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P239

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Mar 8, 2006
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Hello all. New here but have been active on a few knife forums for a couple of months. I recently picked up a Coast LED at the local Lowes Building Supplies store. This is a Coast LED Lenser V2Tactical Power Chip light. It is rated at 117.6 mw. I'm not sure how to compare milliwatts to lumens, or if you can, but I do know that this light has the most perfectly round beam of light, with no dark spots, that I've seen. Can anyone shed some LIGHT on the subject!!
 
Hello P239 and Welcome to the forum!

Sory i can't help you with the Lumen question but i also began my interest for LEDlights with Zweibruder lights (LED Lenser) and thought they where awesome.
Thats before i purchased some other lights like SureFire Inova and Fenix.

You would be suprised when you get them (the better ones) if you hang here a few weeks.

Anders
 
I also look to a LED LENSER V6 tactical in a store. I test it and i was impressed by the light output. Its sad that the flashlight reviews didnt make a review on one of these great lights from Zweibruder. Also here in these forums the details about the LED LENSER flashlights are very rare. I plan of buying a V square 4A black tactical (code 7739). It's a beauty with very strong output and good runtime as the company said. Maybe thats because of the 3 AAA batteries. Looking forward to test it also with Nimh batteries when i buy it.
 
I got a coast 7740 at sears website its a single AA battery 1.25 watt.Very pleased with constrution and beam.Its $29 I got free shipping. For that it was well worth it ,fits in my pocket nicely. Not to expensive to use without worry.Will it beat a fenix l1p? No. It has a different beam and not quite the quality of my L2p. But it definitly fill a nitch in my collection.Very nice light for the $$ good run time.Useful tool.I would reccommend.
 
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I've had several Coasts/LED Lensers. I usually end up trading them or selling them to folks that aren't quite so familiar with LED lights. Overall, they are decent lights except very few of them offer much water resistance if that's important. And their 'normal' 5mm LED and Luxeon lights tend to be quite a bit overpriced for what you are getting. The stainless steel ones and the super thin ones are interesting.

The one I'd still like to get is the one with 6 LEDs and 4 colors. But it's $40 and I have no real use for it... Just as a kinda novelty.
 
I have the dual color V2 Tac Torch (5 white LED's and 1 red LED). It's the light I use the most. It's my 'beater' light. I love the side clickies too...SO convenient.

I agree that the Coast lights are underrated and don't get the recognition I think they deserve. Some people have reported problems but I don't know of a light by any other manufacturer that hasn't had its share of problems. I think the odd types of batteries that Coast was famous for using turned a lot of people off, but that's changed with their newer lights. Quality has really improved too.
 
I just bought this same light the other day and was really impressed with it's smooth, bright flood beam. As good as an Inova X5 while using inexpensive AAA batteries. I too am somewhat puzzled by the lack of enthusiasm for these great lights.

flashlite said:
I have the dual color V2 Tac Torch (5 white LED's and 1 red LED). It's the light I use the most. It's my 'beater' light. I love the side clickies too...SO convenient.

I agree that the Coast lights are underrated and don't get the recognition I think they deserve. Some people have reported problems but I don't know of a light by any other manufacturer that hasn't had its share of problems. I think the odd types of batteries that Coast was famous for using turned a lot of people off, but that's changed with their newer lights. Quality has really improved too.
Click to expand...
 
I've bought 2 of the Coast LED Lenser V2 Tactical Power Chip lights, and I think they work pretty well. When I bought it a year and a half ago I was very impressed with its output, but I didn't know as much then as I do now. It was a year later that I saw my first surefire (6P with P61 I bought for my sister, WOW).

The Coast is very durable, has a good heft, and the switch seems very solid. I gave one to my grandfather for his birthday, it was slightly brighter with a much yellower tint (but not yellow, still mostly white) than the one I use at home. Mine has a very strong blue tint. Lithium batteries seem to help at least a little on the overall output.

I think its a pretty good light compared to any locally available LED's, probably slightly overpriced at around $42 at Lowes. It does not output 60 lumens, i'd guess (just my own rough estimate) around 20-30. My E1L seems to output more overall light, especially on R123s.

I have been very supprised to not see much mention of these lights on here or on the review sites, but most CPFers seems to shy away from the 3AAA lights.

Have fun with the Coast, its a good starter.

schiesz
 
I had bought a few coast led mensers I too got the multi white /one green ledI had to return the first one they were nice at Coast and replaced it. I have had problemts with other coast lights. they are beautifully designed yet IMHO do not live up to expectations. my V2 is woefully underpowered
 
I have the four color recon model:



...as well as a few smaller, button cell led lensers.

They are nice lights, but the thing that bothers me most is that every model I have has an "open end". That is to say, that there is no lens in a led "lenser"... Each light I have has recessed LED's that are prone to collect pocket lint, dirt and dust.

I still like them... That's my only complaint.

Dan
 
I got hooked on flashlights while trying to find reviews on my Coast Tac-Light. It was my first LED flashlight. I also got mine at Lowe's but it was around $60 then. My search led me to this site.

Bernie
 
flashlite said:
I have the dual color V2 Tac Torch (5 white LED's and 1 red LED). It's the light I use the most. It's my 'beater' light. I love the side clickies too...SO convenient.

I agree that the Coast lights are underrated and don't get the recognition I think they deserve. Some people have reported problems but I don't know of a light by any other manufacturer that hasn't had its share of problems. I think the odd types of batteries that Coast was famous for using turned a lot of people off, but that's changed with their newer lights. Quality has really improved too.
Click to expand...

Except theres no water resistance... Mine also has a failed white LED, and they get HOT quite fast. (Mine overheated and I grabbed it... :ohgeez:) Also have a V2 with red/white LEDs. Red is quite nice to navigate with.

But they are good for starters (I'm one of those people who own two-three of their lights, before I discovered CPF and all the choices.)
 
I have the camo version Tac Torch that only has a single LED (not the multi-colored ones). For the $20 that I paid for it, it has a brighter beam than my X5, and has better throw. Like most things in lift there are going to be trade offs. I wonder if that hole in the lense is there to help with the throw of the beam. It's also another Chinese made light, and has what I'd describe as a "tinny" feel. I personally like the light, but it is relegated to my pack for those times when it is "needed", while my X5 rides my belt.
 
cratz2 said:
The one I'd still like to get is the one with 6 LEDs and 4 colors. But it's $40 and I have no real use for it... Just as a kinda novelty.
Click to expand...

I have been wearing the "Coast V² Tactical 4 Color Recon LED flashlight" on my belt for a while now. The white, using 3 LEDs, is plenty of light for general (flood) use. I also like the red when I don't want a bright light to wake everyone or loose my night vision.

But I am a little uncertain about what good the green and blue are. If I had to provide low level light for a long time, say to light a room during a power failure, I would use the green. One LED should make the batteries last a lot longer than the 3 white ones. But then a single white would perform that function even better.

The blue LED rounds out the multi-color theme but what can I really use it for? I have had thoughts of replacing it with an UV LED. Then I could look for marks on money and such. I haven't opened the light yet to see how difficult it would be to change out an LED.

I have also had two cases where the light got bumped and turned on. This is while it is in the belt sheath and I was working in tight spaces. I wear it with the light end up so I can at least see if it is on. I have also intentionally turned it on in the sheath to provide light when I needed both hands free. Not the best angle but it works.

Overall though I have been happy using it.
 
These LED torches really crank, which is nice, although a waterproof version would be good.....at least a cover over the weird little hole in the front anyway. (Whats the purpose behind that?)
One question is about a comment I noted a while ago in a similiar thread about the types of batteries used in these things. I have a Led Lenser V2 (three AAA batteries). The gist of the comment was not to use NiMh or Lithium batteries in these torches because they are very overdriven already and the lower internal resistance of these types of batteries may give a bright light at first, but will damage the LED......is this true?
Phil
 
I had a V2 Powerchip back when they ran on N cells and had rubber switch covers. It was my first LED light, way before I knew what a good light was, and WAY before CPF days. I'd been using a stock Minimag and was uber-impressed when I bought it, but little things started to bother me. The cost of N cells and the lack of run time. Absolutely no water proofing at all, which I found out the hard way. No grip-ability when wet or oily. The rubber switch cover tearing off. There was an extra switch cover in the tailcap, and the place I bought the light from was willing to give me all the replacement covers I wanted for no charge, but I still had to drive all the way across town to get them. No regulation, from what I remember. I guess the reason that they don't get much attention is that there's better available for the $$. The SL PP Lux comes to mind.

Cheers. :buddies:

Edit: IIRC, the hole in the optic doesn't go all the way through to the LED.
 
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I recently bought a couple,and I am awaiting a 7744 cr123 version. I think the new ones are better.I would say my experience is much different, I like the flood type beam and size,mine with the tail clicky seems well built.It has alway worked and has a nice white tint.They do make a lot of models, maybe some do suck, but ive not had a failure and am looking forward to the 123 version.I have some nice lights to compare to and I think they hold thier own. I get great run time,even white beam,one runs on AA the other v10 uses aaaa,no problem,look inside a 9volt battery,and you will see 6 of them!


Look around amazon and ebay,some great deals can be found on them!
 
Blinding said:
But I am a little uncertain about what good the green and blue are. If I had to provide low level light for a long time, say to light a room during a power failure, I would use the green.
Click to expand...

They say the blue is good for things like following a blood trail and the green is good for hunting as deer can't see the green light. I guess you're covered no matter what king of Recon you're doing
smile.gif
.

Are these http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-9/qid=1145753313/ref=sr_1_9/601-0497135-8454533?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B0007LSDQK Eddie Bauer lights just rebranded Coast Lensers?
 
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