Coast "Eddie Bauer" light from Target

On a complete lark I picked up the "Eddie Bauer Dual-Color E-Light" (AKA the Coast "V2 6 Chip, Dual Color, Tactical Torch") from Target last night. I got mine for $26.99.

The light has 5 white nichia "Jupiter" LED and one red one. Two switches (reverse clickies) one for the white and one for the red. Runs on 3xAAA cells (in a carrier...ugh) and is manufactured out of a very light aluminium.

Build quality seems very good overall. The switches feel very positive with a nice feedback (even though I dislike reverse clickies).

I haven't dunked or wet this but there seems to be no real weather sealing around the LED's or the switches so I'd try to keep this unit dry.

The switches actually protrude from the sides of the light slightly, but the action is fairly stiff so I doubt that accidental activation would be much of an issue. Still you can unscrew the head slightly and that acts as an effective lockout.

No protective "lens" in front of the LEDs. However they are recessed a bit so scratching them shouldn't be an issue.

Now about the light.
The red mode is much brighter than I expected though the beam is marred by some terrible artifacts and dark spots. Still plenty usable but annoying.

The white mode... Holy Edison and Nakamura!!!!! I haven't actually metered this light yet but to my eyes it puts out a wall o' light similar to the Surefire L2 on high! The beamspread is (not unexpectedly) much like an Inova X5 but is very well aimed and even. This is a "light up the entire back yard" flooder with an -effective- throw of about 45-50 feet and an "I can see something over there" throw of much much further (I'd estimate 75-80ft).

The light body gets warm in the hand but not uncomfortable. The aluminum body definitely acts as an efficient heat sink. Again the behavior is very similar to a Surefire L2 on high.

If I have the time tonight I plan to set this light up and meter the output and then do a runtime on it (first for white and then for red mode).

EDIT on 8/25/2006
Did a runtime last night, the results weren't especially surprising to me. A pretty standard "unregulated" curve that took 2hr 5min to get to 50% and then flattening out at about 19% light into the typical super long LED "tail" at 4hr 15min. It stayed within 17%-19% until the 8 hour mark when I terminated the test.
That 17% is still enough light to read a map or find a keyhole in a house.

Coast or LEDLensers are so underrated. I gave mine to my dad when I got my Inova T3.

But I had a LEDLenser V6 Powerchip. This thing is very bright, rated at 1.25W.

Has about the same throw as my T3 but a little less output.

Like you said though, it needs some waterproofing.

Yeah, I didn't expect much from it and wow did I get a surprise.

I've had one of those for over a year now, and I think it's great for a mass market light. My fiance uses it a lot. It's unregulated, but I run it on Energizer 850mAh NiMHs, so I get flat output anyway. The red is really nice for running to the bathroom in the middle of the night (which is the main reason I keep red lights around). I too was surprised at the throw, which is good enough for a lot of outdoor use. I bought it because of the brightness, which I discovered playing with it in the store. The body is very thin, but time has proven that it is strong enough. The finish looks like Type II, and has only chipped in a few places. I have lights that look worse. I wouldn't go diving with it, but it is dunkable. It really exceeded my expectations. My dad got one after playing with mine. An underrated light for sure.

Did the runtime test and posted results at the bottom of the 1'st post.

zespectre said:

On a complete lark I picked up the "Eddie Bauer Dual-Color E-Light" (AKA the Coast "V2 6 Chip, Dual Color, Tactical Torch") from Target last night. I got mine for $26.99.

Click to expand...

Just picked one up today on Clearance at Target for $2.50.

Mad1 said:

Coast or LEDLensers are so underrated. I gave mine to my dad when I got my Inova T3.

But I had a LEDLenser V6 Powerchip. This thing is very bright, rated at 1.25W.

Has about the same throw as my T3 but a little less output.

Like you said though, it needs some waterproofing.

Click to expand...

I agree, the Ledlensers are really good lights. I own several, and have had nothing but good luck, and good things to say about them. My guess is the only reason people are giving them a bad rap, is because they haven't tried them. Seems like the more a light cost, the more hipe there is around it. Maybe coast should double their prices. Many of the nay sayers would probably go nuts about them then.

+1 They work fine for me, I have 2 Coasts, one head lamp that I've had for a few years and used a lot at work, and at blade west this year I picked up a tactical multi colored recon Led.

I'm not saying "big boys beware!" lol not at all but for middle ground lights they do the job I want.

Looks like a pretty cool light. Stopped by Target on the way home - no luck. :mecry:

edc3 said:

Looks like a pretty cool light. Stopped by Target on the way home - no luck. :mecry:

Click to expand...

At my Target, there is a place for all sorts of Eddie Bauer stuff near to the camping stuff. This is half way across the store from the flashlights. The regular flashlight area went through their fall clearance phase a couple months ago. I never thought to check the camping section on the Eddie Bauer wall for the flashlights. Then a few days ago I was walking past the regular flashlight section, knowing that the new winter models have been well ensconced for a month or two now, and I noticed this lone Eddie Bauer LED light hanging on an unmarked peg. Went to scan it and it came up clearance at $0.00. But at the register the last sell price came up as $2.50, and the rest is history.

Point is, you may want to check the Eddie Bauer section near camping goods instead of the flashlight section if you haven't already, and don't necessarily expect the light to be marked with a clearance sticker.

Thanks for the tip. I looked at the knife aisle and the regular flashlight aisle. No luck. I do have two other Target stores nearby that I can check. Which store did you find them in? Are you in the South Bay? I live in Campbell. I'd like to pick up a couple of these at that price.

I found this one in Sunnyvale. I have a gut feeling it may have been a single unit an employee found slipped down between two pallets in the store room for some time, and went onto the floor and just shoved it onto an umarked peg in the wrong section.

Note that the Eddie Bauer incarnation does not come with a lanyard or sheath like the "Coast" branded version (although it does have the lanyard hole) and the Eddie Bauer version is what I would call a frosted silver finish rather than black. Looks pretty slick, actually.

Thanks for the info Turbo DV8. I'll just keep my eyes open and cruise all three Targets from time to time.

I'm glad some of you aren't so "anti-Coast". I have a regular V2 and now this, and am very happy with both. I just wish two things:
1.) Better knurling on the Dual Color(Knurling on the reg. V2 is EXCELLENT!)
2.) Heftier waterproofing

e2x2e said:

I'm glad some of you aren't so "anti-Coast". I have a regular V2 and now this, and am very happy with both. I just wish two things:
1.) Better knurling on the Dual Color(Knurling on the reg. V2 is EXCELLENT!)
2.) Heftier waterproofing

Click to expand...

The lack of #2 is what killed my Coast "Eddie Bauer" key-chain LED light.

Turbo DV8 said:

Point is, you may want to check the Eddie Bauer section near camping goods instead of the flashlight section if you haven't already, and don't necessarily expect the light to be marked with a clearance sticker.

Click to expand...

Great tip... I bet this works at wal mart and other stores too that segragate flashlights from sporting goods.

e2x2e said:

I'm glad some of you aren't so "anti-Coast". I have a regular V2 and now this, and am very happy with both. I just wish two things:
1.) Better knurling on the Dual Color(Knurling on the reg. V2 is EXCELLENT!)
2.) Heftier waterproofing

Click to expand...

I went into Lowe's and another home improvement store the other day and they still have these on the shelves for $35 - $40! It looks like the dual-color has zero waterproofing. There is not even a lens over the LED's. Another minor gripe I have is the dual switches. One would think having independent switches for red and white would be an advantage. But in practice it doesn't quite "work." They have made the switch button for the red LED with red anodizing, but in the dark this does no good! They have also knurled the switch for only the white LED's, but too shallow and fine, so if you have a workers hands like me with thick skin on the fingers, you cannot really tell in the dark by feel which switch is for the white LED's. So I am always turning on the wrong LED!

But, I will say there is one thing I really appreciate about this light. I have had more than my share of 3AAA flashlights, with their battery carriers, and the Eddie Bauer dual-color is the only one that has not crapped out within a month. The battery carrier is not cheap. It is robust. The contact on each end is not a little dimple, or a piece of cheap metal folded over. They are large, flat gold plated contacts on each end. The positive contact in the head is also large diameter, flat, and gold plated. The mating area between carrier and head is huge. Between the gold plating and large contact area, I have never seen a hint of poor connection flicker. Same goes for the spring in the base. It is also entirely gold plated, and the end of the spring which contacts the negative carrier terminal is constructed to loop around so it mates flat to the carrier contact, and the top surface of the spring where it meets was sanded flat before it was gold plated. Both ends of the carrier and their mating contacts are amazingly well designed and constructed. With other lights, you can turn the light on as you tighten the head and watch the light flicker as the crappy contacts scrape about, and you only hope that when the head is fully tightened that it lands on a "good" spot! But with this light, you can switch the light on, then install the head, and as soon as the head makes contact with the positive terminal of the carrier, the light does not flicker at all as you tighten it down, because you have two perfectly flat gold plated contacts touching each other. I am still not a fan of AAA cell carrier lights, especially now that you can get a single AA cell light that does the same job, but if you have to have a 3AAA cell light, this is about the best designed one I have seen.

Respectfully request beamshots.

http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=7520452


http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=7520451


Never did beamshots before...hope these help :shrug:

And BTW white is mush brighter in real life, I just changed the camera setting so it looks dim.

Thank ya kindly, good sir! It does kinda show the wall of light you spoke of.