Coast Dual Color LED Flashlight White/red like Aviator from Home Depot

First off, I want to say I am a long time lurker, new poster here. I've been a Surefire fan for a long time and own a small but respectable collection. I've always found this forum to be a great resource for talking high tech lights, so thanks to everyone here!!

Today while at Home Depot picking up a Husky 2D 200 Lumen LED flashlight (after reading all the hype here I can't wait to try it out tonight) I spotted a Coast brand Dual Color LED flashlight, with 6 LED's total; 5 white, 1 central red LED. The box states on the back that the model number is 7736D Dual Color, with a length of 3.75", claiming 100 Lumens/2.28 watts with a 50 hour battery life.

Inside the package is of course the flashlight already pre-loaded with 3 AAA Akaline batteries, another shrink wrapped set of 3 alkaline batteries (off brand), Nylon Sheath with clip, and carry strap that fits on the light. Price for this was $24.95.

Now this is not something I would normally buy, but I recently had my Surefire Aviator A2 STOLEN :mecry:so I was drawn to this to replace the red LEDs that I miss from my aviator... and at this price I figured I could give it a try and just take it back if unsatisfied FOR THE MONEY. I realize that this will never live up to the performance or quality of my Surefire, but at 1/8 the price, perhaps it will fill the void left after having my A2 dissapear.

I was wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this brand or this particular model? If so please share. I have plenty of time to make my mind up as to whether it goes back.

My first impressions are :

Build quality- Ok, better than some but not as good as the surefires I'm used to. Seems well put together, gold contacts on the inside and seals seem pretty decent.

Buttons- Probably the biggest weak point on this light, there is a seperate red button for the red LED and black button for the white LED's. The have a nice solid click for on/off, but once either of the lights are on if you just ever so slightly touch of the button causes the light to flash off and back on.. very annoying. I found that you must stay away from the butons once the light is on to prevent this, which can be a problem since they stick up quite a bit (IMO).

I've only had this light for a few hours and haven't had a chance to try it out at night (Opinions to follow later tonight or early tomorrow) but with trying it in a dark room it does give out quite a bit of light from the white LEDs, I will be comparing this to my Surefire's and others later. My early impression is that it does put out an impressive amount of light (box claims 100 lumens). The beam is not very concentrated and is more of a flood type light.

The Red LED is in the center position and also puts out a fair amount of red light. Since this is in the center position the red output seems very focused and narrow. More on this later also.

Here's some pics :







And my other torch that followed me home from Home Depot!!

Re: Coast Dual Color LED Flashlight "LED LENSER"

I have the 2-button white-red Coast-Eddie Bauer that I got at Target.Its not bad for a flood light,I just got back from Home Depot and was looking at these lights.Dont think that my Coast 2 color had 100 lumens on it,not sure its a few years old.:welcome:

Night has fallen and I must say so far I am VERY impressed with this light for the price! I would say it definately has 100 lumens, but more in a flood pattern than a tight beam, which is great for lighting up rooms or the yard for taking the dogs out.

The red LED is somewhat focused due to the red LED being central, but it works well for walking around or checking on things closeby when you don't want to lose your night vision (or give away your position, whatever you need it for).

I am not going to compare this to my aviator as that would be unfair, at 1/8 the price I have yet to come across a better Dual color LED flashlight in my searches (although they may exist as my search has not been extensive). The aviator has 3 leds and the primary beam on it is focused, so it is a totally different animal, but this will keep me happy as I don't have $200 to drop on another A2 (plus I'm saving up for the Invictus and Optimus)...

Looks pretty decent for the price. I have one question though about the switches. Does the light activate if you press the switch in slightly (not a full click)?

adirondackdestroyer said:

Looks pretty decent for the price. I have one question though about the switches. Does the light activate if you press the switch in slightly (not a full click)?

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On/Off requires a full click and there's nothing inbetween... now if this just had the tap for intermittent on/off and they moved the button to the endcap this would be perfect!

Khabbi said:

On/Off requires a full click and there's nothing inbetween... now if this just had the tap for intermittent on/off and they moved the button to the endcap this would be perfect!

Click to expand...

Yep, it would be damn near perfect. If only companies would listen to us flashaholics.
I'd still pick up at least one of these if it had forward clickies instead of reverse.

I forgot to ask, was $25 the regular price, or was it on sale? I'm asking because the last time I was at Home Depot they had a Coast flashlight selling for $40, but I don't remember anything like this for $25.

It was regular price at $24.93, the sku # is 015286677365 if you want to call around and see if they got it...

I used it last night and I must say it is great for lighting up rooms and does have a little bit of a throw on top of that, I am impressed so far. And I think it does have the advertised 100 lumens also...

I picked one of these up at Lowe's yesterday. They only had the black ones, but it's the same light otherwise.

I am also very impressed by the output from this little light. I tested it at 92 lumens out the front, so it's not far off from the 100 that they claim. The beam is crazy bright indoors, because of all the flood it gives.

This is a pretty good deal at $25, and an even better one if you have a $10 of $50 coupon.

I've also got the Eddie Bauer version of this exact light and I really find it to be a useful light for putzing around the house, however to insinuate that it may be near 100 lumens is ridiculous. I know mine is a few years old, but the unregulated 3xAAA setup causes pretty regular dimming from the LED's. Mine has had the same batteries in it for a while now and it currently struggles to compete with my new E01. Unless they have really put forth some impressive advancements, I find that number hard to believe.

I do use it quite often though and find it to be a surprisingly good light to have, but a competitor to the Aviator? I don't think so.

AardvarkSagus said:

I've also got the Eddie Bauer version of this exact light and I really find it to be a useful light for putzing around the house, however to insinuate that it may be near 100 lumens is ridiculous. I know mine is a few years old, but the unregulated 3xAAA setup causes pretty regular dimming from the LED's. Mine has had the same batteries in it for a while now and it currently struggles to compete with my new E01. Unless they have really put forth some impressive advancements, I find that number hard to believe.

I do use it quite often though and find it to be a surprisingly good light to have, but a competitor to the Aviator? I don't think so.

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I have tested well over 100 flashlights in my lightbox, which includes most of the high end lights that are popular on this forum. I can guarantee you that this light is near the manufacturers claim of 100 lumens. It tested out at 92 lumens with fresh cells. You would be amazed by the amount of light coming from 5mm LED's in this light! It completely destroys the Fenix E01.

I just tested my Fenix E01 to see how bright it is in comparison, and it tested out at 6 lumens with a fresh alkaline cell. So the new Coast is roughly 15x as bright as the Fenix E01.

adirondackdestroyer said:

I have tested well over 100 flashlights in my lightbox, which includes most of the high end lights that are popular on this forum. I can guarantee you that this light is near the manufacturers claim of 100 lumens. It tested out at 92 lumens with fresh cells. You would be amazed by the amount of light coming from 5mm LED's in this light! It completely destroys the Fenix E01.

I just tested my Fenix E01 to see how bright it is in comparison, and it tested out at 6 lumens with a fresh alkaline cell. So the new Coast is roughly 15x as bright as the Fenix E01.

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In that case, the tech must have improved somewhat. I know that my light is brighter by a decent shot when the cells are fresh, but I was not thinking it was that bright at all. I was using the E01 comparison to illustrate the dimming non-regulated nature when the cells age somewhat. I'm sure it would be better with NiMH cells, but I don't have a charger that will accommodate that third cell easily. I usually end up just dealing with the dimming light and being re-impressed with it on fresh cells. Even on alkalines though, it runs forever.

AardvarkSagus said:

In that case, the tech must have improved somewhat. I know that my light is brighter by a decent shot when the cells are fresh, but I was not thinking it was that bright at all. I was using the E01 comparison to illustrate the dimming non-regulated nature when the cells age somewhat. I'm sure it would be better with NiMH cells, but I don't have a charger that will accommodate that third cell easily. I usually end up just dealing with the dimming light and being re-impressed with it on fresh cells. Even on alkalines though, it runs forever.

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I think the technology must have improved greatly since you bought yours. I think this is the exact model you have:

http://www.ledlenserusa.com/product_info.php?modelNum=7736D

They rate this model at 22 lumens. The model I purchased looks exactly the same as this, but they rate it at 100 lumens on the packaging. So you can figure that the new version is roughly 4-5x as bright as the old.

There is no denying that this light has zero regulation and will dim when the batteries are being drained, but since it starts out at such a high brightness I would imagine even after many hours it would be putting out at least a respectable amount of light.

At the very least I think this light must have impressed lots of average joe's, because my Lowe's had several displays of these and most of them were nearly empty. I can see this light being a great gift for the average person who wouldn't like a huge flashlight (ex. 3D Mag), but would appreciate nice quality bright flashlight.

Khabbi said:

I was wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this brand or this particular model? If so please share. I have plenty of time to make my mind up as to whether it goes back.

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Have experience with both the brand and the model. Not too impressed with Coast. While their lights have decent Q.C., they are over-priced. Durability is not a strong suit of Coast. After owning several Coast models, I'm currently down to one. (The Recon version of your light, with green and blue LEDs as well). And I'm going to give that one away since the beams from the various LEDs are full of artifacts. The white beam is okay, but all of them are only good for close up work.

Other than one of FlashCrazy's modded SSC P4 Coast models, There's nothing great about Coast lights.

DUDE! Don't tell me they updated these. Not after I just spent all of my light budget. The package is new with the 100 lumens, heck it even says new and improved output (just now read that part). I'm not sure about 100 lumens as that'd be 20 per led (or they're driven hard) but Coast is working with the Nichia DS in other lights. Definately putting this guy on my list.

Khabbi said:

Buttons- Probably the biggest weak point on this light, there is a seperate red button for the red LED and black button for the white LED's. The have a nice solid click for on/off, but once either of the lights are on if you just ever so slightly touch of the button causes the light to flash off and back on.. very annoying. I found that you must stay away from the butons once the light is on to prevent this, which can be a problem since they stick up quite a bit (IMO).

Click to expand...

The buttons bother me too. It's like it works in reverse - momentary off instead of on.