Coast XP30HR

Ideal for nighttime venturing or low light exploration (spelunking). Indestructible, rechargeable and you can control the amount of light on your subject; never too little to miss details nor too much to wash out your viewing area.

A very impressive headlamp for its construction, performance, and versatility. Still, I’d have more applications for its use if the turbo mode lasted longer.

You feel the flashlight’s weight on your forehead, but it’s not a detriment. The strap provides a comfortable, snug fit to the head (bare or with cap). And the bracket includes a ratchet system for directing the beam and holding the desired angle regardless of your movement. Combined, this provides reliable, hands-free use and operation.

The flashlight controls (on/off/light level, beam focus) are covered in textured rubber, easy to use with gloves or in the rain. All are easy single-hand operation, except for the ratchet system for changing beam direction. These controls give you the power to finesse the amount of light you need, from flooding an area with bright light to illuminate the darkness or softening the amount of light to better view details.

I appreciate the practicality and strength of its versatile features. The flashlight can detach from its bracket for hand-held use and the magnet end cap allows the flashlight to hold position in a spot too tight to safely stick my head in. The magnet strength is sufficient to hold the flashlight in place on unclean metal surfaces at all angles.

My only criticism is with a main feature that attracted me to this headlamp initially, the Turbo mode. Turbo mode cycles at about 40 seconds. When I repeated this cycle twelve times successively, it produced a high heat that made the housing hot to touch. There may be practical applications for sustaining 1000 lumens for 40 seconds, but not in my world. I would apply 1000 lumens to view longer distances or to signal. In both instances, I need the duration to last longer and would prefer to control duration to my circumstance.

Background

Recreational night hiking, camping, cavern and cave exploring.