Owner Review by Lee Reis

Coast Cutlery Tek Torches model 7597 "flashfire white" LED flashlight

Reviewer Information:

Name: Lee Reis
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Height: 5' 6" (1.68 m)
Weight: 140 Pounds (64 kg)
Email: Trailjester@yahoo dot com
City, State, Country: Fallbrook, California, USA
Date: August 29, 2004

Backpacking Background:

I have always been an outdoor enthusiast, a veteran of many car camping trips in the Sequoias. My introduction to Backpacking came four years ago in the form of the Sierra Club's Wilderness Basics course, in which one is introduced to backpacking through overnight trips to the local desert and mountains, culminating in a weekend snow camp backpack. Since then I have been limited to mostly day hiking by my schedule, but have managed to get a few three day trips to the Sierras in. Since I'm not really an experienced or well conditioned backpacker, I try to keep my gear as simple, cheap and light as possible, and am always looking for lightweight alternatives to traditionally heavy gear.

Product information:

Manufacturer: Coast Cutlery
Manufacture date: 2004
URL: www.coastcutlery.com
Note: All measurements are actual (unless otherwise specified)
Weight of light only with batteries (included): .75 oz (21.26 g)
Length of light only: 2.69" (6.83 cm)
Weight fully assembled: 1.1 oz (30.8 g)
Length fully assembled: 7.25" (18.4 cm)
Width: .38" (9.65 mm)
MSRP: $15 US
Batteries: AG13 Micro Alkaline cell, 3 ea.
Battery Burn Time: Listed as over 100 hours in continuous mode.
Illumination distance without wand: approx. 10 feet (3.05 m)

Product Description:

The Flashfire comes in a blister pack which includes the light itself (with batteries already installed), with a screw on lightstick for ambient lighting. The light itself is an anodized metal tube shape with a small keychain on one end and a pen style clip, to clip onto clothing or a hat visor. The lightstick screws onto the light for a "fluorescent" effect, for use in the tent or wherever you want a soft nondirectional light. It seems to work well, but I myself leave the lightstick at home. The light has three modes, slow flash, fast flash and continuous. You have to scroll through the flash modes to get the continuous light, but the switch works well enough to make it easy.

When not backpacking, my Flashfire resides on my key ring, where it has seen more use and abuse than it does on my camping trips. I have dropped it several times on both dirt and concrete, stepped on it more than once, as well as using it in the rain. It just seems to take it all in stride and keep going, and has yet to fail me. It uses three AG13 "button" batteries that install by simply unscrewing the O-ring sealed end cap and dropping them in. I have had the light for almost a year, use it all the time, and am still waiting for the original batteries to wear out. The light is advertised as having a full lifetime warranty, but since mine has yet to break I can not attest to Coast Cutlery's warranty service on this product.

The Flashfire is a good all around light, I've used it for night hiking, as a headlight by using the pen clip to clip it onto my hat visor (my preferred method), or have clipped it onto my clothing when not wearing a hat. The light coverage is better when clipped onto a hat, but it also does well when clipped onto your shirt collar for things like fiddling with the stove, reading or "nature calls" duties. The head or bulb end of the light also unscrews to fully expose the L.E.D. bulb (kind of like the candle function on a mag-light), and I have found it to be useful for ambient lighting inside the tent, so I have never used the "lightstick" attachment. The cap provides a bright, fairly well focused beam good to 10 feet (3.05 m) or so, without a reflector or lens, greatly enhancing the durability of the light. With no lens to scratch or reflector to break, it can take quite a bit of punishment.

I could go on and on about the good points of the Flashfire, but there are a few potentially negative points as well. Although I have used it in some pretty heavy downpours, I have never fully immersed it in water, so I don't know how it would handle a swim. The battery cap is O-ring sealed, but the switch and the bulb end don't seem to be, so that could be a potential problem should the light be fully immersed. The switch is just a little metal pushbutton protruding through a hole in the case, so I don't know how it would hold up to immersion in water or mud (I guess I have been fortunate to not have to find out).

Summary:

The Flashfire is a well made, durable light that has yet to fail under some pretty heavy punishment.

Good points:

Durable, well made, light weight.
Lifetime warranty.
Pen clip is a handy feature.
Lightstick gives good ambient lighting, should you choose to use it.

Potential bad points:

Both end caps are very small, potentially easy to lose.
Batteries are tiny, could be problematic to carry or change in the field.

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Reviews > Lighting > Flashlights - LED > Coast Cutlery Tek Torch Flashfire > Owner Review by Lee Reis

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