In A Nutshell
My recommendation for the best portable LED worklight is the Maxxeon Workstar. I just used this light to change a car tire in the dark, and the solid floodlight beam really helped. I haven’t found a portable floodlight that can rival the brightness and beam quality of this light. It shines with 270 lumens on its high setting, and 90 lumens on its low setting.
The Details
The Maxxeon Workstar has a fresnel-like lens that creates a floodlight beam with no shadows or rings. The light lasts two hours on high, and eight hours on low. The neck of the light rotates 360-degrees and the head also tilts 180 degrees.
The body of the Maxxeon Workstar feels very durable, and it has two embedded neodymium rare-earth magnets, allow you to attach the light to metallic objects. It also has a standard camera tripod socket in the base — very handy. I don’t care for the faux carbon fiber finish — it isn’t worthy of this work light.
The Maxxeon Workstar is available on Amazon for about $55.
Other Alternatives
Festool Work Light
The Festool LED Work Lamp is made in Germany by Festool, which has a good reputation for built quality. The Festool Work Lamp is designed to illuminate a 170-degree work area with even light. This expensive ($175) light has a ruggedized body, and an array of six 3 watt LEDs which produce a clear, white light. It is powered by a lithium-ion battery, and shines for 90 minutes on high, and 4 hours on low. Unfortunately, I could not find a lumen rating for this light published anywhere. However, owners rave around its brightness and its ruggedness, so if you can afford this light it might be worth it.
The Festool LED Work Lamp is available on Amazon for around $175.
Milwaukee LED Work Light
The closest alternative to this light is the Milwaukee LED Work Light. Priced around $24, this light is less expensive than the Maxxeon Workstar, but it is also not as bright, shining at 160 lumens (using a Cree XRE LED). The built quality doesn’t feel as durable, and according to reviews on Amazon the light will fade in time.
I very seriously doubt the Maxxeeon will attach to many pieces of metal unless they are based on iron or nickel. Some stainless steel has enough iron &/or nickel to allow magnetic attraction.