Is the Coast HP14 LED Flashlight Dangerous or Powerful?

[loomdrop]

Hi, is this (COAST HP14) a very powerful/bright LED flashlight? It requires 4 AA batteries. Specs online: highest setting is 629 Lumens and 813 feet distance and on its low setting it is 52 Lumens and 219 feet beam distance. There are different modes; high, low, blinking and the beam spot is adjustable.

For 1 week, I shined this on my skin close up (about an inch away) moving around for several minutes on & off on multiple different days creating video content. Some of those days maybe 3-5 minutes and a few days for longer, maybe 10-15 minutes total close up. I think I remember feeling a little bit of heat, would that be from the visible light or the actual LED working, and Is this dangerous to shine on skin close? After that week, I never did that again.

Recently I read that Visible light can cause skin cellular aging similar in the way UVA through oxidative stress/free radicals does but only if it is high/intense amounts of visible light such as prolonged sunlight (not low amounts from phones or computers). That made me worried. Studies on skin describe mw/cm2 and joules/cm2, would anyone know the approximate power output of this on subject up close? Anyway, it says online that flashlights are usually made from blue light (which is the most powerful visible color right next to UVA). So I thought I'd ask here to see how powerful this COAST HP14 LED flashlight is or LED flashlights in general?

 

[Monocrom]

Powerful?? At only 629 rated lumens.
Dangerous?? It takes AA batteries.

One, Welcome to CPF.
Two, to answer your question, that's going to be a "No" to both.
Though would highly recommend you not hold the light that close to your skin for several minutes at a time. Seriously, go check out the latest offerings from brands such as Nitecore, and Acebeam to get a good idea of what's currently available out there. Also check out Imalent. I think you're going to be shocked and very surprised as to what's available out there. Personally, I love my Imalent MS12 Mini. 65,000 lumens from something a bit bigger than a can of Pepsi.

 

[CelticCross74]

No OP. The light is not going to "burn" you. It just does not have the output to do so. It is still a fun and versatile light. One handed push pull variable focus is some of the best in the industry. Do not skimp on the batteries. Feed the light Energizer Ultimate LIthium cells.

 

[CelticCross74]

Just checked over the Coasts sites. As long as you do NOT mix and match batteries you will be fine. I suggest Energizer Ultimate Lithium cells. These have the highest capacity out of all their rival cells at 3000mah and 1.7 volts at the same time.