Trailheads

In 1919, Henry W. Brands, a traveling salesman for a hardware company, realized that commercial fishermen in the Pacific Northwest needed a better knife to process salmon. He collaborated with a cutlery expert to design a highly durable fillet knife featuring a thick blade and a spoon integrated into the handle, which enabled fishermen to work with a single tool instead of two. Brands sold the knives out of the back of his car and established the company Coast Cutlery in Portland, OR.

More than 100 years later, the company Brands created continues to thrive with a product offering that extends well beyond cutlery to include lights and rechargeable batteries for outdoor recreation and commercial use, as well as safety gear for workers. In the late 1990s, the company changed its name to Coast Products to better reflect its diverse range of products.

While the company has broadened its scope over the decades, its mission has remained unchanged, says Coast Products CEO David Brands. “My grandfather knew that his products would make people safer and make it easier for them to do their job,” says Brands. “So, everything we do today is really based on that mission.”

Lighting Innovations

While Coast began as a cutlery company, lighting products now account for approximately 80 percent of the business, says Brands, who joined the company in the 1990s after graduating from college. Not long after he began his career at Coast, he attended a trade show in Asia and got his first glimpse of products using LED technology. He quickly realized that the performance, versatility, and durability of LEDs made them perfect for outdoor activities and work applications.

“We basically bet the farm on LED technology, and today we’re one of the largest manufacturers of LED outdoor lighting products in the world,” says Brands, noting that Coast made the first LED flashlight and headlamp ever sold in the United States.

As the lighting market grew, Coast set itself apart by developing technologies that improved beams of light cast by its flashlights and headlamps. “We designed an optic to create the longest spot beams in the industry, plus the biggest, most consistent flood beams,” says Brands, adding that the company holds about 50 patents related to lighting.

A good example is the TX22R flashlight. Designed for emergency personnel and other backcountry travelers, it features the company’s Long Range Focus technology, which emits a narrow beam of light over a distance of more than a mile.

Another significant technology for Coast is its voice-control system for lights. With the RL35R headlamp, voice commands turn the power on and off and control the lighting output, beam shape, and beam color (white, blue, green, and red). This hands-free system makes activities easier and safer for a wide variety of people, from mountain bikers and climbers to plumbers and other tradespeople working with both hands in dark spaces.

New and Better Batteries

As Coast has developed new lighting technologies, it has also introduced more efficient ways to power its numerous devices. Several of its lanterns, flashlights, headlamps, and work lights include the patented Dual Power technology, which allows them to use standard alkaline batteries or Coast’s Zithion-X (Z-X) rechargeable batteries. “So, you have all the advantages of a rechargeable product, and you also have the convenience and the security of being able to use alkaline batteries with it,” says Brands.

According to Brands, the Z-X batteries represent another technological achievement for Coast. The batteries include a patented circuitry system that mimics standard AA and AAA alkaline batteries. As a result, the rechargeable batteries will power virtually any device designed to run on alkaline batteries. Typically, rechargeable batteries won’t work well in flashlights, headlamps, or other lights designed for standard batteries.

Looking to the future, Brands says that battery technologies will be a significant focus for Coast. While the company has transitioned from making knives to pioneering electronics, it will continue the mission established by Henry W. Brands more than 100 years ago.

“We don’t create new products just for the sake of new products,” says David Brands. “We really are looking for some innovation that makes them different and makes the user’s job safer and easier.”