Sold/Expired ::More Available!!:: 8-16-07:: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

FlashCrazy said:

Received the lights AND the emitters today...it was like Christmas! I've been swamped lately, but will hopefully have some time to work on them this weekend. I'll keep you posted!

Interesting note, I did a current check on the lights. Two of them are in the 870 mA range, two are around 1000 mA, and one is at 550 mA...using the same batteries. The 550 mA one is noticeably not as bright as the others, but not bad. I think I'll put a Seoul in that one anyway, and I'm figuring it'll end up just a little brighter than a "normal" stock one, but only pulling around 500 mA... hmmm...a Focusing Lenser with close to a 2 hour run time! :candle:

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No, they have about a 45-50 minute runtime. When I first received the hosts (stock with the Luxeons), I had one that was only drawing 550 mA. Many times when swapping a Seoul in, the current will go down just a bit. I was thinking that this one, when modded with a Seoul, would pull maybe 500 mA. The 2 hour runtime comment referred to that light only. But what I wasn't remembering was that these lights are direct drive, so the current a particular light draws is mostly dependent on the LED (Vf). This light, drawing only 550 mA stock, was due to it having a "bad" Luxeon in it. After putting Seouls in all of the lights, they all showed fairly equal currents, right around 1000 mA...even the one that had only 550 mA originally. The one I sent you was pulling around 1000 mA, a little more if I remember correctly. Using 900 mAH NiMH batteries, you should get around 45-50 minutes. Actually longer, but the light will drop in output quite a bit after that. Sorry if I confused you with the earlier post!

Have you tried it outside in the dark yet?

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

EngrPaul said:

I'm doing a runtime for you guys now. I'm using NiMH because I'm a tightwad. :laughing:

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Thanks EngrPaul! I've done a handful of runtime tests on these Coasts using different brands of NiMH batteries. These are just "eyeball" tests, since I don't have a light meter or solar cell. I know a lot of times the runtime graphs (of 3 x AAA lights) show a sharp drop-off in light output after 10-15 minutes, but I can never notice it with "naked" eyes. To me, they seem pretty constant for about 30 minutes, then lose just a little around 40-45 minutes, then quickly drop after that. They then settle in a very low light output that lasts for hours (think keychain LED amount of light).

It'll be interesting to see what you come up with...thanks again!

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

FlashCrazy said:

Have you tried it outside in the dark yet?

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Yes. It is completely sick. Gonna post more in a minute.

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

I'm about 25 minutes into the run. The output is holding steady. The body temperature has reached 108F.

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

So my first impressions on this light have been very good. It is a good size and feels very well built. The switch action is really nice. Easy to push without being sloppy. To me it's got better than Fenix quality. The threads on the parts are much nicer than Fenix's.

It's a suprisingly fun light to play with. I had a bunch of lights out today and kept going back to this one.

Compared to most of my other lights on a white wall it's got a very tight beam regardless of how it's focused. I could tell it was kicking out tons of light, but it was difficult to compare it to a typical beam. As a very unscientific test I shined a bunch of different lights on the back of my hand (I'm caucasian) and stared at it. Here are the results:

Ubined HDS EDC - No big deal
Draco XRE - Kinda uncomfortable to stare at
Seouled HDS EDC - I could stare at this for a couple minutes, but not much longer
Seouled Coast - Burns my eyeballs almost immediately

The difference between the Coast and the other lights in this test was huge.

I took it outside a few minutes ago and this thing is a monster. It's throw is insane, nothing I have even comes close. I've got a D-mini coming in the next few days and I'm looking forward to comparing the two. The focusing that didn't seem that much different indoors makes a considerable difference outside. The beam is still pretty tight on flood, but it's much more useable close up.

Overall I'm very happy with it. The only thing that it could use is a 2 stage switch. The momentary is a cool feature though. If the runtimes are reasonable this one is a keeper.

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

EngrPaul said:

I'm about 25 minutes into the run. The output is holding steady. The body temperature has reached 108F.

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I've been running mine just to see how hot it gets, and at 20 minutes it only hit 88F and it looked like it was at full brightness. At 25 mins it was starting to cool off and I can tell the batteries are dying. Keep in mind I've been playing with this all day, and the batteries had some time on them.

One of the things I've noticed about this light is that it never gets hot. I'm going to put some fresh batteries in it and just let it run and see what happens.

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

I'm glad you like it, DammitJim! That's what I like to hear! I love mine also. I was at a friend's house the other night and we took a handful of different flashlights outside to compare. The Seouled Coast kicked some butt! My friend really doesn't like AAA based lights and prefers AA's and up for their higher capacity. The Coast convinced him...he wants me to mod one for him!

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

dammitjim said:

One of the things I've noticed about this light is that it never gets hot. I'm going to put some fresh batteries in it and just let it run and see what happens.

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My personal one peaked out at 112 degrees, at about 25 minutes into the run. Nowhere near as bad as my DX K2 2 x RCR123 light. I was doing a runtime test on that light on its low mode, or so I thought. I accidentally left it on high, and checked the temp at 25 minutes...it was 155 degrees! I quickly shut it off, removed the batteries and put them outside. I didn't want to make a post about Lithiums blowing up!

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

The peak reached 111F. Runtime to 50% power output was 1 hour 11 minutes. I am catching the tail end of the data right now, and I will publish the graph soon.

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

Wierd, I put fresh NiMHs in mine and at 25mins it was at 88F. It barely gets warm to the touch. Any theories as to why it is so much cooler? I'm using Powerizer AAAs and had the light sitting on a wood table for the duartion of the test.

I'm using a tempgun to measure the temperature, but even if it is inaccurate the light isn't getting hot to the touch.

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

Excellent work, EngrPaul! Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. You're getting more runtime than me, probably due to the Powerex cells...I've heard they're really good. Thanks again!

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

dammitjim said:

Wierd, I put fresh NiMHs in mine and at 25mins it was at 88F. It barely gets warm to the touch. Any theories as to why it is so much cooler? I'm using Powerizer AAAs and had the light sitting on a wood table for the duartion of the test.

I'm using a tempgun to measure the temperature, but even if it is inaccurate the light isn't getting hot to the touch.

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Hmm...don't know. I measured the temp of mine at the head on the side. Pretty much where the gap is between the head and the body. I just put fresh batteries in mine...I'll check it again.

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

FlashCrazy said:

I measured the temp of mine at the head on the side.

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Same here.

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

Running mine now...at 10 minutes in it showed 96 deg, at 15 minutes it showed 102 deg. I'll post more...

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

What kind of batteries are you using? I'm running Powerizer 750s

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

106 deg at 25 minutes, 107 deg at 35 minutes. I'm using Sanyo 900 cells (or maybe 1000 not sure...they just have a green wrapper). They're from a disassembled r/c airplane battery pack. Pretty stout batteries, they're rated for at least a 10C continuous discharge.

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

The biggest tell-tale info would be if you could check the current draw of your light with those batteries. I have some batteries that put out only 700 mA with this light, compared to the 1050 mA I get on the Sanyos. That would make a sizeable difference in heat. Also, what temp in the area where you're doing the test? The test I just did was inside my house at 73 degrees.

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

I'm in my house at 70-something degrees. I wonder if it's the batteries.

Where is the best place to pick up decent AAAs?

Re: Coast Focusing Lenser w/Seoul P4 $69 Shipped!

45 min, 106 deg...50 min, 97 degrees...cooling back down.

I like Titaniums from Amondotech.com. Locally though, I'd pick up some Energizers. Right now at Walgreens they have an offer in their EasySaver coupon book (available at the register) for a $5 gift card by mail if you buy $15 worth of Energizer products, or a $10 gift card if you buy $25 worth. You could buy two packs of AAA NiMh and get the $5 card...not a bad deal. But the offer ends tomorrow the 31st. Then they'll have a new book for next month.