Just got back from Walmart. I saw that they had the HP550; but it’s been slightly beefed up compared to when is was at Costco at the end of 2012. Now it’s at 1075 lumens, 6:15 hours runtime, and 351 m of throw. At $59.97, I pulled the trigger. Hey, it’s my birthday in a few days, so I grabbed one…
Right on, what do you think of it so far?
is it that zoomie that was popular from costco?
I like it very much. I measured 31,600 candela on my light meter; not bad eh? I like how Coast keeps the exterior of it so clean. No QR codes, no www.coastportland.com printed on it, no Warning: Hot Surface triangle on the head, etc.
Yes, this is the newer version of what used to be at Costco.
Pics or it did not happen ! :-)
$59.75 is kinda pricey, no?
I took a pic of it and saved to my computer, but I don’t understand how to load a photo as “Image URL.” I’m used to either attaching a file, or copy and paste. (old school huh?) But the light doesn’t look any different than the other pics of the HP550 on this site. They just bumped the lumens up by 7.5%, from 1000 to 1075, and nearly tripled the runtime, from 2.5 hrs to 6.25 hrs.
$59.97 is about my limit on a light w/ these specs, a U.S. company, and a lifetime warranty. It’s my first purchase of this year, and I like it very much so far.
JB
Wasnt costco selling theirs at $50 already?
i cant remember…but if so, $10 more for a revised version isnt so bad.
and this light has gotten great reviews
there was a photo of it posted on BLF a coupel years ago. is it the same light in this topic ? HD2010 & TK40 & Coast HP550
Yep, that’s the mofo I’m talking about…
Alright alright :-) I did not know for sure if it looked the same or not ;-) Thank you for clarifying.
You have to use a hosting site like Photobucket, then click the photo icon and enter the photo's URL.
yeah, i about FELL OVER when wal mart put up a new “line” of COAST flashlights… and some decent “usb rechargeables” Ozark Trail line too…
i bought one, after having read the long thread on HERE about when it was at costco.
the lens is “okay”… great on flood, and zooming in general… just stops “short” of focusing the emitter up, which is what i like.
great build quality, i just wish it had 8 or 10 AA battery’s? 9 is a pain to recharge an odd amount, lol… i kinda wish they made the same light in 18650… less of a pain to recharge and reload…
i liked it enough though, i had to go back later on and get the HP7…
===
i might hav to go buy the “1xAA” penlight zoomie? so i got somethin to do with my “extra” AA rechargeable left over, lol…
I grabbed one myself… found two of them laying in a pile of Coleman lights, pistol cases, and camping gear that customers dumped on the bottom shelf of the flashlight display in the camping aisle (there are two local Walmart stores, and one of them is pretty much destroyed every day by the customers… it’s sad).
Considering that Coast/LED Lenser are the same people, I’m surprised that Coast gives their blessing to filling it with NiMH or Lithium batteries (knowing LED Lenser’s aversion to anything not alkaline).
I have an original LED Lenser P14 (version 1) with a similar focusing optic; and it’s loaded with artifacts, rings, blue/yellow fringes no matter how you focus it; it’s a piece of crap IMHO.
So I was hesitant to throw money at the HP550, but wow, what an improvement! The zoom (like sedstar mentions above) stops just short of focusing the emitter, with a very useful spill; the flood is nice and wide/smooth; the optic is is light-years better than the LED Lenser.
I also like that a gentle twist of the head lightly locks the lens/focus in place (my LED Lenser won’t do that), another nice improvement.
The only bummer is there’s a bad contact pin on the battery carrier (which is decent enough, but could be a touch sturdier);
I contacted Coast, and they said they’ll send me another carrier (the process was entirely hassle-free).
Wow, it was only a handful of years ago that you had to spend hours chopping/filing/soldering a Maglite to make a “Roar of the Pelican” that required an expensive/custom battery pack, an aluminum reflector as the plastic one would melt (plus a glass lens), and after all that work, the bulb would last a few hours at best before it burned out.
A few years later, and now we can grab a 1000+ lumens light off a store shelf for about $50, that uses standard batteries and requires no modding of any sort.
Can you unscrew the head to lube it (without damaging the focusing mechanism)?
Or can’t you touch it, like the way you’re not supposed to mess with the magnetic control rings on a Sunwayman?