COAST 4-COLOR RECON LED FLASHLIGHT

This is a long page with at least 26 images on it; dial-up users please allow for plenty of load time.

Coast 4-Color Recon LED Flashlight, retail $39.99 (www.radioshack.com...)
Manufactured by LED-LENSER Optoelectronics (www.led-lenser.com)
Last updated 07-12-08




The Coast Recon is a three-AAA, six-LED flashlight which has a trick up its sleeve. It can change to any of four colors: white, red, green, and blue.

It comes in a mainly aluminum body, with the only exterior component that I can see not made of metal being that plastic "reflector" This flashlight is specifically intended for those who require lights of differing colors for specialty purposes. Red for night vision preservation, green for night vision equipment compatability, blue for tracking blood from animals you may have hosed down with a gun, and white for all-around color rendition.


SIZE



The Coast Recon comes with batteries already installed, so it's ready to use right away.

Press the black button until it clicks and then release it to turn the surprisingly potent (54,400mcd each!) white LEDs on.
Repeat this action to turn them off.

Do the same thing with the other buttons on the barrel:
Red button for red LED.
Green button for green LED.
Blue button for blue LED.

You may turn on more than one color LED on if you wish; you may even turn all of them on for maximum intensity - however I cannot vouch for battery life when or if you do this.



To change the batteries in your Coast Recon, unscrew and remove the bezel (head), dash it to the ground, and stomp on it with old or well-used baseball shoes...O WAIT!!! THAT'S THE GOOD PART!!! So just set it aside instead.

Tip the black plastic battery carriage out of the barrel and into your hand. If necessary, remove and dispose of or recycle the used cells if they are present in this carriage.

Insert three new AAA cells into the carriage, one in each compartment. Orient each cell so the flat-end (-) negative faces a spring for it in its compartment.

Once the carriage is full, insert it into the flashlight's barrel, aiming it so the "buttons" on one end face out from the barrel. Screw the bezel back on, and be done with it.
Aren't you glad you didn't stomp on that bezel now?

Due to the way the flashlight was constructed, I am not able to obtain current usage readings for you.



The Coast Recon appears at least fairly durable, and it is!!! When I performed that terrible smack test on it (ten whacks against the concrete floor of a patio: 5 smacks against the side of the bezel and 5 smacks against the side of the tailcap), only very, very, very minor damage was found. There is some extremely minor gouging to the bare Metalmummymon - er - the bare Metalwargrowlmon - um that's not it either...the bare Metalbeetlemon...er...uh...wait a sec here...THE BARE METAL (guess I've been watching too much Digimon again! Now I'm just making {vulgar term for poop} up!!! ) on the side of the tailcap where it was struck.

The Coast Recon is splash- and weather-resistant at maximum, but it is not submersible. There's an O-ring sealing the bezel and the barrel, but the unit leaks quite handily from around the LEDs and very possibly around the switch buttons too. Water, milk, diet vanilla Pepsi, cold (or hot) coffee, urine, ice cold fizzy root beer, disposable douches, disposable enemas, tranny fluid, gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, brake fluid, motor oil, or other liquids could get inside. So please try not to drop it in creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, oceansides, docksides, snowbanks, puddles of polar bear pee, tall cold glasses (or short lukewarm glasses) of milk, slush piles, mud puddles, tubs, root beer floats, toilet bowls, cisterns, sinks, cups of coffee (hot *OR* cold), fishtanks, dog water dishes, old yucky wet mops, wall-mounted porcelain urinators, puddles from leaky water heaters, near busted garden hoses, or other places where water or water-like liquids might be found.

A little rain or snow probably wouldn't hurt it though, so you need not be too concerned about using it in moderately bad weather.

If it fell in water and you suspect it got flooded, disassemble it as you would for a battery change, dump out the water if necessary, and set the parts in a warm dry place for a day or so just to be sure it's completely dry inside before you reassemble and use it again.

If it fell into seawater, got thrown into a glass of milk, if it fell in a root beer float, if somebody squirted a Massengill brand post-menstrual disposable douche or a Fleet brand disposable enema at it (and hit it with the douche or the enema), or if somebody or something peed on it, rinse all the parts out with fresh water before setting them out to dry. You don't want your light to smell like seaweed, sour milk, flowers, fresh butts, or rotten piss when you go to use it next. Besides, salt (from seawater, disposable douches, disposable enemas, or urination), lactic acid (from moo juice), glycerol (from antifreeze), or sugar (from root beer & ice cream) can't be very good for the insides.

The body of the Coast Recon is anodized with a Type II anodizing, and is a mainly-flat (not shiny) black - this finish is intentional so that no reflections will come from the Recon itself.

This is Radio Shack catalogue # 61-104 if you're interested.



Beam photograph (white) at ~12".
Measures 163,200mcd.



Beam photograph (red) at ~12".
Measures 33,500mcd.



Beam photograph (green) at ~12".
Measures 51,200mcd.



Beam photograph (blue) at ~12".
Measures 20,700mcd.


Beam photograph (all six LEDs) at ~12".
Measures 199,300mcd.

All measurements were taken on a Meterman LM631 light meter.



Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (white) in this flashlight.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LED (red) in this flashlight.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LED (green) in this flashlight.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LED (blue) in this flashlight.



Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (all four LED types) in this flashlight.



Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (all four LED types) in this flashlight; spectra merged into one.
This compilation was made by a website fan and was used with his permission.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (white) in this flashlight.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LED (red) in this flashlight.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LED (green) in this flashlight.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LED (blue) in this flashlight.



Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs (all four LED types) in this flashlight.



Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis (a second time) of the LEDs (all four LED types) in this flashlight.
USB2000 spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.


ProMetric analysis
Beam cross-sectional analysis (white LEDs).


ProMetric analysis
Beam cross-sectional analysis (red LED).


ProMetric analysis
Beam cross-sectional analysis (green LED).


ProMetric analysis
Beam cross-sectional analysis (blue LED).


ProMetric analysis
Beam cross-sectional analysis (all LEDs).


Images made using the ProMetric System by Radiant Imaging.



TEST NOTES:
Test unit was purchased at a Radio Shack in Sacramento CA. USA on 12-31-07.

This will be the first evaluation (new web page) that I publish in 1998...er...uh...2008.

Product was made in China.
A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.


UPDATE: 04-18-08
I used this light frequently between 04-14-08 and 04-17-08 after our electric power service was disconnected because my sister forgot about the bill.


UPDATE: 05-16-08
The batteries have finally discharged to the point of where I wanted to change them. The red LED was of still of sufficient intensity, but the green, blue, and white LEDs had dimmed significantly.

Open circuit (unloaded) voltage of the cells measures +1.028 volts, +1.011 volts, and +1.009 volts.
This is consistent with the lowered intensities of the green, blue, and white LEDs.





PROS:



CONS:



    MANUFACTURER: LED-LENSER Optoelectronics
    PRODUCT TYPE: Small multicolor LED flashlight
    LAMP TYPE: 5mm LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 6 (3 white, 1 red, 1 green, 1 blue)
    BEAM TYPE: Varies slightly with LED type in use; but generally a medium spot
    SWITCH TYPE: Pushbuttons on/off on barrel
    BEZEL: Plastic, LEDs inset into hosels for them
    BATTERY: 3xAAA cell
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
    WATER RESISTANT: Splash-resistant at maximum
    SUBMERSIBLE: No
    ACCESSORIES: 3xAAA cells, belt holster, wrist lanyard
    WARRANTY: Limited lifetime

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Star Rating





Coast 4-Color Recon LED Flashlight * www.radioshack.com...






Do you manufacture or sell an LED flashlight, task light, utility light, or module of some kind? Want to see it tested by a real person, under real working conditions? Do you then want to see how your light did? If you have a sample available for this type of real-world, real-time testing, please contact me at ledmuseum@gmail.com.

Please visit this web page for contact information.

Unsolicited flashlights, LEDs, and other products appearing in the mail are welcome, and it will automatically be assumed that you sent it in order to have it tested and evaluated for this site.
Be sure to include contact info or your company website's URL so visitors here will know where to purchase your product.


WHITE 5500-6500K InGaN+phosphor 
ULTRAVIOLET 370-390nm GaN 
BLUE 430nm GaN+SiC
BLUE 450 and 473nm InGaN
BLUE Silicon Carbide
TURQUOISE 495-505nm InGaN
GREEN 525nm InGaN 
YELLOW-GREEN 555-575mn GaAsP & related
YELLOW 585-595nm
AMBER 595-605nm
ORANGE 605-620nm
ORANGISH-RED 620-635nm
RED 640-700nm
INFRARED 700-1300nm
True RGB Full Color LED
Spider (Pirrahna) LEDs
SMD LEDs
True violet (400-418nm) LEDs
Agilent Barracuda & Prometheus LEDs
Oddball & Miscellaneous LEDs
Programmable RGB LED modules / fixtures
Where to buy these LEDs 
Links to other LED-related websites
The World's First Virtual LED Museum
Legal horse puckey, etc.
RETURN TO OPENING/MAIN PAGE
LEDSaurus (on-site LED Mini Mart)



This page is a frame from a website.
If you arrived on this page through an outside link,you can get the "full meal deal" by clicking here.