LED Lenser (Coast) P7 REVIEW With Beamshots/Lux/Overall Output Readings

[JaguarDave-in-Oz]

I thought I remember a passing reference in that mod article you also recalled about the author simply "unscrewing the battery holder from the switch," but there were no further details. Does it entail simply grasping the holder at the base near the switch and turning? I tried mine a little but it didn't budge, and unless someone has tread there before, I am not willing to crack a $80 lights!

I trod there tentatively for the first time only yesterday. It takes a bit of pressure at first to get it to release the o ring's grip but yes, the whole battery holder does just unscrew out of the tail cap.

As I remember, the modder had to then unscrew the phillips head screws that hold the holder al together to get access but don't take my word for that bit as what I read is just a dim memory for me.

As to your earlier comments about the level of the low, I have never really used the flood setting much (mostly cos I like to leave it alone to let the o ring sort of "sticktion" itself to the full spot position so it doesn't bump off) but last night I set her on low and flood and went out to check my cockatoos in their avaiaries and lo and behold it was low enough that they were undisturbed by the light as I shone it round their domicile. Over a year of use and I'm finding the thing more and more useable. I'm really glad I went rechargeable, it has given me the opportunity to keep this extremely versatile torch in my life.

Last night I was even thinking about ordering up a new T7 version. They look really cool and if they really have gone up to 200 lumens from my old 170 version (though who can trust em?) then I should see brighter too........

 

[JaguarDave-in-Oz]

Interesting thing regards regulation and dimming at the end of battery life and whether or not it might be better or worse for a runner - for the last few nights I've been spending a fair bit of time outside spotting cicadas coming out of their shells in the trees (it's summer here and grandkids love those sort of activities on holidays don't they) and I've deliberately let the batteries run down. After several nights of quite intense use on the high setting, eventually tonight the P7 started to dim. It dimmed to a level that I have been comparing to my fenix L1D with the single AA tube fitted.

The fenix torch is fitted with a fresh 2600 PowerPlus NiMH battery, the Lenser with the running down AAA 1000 ones.

Despite the dimming of the P7 I can still light up and clearly identify my sheepdog in the paddock at a range of about thirty to forty yards to what appears exactly the same extent of brightness as I can with the L1D on "medium" setting.

The P7 on NiMH has dimmed to a point way way more than a "moonlight" setting (which is what I found the L1D dimmed to the night it went dark on me and then would not come back on when I shut it off) and the thing is, my P7 has been at about this light output for at least twenty minutes now (to when I started typing this) and has only just started showing signs of dimming further. Certainly no signs of dimming with any undue or dangerous haste.

I'm now quite happy to say that there's no way the P7 will leave one stranded with a fast shutdown of light like the Fenix did to me some time back, no dange rof that at all.

EDIT - It's now been about thirty five minutes and the sheepdog's down to twenty yards. Pretty good brightness drop of rate if you ask me.

 

[kts]

I had a Coast I used at work, it worked fine, but the plastic lens got so scratched that it looked like it was sandblasted, instead I use my Fenix L1T v2.0 :twothumbs

No more plastic lenses for me.:thumbsdow

 

[Turbo DV8]

I trod there tentatively for the first time only yesterday. It takes a bit of pressure at first to get it to release the o ring's grip but yes, the whole battery holder does just unscrew out of the tail cap.

I am only aware of the one O-ring which seals the end cap with the body tube. Are you saying there is another one under the battery carrier, unseen?

...yesterday (I) managed to discover that the spring tension for the switch could be increased by turning the plastic retaining ring inside the tailcap..

I see no plastic ring. Is this something you found after unscreweing the battery carrier?

 

[Egsise]

Interesting findings.
I have never been left in the dark with my Fenix TK20, the output drops from full to moon mode in 2-4 minutes, but the moon stage lasts quite nicely, enough time to find fresh batteries.
2xAA is very easy to change even in complete darkness, usually i do carry a backup torch though.
I have always liked that I can screw the tailcap open a 1/4 turn to prevent the flashlight accidentally turning on.
I like the ugly yellow tint at outdoors, the contrast is much better.

Perhaps I need to borrow my friends LL P7 and give it another try, and at least measure the output with my lightbox.

 

[JaguarDave-in-Oz]

I am only aware of the one O-ring which seals the end cap with the body tube. Are you saying there is another one under the battery carrier, unseen?

yes, the battery carrier on mine has its own O ring since the tail cap.

I see no plastic ring. Is this something you found after unscreweing the battery carrier?

Yes, the plastic ring on mine is inside the tailcap only to be seen after removing said carrier. The ring retains the switch button and its spring.

That's on my early version, can't say for sure your later one will be the same.

 

[JaguarDave-in-Oz]

Interesting findings.
I have never been left in the dark with my Fenix TK20, the output drops from full to moon mode in 2-4 minutes, but the moon stage lasts quite nicely, enough time to find fresh batteries.

I've no techincal education on such matters but I think it's more than likely that a 2xaa would cope with the drop off a whole lot better than my single AA L1D did that night it went dark on me and would not turn back on. I've never actually run the TK20 down far enough to see how it manages it (in fact I dislike the way the tint looks in green/brown bush and trees so much that I haven't even managed to use up a set of batteries yet.

2xAA is very easy to change even in complete darkness, usually I do carry a backup torch though.

I do think that the ease of changing 2 x AA is a big advantage over the 4 x AAA in a carrier.

I actually find myself wanting double and triple check the battery orientation even in the daylight when I've reloaded my P7 which if I'm still doing it a year on means that I am not confident that's it's foolproof. I never have that lack of confidence with my 2 x AA torches. I wish the P7 was 2xAA.

I like the ugly yellow tint at outdoors, the contrast is much better.

I'm beginning to think that I must have got a really overly yellow/orange version of the TK20 cos on my one I get the opposite.

I see not contrast but light that looks like it's been shone through a coloured lens that paints normally subtly contrasting thigns the same colour as the tint.

As a test that night I looked at some green cicadas with lightish brown stripes and it just seemed to mash their colours together like they had been dyed all over. You could still see the stripes a bit but they lost their colour contrast. It actually also made it more difficult to see where brown shell ended and green/brown cicada began.

I made those TK20 comparisons with P7, Quark AA2 and Nitecore D10 and the three cooller torches were for my eyes so much better for picking up the cicadas in the trees against the brownish branches and identifying which species was which by colour and mottles/stripes.

I think I just got bad luck and scored an overly tinted one which is a shame cos I absolutely love the feel and form as well as the function of the TK20 torch.

One day if I get brave and learn a little of this "modding" hobby I'm going to pull the TK20 down and stick a bright white LED like an R2 in it (if it can be done) and then the thing will be what I was hoping for in the first place and might even illuminate a target as far as the P7 too.

The Tk20 certainly has the concentrated beam for it although maybe not capable of going as far currently since that German test said the P7 made 8300 lux on high and 11000 lux on turbo and I think the Tk20 makes six or seven thousand doesn't it? Then again I think I read that lux figures are simply measured at the very centre of the hotspot and thus would not seem to take into account how concentrated the beam is at a distance would they?

 

[Egsise]

I've never seen a runtime graph for a P7 on alkalines, though I'd like to

http://www.messerforum.net/showpost.php?p=504265&postcount=13

Picture from that thread, LL P7 compared with a Fenix L2D:

 

[JaguarDave-in-Oz]

Thanks yeah, it satisfies me that all this business I'd read about them being bright for a very short while and dim for a very long while was rather a distortion of the facts. Looks pretty good for a triple A torch to me.

And looking at that, it turns out it's probably no surprise that my one doesn't look dimmer on NiMH, it's more than likely actually a tiny bit brighter.

 

[Turbo DV8]

It satisfies me that all this business I'd read about them being bright for a very short while and dim for a very long while was rather a distortion of the facts.

Yeah, that would not be a fair description at all, although I do have to admit, that green alakaline curve is pretty doggone ugly! Drops like a rock for 5-10 minutes, then a steady, downhill slope... 70 minutes to 50%. If he had also run a graph of the L2D on alkalines, that would have given a good comparison of what exactly good regulation can do (although for the slopes to be fair, the scale of the AAA P7 would have had to be expanded to compensate for the reduced capacity versus AA.)

 

[JaguarDave-in-Oz]

It's funny how inappropriate some of these graphs can be when it comes to using them for judging which torches perform best at long range use. Not all that many weeks ago when i thought that lumens were the rigth thing to go by, I'd look at that graph and say "wow, I gotta get me an L2D to replace my P7, it's gunna outshine it by heaps". Well actually quite a long while back I did get a L2D (well a L1D with 2AA tube) and those graphs might work for indoor, round the garden and walking the dog use use but in my paddock my P7 can see more than twice as far as my L2D despite appearing on th egraph to have heaps more grunt.

Of course I'm now a little better educated and know these graphs tell only part of the story. I now know that beam shape is critical too (in my case much more critical).

By the way, I've been out there testing again and the P7 eats my new Turbo AA2 Quark for long range work too. I wasn't really expecting the difference between them to be as great as it is. IN terms of lighting a target the P7 really does well for a 4 x AAA torch against such 2 x AA company.

 

[Egsise]

It's funny how inappropriate some of these graphs can be when it comes to using them for judging which torches perform best at long range use. Not all that many weeks ago when i thought that lumens were the rigth thing to go by, I'd look at that graph and say "wow, I gotta get me an L2D to replace my P7, it's gunna outshine it by heaps". Well actually quite a long while back I did get a L2D (well a L1D with 2AA tube) and those graphs might work for indoor, round the garden and walking the dog use use but in my paddock my P7 can see more than twice as far as my L2D despite appearing on th egraph to have heaps more grunt.

Of course I'm now a little better educated and know these graphs tell only part of the story. I now know that beam shape is critical too (in my case much more critical).

By the way, I've been out there testing again and the P7 eats my new Turbo AA2 Quark for long range work too. I wasn't really expecting the difference between them to be as great as it is. IN terms of lighting a target the P7 really does well for a 4 x AAA torch against such 2 x AA company.

Runtime graph made with lightbox looks different than runtime graph made with just a lux meter.
The regulation, or lack of it shows in both though.
Obviously if you are looking for throw you need more lux, not lumens.

 

[Turbo DV8]

I'd look at that graph and say "wow, I gotta get me an L2D to replace my P7, it's gunna outshine it by heaps"... but in my paddock my P7 can see more than twice as far as my L2D despite appearing on the graph to have heaps more grunt. Of course I'm now a little better educated and know these graphs tell only part of the story. I now know that beam shape is critical too.

Absolutely. There's only so much light a typical reflector is going to collect and only so tight it's going to be able to concentrate it. What most people will never grasp (because they've written off LED Lenser due to "bad press" here on CPF) is that the prism lens takes throw to a "ho' nudda level" where reflectors can't go!

I still wish the P7 was a 2AA side-by-side form, though. I explored last night at the long-gone Joyland Park, near Farwell Bridge on the Niles Canyon Railway (Google that, if you're into the steam era!) I used the freshly-charged P7 for 50 minutes, using about 50-50 between high and low, with short bursts of "Turbo." When I got back home I put the AAA's on charge and just over 600 mAh went "back in." There wasn't much life left in them. I think 2AA would give noticeably longer run time, if only LL weren't "anti-circuitry."

I am torn between the low level, though. In flood, even with night-adjusted vision, sometimes it is just too low for walking around in the woods. If I give a burst of turbo, that takes care of that, but then the low is useless for several seconds as the blinded eyes readjust. It really was frustrating! If low were just a bit higher, it could suffice for the majority of time walking in the dark in flood. I suspect law enforcement officers love the very low low, as in flood you could use it to write in your note pad close to your face without affecting your night vision much at all.

 

[Monocrom]

If you need a quick burst of Turbo, just close one eye. Then when you go back into low-mode, open the eye you closed and close the other one.

 

[Egsise]

I suspect law enforcement officers love the very low low, as in flood you could use it to write in your note pad close to your face without affecting your night vision much at all.

True, but just remember to cycle to low before you start reading or writing, that darn thing comes on turbo everytime you fire it up.
"Can I see your drivers licence please?" AAaaaah my eyes my eyeeesss

 

[JaguarDave-in-Oz]

Surely it would need some sort of lock on the focus before the torch would be acceptable for law enforcement duties?

Apparently the new MT7 will have lockable focus when it eventually arrives on the market (along with an additional regulated mode too for the technophiles), so I wait, and wait and wait......

 

[redbird]

After reading all the posts on this thread I decided to spring for the P7. It is a very nice, bright light hands down. However, I don't really like the switch. I guess I am spoiled by Surefire.

 

[Egsise]

You're right, the switch should have a lockout function, you can't just put it in your pocket or backpack because it turns on so easily by itself.
The holster does prevent that rather well.

 

[JaguarDave-in-Oz]

I can't remember if I mentioned it here or in the P14 thread but what you say was one of the real bugbears I had with my P7 when I carried it daily. It often used to come on while in the torch sleeve on the pants leg of my overalls. I killed a few sets of batteries that way and since they were alkaline AAA's I found that really annoying. Not so bad once the rechargeables came into my life but still not an endearing feature.

Thing is, I fixed it a couple of weeks ago when I had the tailcap apart and found that the switch pressure could be increased by turning the plastic retaining ring inside the tailcap. Now it's almost impossible to accidently bump it on and the switch has a more positive feel. Of course now I have niMH and also no longer carry it every day it's kinda too late to have cured the problem.......

 

[don.gwapo]

Led Lenser P7R and MT7 is worth waiting.