Ring RIL4200 Inspection Lamp – Product Review

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Dale Vinten

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again; a decent inspection lamp is an essential bit of kit for us classic car fettlers. Whether it’s a late night spanner session on the driveway or an emergency breakdown in the pitch dark of a country lane, being able to clearly see what you’re doing is obviously a fundamental aspect of a successful tinkering session.

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Click here to grab one for yourself.

Unfortunately not all of us are blessed enough to have a beautifully lit garage, allowing us to indulge this classic car hobby of ours on a whim, regardless of the time of day. For a lot of us the evening is the only real time we get to mess about with our cars and bikes and sadly, especially at this time of year, that means a very small window of opportunity as far as daylight is concerned. One solution to that problem, however, is the Ring RIL4200 inspection lamp. Ring Automotive have been churning out quality, affordable products for almost fifty years now and this lamp is no exception, as you shall soon discover.

The Product

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Ring Automotive is an award-winning company that specialises in lighting products for the automotive industry. Founded in 1974 as an offshoot of Osram it has expanded to become one of the leading players in its sector and it’s easy to see why if the RIL4200 inspection lamp is anything to go by. Its a robust and rugged light with bags of useable features including multiple fixing solutions, two types of illumination options – a 500 lumen lamp and a 100 lumen torch – and impressive battery life. We have been putting it through its paces for a while now so let’s see how it’s been holding up.

The Test

We recently had to replace the rear brake calipers on our Volvo 940 turbo to get it through its MOT but we had neglected to order replacement pad pins. The upshot of this is that they arrived at a rather inconvenient time meaning we couldn’t just nip out to the car and fit them there and then. This was a time-sensitive job, however, and so our hand was forced to complete the task later that day which meant messing about in the dark. A perfect opportunity to break out the inspection lamp then.

The Result

We needn’t have worried about any lack of daylight because the RIL4200 illuminated the area perfectly and with its magnetised base and 180 degree-plus ratcheting mechanism it was easy to find the perfect mounting point. Even if there’s nothing metallic to stick it to its boxy form and two fold-out hooks (one at either end) provide myriad options for placement.

We used the lamp to light the overall area whilst we got the car off the ground and assessed the situation and then switched to the torch for a more direct beam when knocking out and replacing the brake pad pins. Both gave an impressive amount of light and battery life didn’t even factor into the equation. We weren’t concerned about potentially damaging the thing either as it has an impact rating equivalent to 1.7kg dropped from 30cm which makes it a tough son of a gun.

The Verdict – 5 out of 5

For a shade under fifty quid it’s an incredibly versatile and hardy lamp that provides more than enough light for most jobs. We don’t just use it solely for automotive shenanigans either. It lives in the house because it’s better than any standard torch we’ve ever used, has great battery life and charges quickly.

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It’s the kind of lamp you can heedlessly wield too thanks to its robust construction and you never feel as though its going to brake or get damaged. We’ve dropped ours numerous times and aside from the odd blemish it continues to function flawlessly. If we were pushed to provide a negative then it could be argued that the magnetised base picks up all kinds of guff, from metal filings to rust chips but this doesn’t adversely affect its operation. If you’re in need of a good inspection lamp you can’t go wrong with this bad boy.

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