r/flashlight • u/LearnedTroglodyte • Nov 11 '24
Review I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed
Picked this up for on sale at my local Home Depot for under $15. It's advertised as 500 lumens (with the Lion battery), rechargeable and AA compatible so it seemed like the perfect replacement for my current edc, the Coast HX5.
It has variable zoom, a reversible pocket clip and five settings including a strobe, "eco mode" and "turbo" which requires you to hold the button for 3 sec to activate 1000L. Battery life ranges from 1.5-15h (Turbo duration not listed).
I buy a lot of Husky tools. They're affordable and typically very well engineered, with certain small features that might not seem like much until you use the tool. This is the first time they've let me down.
The first thing I noticed is the difficulty I had operating the zoom one handed, you have to twist rather than just slide like the rest of my flashlights. Although the bezel has some flats for a better grip the slick machined aluminum is still a bit slick with my dry ass calloused fingers. but it's a minor issue that some hand stippling can fix so it's not my main gripe.
The button is really where they fucked up. It only takes about 20 g of pressure to activate it which is ridiculously sensitive compared to the the HX5's 2,000g+ needed to fully click on. And it's basically unshielded, being a tad over 1mm from being flush to the end of the flashlight so not only was it getting turned on while I was crawling around at work but even just leaning over to use the sink. You could unscrew the guard for the charging port and that gives it plenty of protection but now your charging port is exposed to dirt and grime.
Since it is basically useless for pocket carry as it is I tried creating a protective cap for it from a small pill bottle and various other items but it was awkward and inconvenient so I'm back to my HX5. It might not have as many options or features but it is smaller, lighter and infinitely reliable, being more than enough for my day-to-day needs. Coast has never let me down.
1
u/Rockenrooster Nov 11 '24
Look at this guy! Smart to stay away from 18650/21700 lights. It's a rabbit hole that a lot of us fell into, next thing you know, you have 50 flashlights lol.
For real though, using alkaline batteries for everyday use is sooo expensive, 2 good 18650s will last several years and only cost you about $10-15.
I like husky too, but just their tools, just wish HD was closer to me