REASONS TO BUY
Excellent brightness and beam control
Often available online at discount
REASONS TO AVOID
Average battery life
Heavier and bulkier than most
Coast HL7 Review
Previously one of our favorites, but hasn't kept pace with competitor's innovations
Credit: Abriah Wofford
RELATED: The Hunt for the Best Headlamps
Our Verdict
The Coast HL7 has a lot of good things to offer, a strong beam that shines for 112 meters, very good flood lighting, and it is an easy to use product. It remains a strong competitor, but it no longer makes it into the top three scoring lights in our test. Lights such as the Black Diamond Storm and Spot offer better performance a similar or lower price. Our issue with it today is mostly that it is largely unchanged, while the competition has been improving lights much more significantly each year.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Coast HL7 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  | |  |  | |
| Price | $50 List $34.32 at Amazon | $50 List $47.88 at Amazon | $21.97 at Backcountry Compare at 2 sellers | $20.00 List $14.73 at REI | $30 List $27.95 at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Pros | Excellent brightness and beam control, often available online at discount | Excellent trail finding and close proximity beam, waterproof, above average battery life | Excellent spot light capability, wide evenly lit flood beam, above average in most ways | Super easy to use, inexpensive, solid performance, compact, and reliable | Unmatched for ultralight weight and size, outstanding for close-proximity use, durable |
| Cons | Average battery life, heavier and bulkier than most | More expensive, heavier than average, claimed battery life is very misleading | Below average battery life, claimed battery life is wildly misleading, single button hard to use, lame waterproofing | Good but not great spot beam for trail finding, slightly below average flood beam optics | Not well suited for distance viewing, expensive |
| Bottom Line | Previously one of our favorites, but hasn't kept pace with competitor's innovations | A durable light that will last for years with a bright high-quality beam, slightly higher in cost and weight | A quality, durable, and bright light that hits the sweet spot for most people's needs, despite dubious marketing claims | For $20, the Tikkina offers impressive performance at a great price, that will meet most people's needs | For those ultralight-fans who cut their toothbrush in half to save weight and size, this is the perfect light |
| Rating Categories | Coast HL7 | Black Diamond Storm | Black Diamond Spot | Petzl Tikkina | Petzl e+LITE |
| Trail Finding (35%) | |||||
| Close Proximity (20%) | |||||
| Battery Life (15%) | |||||
| Weight (15%) | |||||
| Ease of Use (15%) | |||||
| Specs | Coast HL7 | Black Diamond Storm | Black Diamond Spot | Petzl Tikkina | Petzl e+LITE |
| Measured Beam Distance | 112 m | 91 m | 94 m | 62 m | 31 m |
| Claimed Distance | 119 m | 85 m | 80 m | 55 m | 10 m |
| Measured High Mode Run-time (ANSI) | 3.1 hrs | 5 hrs | 2.9 hrs | 3.5 hrs | 9.4 hrs |
| Claimed High Mode Run-time | 1.5 hrs | 40 hrs | 30 hrs | 60 hrs | 9 hrs |
| Measured Low Mode Run-time | 25 hrs | 42 hrs | 9.7 hrs | 223 hrs | 18 hrs |
| Claimed Low Mode Run-time | 70 hrs | 120 hrs | 175 hrs | 220 hrs | 12 hrs |
| Measured Weight | 4.5 oz, 127 g | 4 oz, 112 g | 3.1 oz, 89 g | 2.9 oz, 83 g | 1 oz, 27 g |
| Battery Type | 3 AAA | 4 AAA | 3 AAA | 3 AAA | 2 CR2032 Lithium |
| Water Resistance | water resistant | IP67 waterproof to one meter and dustproof | Splash proof (dubious IPX8 claim) | IPX4 splash proof | IPX7 waterproof to one meter |
| Manuf Claimed Lumens | 285 lumens | 350 lumens | 300 lumens | 150 lumens | 50 lumens |
| Beam Type | flood/spot | flood/spot | flood/spot | flood | flood |
| Red Light | no | yes, red/green/blue night-vision modes | yes | no | yes |
| On Switch Lock | no | yes | yes | no | yes |
Show full specification detailsHide full specification details
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Coast HL7 has been around since 2012, and has had a few upgrades in performance since its original introduction. The design remains largely unchanged, even though it is today brighter than the version we first tested. Unfortunately, competing headlamps have changed a lot in that time, and so while the HL7 remains a very good product, we no longer recommend it over competing lights, in particular, the Black Diamond Storm and Spot offer better performance today, at either about the same price, or even lower cost.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Likes
The HL7 offers an excellent trail finding beam in its spot mode, shining 112 meters, and with very good optics. The beam is a bit hot in the center, not as even and wide as top competitors like the BD Storm.
Beam Distance Photos
Coast HL7
Black Diamond Storm
The HL7 also offers very good flood lighting, which is easy and intuitive to get to by rotating the front lens to zoom in or out. Lighting is wide and fairly even, above average.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
We find the Coast to be easy to use, and intuitive. With a single button to turn it on in the front, a zoom dial on the lens, and a lever on the rear battery pack to change brightness. Each function is obvious, and simple.
Credit: Micah James
Dislikes
The Coast is a bit heavy at 4.5 oz or 127g, and the two part package, with the battery in the back and light element in the front is somewhat bulky.
Battery life is OK, but only about average, with 3.1 hours run-time in high mode, and 23 hours in our low mode test (using a similar brightness level to competing lights best mode for close proximity use).
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Conclusion
The Coast is a quality product, that offers compelling performance. It ranks in the top 5 in our review on overall performance, which is impressive in a field of more than 20 top headlamps. And, typically found at a reasonable street price around $35 online. Our issue with the Coast today is not so much with it, but simply that competing lights, selling for about the same price, offer a better value. The BD Storm outperforms the HL7 in every category except ease of use, and sells for about the same street price. The BD Spot bests the HL7 overall, yet can typically be found at a lower street price online.
—
RJ Spurrier
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