I wasn’t sure what to think of the M12 ROVER Service and Repair Flood Light from Milwaukee. I certainly wasn’t in the market for it. It just so happened to be a part of a 3-tool set that gave me access to the Milwaukee 12V FUEL line. After all, I’m deeply in love with my neck lamps whenever I need to fumble through a project, so perhaps another lighting source is redundant? Let’s find out.
Build Quality / Initial Impressions
The Milwaukee M12 ROVER Service and Repair Flood Light, (Model 2367-20), is a thick boy that feels very substantial in the hands at 1 pound 2 ounces with a 2.0 Ah battery. Length is around 5 1/2 inches. The light head can be adjusted around 120 degrees and feels stiff, meaning it won’t suddenly start drooping and light up the floor. On the side there is a on/off button, a battery power button with four LEDs indicating remaining battery power, and a 2.1 Amp USB Type A charger tucked behind a plastic cover. This cover is attached with a stem so it won’t needlessly disappear on a worksite. Underneath are two magnetic bars about 2 inches in length. Additionally, next to those magnets, there is a small cutout so the ROVER can hang from a screw or nail. I would have liked to see a larger cutout or an integrated hook in case there isn’t a way to use magnets on the jobsite, though.
Also of note: The Milwaukee ROVER light is IP54 rated for dust and water resistance, has a 9 foot drop rating, and also includes a 5-year tool lifetime LED warranty.
Use
Lighting
The Milwaukee ROVER Flood Light has two power settings that put off some serious lumens in your workspace. I just spent an entire day working under bathroom sinks and the ROVER Light was much more useful than using my phone or something corded to illuminate my surroundings. In fact, I actually found myself using the low setting under the sink to reduce some of the brightness on my eyes and conserve battery life.
I suppose that leads me to my second gripe with the M12 ROVER Service and Repair Flood Light, which is that there are no real granular adjustments in terms of light intensity. Something like those popular Aputure Amaran Magnetic video lights where you can adjust the temperature and brightness would be stellar. Now, is it a deal-breaker? No, but would be a “nice to have” when the lighting is just a bit too much on the eyes.
Total Runtime
There’s a high and low setting on the Milwaukee ROVER Flood Light. When turned to the high setting and using a Milwaukee 2.0 Ah CP battery, total runtime was 3 hours and 53 minutes (3:53:23) before it completely died. It should be noted that at the 3 hour and 47 minute mark (3:47:19) the ROVER light began to flicker on and off, telling me the end was imminent. That’s still long enough for most of my personal needs but seems quite a bit lower when comparing to Milwaukee’s product overview page, where it states that it “is capable of lighting up a workspace up to 24 hours at a time with an M12 XC 4.0 Ah battery pack.” Now, granted that particular battery line is extended capacity and double the Ah than what I’m using (and does not indicate whether they were using the high or low setting), but something to keep in mind if you need it to last through an entire work shift.
NOTE: I’m currently testing the total runtime for the lower setting using the same 2.0 Ah CP battery, which will be updated here.
Magnetic Mounting
As mentioned earlier, the Milwaukee Rover Light weighs about 1 pound 2 ounces with my setup. With the beefy magnetic pull, I didn’t have any issues mounting it all over the place. Even on thinner metal rails it seemed to stay in place with little fuss. It’s definitely a chonker of a unit so it’s good to know the magnets feel fairly reliable. One of the areas it really shines is under a vehicle, where space is limited and you need your hands to be free. I was even able to get it attached in a wheel well with relatively limited space.
USB Charger
Hopefully you kept some of your older cables because the 2.1 Amp USB output is Type A. It’s still good to have in a pinch, but it would be nice to see a USB C charging port for fast charging and future proofing. That being said, I was sitting at 8% battery life and within 20 minutes I bumped up to 20%. With these types of features, it would be nice to actually see the battery capacity of the ROVER Flood Light presented in a number format rather than four LED lights, but as far as I know Milwaukee doesn’t offer that feature on their tools.
Noticed the flood light LED flashing at 2 hours and 27 minutes, signaling low battery, and it had completely died by 2 hours and 32 minutes. Ended up with 89% phone battery, so that’s a respectable 80% phone charge gain. Great if you were in a bind and needed an extra power source. Just keep in mind you’re probably not going to be charging your mobile device and then getting a full day’s worth of using the flood light without recharging M12 batteries or using a higher capacity one.
Conclusion
Frankly, I’m surprised by my overall experience with the Milwaukee ROVER Service and Repair Flood Light. I had bought that toolset mainly for the other tools and I didn’t have a lot of expectations for it. Now it’s suddenly becoming one of my most used tools in the set. Still would like to see granular lighting adjustments and an upgrade to USB-C for charging purposes, but it’s not a bad little unit. Feels substantial and I think it could take a beating at your worksite.
