Coast HP550 at Costco for $49

I think a few of the new Led Lenser all use XM-L’s too.

I found it at the Costco in Coeur d’Alene Idaho. I have not opened the package yet. It was intended as a Christmas present to me but I may have to open it sooner just for y’all.

:santa:

I showed this to a buddy and he called Coast - they said:

- this is a Costco exclusive

- did not know for how long Costco would stock it

- there would be no official information on the Coast website on this light

- it will not take 14500 lithiums

- the red ring at the end does not illuminate

- it is making its way through the Costco distribution (NY Costcos should have it in two weeks)

  • the free offer as seen on the back is for the G10

This looks like a great alternative to the TK41/TK45!

We’ll see about that. But I guess the one good thing about this light is at least it’s fairly cheap. So if it turns out to be a dud, then it’s not like you dropped a huge amount of cash on the thing. Even though I’ve had my issues with Coast’s battery holders, I figure that, at $49 for a 1000 lumen light, it’s worth taking a chance on. Unlike the TK41, I can actually afford to go wrong with this one.

Now what I would REALLY like to see is this light available as a D cell light. I would MUCH rather have the simplicity and runtime of D cells. Not to mention NO BATTERY HOLDER. Because with the exception of battery holders, Coast lights have generally been pretty good to me.

thanks for sharing with us
i really like that but doubt it will make it to Costco-UK
the flashlight choice on the shelf over here is pretty poor

you can’t see the wide angle. Your eyes can though, easily. It should be good for walking and then you can zoom in to see what beady little eyes are attached to.

H)

Never mind, I just bought one. It looks like all this thing does is stop enough on the zoom so that the emitter doesn’t get projected and only a dot does. Which I actually prefer anyway. I know some prefer D-cells in a light like this. Well, that’s what MagLites are for. This just gives ya a ready to go battery alternative that let’s face it with AA’s and Eneloop rechargeables is a no-brainer. D-cell rechargeables are too expensive and they aren’t Eneloops either. :wink:

I tell ya what though. This sucker is BRIGHT. Inside a lit-up Costco I was shining up some hottie’s behind from about 100 feet away no problem. :open_mouth:

Btw, it works great on Eneloops. I just tried it and it’s just as bright on them as on Alkalines. I’m impressed with this torch. As a thrower this has a big useable hotspot. Bigger than a MagLite 3D for example. Way bigger. The AA-capability is what sold me on it initially and that’s the focus of the endorsement. That I now realize other attributes is icing on the cake. In fact, I like that I could prolly buy an extra battery carrier, pre-load it as a spare, perhaps storing it in a plastic tube or holster of some sort, and then I’d have essentially a magazine-reload in 3 seconds at my fingertips. I like that. A lot. Not only that, I now also have a convenient AA carrier that could be used to refuel other AA lights if needed in an emergency.

Is it worth $48. Yeah. Most definitely.

This gets Lumatic’s Good Lightkeeping Seal of Approval. (LGLSOA).

I know that the Leatherman recent acquired LED Lenser, which is the parent company for Coast. I wonder if that’s why they’re showing up here now.

Press release about takeover.

This thing BLAZES and does it without overheating. It THROWS with a BIG even hotspot that is to put it mildly impressive as all get out. The zoom-spill is plain HUGE without quirky rings and artifacts. In fact on mine the hot spot is nicely surrounded with an even corona that spills out gradually and also evenly on the zoom-out. Very impressive indeed for an aspheric. And what a relief not to see another square emitter stamp 100 yards out.

This most definitely leans to a yellowish cast reminiscent of an incandescent which brings out a tree’s leaves as vivid green whereas my XinTD NW V3 would show that same tree in a more natural subdued tone. Is this bad? I don’t think it is. It’s better than the color-washout from stark cool whites we tend to see on other high-power lights and IMO is a nice balance between cool and XinTD NW. The fact that it throws as well as it does without a cool-white boost is impressive enough in of itself. Did I mention it throws? Like no tomorrow boys.

The bottomline is that this is one heckuva torch for $49. It’s very well-constructed and feels solid bow to stern. And as a result I will be buying more than one which tells ya something. :wink:

If you haven’t yet got one, then plan on getting one. You won’t regret it.

One other feature I really like about the battery carrier is that you can insert it from either end. So if you’re fumbling in the dark you don’t have to worry about polarity and such. It’s a 3S3P configuration. This light is apparently only being sold from select Costcos - at least here in So. Cal.

The Costco Item Number is 686885 for those of you that would like to call ahead and see which store has them. They seem to be selling out pretty fast in my Carlsbad store.

I know some flashaholics look down on Coast products but let me say one thing here. They can put out a high-quality product. This is one of them. I have a David-19 that I carry as one of my EDC’s. It’s still a great light after all these years.

Btw, the HP550 is all-aluminum and built like a tank. The zoom mechanism feels solid and slides smoothly without a hitch.

Again, IMO this is a bargain for $49.

The nice thing about the way it’s packaged is that it lets you test out each light. I picked the one out yesterday that gave me the most even hotspot and moreso leaning neutral tint. Mine is quite ‘warm’ in cast. There were others I tried that had a cooler tint which presumably will be even better throwers. I plan to get some more. It’s nice to have a balance of tints ya know in the repetoire. 8)

Oh, I almost forgot. For those interested it appears to have a 50mm aspheric lens.

that if you see something you might want you better jump on it. The return policy is fantastic so it is zero problem in bringing it back. This particular item was in the back near the hydraulic tractor fluid and only one pallet. No way to know if it is an experiment or if there will be 10 pallets in the main aisle next week. It is usually a good bet that the price will be very competitive and you often get extra stuff with an item, like a camera will come with a memory card or in the case of the light, the batteries. A little tidbit is that if you see an asterisk on the price card then the item is going out. This light may be $20 less in two weeks depending on how it moves or they could be all gone and you missed out. Kind of a betting game.

they’re gone. Since it’s a Costco-exclusive it also tends to tell me this is a market test. Either way having one now is better than not having one later. :wink:

Btw, you might want to edit the title so it identifies this Coast model as an HP550. Just a suggestion.

and went through about 40 lights to find the tint and hotspot I wanted for two more HP550’s. So now I got one pretty dang warm one, and two cool and tight as they get throwers. Vast majority of the one’s I tested had a close to NW to flat-out warmer tint.

People were walking by giving a look like WTF is this guy doing will all these things laying outside their display boxes while I’m torching off and comparing each one on high against a concrete floor and a white box background. Sh*t, by the end of that session I was not only seeing stars, I didn’t realize my eyes were checking out old ladies. Only a hardcore flasher does this sort of thing. :cowboy_hat_face:

They musta thought I was nuts. Go figure. :open_mouth:

This is where 15 minute fast chargers are useful. Sure, they very seriously reduce cycle life, but even if you only get 100 decent cycles out of NiMH rechargeables, you still save a ton of money.

I still use my Varta 15 minute charger with my Varta cells occasionally (I treat my Eneloops with much more respect). It comes in quite handy.

I’m gonna try and get 3 extra batt carriers. If I need to wait hours to recharge we’re prolly living in a nuclear winter by then. :expressionless:

Fixed it for you. :P

(He gets jealous.) :open_mouth:

Not sure I want someone who says this to have a thing for me...