Ryobi USB Lithium LED Compact Area Light
Ryobi USB Lithium LED Compact Area Light Kit (FVL59K)
During the spring, summer, and fall months, I enjoy spending evenings on my patio relaxing with a book, or spending time with family and friends. When darkness descends, we light several candles or turn on our string lights. Now that I own the Ryobi USB Lithium LED Compact Area Light Kit (FVL59K), I will have a highly convenient and portable lantern to use while enjoying the great outdoors.
Specifications
- 4 light modes—high, medium, low, and strobe
- 300 lumens at high setting
- Up to 52 hours of runtime on low at 25 lumens
- Dust and water resistant with an IP54 rating
- Hands-free use with hook, carabiner & link wall storage
- Includes a 21” USB-C cable
- Powered by the Ryobi USB 2Ah lithium battery
- 2-year limited warranty
- Available for $29.97 at The Home Depot
Highly Portable
The Ryobi USB Lithium LED Compact Area Light Kit is the ideal size if you are looking for a lantern that you can grip in the palm of your hand. This LED is 2.5 inches tall, 2.25 inches wide, and 4.25 inches long. The Lithium battery compartment is at one end and the power button is at the other end. The first time I saw it, I thought it had a very appealing design—my wife actually called it “cute”. The form factor is perfect since it is easily held, takes up little space when packed, and extra batteries are so easy to carry, too.
For a fun comparison, here is the LED Compact Area Light next to the Ryobi 18V ONE+ LED Area Light—in many cases bigger might not be better when you are looking for the convenience and portability of the USB Lithium LED Compact Area Light Kit!
Two Options To Hang It
Ryobi includes 2 options for carrying or suspending the LED Compact Area Light. At the end where the power button is, they designed a hard plastic clip area and they attached their own carabiner. The carabiner is a small one, but it is certainly strong enough to attach your Area Light to a backpack or anything else that has a loop to fasten to. The clip area is just large enough to attach your own carabiner if you want a larger one.
At the base of the LED Area Light, Ryobi includes a folding metal hanging hook. When extended, the opening of the hook is 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches, which gives you plenty of space to hang it from almost any location. There is also a triangle-notched area on the metal hook so that it can be suspended in a stable manner from a nail or branch. Ryobi balanced the LED Compact Area Light perfectly so that it hangs in a very level manner when suspended from a tree branch, shepherd’s hook, or the roof of your tent. I really appreciated having 2 options to suspend the light since hanging it from a back pack provides a very different lighting experience than hanging it overhead in a tent or canopy.
The base of the USB Lithium LED Compact Area Light is also compatible with Ryobi’s LINK Wall Storage system, which gives you a very handy place to store the light for quick and easy access when you need it.
The IP54 dust and water resistance rating ensures the Compact Area Light can be counted on to survive messy conditions when you are out in the woods. I could see this Ryobi LED being very helpful to those families that live in areas that frequently experience destructive storms..
Several Brightness Settings
To maximize its utility, the Ryobi USB Lithium LED Compact Area Light has 4 brightness settings. You can achieve the high, medium, and low brightness settings through successive presses of the power button. To get to the strobe function, you need to hold the power button in while it’s already on another brightness setting. Shutting off the light is done with a single click of the power button.
On the high setting, the Area Light reaches 300 lumens. At medium, the light produces 100 lumens of light and you can achieve 25 lumens of light at the low setting. At the highest setting, 300 lumens of light allowed me to easily read a book on my patio after sunset. The high setting certainly gives you enough light to enjoy an evening on your deck with friends. Another nice feature of this LED is the light produced is diffused and there are no harsh bright spots that would be uncomfortable on your eyes.
If you are looking for a little more atmosphere, 100 lumens on the medium setting are enough light to keep the shadows at a distance. At 25 lumens, using the light on the low setting will certainly be enough to walk safely while it’s attached to the front of your backpack and no other light is present. The strobe function would be helpful in an emergency situation since it could be quite disorienting to an attacker, as well as easily seen from a distance.
Extended Battery Life
The LED Compact Area Light uses the Ryobi 2Ah lithium battery. I really enjoy these USB lithium batteries since they have great longevity, they are very convenient to charge, and you can carry multiple with you based on their smaller size, which is roughly 3 inches long by 1 inch across.
Most users will probably use the Compact Area Light on high initially, if not all the time. The high setting produces the brightest light by far and it is the default setting when you turn it on. After multiple cycles where I used the light until the battery died and then recharged it again for the next time, I found that the 2Ah lithium battery would average 6.75 – 7 hours of light on the high setting. I was always thoroughly impressed by that battery endurance. Providing almost 7 hours of consistent illumination will take any backyard party from dusk to well past midnight. I don’t think a homeowner could ask for much more than that.
On the low power setting, the Ryobi 2Ah battery can last for more than 2 days when left on constantly. I turned it on the low setting and left it alone for more than 48 hours and the light just kept going and going. Ryobi advertises it can provide 52 hours of runtime on low and I certainly believe that is true. Most users would probably not leave the Area Light on continuously, but even if you used it for 8 hours each evening as a “night light” for your kids, happy parents could expect one battery to last for more than 6 days in the house or in a tent.
On all settings, when the battery is nearing the end of its charge, the light will blink to alert you. Less than 5 minutes later it will shut itself off. The good news is you are not totally in the dark since you can turn it on again a couple more times to get short gasps of power before changing out the battery.
Helpful Fuel Gauge
The Ryobi USB Lithium LED Compact Area Light Kit arrives with a 2Ah lithium battery that has a built-in fuel gauge—this feature is a recent release and is not true for all of the Ryobi USB Lithium tools that I have been testing. On the battery there is a button that you can depress to get an estimate for the remaining battery charge. I liked having the ability to gauge the remaining time based on the green, orange, or red LED indicator. You will need to remove the battery from the Area Light to engage this battery fuel gauge button. Like the other lithium batteries that I have tested, the battery that arrives with the Compact Area Light charges in a little more than 95 minutes.
Final Thoughts
Having a reliable LED lantern at your disposal can be important in so many settings—home, car, patio, or camp site. The Ryobi USB Lithium LED Compact Area Light Kit will provide you with several brightness settings and 2 handy options for hanging it. In addition, it’s dust and water resistant when you take it on the road. Best of all, it packs an impressive 300 lumens in a compact package that can be held in the palm of your hand or carried in your pocket. I feel the LED Compact Area Light is another portable lighting triumph by Ryobi!
Ryobi has recently released many different USB lighting solutions that use 2Ah lithium batteries. These lights each can satisfy a unique need in your home, office, or workshop. While the LED lighting solutions have many similarities, each one has its own niche. I encourage you to have a look at some of these other lighting solutions here:
- Ryobi USB Lithium Compact LED Flashlight
- Ryobi USB Lithium LED Flip Light
- Ryobi USB Lithium LED Clamp Light
- Ryobi USB Lithium LED Magnifying Light
