I think if I had just used stronger tape I could have avoided the scratches.
Try indoor rubber stairway grip tape. It’s a made out of textured grey rubber. It’s very thick and grips very well.
Wrap it around a light and you can then use pliers on it with little risk of scratching the light.
I got my roll at Office Depot. Make sure to get the “indoor” type which is made of rubber. Don’t buy the “outdoor” stairway grip tape which contains crushed glass and is thinner.
I agree with many of your points.
- The SK58 has a nicer shape. It is more cylindrical, smaller and has nearly full knurling including on the head… all these features are better for EDC. The HP1 could really have used some knurling on the head. Even just a ring of knurling would be great.
- The HP1 has a much wider flood beam, which is superior for close-in use.
- The HP1 has an unusual spot beam. My LED Lensers have the focal point of the central aspheric and the side TIR at similar points. So when you switch to spot mode, all parts of the optic project a spot for max throw. The HP1’s spot mode only has the side TIR in focus. The central aspheric is still far short of its focal point. Result is some throw with a medium amount of flood. The HP1 isn’t really a thrower. Think of it more like a light that can transition from a wide, almost mule-like flood, to a much tighter beam similar to what you’d get out of a conventional reflector, containing both spot and spill.
- The HP1 is nice for those who want a change from a typical aspheric zoomie. It doesn’t lose lumens when swapping beam profiles, so both are fully interchangeable. No other light has a similar ability to transition from super-wide flood, to conventional reflector beam.
I have been advocating flashlights with optics similar to that of Fresnel lighthouses, and here they are, with zoom capability added.
Here is a large lighthouse lens to compare. The five concentric wick Argand lamp was an extended source, as an LED is on a smaller scale. The number of beams depended on the blink rate signature of the lighthouse. The upper and lower parts are TIR and the center refractive.
The electric bulb and spare are more recent than the lens.
Flashlights really should have more than two segments. That would make them more compact with no loss in function and allow more flexibility in the design.
Hi guys. Website descriptions of this light is very limited. Can anyone measure current draw and estimate output of a stock light with an alkaline cell? I’m looking for a quick source (non china) for a long running AA light. Thanks. 
I get 0.8 A with a Panasonic alkaline that has 1.5 V open circuit. Assuming 2.7 Ah, divides out to 3.6 hours, but of course it would taper off in intensity for longer than that.
Output is very good for the current, especially for a zoomy.
Thank you
Just picked one of these up to replace an existing AA light. Very nice and much, much brighter, and with focusing too. Well worth the 10 bucks!
What size is the ideal driver for this ?
Just had a Coast HP1 arrive.
but only one mode. 
Cant get the damn thing open, mine does seems to be glued,
I will need a new driver, what size did you file down? or what size would fit?
Spec needed:
NO Memory mode.
No Blinky modes.
Moonllight to Low to medium to high . Must come on the lowest first each time
Any idea what current I can force through the standard HP1 LED at 100% ?
My main need is low level light rather than high power, so am not going to attempt to swap the LED on that pillar sized star.
I had some trouble with mine. The threads finally yielded. As I recall, I tried brute force, which didn’t work very well. Freezing it with an inverted can of “canned air,” warming it with a hair dryer, and then persistent work with my hands.
I tried heat from hot air gun externally after freezing it for two hours, using soft rubber pipe grips. No good, so just used proper brute force with two sets of mole grips.
Scratched and gouged the surface but there was just no other way.
Even the pill was solidly glued in, almost twisted the pillar off.
Thread is standard 1mm pitch metric 60 degee thread angle.
Driver measures up as 15mm
Almost identical to a Suprabeam Q2. Threads are the same, just the Q2 uses a slightly larger pillar & plastic cap, at 12mm diameter to the HP1 10mm
Will measure LED current tomorrow, but tail cap current was 1.4 amps with 18650 test cell.
Was hoping to use Mtn Electronic 15 mm 5*7135 driver but don’t see that giving any more current than standard unless I stack some more 7135’s
It will give modes though which is what I want.
I bought this light about 9 months ago. Unfortunately I lost it a month or so ago. I had no problem fitting protected 14500’s but as others have said the increase in light output is just a little better than when running on standard alkaline AA. Nice light. Fit and finish is great for the money and the flood is amazing from such a small light. Very wide and bright. Blows away my Sipik 68 clones in flood. Throw is about the same. If I don’t find it I may buy another. My only complaint was that mine zoomed to a tight spot and flood was awesome but anywhere in-between there was a jagged black hole in the center of the beam. I really only need full flood or full throw so it wasn’t a deal breaker…
Yes, it is not a zoom. It has two settings, flood and like a reflector light.
Thought I’d add that I got one about a month ago and I was able to unscrew the head with my bare hands. It took effort, but no tape or tools required on mine. There was just a little bit of glue on it.
For those of you who have swapped the emitter, do you just use a reflow setup or do you think the copper star is small enought I could do it with just my soldering by heating up the backside? I’d love to put a xp g2 in it.
I just reflowed a different emitter onto the stock star. It already comes with a tiny copper star. It might not be direct copper, but it is copper. Also, any star has to fit on top of the post at the top of the pill. A 10mm star might fit, but then again, it might not. A standard 16mm star definitely won’t fit.
The one awkward thing was that that I had a lot of trouble keeping the star steady to attach the leads. I ended up having to glue it to the post with arctic alumina thermal adhesive.
The shape does not seem competitive artistically with the other lights in my collection.
Coast, or is it Twei Breuders, should find a “design house” in China. I suggest one that employes a potter.