This review is for the Coast HL27 model. I looked around for a robust headlamp for backpacking and immediately rejected all the cheap Chinese crap here on Amazon. Ridiculous light output specs like 1,000 lumens which I know are lies makes me immediately wonder about battery life claims and quality. Useless features like flashing strobe effect and multi color LED's add needless complexity. The size of some of these units with three separate light housings is absolutely comical. And the ergonomics are horrible with controls that require multiple presses of a button to move through features sequentially to get to the one you want. Paid reviews are the final straw. I wanted something better. I've had Coast LED Lenser flashlights in all our cars for years. I also keep one in my work backpack. I've given them as gifts. They are rugged, light, provide great output, and are waterproof. So after getting discouraged about the quality of headlamps on the market it finally occurred to me to check and see if Coast made headlamps. It turns out they make a lot of them. Here's what I was looking for in a backpacking headlamp..... 1.) Rugged construction. The ability to survive being tossed in a backpack and all sorts of weather. 2.) High light output. The ability to see trail signs in the dark or bad weather. 3.) 8 hour battery life at max output. Enough to get through a tough night maintaining a camp in a storm if needed. 4.) Variable light output to suit the situation and maximize battery life. 5.) Reasonable weight. I'll be carrying this thing for a week at a time. 6.) Ergonomic controls. Simple, easy to operate with gloves on, few in number and easy to learn. 7.) The ability to focus the beam narrowly for distance when on the move or wide for work around camp. 8.) Comfort. No one wants to use an annoying, uncomfortable, or heavy thing strapped to their head. 9.) Cost. I'm willing to pay for quality but I'm always focused on value. The Coast HL27 met all of my criteria very well..... 1.) The construction looks and feels solid just like Coast flashlights. 2.) At an honest 309 lumens, this thing is powerful and that's backed up by independent tests by backpacking magazines. 3.) Using 3 AA batteries rather than AAA's adds weight but boosts life dramatically to at 8.5 hrs full power and 93 hrs at low power 4.) Coast rates the light output from 1 lumen to the full 309 lumens. That's about as much adjustment as you can ask for.. 5.) This is no ultralight but it's not ridiculous either. 6.9 oz or 195 grams is OK for this level of performance. 6.) All 4 controls are up front, easy to find and few in number. On/off, focus ring, dimmer wheel, and tilt angle. That's it. 7.) The focus range on the HL27 is great. It can go from maybe 15 deg to about 160 deg. That's plenty. 8.) The forehead package and the battery package at the back are both curved to fit a human skull. The straps are comfy. 9.) For the roughly $40 price here on Amazon, nothing comes close to this headlamp if you need something to depend on in the wilderness. Nice to have wish list...... 1.) A red LED for preserving night vision would be nice but it would complicate the controls / ergonomics and Coast gets around that neatly with the extreme adjustability of the output on the HL27. I'm OK with the trade off for simplicity. 2.) Beam focus range could be a lot tighter at the long (narrow) end of adjustment. I compared it to my Coast LED Lenser flashlight and my flashlight throws a much tighter beam albeit with no ability to adjust. The HL27 would have incredible range if the beam width could be focused as tight as the flashlight. On the other hand, I measured beam width and output by pointing both lights at my shed which is about 150 feet from my driveway. The flashlight illuminated about the 12 foot width of the shed before light output fell off at the edge of the beam. The HL27 illuminated about a 50 foot swath so, maybe 20 feet to each side of the shed as well as the shed. And it was lit brighter than the flashlight at center and edge of the beam. If I think of that in terms of a trail at night, the 12 foot width would be the trail and I'd have visibility 20 feet to either side. That's probably a lot more useful than a narrow beam that goes out another 100 feet with increased brightness when you're looking for signs of a meandering or branching trail you're not familiar with. Once again, I'm betting this was a conscious decision by the designers at Coast. 3.) A hefty rechargeable Li Ion battery pack would be nice. But that would drive up price and probably weight. Alkaline batteries do just fine in this headlamp but if you want a 25% increase in battery life just use Energizer Ultimate disposable AA Lithium Iron Disulfide batteries in place of the alkalines. They are also 33% lighter and performance in cold weather is dramatically better than alkaline batteries. You can see a 50% better life depending on temperature. They also have much better shelf life. All in all, I don't think there is really any competition for the Coast HL27 as a backpacking headlamp for serious use at anywhere near the price. And while my personal feeling is that wearing a headlamp makes you look like a dork, there is no denying that in any situation where you need your hands, a headlamp is just a much better solution than a flashlight. If you're hiking in the dark, trying to pitch a tent, cooking and cleaning up, or trying to hang a bear bag, having both hands free and having light wherever you point your eyes is really valuable. So call me a dork, I'm embracing headlamp fashion. Highly recommended!!! Edit 11/19/2016: I used the headlamp a bit now and I'm still impressed. One comment I've seen repeated here about the HL27 concerns the front mounted dimmer wheel. Apparently some people found theirs to be "loose" and unable to hold a set position with normal vibration or head motion. I was a little worried about that when I ordered this headlamp. I'm happy to report that my HL27 doesn't suffer from that problem at all. The dimmer wheel has a nice feel with enough resistance to maintain a setting while still being easy to adjust. Another comment I saw here from other users is that the focus ring was very stiff and required two hands to use. That also concerned me as tying up both hands sort of defeats the purpose of a headlamp. Once again, my HL27 does not suffer from that problem. I can easily adjust the beam width with one hand and there is enough friction that it doesn't drift from whatever setting I choose. I don't know if comments like those I mentioned above come from user error, variability in manufacturing, or a design issue that has been corrected over time. But my headlamp doesn't seem to have any of the problems other people have noted.
