COAST® A9R 54 Lumen Rechargeable Inspection Beam LED Penlight with Flex Charge and Charging Cap, Silver

This review is for the “COAST A9R Rechargeable Inspection Beam LED Penlight with Flex Charge and Charging Cap” from the Coast Store in Amazon. Amazon is notorious for mixing up reviews for similar items, so I am saying this to make sure that we are comparing apples to apples.I bought three of these, two of them after receiving and trying out the first one. One for my laboratory workbench, one in my basement machine shop, and another in the travel backpack to serve as a handy travel flashlight.Being an ‘inspection flashlight’, it is optimized for putting a clean, even, concise spot of light where it is needed to better see technical things. It does NOT have features such as dimming, flashing/strobe, or zoom lens that so many other flashlights seem to have these days. On the other hand, while many modern general-purpose flashlights would put a glaringly bright light pattern on nearby objects, their light pattern can sort of deteriorate at longer distances, and that is one place this flashlight’s characteristics are much better.Another good feature for an inspection flashlight is this one’s long narrow tubular body, with no protuberances that increase its diameter; the shirt pocket clip is detachable. Need to stick it into a busy, tight and cluttered mess of wires and other objects inside a piece of equipment? This flashlight’s 1cm diameter (about 3/8”) allows you to stick it in there to put the light where it is needed. It is long enough at 16cm (about 6-1/4”) to allow you to hold one end outside a piece of machinery while having the light-projecting end well inside the equipment where it is needed.The flashlight is NOT waterproof, but it is designed for IPX4 and rated to be water resistant against water splashes from any angle. It is made from a solid cylindrical aluminum tube, and seems to be pretty robust….I don’t think it will suffer too much from reasonable handling and light industrial duty. The manufacturer states that it is designed to survive a 1 meter drop.This flashlight is an LED type that is focused with an actual lens, unlike the simple clear plastic window over the LED that many other small flashlights use. This gives it a precisely circular pattern of light, with a clean demarcation or ‘terminator’ between the light pattern and surrounding darkness. Only when held close to an object can a slight halo be seen surrounding the projected light pattern. As with other ‘projector type’ flashlights, the optics give the light pattern an even conical pattern, so the circle of light gets progressively larger as the illuminated object is further away. The flashlight is rated for a maximum useful projection distance of 20m (about 65-1/2 feet), and I have verified this by shining it from inside my house, through the back door, across the yard and onto the front of my garage…still quite bright at about 50 feet distance, no doubt still good another 15 feet further if I could have gotten that far away. The manufacturer states that the projected brightness at 20m is equivalent to the illumination of a full moon on a clear night; in other words, still enough to be useful.The battery is a Lithium-Polymer (Li-Po), and is rechargeable. It comes with a “charging accessory”, which is a sort of cap that slips over the ‘head’ (LED) end of the flashlight when it is not in use (or not in your pocket). A cable of about 68” length is part of this accessory, and it terminates at the opposite end with a USB Type A plug, which you can plug into the USB power source of your choice, e.g. computer USB port, USB port in your car, etc; and the flashlight comes with a universal AC power adapter and also an automotive power socket (aka “cigarette lighter”) power adapter, both of which have USB-A sockets on them. The accessory’s cap has a large and bright integral LED which is red while the flashlight’s battery is being charged, and green when it is fully charged. The user’s manual states that you can leave the flashlight plugged into the charging accessory indefinitely, no need to remove it once fully charged. Note that the charging accessory does not use some kind of magnetic power coupling; it has two simple contacts inside which make electrical contact with the head and the body of the flashlight….very much like plugging a 1/4” phone/headphone plug into a jack. The head and the body of the flashlight are electrically isolated, with a green plastic insulating ring between that lights up when the flashlight is turned on. The on/off switch is a rubber-dome pushbutton on the tail end of the flashlight.The Li-Po battery is a proprietary type, and replacements cost about $13 from the Coast website; prices will vary if purchased elsewhere. The battery has a 6-pin plug on one end that plugs into the rear end of the flashlight’s head. Presumably, somewhere inside the charging accessory and/or the flashlight’s head is some circuitry to control the charging of the battery, since Li-Po battery technology typically requires managed charging. The battery itself has a long narrow shape that occupies almost the entire inside of the flashlight body. Its specifications are 3.7V, 300mAh, 1.11Wh. The manufacturer states that with a fully charged battery the flashlight will operate continuously for 3 hours while maintaining useful brightness. The manufacturer also cautions that the battery must be charged while inside the assembled flashlight; this makes sense because otherwise the charging accessory’s contacts would not make contact where they need to, and probably also because Li-Po batteries should be charged inside some kind of protective metal enclosure while charging, and the flashlight’s body provides this protective envelope.The ‘manufacturer’ is Coast, a company in Portland, Oregon. Their website says they design their products, but actual manufacturing is done overseas. This flashlight has a limited lifetime warranty; the fine print states that if the flashlight stops working, and it does not show signs of abuse, and the cause is NOT related to battery failure of any kind, that they will replace the flashlight free of charge….but you are responsible for the cost of shipping it to them and back to you.

I know these appeal to more blue collar positions. I spent the money for one as a medical provider as I was tired of the clunky ones you usually get that require batteries and they work maybe 50% of the time. This is solid best pen light. Bright, easy to charge, easy to use, and durable. Only thing for a medical provider is be quick on your exams cause this thing is bright but again I know it’s made for visibility. I would love to see one made with a soft light because it’s just such a good product

All I can say is wow, this thing does what it was designed for. A slim, intense light with a impressive build and one mode ON/OFF switch is a recipe for a perfect inspection light. I’m in training for being an airplane mechanic, and it works out great for this purpose. I can maneuver it into small places and toggle it on or off without cycling through different brightness settings or an S.O.S. pattern, which is a real headache. Its great for technicians, but it’s not limited to this purpose. I bring it around with me in my pocket wherever, and find myself pulling it out quite often. I also have a friend who has been a diesel mechanic for quite some time now, and I showed him the light to see what he thought. When he first saw it, he said he has one like it that’s comparatively bulkier, not as slim. When he turned it on, he was immediately impressed by its light and purchased one on the spot.The charger is a simple USB charger that slides on top of the head of the light and makes contact with the light body. The charger recognizes when the battery is full and quits charging, expanding the service life of the battery before needing replacement.Ignore the reviews saying the plastic threads are reason to say it’s a poor build quality. The build is outstanding and robust, and the plastic threads hold up quite well. You would only be realistically be disassembling the light once every two years maybe to replace the battery, so wearing down the threads is incredibly unlikely.

I have owned several of these over the last few years. I use them everyday at work. The are the best "pen" light that is actually the size of a pen. However, they are prone to the button coming apart and to having connection issues at the battery. Sometimes just reseating the battery is all it needs. I have never had one actually last long enough to wear out the rechargeable battery.

I use this thing daily. Works great. Battery life is pretty dang good. Not too bright, but has nice definition of light pattern. Great for checking pupils after head trauma too...