Coleman 325 lumen 250 meter battery guard flashlight

Well, our anniversary is at hand and I bought Melvinia this thing because she likes the CT50 I had for many years and she calls it "big daddy". She likes the light, but I got to playing with it and I also liked it. I was supposed to get a lumentop tool 2.0, but I had her get me this coleman flashlight instead.

Cons- on high it only lasts an hour on 3 aaa batteries and it is larger than what I wanted, but smaller and lighter than the short Maglite ML25.
Packaging is a pain.
Pros- this thing will throw because it has a smaller hotspot....BUT, it is a two stage hotspot, so it still has some spread to it.
It has a decent spill to it.
It has a 4 lumen low that lasts 200 hours and because of the hotspot it is brighter than my fenix E01V2.0 on its 5 lumen low.
It seems to have a neutral color temp to it.
Even though it's bigger it still fits in my mouth well and the rubber on the tailcap doesn't have a bitter aftertaste.
It is an aluminum flashlight, but it has rubber on the head and the endcap.
ATTN bykfixer.....it has a 2 stage sliding switch!
Average price is $14.98 at walmart and even on the online stores.
It has good reviews, but I think the packaging cost it some stars because it is difficult to get it out without damaging the light a little and the packaging gets completely destroyed in the process.

Overall I like this light and I know as a flashaholic I should be liking and getting fancier and more sophisticated lights, but the hotspot on that coleman just blew my mind.
There is a smaller 2aaa 75 lumen one that only reaches 50 meters, but it has a 2 lumen low and that is just too low for me.

The one I'm doing this review about is perfect for outdoors and camping while the E01V2.0 is perfect for close up work under a vehicle.

Sounds like a good light. Thanks for the review.

2 stage slider?
Am intrigued!!

You're welcome xxo. Yeah bykfixer, I guess you could call it two stage. Two clicks on the slide with the first being low and other being high. Either they are new or walmart is fixing to drop them because two different walmarts didn't have a price sticker for them. You can get them online though at many, many different places for the same price.

They also have way bigger ones with the same configuration. As the high lumens get higher so do the low lumens. The one that is a step up from mine (I read) had a ten lumen low.

I forgot....this one also comes with three duracell batteries. I don't know about the others.
Walmart still has some good flashlights including their ozark trail brand. I bought my brother in law the big 3c version a couple of years ago and the batteries are still good in it. I think it is too big for his tastes, but he uses the stew out of that fenix EO1V2.0 I gave him- when I got mine I also ordered him one.
They (ozark trail) have a smaller 450 lumen one that is 4aa or 4aaa. Both the 800 lumen (ozark trail) and the 450 lumen have a slide spot to flood focus. The 450 lumen one won't go 250 meters like the coleman which is only 325 lumens.
No maglites at all now at walmart.

I think these have been out for a while, I remember someone did a review on one of the big D cell versions.

xxo said:

I think these have been out for a while, I remember someone did a review on one of the big D cell versions.

Click to expand...

They probably have and I just paid attention to them because my wife likes colemans and it is our anniversary, so I finally set my focus on them.
Probably most everyone on here have at one time passed by them if they were near the ever shrinking flashlight section at walmart and didn't give them a second thought. The OT 450 lumen one seems more practical to me and if Melvinia didn't want a coleman I probably would have gotten her the OT and never known how fun the coleman is.
Coleman has always had a better, smaller and more pronounced hotspot on their non latern stuff.
I have a head light from them that I bought a good while back- the one with a low, medium and high (100 lumens) that also has a separate blue and red led on it. The regular white led can reach out there in the distance with its small hotspot, yet it still has a big and dim spill to it and no matter what other brand light I get Melvinia still likes the coleman 500 lumen 6aa CT50 (big daddy) from 2012 the best- even next to my ml25 and ml50 (611 lumen). She mainly likes her mini mag pro 271 lumen because it is smaller and will fit in her purse.
I think she likes her new coleman even more though.

I've seen Colemans at WM, but never paid much attention to them and since they stopped selling Mags, I pretty much stopped visiting the tiny flashlight section when I go there.

I do have one Coleman light that I got at target a few years back; it's basically a glow stick light with a little flashlight on the other end, that runs off of a single AAA.....not bad for what it is actually.

I like coleman stuff, but until now their prices have pushed me away. Not sure where my CT50 from 1212 was made, but it cost me $48 plus tax. I had money back then though. Now "china" is on this new one like they are proud of it.

Coleman battery guard it a joke IMO...... it excuses poor design by making a feature to lock out the light because it stupidly drains batteries all the time too fast. That is why I won't buy a light that uses this type of idiotic advertising gimmick.

Now I really want one.

Like xxo said, since the Maglite is as rare as an honest politician in the sprawl mart I no longer venture into the second zip code portion of that store. My knees only have so many steps left until bionic parts are required so I save them for running from a bear or in case I find a yellow jacket nest the hard way. But Lord willing, tonight I'll venture into the sporting goods section and see about that two stage slider.

I think Tony made that decision. The only ones that come out on top is the box store and the customer- the manufacturer comes out on bottom and a lot of manufacturers have gone bankrupt and/or out of business (or have manufacturing moved to china to survive) dealing with those stores. As I said, our anniversary is coming up and I also had some bad news for my wife and I was struggling with it too. I had to go to that store anyway and I was also there the day before and looked at the lights. I told Melvinia what they had that she might like and I told her about the coleman one. She was only interested in the coleman. The next morning on the way home from work I grabbed it and put it in the buggy and was regretting it as I was going to the checkout. I also thought the switch was a gimmick- just an excuse to use a cheap switch instead of the more durable clickie or electronic switch. I had committed myself though and had positive thoughts that....well, I guess it could break the circuit better and maybe it is two stage. Got home and after a long time getting it and the batteries out of the pack we put the batteries in (it had that holder that comes out where you put in 3aaa's) it starting shining. It was a two stage switch and it felt alright compaired to the slide switches I grew up with and the two stage hotspot got my goat. I had no plans of getting me one of those, but after sleeping on it (went to bed with it on my mind and got up with it on my mind and kinda had stress dreams about it) I got up studying small flashlights as I did before I went to bed (late). The Bessemer store didn't have my oil, so we went to Centreville late that afternoon and at the last moment I decided to get myself one because there was none other like it that had a greenpondmike teasing fixed hotspot. I did my homework hastily on a slowed down connection, but I'm pleased with my purchase. So anyway we both got a flashlight for our anniversary- I was going to get Melvinia a new lawn mower, but I reckon I made a better choice.

I have tried to fix that wall of text above four times to section it off to 3 or 4 sections. I give up....sorry about that.

Some of my older posts used to do that Mike. In the 'reason for edit' area I'd type "word pinch issue" and at times just gave up trying to fix it. I think it was Chrome doing it.

Anyway you did right by giving her a flashlight instead of a lawn mower in my view.

bykfixer said:

Some of my older posts used to do that Mike. In the 'reason for edit' area I'd type "word pinch issue" and at times just gave up trying to fix it. I think it was Chrome doing it.

Anyway you did right by giving her a flashlight instead of a lawn mower in my view.

Click to expand...

Oh, ok. I thought the higher ups were pranking me.

Yeah, those lawn mowers cost too much. I guess Melvinia's going to have to keep using that sling blade.

Don't worry GPM, you can always get her a nice new washboard for her birthday to take down to the creek when she does laundry. :thumbsup:

C'mon dawg, get her a bottle of Roundup and a $7 sprayer from Home Depot.

Went to wally world and parked near the garden section to avoid walking a country mile through the store to the flashlights. They had a few Coleman's for $14.98 ea so I bought one. Long live the slider switch. Starts on a useable low then slide it all the way forward for your basic 2D Maglite beam. Throw with a capital T.
Feels good in hand and the rubberized ends should help out if the dropsies occur.


Next to the 2015 3aaa Rayovac Sportsman.
Thanks for the tip GP.

Going to use it later to torch a yellow jacket nest.

bykfixer said:

Going to use it later to torch a yellow jacket nest.

Click to expand...

That thing must be throwin' some serious candelas downrange!. Seriously though, that light sounds like a pretty good value. Even more seriously, take care man. With your knees and my hip joints, neither of us is up for even thinking ​of tryin' to outrun a swarm of those nasty little things!

Yeah a perilous duty I know but my mail carrier walks near the nest everyday. Poor guy has it bad enough what with dogs snarling at him, mocking birds attacking him and now potentially yellow jackets? Nah, can't have that. Plus it's right where I wash Mrs Fixers car so we definitely can't have that.

So I put on a home made bee keeper outfit and my favorite walking shoes after the sun set. I'll know tomorrow if they're all gone or not.

I did a little write up on the Coleman in the budget light section/favorite budget light 2021 thread.


Here's a beam shot pic.

Lol, I hope y'all know I was just kidding about Melvinia. I'm glad you liked that flashlight bykfixer. I guess some of us nostalgic ones like a more traditional style flashlight along with our other ones.

Hey bykfixer, how difficult was it for you to get it out of the packaging?