HOKOLITE CLAKAP P3: 7 Tools, and the Lumen Catch
A pen-sized multi-tool that holds a flashlight, two screwdrivers, a stylus, a bottle opener and a glass breaker. Six of the seven earn their place. Here is what the 250 lumens on the box actually means.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1ISboqB3ZM
THE VERDICT
The rare multi-tool where the tools are actually tools. The interchangeable screwdriver bit and the inspection light carry it on their own, and the pen, stylus, bottle opener and glass breaker come along in a body the size of a ballpoint that clips to a shirt pocket and stays there. Two things to know going in. The 250-lumen figure on the listing is the temporary Turbo boost, not the standard output, which is 140. And the 270mAh cell means this is an inspection light, not a light you take out for a weekend. Neither stops it being the thing that finally got the screwdriver out of my pocket and into something I don't lose.
This HOKOLITE CLAKAP P3 review starts with a cupboard handle that has been loose for two years.
Not badly loose. Just loose enough that roughly once a month it works its way to the point where you notice it when you open the door. And every time, the same small decision: do I happen to have a screwdriver on me, or do I walk to the garage?
The walk to the garage is how a handle stays loose for three weeks.
That cupboard is why I started carrying a mini screwdriver. It is also why I have now lost and replaced that screwdriver twice, because a small metal object living loose in a pocket is an object that eventually leaves.
What is actually in a 7-in-1 pen light?
Seven and a quarter inches, just under two ounces, aluminium body. In the hand it reads as a slightly chunky ballpoint rather than a tool, and that turns out to be the whole design argument.
✦ Inspection flashlight. At the tip, four modes on a single button.
✦ Ballpoint pen. A real pen with a real refill, and spare refills in the box.
✦ Touchscreen stylus. Caps the opposite end, works on phones and tablets.
✦ Phillips screwdriver. One half of an interchangeable double-ended bit.
✦ Flathead screwdriver. The other half. The bit stores inside the body.
✦ Bottle opener. Machined into the clip assembly.
✦ Emergency glass breaker. Carbide tip at the tail.
The mini screwdriver I kept losing felt like a thing I was carrying. This clips to a shirt pocket and disappears the way a pen disappears. That difference sounds trivial and it is the entire product.
Is the CLAKAP P3 really 250 lumens?
Yes and no, and this is the one thing worth being precise about before you buy.
250 lumens is the Turbo figure, reached on a double-click and held temporarily. The standard High output is 140 lumens. Both numbers are accurate and they are not the same claim, and a lot of listings run them together in a way that sets you up to be disappointed.
Every flashlight that comes through here goes out into a backyard after dark, because a beam shot in a lit room tells you nothing. At around 9:50 at night, properly dark, Turbo genuinely lights a yard. For something pen-sized that is a real number.
But Turbo is not where this light lives. High, at 140 lumens, is — and 140 lumens pointed down into the cracks and crevices of an engine bay, or between car seats, or under a sink, is excellent. That is inspection lighting, and it is what a pocket light actually gets asked to do most of the time.
Buy it expecting a tactical torch and you will be annoyed. Buy it expecting the best inspection light that fits in a shirt pocket and you will be very happy.
Specs
Output 140 lumens standard, 250 lumens Turbo boost
Modes High, Low, Strobe, Turbo (double-click)
Battery 270mAh rechargeable
Charging USB-C
Runtime up to 5 hours on Low
Dimensions 7.28 x 0.79 in
Weight 1.92 oz
Price $29.99 at the time of testing
A month of carrying it
The cupboard handle took about forty seconds. Pull it out, swap the bit to Phillips, tighten, put it back. No walk to the garage. Two years of low-grade irritation, solved by not having to go anywhere.
Beyond that: two sponsorship contracts signed with it, a document marked up on an iPad with the stylus from a recliner, and the light used twice looking at something under the hood.
Four of the seven tools, used in a normal week, without going hunting for excuses to use them. That is a better hit rate than this category usually manages.
The glass breaker went unused, which is the correct outcome for a glass breaker. So did the bottle opener, which tells you something about which of the seven is filler. It works. It is not why you would buy this.
What I liked
✦ Seven tools that are all real tools, not gestures at tools.
✦ USB-C charging, which still is not universal in this category.
✦ Clips securely to a shirt pocket and genuinely stays there.
✦ Turbo is legitimately bright for the size.
✦ The interchangeable screwdriver bit alone justifies carrying it.
✦ $29.99 is fair for what is in here.
What I didn't
✦ The lumen figure needs a footnote. 250 is a temporary boost; 140 is the honest everyday number, and it should be the one led with.
✦ The battery is small by necessity. 270mAh and up to five hours on Low is fine for inspection work. This is not a light for a weekend outdoors.
✦ The bottle opener is the weakest of the seven. It functions. It is not a reason to buy.
Should you buy the HOKOLITE CLAKAP P3?
Buy it if you want one thing instead of five
If your everyday carry has quietly accumulated into a pile of single-purpose objects, this collapses most of that pile into one thing that vanishes into a shirt pocket. It suits inspection and maintenance work, anyone who signs paperwork away from a desk, and anyone who has ever needed a screwdriver and not had one.
Skip it if you already carry a dedicated light
If you need sustained high-lumen output rather than a boost, or you already carry a proper tactical light and a full multi-tool and are happy with both, this does not replace those two. It replaces the other five things.
I went in expecting seven compromises in a tube and came out carrying it every day, which is not how these usually go. The cupboard handle has stayed tight for a month.