# Any love for the Coast HL7 Headlamp?



## EscapeVelocity (Feb 4, 2013)

Saw this at Lowe's and whilst pricey at $40, it seemed to be well built and have infinite dimmability and a lever zoom function which were very well implemented. 

Any comments on this headlamp?


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## markled (Feb 5, 2013)

I've seen the HL7 at Lowe's and think the beam focusing ability would be great for a headlamp. If it's anything like the focus adjustment on Coast's HP7 flashlight (which I already have), I'll be pleased. I'm holding off for now because I noticed on their website that they have two new headlamps being released this month, the HL27 and HL8. They both have 300+ lumens and some improvements to the HL7. I haven't found anyone with them in stock yet so I'm just waiting...

Mark


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## Mr Floppy (Feb 5, 2013)

It's one of the better Led Lensers in my opinion. I have the rechargeable version but it's not used very much at all. I didn't get a USB charging adapter when I got mine but it is USB rechargeable if you can get the right cable.


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## EscapeVelocity (Feb 5, 2013)

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe the HL7 will drop in price once the HL8 and HL27 come out. One can hope!


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## Spankis (Feb 5, 2013)

I have been using one of these on my hardhat for a few months now, with no issues to speak of. I've affixed it using zip ties, and it's worked out very well. The unit I have takes 3 Alkaline AAA's, and I picked it up for $35 on sale, I believe also at Lowes. The variable brightness adjustment is great, with the infinitely variable slider, and I find myself using somewhere around 25 - 35% brightness for most tasks. 

For reference, I do electrical/controls wiring for a living, so I'm in poorly lit/unlit mechanical spaces, electrical panels, air handlers, on ladders above dropped ceilings, etc. Most of my work is relatively close-up, using hand tools, but I can say that I seldom reach for my pocket carry anymore looking into the rafters, because if I've got my hardhat on, I can just crank up the headlamp. I'm also still using the original batteries  ; so far I'm very pleased with the light.


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## Jackasper (Feb 6, 2013)

I"ve had one for well over a year now and really like the thing. Absolutely no issues with it at all. The variable control and focus are a huge bonus. Well built for the price.


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## Painful Chafe (Feb 6, 2013)

Have a peak at this. Its the same light.

http://www.fasttech.com/products/16...ng-cree-q5-200-lumen-2-mode-1-led-white-light

I had a HL7 and liked it. But I use it for work and it doesn't take the abuse.


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## electrothump (Feb 7, 2013)

I too use the HL7's for daily work, and at night,,, every night, and it has yet to fail. The HL7 is without doubt one of the most user friendly lights on the market. It's not like all the cycle thru the different mode lights that drive you crazy when you miss your mode, and then you have to the cycle thing again. Bah. The HL7 focuses fast, and simple, and the brightness is controlled by a lever. High to low, and spot to flood in a second or so, and you are in complete control. The HL7 is an upgrade to the H7, which I liked even better, but the H7 was just not built for heavy use, and it had a few issues with wire breaking. I still have two h7s and still use them. The light in Painful Chafe's link is very similar to the old H7. DX has one also for the same money. The beam on the knock offs like those have a more square spot, and are ringy, which I don't mind the square beam on spot, or the rings. I also have one of the DX knockoffs, and I like it just fine. My only complaint with these lights is the three AAA's. But I use rechargers, so it's not much of an issure for me. Want flood? Want throw? Want variable brightness? Want ease, and simplicity of use? Get one of these, and get away from click, click, click/multimode syndrome. Other manufacturers would do well to follow suit with this format. Remember KISS?


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## dparr (Feb 7, 2013)

If only it ran off of AA's instead of AAA's. That's a deal killer for me.

I have a friend that uses one for cavin'. He changes batteries a LOT.


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## electrothump (Feb 7, 2013)

dparr said:


> If only it ran off of AA's instead of AAA's. That's a deal killer for me.
> 
> I have a friend that uses one for cavin'. He changes batteries a LOT.



Yeah, that's a groaner for me also. Other than keeping the light lightweight, I can't understand whey they don't use Two AA's instead of the three AAA's. That would get my vote. Currently I use one to two sets of AAA's a day. But like I said, I use rechargers, so it's little more than an inconvenience. The light puts out ample light at the lower setting, but I like bright light.


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## dparr (Feb 7, 2013)

electrothump said:


> Yeah, that's a groaner for me also. Other than keeping the light lightweight, I can't understand whey they don't use Two AA's instead of the three AAA's. That would get my vote. Currently I use one to two sets of AAA's a day. But like I said, I use rechargers, so it's little more than an inconvenience. The light puts out ample light at the lower setting, but I like bright light.



If Coast had gone with 3XAA's instead of 3XAAA's the HL7 would get over twice the run times. I would own one too.

I will never understand why so many headlamps use AAA's.


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## johnny0000 (Feb 7, 2013)

It's not to bad for the cost. I wish it ran on AA's.


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## Spankis (Feb 7, 2013)

You guys must really use close to full power a lot, to be going through batteries like crazy. Generally if I need my headlamp, I'm not trying to see better, I'm trying to see PERIOD. Like I said less than half power gets the job done for me 90% of the time. I too would like AA's, but for my purposes it's fine.


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## electrothump (Feb 7, 2013)

Yeah, I do use full power a lot. The batteries will last pretty good if I don't keep it turned up very high. But, I work inside towers, and most are pretty dark. I also live way out in podunk, with no extra light other than my porch light. The moon and stars are generally not much help.  Also, as I've gotten older my cat eyes must have used up their 9 lives. I need a lot more light than I used to.


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## electrothump (Feb 7, 2013)

Oh yeah, if you buy one of these at Lowes, try to get one with good batteries. People like to test them. I'm not sure why, but the ones in the blister packs have the thing on full flood. Looks to me like they would have had it packaged with the light on spot. Dunno!!! Maybe they are going for the blind spot in your eye after looking into it. That's pretty much what the mirrored angle piece does if you test their other lights.


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## EscapeVelocity (Feb 7, 2013)

electrothump said:


> Oh yeah, if you buy one of these at Lowes, try to get one with good batteries. People like to test them. I'm not sure why, but the ones in the blister packs have the thing on full flood. Looks to me like they would have had it packaged with the light on spot. Dunno!!! Maybe they are going for the blind spot in your eye after looking into it. That's pretty much what the mirrored angle piece does if you test their other lights.



LOL! I pointed one at somebody standing in line. Then made a quick getaway.


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## TSellers (Feb 8, 2013)

> I can't understand whey they don't use Two AA's instead of the three AAA's.



I would guess because of the voltage? 2.4v as opposed to 3.6v?

Quite the price difference between the Hong Kong seller link and the North American sellers. I would think then the newer version will also be showing up with the Asian resellers as well.


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## electrothump (Feb 8, 2013)

I wouldn't think the voltage difference would be much of a problem. There are slews of voltage boost circuits that could quite readily step up the voltage. Yeah, it doesn't take too long for knockoffs to start showing up.


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## TSellers (Feb 8, 2013)

electrothump said:


> I wouldn't think the voltage difference would be much of a problem. There are slews of voltage boost circuits that could quite readily step up the voltage. Yeah, it doesn't take too long for knockoffs to start showing up.



Thanks. That doesn't appear to be the case always. For example I just noticed the Spark SD52 is dimmer than the SD73 (2 AA cells vs 3 AAA cells). I found in another thread on this forum that the reason is the voltage difference, and that you need to use a 14500 in the AA light to get full lumen capacity, so I assume that may be the same reasoning when they designed the Coast light too.


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## electrothump (Feb 8, 2013)

My point was that I wonder why Coast doesn't use a boost circuit in their lights, so the two AA's are boosted in voltage, and current to 4.5 volts, to match the output of the three AAA's.


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## TSellers (Feb 8, 2013)

electrothump said:


> My point was that I wonder why Coast doesn't use a boost circuit in their lights, so the two AA's are boosted in voltage, and current to 4.5 volts, to match the output of the three AAA's.



Fair point, I didn't realize it was do-able. So that makes me wonder now why Spark didn't do it as well for the SD52.


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## electrothump (Feb 8, 2013)

Yep, it's doable. Just think of all the single cell AA, and AAA flashlights. They all use some type of boost circuit. 1.5 volts isn't enough voltage to fire up an LED without the boost.


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## Mr Floppy (Feb 10, 2013)

electrothump said:


> My point was that I wonder why Coast doesn't use a boost circuit in their lights



They do in some of their single cell lights but given their long history with resistors and direct drive, who knows. Maybe they like the simplicity of the electronics but put all their efforts into their lenses.


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## EscapeVelocity (Feb 10, 2013)

The Coast HL7 is very very glove friendly. The big dimmer lever is very easy to operate....as well as the zoom twist bezel.....and the On/Off switch. I really like this light. Like others I wish it used AAs.


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## Top Cat (Feb 14, 2013)

I started using Coast headlamps about a decade ago for work, or maybe longer, and at the time, they were the best quality I could find that was easily available. They are comfortable to wear for long applications. I have a few of them but the first one I bought has been beat to hell but is still working just as well as it did when it was new.


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## Top Cat (Feb 14, 2013)

Also, the small bezel hugs the forehead and the full range dimmer enables visibility for close-up situations where the other design types are much larger and bump into the work environment. I must own a couple of dozen various headlamps and the Coast is the the one I will grab for any critical application.


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## Top Cat (Feb 14, 2013)

dparr said:


> If only it ran off of AA's instead of AAA's. That's a deal killer for me.
> 
> I have a friend that uses one for cavin'. He changes batteries a LOT.



I never thought about it, as I get plenty of run-time for what I'm doing on AAAs, but it would be pretty easy to swap out that rear plastic battery box for whatever you want to use, even single 18650. That would give me a year, I think.


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## Top Cat (Feb 14, 2013)

Painful Chafe said:


> Have a peak at this. Its the same light.
> 
> http://www.fasttech.com/products/16...ng-cree-q5-200-lumen-2-mode-1-led-white-light
> 
> I had a HL7 and liked it. But I use it for work and it doesn't take the abuse.



What broke on yours...?

Mine have been beat pretty good just with being constantly handled, but I'm always looking around for a better tool.


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## Raiden (Feb 17, 2013)

I think it's an OK headlamp. I like the focus beam and a decent amount of lumens for night work. The only reason I have it is because my work supplies them.


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## markled (Feb 18, 2013)

dparr said:


> If Coast had gone with 3XAA's instead of 3XAAA's the HL7 would get over twice the run times. I would own one too.
> 
> I will never understand why so many headlamps use AAA's.



The upcoming HL27 I mentioned upthread looks to be the successor to the HL7. Coast's website lists it as taking 3xAAA but when I downloaded their PDF catalog it is listed as 3xAA (both in the item listing and the specifications in the appendix). I'm thinking it really is 3xAA because in the product photos the battery box appears to be larger than the battery box on their other 3xAAA lights. I sent an inquiry to Coast and will report back with their response.

Mark


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## markled (Feb 18, 2013)

Got the reply from Coast and the HL27 will run on 3xAA batteries. They even fixed the website at the same time!

Mark


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## EscapeVelocity (Feb 19, 2013)

Sweet!


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## electrothump (Feb 19, 2013)

Saw a person pre-selling them on ebay for forty bucks. Said they expected them in two weeks. I'll for sure put one thru its paces when they show up.


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## lwknight (Dec 5, 2014)

Resurrection time.
The HL27 has been out for awhile. I plan to upgrade from my HL7 which by the way has been a workhorse of a tool. I use it almost daily and its on my hardhat full time. I hit every low hanging item in the plant with my head so the light is tough to take constant abuse like that.


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## bykfixer (Aug 18, 2015)

Only complaint I have about the HL7 is from my coworkers...when I forget to turn it down while trying to talk to them. 
"Turn off that [email protected]#n light!!!" is pretty typical. 
I really dig the sorta throttle switch vs pushing buttons repeatedly. 
Run time is way better than the poj energizer I was using.


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