting it open with a pair of wire cutters.
BAD: A JML "8 in 1 multi torch". Basically a combined focusable cold white LED flashlight, emergency vehicle escape device (glass hammer and seat belt cutter) and Swiss Army knife. There's nothing wrong with it as a flashlight. It takes three AA cells. You can adjust it for a wide or narrow beam by pulling the end (kwoo kwoo), and it has two brightness levels plus a flashing mode, selected by switching off and on again -- it cycles through off, full brightness, off, half broightness, off, flashing. If you press the button lightly in any of the "on" modes, it turns off briefly and then comes back on in the next mode I haven't got a vehicle to have to get out of in an emergency; but the hammer point seems sharp and there seems to be decent leverage, and what I can see of the concealed blade looks sharp. There is the usual knife, bottle opener, can opener, scissors, screwdrivers and spanners. OK if you have nothing better. But the rest of the tool feels as though it is getting in the way (the main blade measures 38mm.; the whole body is 146mm. long with the pull-out end pushed in). None of its individual parts are actually bad but as a whole it still manages to disappoint; simply because the flashlight shines in totally the wrong direction for illuminating your use of the other tools -- which really defeats the entire point.
Or maybe I'm just going off torches and multi-tools, now I've discovered dresses and shoes .....
BAD: A JML "8 in 1 multi torch". Basically a combined focusable cold white LED flashlight, emergency vehicle escape device (glass hammer and seat belt cutter) and Swiss Army knife. There's nothing wrong with it as a flashlight. It takes three AA cells. You can adjust it for a wide or narrow beam by pulling the end (kwoo kwoo), and it has two brightness levels plus a flashing mode, selected by switching off and on again -- it cycles through off, full brightness, off, half broightness, off, flashing. If you press the button lightly in any of the "on" modes, it turns off briefly and then comes back on in the next mode I haven't got a vehicle to have to get out of in an emergency; but the hammer point seems sharp and there seems to be decent leverage, and what I can see of the concealed blade looks sharp. There is the usual knife, bottle opener, can opener, scissors, screwdrivers and spanners. OK if you have nothing better. But the rest of the tool feels as though it is getting in the way (the main blade measures 38mm.; the whole body is 146mm. long with the pull-out end pushed in). None of its individual parts are actually bad but as a whole it still manages to disappoint; simply because the flashlight shines in totally the wrong direction for illuminating your use of the other tools -- which really defeats the entire point.
Or maybe I'm just going off torches and multi-tools, now I've discovered dresses and shoes .....
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
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