The Coast G19 flashlight is a well built product with a great push button switch (no twisting of the end cap required). The beam is bright and focused. It will be reliable IF you periodically clean the battery contacts. After 8 months mine had become practically unusable -- flickering on/off, dim/bright, even with a new battery. I had to continually shake or bump it to make it produce light. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to clean the contacts, as I had to do with every other single AAA LED flashlight I've owned before. So, like an idiot, I wrote a scathing review a few days ago.



However, after taking the end cap off and lightly scraping the end of the negative battery contact (the coiled spring in the end cap) with an X-acto blade, it works perfectly again -- bright light with no flickering or dimming at all. I slapped my forehead, said "DUH," and quickly deleted my negative review. Now that I'm smarter, this is easily the best mini LED flashlight I've owned, and I've owned quite a few. It worked flawlessly for several months before the contact started getting dirty. The G19 just needs a little cleaning every once in a while (like all single AAA or AA mini flashlights seem to need). It's a small hassle, hence the 4 star review.



I think that single AAA or AA battery flashlights have problems with flickering and dimming because the voltage from a single 1.5V battery is simply not enough to overcome the slight resistance that might be introduced in the circuit by a little dirt or corrosion. If you don't keep the contacts clean, you will be frustrated to no end by the flickering. If you keep the contacts clean, you'll love this thing.



UPDATE: I take that all back. I should have left the original scathing review up. I was right the first time. One week after cleaning the contacts, it started flickering on and off again. The next time, it took only a few days to start flickering, and now it does it all the time. This is easily the most frustrating and least dependable flashlight I've ever owned. I have to constantly hit it against something hard for it to come on -- my knee, the wall -- hard to do if you're trying to hold it in your mouth.