#9450B Pelican Remote Area Lighting System (RALS) Review

Update - somehow someone got their photos crossed and the small photo of the product listed in the search is of their FIRST gen light - not this one - the proper photo is the yellow or black handheld light, not the suitcase.

Second Update - with the advent of 25W and 100W LED panels (basically all the big LEDs used in this lamphead condensed into a single semiconductor part one inch square with a single heatsink)which are designed for streetlight replacement where the 100W led device puts out the same light as a 500W halogen tube portable light. This is now obsolete and needs to be rennovated to a 3rd gen unit with higher light output and longer runtime using the 25W head snigle element - the new head would be the size of a card deck and the assembly costs would be much lower, offering more value in the 3rd generation (read: someday) design.You may want to wait for those to come out.
--- original nonupdated review is below of the 9430 black/yellow light ---

The pelican 9430 is a second generation wide area light.On their first attempt, pelican took a box, put some lead acid batteries in it, and mounted a generous 5' tall boom with 1200 lumens of LED wide area lighting.It was big and heavy, took a while to setup, and with a list price of 1200 / street price of 900 it was an expensive solution to long lasting area lighting.

In revision 2 (this unit) Pelican partnered with a second company to make a better version in many ways and cost engineered the price out to some degree.Unfortunately it is still expensive for what you get.The boom is now about 32 inches and doubles as a carrying handle which is nice, but I find that I use it on top of my vehicle to get extra altitude.Now instead of a fixed 1200 lumen LED head, you get the option of a 15 hour 1000 lumen runtime or a 8 hour 2000 lumen runtime which is a very nice feature.It still uses the sealed lead acid battery for a robust anti-tipover design.

While setup and teardown is much easier than their first generation product, and the price has fallen to $547 on ebay including shipping, it lacks avalue proposition.With 24 LEDs at say $5 ea, that's $120, a $30 battery, a $50 box, toss in 10% for mechanical parts and it costs around $220 to build. At $547 on ebay it leaves room for alot of markup, however if you need 15 hours of continuous area light, this is a nich product that does the job well and shows signs of quality all over.

Overall I am happy with it but I feel the price does not justify the product.It is definitely a quality built piece of equipment desidnged to last, so perhaps you must write off the price to that factor.In any event this model is far superior to the first wide area lighting system built by pelican.

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Product Description:
9450B Remote Area Lighting System (New and Improved Version) ENHANCEMENTS OVER PREVIOUS MODEL: ? Now RoHS Compliant ? Closed lid charging ? Almost 10 lbs. lighter ? New power panel ? Booklet and reference card included ? Battery status indicator lights ? Pole storage located conveniently inside the base of the case The 9450B Remote Area Lighting System (RALS) combines our tough 1510 Case with 16 x 1 watt LEDs mounted in an aluminum heat sink. All items are stored inside the case and assemble in minutes. The aluminum pole extends to a height of 83" to provide 1280 lumens of light for any area. The rechargeable battery has 9 hours of life at maximum output tailing off to low light level at hour 17. The diffuser (included) can be mounted to change the beam from a focused spot to a diffused beam. Extended Head Height: 83 inches.

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