Category: Flashlight Reviews

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Wurkkos FC13 Review (2000 Lumens, $32, Anduril 2, USB-C)

Today I am taking a quick look at the Wurkkos FC13 a 18650 light running an SFT40 LED and Anduril 2 firmware. It features a colored bezel and RGB button on the side as well as onboard USB-C charging. Thanks to Wurkkos for sending this to me to look at and review.

 

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Get the Wurkkos FC13 at Amazon at https://amzn.to/3zloXwQ

Use code 6ZXGKK9W to save 20% off either the SFT40 or XHP50 version. Valid until April 10 2023

 

Packaging & Accessories

Much like Sofirn, Wurkkos has recently gone through a packaging quality upgrade. Now you have a nice white magnetic fold-out box with a full-color photo of the light on the front, a description and spec chart on the back and the specs of the exact model you ordered on the end cap.  Inside you have an Olight-style yellow card with first-time startup instructions telling you to remove the insulator inside the battery compartment. 

Accessories that are included are the light itself, a 3000mAh button top 18650 (Standard), USB-A to C charging cable, Pocket clip, Lanyard, bag of extra orings, and a manual. 

 

Construction

A few notes on construction, the light is made from aluminum and hard anodized in black. At the current time that’s the only color that’s being offered. The light comes into 3 pieces, the tail is flat and nonmagnetic. The tail cap has minimal milling, the clip is designed to attach at one point, and the body tube has some milling for style and weight reduction over anything else. Threads are anodized, square cut and nicely greased. 

The head features a large relief cut for the silicone button that stands slightly proud. The button is smooth in texture and has areas where it’s thinner to allow the LED underneath to shine through and display it’s many colors. The USB port cover stays out of the way. The bezel is flat, and there is an orange aluminum accent piece holding the glass lens and a heavy orange peel reflector in place. 

 

UI

The light is running Anduril 2 which I won’t go into depth about as I have covered it in the past and it’s pretty complicated. If you don’t know the firmware you will want the diagram to help you learn. It does have ramping UI by default or you can switch it into a 7 step stepped UI. 

The only thing I can say is I have had quite a bit of difficulty getting the standby LED color to change, but I can replicate what that should look like by locking out the light and showing you what that looks like. 

For more info and the firmware diagram check out https://ivanthinking.net/thoughts/anduril2-manual/

 

Retention

The pocket clip appears to be nearly the same model as what was on the TS21, with the only difference being mainly where the hole is for a lanyard attachment. On the FC13, I would call this a good clip, it’s fairly deep carry, dual direction and didn’t hang up on my jeans pocket in any way. I do recommend you use mechanical lockout though so there are no accidents. You can attach a lanyard on the flat nonmagnetic tail cap or on the clip itself. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 114mm, the minimum diameter on the body at 22mm, and the maximum diameter at the head at 27mm. Weight with the clip and battery came in at 121.9g or 4.3oz. When I compare it to a few other Wurkkos lights I have the FC13 is right in the middle length-wise between the TS21, and the FC11. The head is more on the size of the TS21 though. 

 

LED & Beam

The FC13 is available with Two LED currently, a Cree XHP50.2 at 5000k and a SFT40 at 6000k which is what I have. On my Opple meter I measured the tint on a medium output power at 5783k, and 66CRI. Tint was just ever so slightly green very hard to notice in my eyes. There is PWM here as it’s an Anduril 2 light. The beam here is a small hotspot with minimal spill. This is what we would expect from the flat-top SFT40 LED in my example.

I measured the parasitic drain when the LED is on in high mode at 5.50mA, (Milliamps) and on low the button pulled 156uA (microAmps) and with the button off 46.2uA (Microamps). So as cool as the RGB button LED is, on it’s brightest mode it will drain the light in less than a month, so I would recommend turning it to low or off (or mechanical lockout by unscrewing the head or tail a ¼ turn). 

 

Outputs

Since the light runs Anduril 2, you don’t have normal stepped modes like most other lights have, instead you have ramping and 7 different stepped modes plus Turbo, so for output testing, I only tested a few. For the SFT40 version of the light which I have on my Texas Ace Lumen tube, I came up with 1640 Lumens on Turbo and 640 on what I will call high. On it’s lowest output it’s sub lumen.

 

Heat & Runtime

Turbo on my light ran for about 3 minutes before stabilizing with a few steps to get there from the nearly 1800 peak starting lumens. During this time heat peaked at about 46C on an uncalibrated light at the 90 second mark. With the longer runtime graph you can see as heat dissipates the light does increase in brightness too. Total effective runtime is around 3 hours. With a runtime comparison of Turbo with lower modes we can see running at about half power gives far greater runtime lengths out to 13 hours or so. 

 

Recharging

The light features onboard USB-C recharging. I found the port to be recessed a little deeper and access to be slightly tighter than average. The result was the light was pickier about the cable being used to charge it. Charging from LVP at 2.834v to Full at 4.150v came in at 2:11:00 with max charging speed being 1.2A. It’s a very flat charging curve that tapers down at the end. The LED in default mode starts orange and blinks when charging and goes solid when charged but remains orange. You can use the light when it’s charging, but you will only be able to use it in it’s lower modes.

The light also works as a powerbank for your USB-C Devices. I didn’t test any runtimes on this other than to verify it worked with my Samsung S22 Ultra smartphone. 

 

Conclusion

I wouldn’t call the Wurkkos FC13 a successor to the well respected and often recommended FC11 for a few reasons. While the price is very favorable, and the performance is good, the Anduril 2 UI isn’t as easy to use for a lot of people as the FC11’s more standard UI. What I would say the FC13 is, is a good choice for enthusiasts who want Anduril 2, and more throw than the FC11 has in situations where a high CRI isn’t important. The RGB LED in the button is fun, despite being a bit difficult to change in my example. Overall a good light for the right application, but maybe not quite a universal across the board recommendation like the FC11.

Get the Wurkkos FC13 at Amazon at https://amzn.to/3zloXwQ

Use code 6ZXGKK9W to save 20% off either the SFT40 or XHP50 version. Valid until April 10 2023

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Thrunite – TC20 Pro Review (3294 Lumens, 350 meters throw, USB-C, 20%)

Today I am looking at the Thrunite TC20 Pro. This is an updated version of the TC20 V2 that I looked at in the past, and the main difference is that the Pro is using a Cree XHP 70 HI LED and smooth reflector. As a part of this review, I will be comparing it to the Fenix PD36R Pro during my night shots section later on. Thanks to Thrunite for sending this to me to look at and offer an unbias review. Any discounts or deals I have for the TC20 Pro will be in the description below along with links to my social media accounts that I encourage you to go and follow. 

 

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Get the Thrunite TC20 Pro at https://amzn.to/3mU8U6g amd save 20% using code 47C8HFMW through midnight PDT 3/26/23

 

Packaging & Accessories

Standard Thrunite brown cardboard box here with the elastic band, I would call it functional minimalism. Inside is the entire kit with almost everything you need to maintain and use the light for years. You get the light itself, a 5000mAh 26650 Thrunite battery, nylon holster, USB-A to C charging cable, lanyard, a bag of extras including o’rings, button seal, USB port cover, and split ring, a manual, and warranty card.

 

Construction

Visually and construction-wise, the TC20 Pro is pretty much identical to the TC20 V2, with the main differences being the LED and Lens combination. The light is made from Aluminum and hard anodized black. Build quality is always good from Thrunite and this is no exception. The tail cap provides a flat surface that allows for tail standing and has a lanyard hole. The cap is removable and non-magnetic. Inside there is a stout spring on the tail end only.

The body tube has milled blocks in an almost frag pattern for grip. The corners are well-chamfered though so it’s not too aggressive. Square threads on both ends are anodized, smooth, and nonreversible.

The head features the standard Thrunite electronic switch with a metal button on top, and a small battery indicator LED in the middle. Directly opposite the button is the USB-C charging port that’s covered via a silicone rubber flap. It’s decent fitting and does stay out of the way. The light has moderate milling at the top for heat dissipation and weight reduction. The bezel is flat. The lens is AR coated and the reflector is smooth.

 

UI

UI here is Thrunite’s standard. Single press to turn on, long press once on to cycle up between the 3 main modes, double press to go to Turbo, triple press to go to strobe. It’s a very simple interface, and it’s easy to use which is nice but also limiting. A fast ramping interface would work pretty well here too given the limited number of modes and wide range of outputs it must cover. 

 

Retention

Retention options include the included nylon holster. It has elastic sides, plastic dring, and a fixed belt loop. It gets the job done but is just of average quality. The light also comes with a branded lanyard and split ring that can be attached to the tail if you wish.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 118.1mm, the diameter of the body tube at 32.6mm, diameter of the head at 42mm. The weight of the TC20 Pro with the battery is 242.5g. The light is IP68 water-rated to 2 meters. Here are some comparisons with other flashlights, including the Fenix PD36R Pro I will be comparing it to in the night shots coming up soon.

LED & Beam

The TC20 Pro is using a Cree XHP 70 HI LED in cool white. On my Opple meter measured the tint at 6092k and 69 CRI. DUV is fairly neutral with no major tint shifts. When I compare it to my TC20 V2, it has much less tint shift and much less yellow/green, especially at lower outputs. The beam on the TC20 Pro is more spotty and throws a bit further and that makes sense with the smooth emitter and dedomed LED. When I compare it to the Fexnix PD36R Pro the hot spot is of a similar size but has a smoother transition into the spill where as the Fenix is much more pronounced. I would say the tint of the Fenix is more green, especially at lower outputs. There is a small amount of very fast PWM on all modes of the TC20 Pro.

 

Outputs

Heat & Runtime

The light is able to sustain it’s 3500+ lumens for 3:30 before stepping down to around 1800 lumens where it will run for 32 minutes, before stepping down to about 1600 lumens to finish out the remainder of it’s 1:00:00 runtime. Peak heat during this time was about 59C. Running on medium nets an impressive 9:30:00.

Where this light really shines in my opinion is the amount of time it can sustain well over 1000 lumens. This light maintains over 1400 lumens for 1:40:00. I frequently get asked what light can I buy that will stay over 1000 or 2000 lumens for an hour, well here is a good option for you if that’s what you’re looking for. In comparison to the TC20 V2 the Pro here doesn’t have quite a long of runtime but that’s to be expected with this different LED and more overall output.

 

Recharging

The TC20 Pro has onboard USB-C charging that’s protected by a silicone rubber port cover. I charged the light charged the light from LVP to full at 4.17v in 3:17:00. You are able to use the light during charging but only in low and medium modes. It charges via USB-C to C or PD without an issue. While the included battery is officially rated at 5000mAh, I tested mine with my Vapcell S4 Plus at 5437mAh.  

 

Conclusion

The Thruntie TC20 Pro is a worthwhile upgrade to the V2. It takes what was a moderately floody light and increases its ability to throw, while still maintaining the size and form factor we know. The tint here is better on the Pro, and over it’s competitors in my opinion, and I prefer the beam tint and shape on the Pro. You do take some small decreases in overall runtime though due to that higher comparison. 

Compared to the Fenix PD36R Pro, the TC20 Pro is less tactical with it’s UI and a bit more general purpose in my opinion. It’s also generally a better value and a light I can recommend over either the TC20 V2, or the PD36R Pro dollar for dollar in my opinion. 

 

Get the Thrunite TC20 Pro at https://amzn.to/3mU8U6g amd save 20% using code 47C8HFMW through midnight PDT 3/26/23

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Skilhunt H04 RC Review (Nichia 519a, Headlamp, 96CRI)

The Skilhunt H04 RC has been out for a few years, but what’s new here is the LED that’s fairly new being offered, and that’s the Nichia 519a. You know I’m a fan of that LED and I can tell you it makes a great choice in a headlamp for close-up work with it’s neutral tint and high CRI. Thanks to Skilhunt for sending this to me to look at. 

 

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Get the H04RC at https://www.skilhunt.com/product/h04-rc-usb-magnetic-rechargeable-led-headlamp/ 

      • 6% OFF Coupon Code: blf06
      • Orders over US$69 to get E3A keychain light 30% Off
      • A Free E3A light as gift for orders over US$79
      • Extra 6% OFF (base on 6% off, total is 12% off) for orders over US$99

 

Packaging & Accessories

The light came in a retail hanging box with lots of good information on the outside. Accessories included were the light, pocket clip, 3500mAh 18650 buttons top battery, proprietary magnetic charging cable, Skilhunt branded 3 piece head strap, lanyard, extra o’rings , mesh bag, and the manual. 

 

UI

The UI on this version of the Skilhunt H04 RC has been updated from previous versions. It’s similar to what I saw on the M150 V3. Turning the light on with a single press will bring you into the main mode group in the last mode you used. Long pressing from off brings you into the ultra-low mode group. Within ultra-low, you have 2 brightness options, that you can toggle between by long pressing. This same sub-mode group works with Turbo too, so turbo high, and turbo low if you will. So once you have the low end and the top end set you effectively have a 5-mode light that works like most others. Long press from Off to ultra-low, single press for your main mode groups where you long press to go up in modes in a 3 mode group, and then double press for turbo. Strobe is triple press from on, and it also has 3 strobe modes, tactical, SOS, and Beacon. Lastly, there is electronic lockout which is 4 clicks from off. The mechanical lockout also works well here at the tail cap.

 

Construction

The light is made from aluminum and hard anodized black in a semi-gloss shine. The tail is magnetic, strong enough to hold the light in the horizontal position on a painted/powder-coated surface with the strap attached, but barely. The tail itself is mostly smooth. The light comes into 2 pieces, tail and body/head. The body has shallow milling for texture. 

The head itself is pretty typical of other right-angle flashlights. The lens is round however there is a flush metal bezel that’s square. The lens has texture over top to somewhat diffuse the light. On top you have the recharging contact for the proprietary charging system. On the left you have the button which sits slightly raised. It’s a silicone button surface, semi-transparent and is used as a power level indicator and recharging status indicator.

 

Retention

You have 3 main retention options with the H04 RC, a lanyard, pocket clip and the 3 piece headband. 

The pocket clip itself is press fit and is designed to fit, just under the head. It is pretty tight but can rotate. It’s a good clip as far as tension goes but not what I would consider deep carry as a little over 1.5cm sticks up beyond the clip.

The headband comes unassembled on the H04 RC and no directions were included on how exactly to assemble it. I did find a video on Skilhunt’s YouTube page showing how to do this and it was very helpful. The headband itself is made of good quality elastic, on the inside, it has a silicone band to help it stay put, on the outside it has some reflective pieces The plastic mount itself has no padding like you see on some other brands but I didn’t find this uncomfortable during use working on my car. What I really liked was that the mount is designed to work with the pocket clip still attached to the light. This is the way it should be done. There is also a lanyard that comes with the light, and it threads at the back of the light.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 101.5mm, the diameter of the body at 21.2mm, largest diameter of the head at 24mm. The weight of the headlamp with clip, and without the head strap came in at 3.69oz, and with the strap, it grows to 5.45oz. The light is IPX 8 water-rated and impact resistant to 1 meter. 

 

LED & Beam Shots

This Skilhunt H04 RC is running a Nichia 519a which is best known for it’s pleasing tint and high CRI. On my Opple meter, I measured the tint at 4211k, and 97.5Ra (CRI) with no DUV shift. This is pretty much perfect for my preferences. I would also call it a constant current driver, without PWM on the multiple modes tested. 

The headlamp here is using a TIR optic with texture on the outside and the resulting beam pattern is a large even beam without a pronounced hotspot. The spill is minimal. In the use of the headlamp, I found the beam to be maybe slightly too narrow for the automotive work I was doing, and I found myself manually adjusting the angle of the light a few times more than I would have expected. 

 

Runtime

I will let the graphs do the speaking here, but in general, the outputs are less than Skilhunt claims and I think this is due to them not updating their runtime charts for this new Nichia 519a LED that’s inside. The result is turbo can last to nearly 3 minutes, but you’re starting at about 620 lumens.  Peak heat was about 43C so very reasonable temps. Turbo 1 and Turbo 2 runtimes were in the 3:30:00 runtime range, High out to 5:22:00, and Medium one all the way out to 14:30:00. 

 

Recharging

The light has built in recharging via a proprietary magnetic charging cable the light comes with. The contact on the light itself has a weak magnet on it, so I don’t think there will be as many problems on this design as other similar ones on the market. While the light does have the proprietary charging cable it uses standard button top protected 18650 batteries which is great for longevity and future replacements or spares. My tested capacity of the included cell was 3455mAh of a rated 3500mAh. 

I charged the light from LVP at 3.074V to Full at 4.185V in just shy of 5 hours. This is pretty slow for a 3500mAh 18650 battery. The peak charging speed was 0.95A but this was a peak, and most of the charging speed was well under that as you can see by the graph. The button on the light does give a power indicator when in use in 4 different states with 2 different colors. 

 

Conclusion

This is a great little headlamp when you are prioritizing light quality over quantity. Skilhunt really should publish official numbers when they put different LED’s in their lights, because they claim 1000 lumens, but this is clearly for a different LED than the example I have in this review that I measured at approximately 620 lumens. It also creates the mode spacing that isn’t ideal. 

That said I really enjoyed using this headlamp, and I suspect it will become my new default when i’m doing closer-up work or something where CRI is important. This isn’t the headlamp ill pick to snowblow in because I likely want more output for longer periods of time. It’s a headlamp I can definitely recommend if you don’t have one already.

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Olight Arkfeld Review (1000 Lumens, Green Laser, Unique Form Factor)

Most flashlight and laser combinations are designed with a very narrow purpose like a weapon light or are so bad at being both a flashlight or laser that they are hardly worth your time, that is until the Olight Arkfeld arrived on the scene in its unique form factor. Thanks to FlashlightGo.com for sending this to me to look at for review. They are a newer overseas retailer, so check them out.

 

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Use the code Liquidretro to get 5% off. Free Shipping for orders over $100

 

Packaging

The packaging here is Olights normal design with a white box pull tab on top and a tray inside holding the contents. The exterior gives a good description, features, and specs. Included is just the light itself, the Olight MCC Charging cable, and the paper manual.  

A quick note on FlashlightGo I originally ordered the neutral white version of this flashlight but a mistake was made and cool white was sent. They asked if I could just review it instead which I agreed to but said for a customer who had this happen they would replace the order most likely or offer a discount. 

 

Construction & Design

The Arkfeld is made of aluminum and available in numerous colors at this point (Black, OD Green, Desert Tan, Blue, Orange, Lime Green, Pinwheel Gunmetal Gray) and a few other materials at one time I believe. Mine here is in blue aluminum. Its body isn’t round like we are used to on most flashlights, it’s rectangular with curves almost oval shape, and as a result, it carries really nicely in the pocket. 

Upfront it has a thin plastic bezel that protects the glass lens that’s mounted and a bit flexible. On the right-hand side is the flashlight portion and on the left is the laser. I will go over the UI switch and how it works in the next section but know that it works well but isn’t very tactical. The clip at the rear is recessed but sits just inside the MCC charging port. 

 

UI

The user interface of the Arkfeld is a mix of mechanical and familiar UI’s if you have used other Olight flashlights before. At the front end of the light there is a toggle that allows you to switch between Laser or Flashlight mode, it’s not possible to use both at the same time. From there the center button turns on whichever you have selected. The laser is very simple to operate as it only has 1 mode, on or off. 

The flashlight portion uses Olight’s standard interface, and all of the normal shortcuts are there. Single press to turn on in the last used normal mode, Long press to increase the output of the 3 normal modes, Double press to go to turbo, triple press to go to strobe and there is even a moonlight mode if you press and hold from off. To turn everything off you just single press once. If the light or laser is already turned on and you want switch to the other you just rotate the toggle, no need to press the power/mode button.

 

One often looked part of Olight’s UI is the timed modes where when set in these modes the light will automatically shut off in at preset time lengths. The Arkfeld is no exception and has this as an option. Consult the manual for how to enable these, personally, it’s not a feature I really use. 

 

Retention

Retention on the Arkfeld is one of the strong points. On the back of the light there is a long black spring steel clip held on with two Torx screws. This clip is very similar to a “steel flame pattern clip” but with much less of a bend, so your luck may vary on what else might fit here. The clip allows for a pretty deep carry, and plenty of room for the material to fit through it. I found it to be a good clip to carry and had no issues with the light coming on in my pocket accidentally. It was very comfortable to carry in my pocket think of something like an Olight Warrior that’s been squished a bit. The oval shape makes it seem less thick than it is, similar to an OTF knife. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 4.36”, the diameter at the head at .65” and at the tail .752” width was 0.98”. The weight came in at 3.09oz or 87.7g. The light is IPX7 water and dust rated so it should stay operating in many everyday environments without an issue. Here are some comparisons to other lights of a similar size and things you might have to compare it to. 

 

LED & Beam

The Arkfeld has both an LED flashlight and a green laser. The LED while not specified is mostly like an Osram P9. It’s available in Neutral White and Cool White. I have the cool white here and on my Opple meter it measured in at 6000k at 70 CRI with no significantly negative color cast on DUV. It is good to note here that there was now PWM to speak of on the normal modes. 

The beam is a classic TIR optic, with a reasonably large hotspot, and soft spill. Good for those short and medium-range EDC tasks, perfect for this light’s design. There is a slight bit of clipping on the top and bottom due to the rectangular bezel. 

 

Laser

The green 1 laser inside is a class 1 laser rated at a max output of 0.39mW, so not the brightest that’s offered to civilians by any means but plenty powerful enough for presentations or to bother your cats and dogs. This isn’t a laser where you can see the beam during operation but still powerful enough that you won’t want to shine it at people, pets, or aircraft. 

 

LED Output 

I did test the outputs on my Texas Ace Lumen tube and the results were as advertised for the most part. No complaints there to speak of. All measurements were taken after 30 seconds. 

 

Heat & Runtime

Per my usual here are the runtime graphs I came up. Nothing here is too surprising. The light runs pretty cool hitting a maximum of 35C (95F) during the first 3 minutes of running in turbo. Turbo itself was good for 3 minutes of pretty stable output, and it appears it’s a timed step-down instead of temperature dependent. Overall runtime starting from Turbo was 2:10:00 and when I repeated the same test but in high you only gained about 8 minutes of additional runtime. I didn’t do any runtime for the laser portion itself as my equipment isn’t really setup for this. 

Recharging

The Arkfeld uses Olights MCC3 magnetic recharging system with a connection at the rear of the light. The internally sealed nonuser replaceable 1050mAh lithium polymer battery charged from empty to full in 3:36:00 rather slow for such a small battery. The first hour’s charging speed peaked at 0.9A right at 1 C which is good. My guess is this could safely charge faster but the slower charging speed should help to promote a long battery life for the Arkfeld. 

The light does have an onboard battery indicator via 4 onboard LED’s on the front just below the main UI controls. These all show green when full and slowly decrease when empty. Eventually, the last bar will go red then flash red when it’s just about to shut off. These show up well and are a nice touch. 

 

Conclusion

The Arkfeld takes the idea of a laser and flashlight and puts it in packaging that’s pretty unique compared with what else is on the market. The execution here is good in my opinion. I like this rectangular almost remote-like form factor, it carries well, similar in size to an OTF knife. The controls here work well, are super easy to use and I had no accidental activations. I applaud Olight for offering it in neutral white in many colors too. Glad to see that starting to become the norm with Olight again. 

 

The built-in sealed, non-rechargeable battery isn’t great, especially for the price here, it makes the light/laser consumable and not very sustainable. I always think this harms the lifelong value too since it does put a finite life on the product. 

 

Overall I like the Arkfeld even with those cons, and the price, since it’s an Olight it’s available in many different colors and materials. That’s always a plus for me anytime I have color options other than black, especially in a nontactical light like this. I welcome this out of the box design even with it’s shortcomings and hope we will see more out of the box thinking from Olight in the future. This probably won’t be your only EDC flashlight but I could see it being a nice upgrade to the traditional laser pointer pen style for your pointing needs and have the bonus of being a solid flashlight too. 

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Sofirn SC32 Review (Affordable EDC & Mini Tactical)

Welcome to my review of the Sofirn SC32, an affordable and powerful mini tactical EDC flashlight. This compact and durable flashlight is equipped with an SST40 LED, which provides a maximum output of up to 2000 lumens. It also features onboard USB-C charging, allowing you to easily charge the flashlight’s optional 18650 battery, giving you hours of use on a single charge. Whether you’re a professional, a hiker, or just someone looking for a reliable and versatile flashlight, the Sofirn SC32 is an excellent choice at a very affordable price. Thanks to Sofirn for sending it to me to review, and now let’s take a closer look at what this flashlight has to offer.

 

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Purchase the SC32 Below

Neutral White version https://amzn.to/3Jzb5Fw Use code 10FXVQ6X for an extra 10% off for a total of 35% off with the coupon on the page. 

Cool White Version https://amzn.to/40rdTuL Use code 15A3BS3V for an extra 10% off for a total of 35% off with the coupon on the page. 

 

Packaging & Accessories

Sofirn has really stepped up the packaging here with the SC32. Instead of a generic brown cardboard box with only the company name on it, with the SC32 you get a white box with color photos and printing, as well as specs on the back. It features magnetic closure sides like you see on many Olight boxes for example, a real step up in quality, especially for the budget price these sell for. Inside the included accessories which consist of a lanyard, extra O-rings, USB-A to C Charging cable, and a manual are within another box to the side. An optional 3000mAh battery was included with my lights, and I recommend getting it as it’s only about a $2 difference in price. 

 

Construction and Design

The light is made from aluminum and anodized in a more mat-black finish. One thing I immediately noticed was the difference in finish and Font between my two lights. The NW version I have is a more chalky finish and has the older Sofirn logo, the CW version is more of your traditional anodizing and has what I am guessing is their new logo in all capital letters. 

The tail is glued to the body tube and features a flat recessed electronic switch with a big button pad in gray aluminum that’s grooved. I have zero issues with accidental activation here which is nice. The clip only attaches at the rear and is pretty tightly held on. The body tube has small fins milled in for good grip and a more premium look in my option than diamond knurling. Threads are raw, square cut, and well lubricated. This is a dual wall light to make that electronic switch work as well as onboard charging, and there is a spring on both ends of the light internally. One note is that there are exposed pogo pins (4x) on the rear of the PCB so this should be easy to flash the firmware on if you wish without disassembly needed.

The head of the light features the USB-C recharging hidden behind a silicone port that sits flush on what I will call the front of the head, with an LED indicator light to the side. The front of the bezel has short semi-aggressive crenulations protecting the plastic TIR lens.

 

Retention

Your retention options are simple on the SC32, The light comes with a generic lanyard that can attach on the clip. The pocket clip itself is the other option. It only attaches at the rear of the light, and is a dual-direction clip. It’s a fairly deep carry and has plenty of room to put onto the pocket of jeans. No major pain points here in my opinion. 

 

SIze & Weight

The length of the flashlight is 100mm, with the diameter being 25mm. Weight with the battery and clip came in at 3.72oz or 105.7g. The light is IPX water rated and here are a few photos of similar lights that I might have. 

 

LED & Beam

The SC32 is using the SST-40 LED, It’s available in both cool white and neutral white which I have samples of both here. Cool white came in at 5772k at 63.8 CRI on my Opple meter, and the DUV had no unexpected tints. The Neutral White version came in at 4638k and 62.9 CRI with very similar DUV. I do notice with my eyes a bit more tint shift on the neutral white version of the light.

 

The beam in both lights passes through a plastic lens. Sofirn calls this a Fresnel lens, and what it creates is a more floody beam than a TIR optic. While it has a hot center it’s not very defined and spreads out rather quickly. Better for shorter ranges than longer distances which we will see in my night shots. 

 

Outputs

I tested the outputs on my Texas Ace Lumen tube and most outputs were a little under Sofirns claim. As expected Neutral white was a little less output than the cool white version. My only concern was Turbo outputs were lower than claimed by a decent amount. I think the battery may be part of this issue and I will update if I find something different. 

 

Heat & Runtime

I ran various heat and runtime tests with the two lights I had. Both of the batteries I received tested slightly above the 3000mAh rating. The NW cell was 3115mAh, and the CW cell was 3043mAh. With the CW light, total runtime in Turbo and High were very close between 5:15:00 and 5:20:00. Turbo saw the large step down after a 1:15. The light does have active thermal management that’s set to reduce the 55C (122F) to prevent issues. I did test this on the NW light and the highest I saw on the exterior of the light was 47C. The only difference worth mentioning between the two lights was the runtime on NW was slightly less at 5 hours total. 

 

UI

UI here is very simple, long press from off to go to moonlight mode. Once on long press lets you cycle through the normal low, medium, high. Double-click when on to go to turbo and triple-click to go to strobe. The light does have memory mode. 

 

Recharging

Recharging is accomplished via USB-C on the head of the light. The silicone port protector worked well, and stayed in place when not in use. There is a LED indicator near the port cover for voltage check and for charging indication. 

LVP between my two samples averaged out to 3.0525V and charging time took 2.19:00 with max charging rate being about 1.6A. Charging stopped at 4.1V which is good. 

 

Conclusion

Sofirn has stepped up their game with the SC32 in my opinion. The more premium packaging is nice and elevates the first appearance of the brand. They call this a mini tactical flashlight, but I would call it a great EDC option as well, due to it’s small size and easy UI. The one negative for EDC in a pants pocket might be the slightly aggressive bezel.

Sofirn continues to deliver great value here too, Before any sales you can order the light for $33 shipped with a battery at the time or ordering, and I am expecting to have a coupon for you to discount the price further. 

I can fully recommend this light for the price here if you are in need of a new inexpensive EDC and want something that’s more on the floody side with decent power and runtime. It’s great to see LED tint options here. I would rather have tint options and low CRI like this light provides rather than an undesirable tint and high CRI. 

Let me know what you guys think of the SC32 in the comments below!

 

Purchase the SC32 Below

Neutral White version https://amzn.to/3Jzb5Fw Use code 10FXVQ6X for an extra 10% off for a total of 35% off with the coupon on the page. 

 

Cool White Version https://amzn.to/40rdTuL Use code 15A3BS3V for an extra 10% off for a total of 35% off with the coupon on the page. 

Posted on

Nitecore NU33 Review (Red & White LED, 750 Lumens, USB-C)

Introducing the Nitecore NU33 Headlamp, a light designed for those who are wanting lightweight, small packaging, and multi-color emitters. The light features a primary cool white emitter (5867k), with an auxiliary neutral white (4575k) floody emitter and an auxiliary red mode. Thanks to Nitecore for sending this to me to look at and review. 

 

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Get the Nitecore NU33 at http://bit.ly/3QPXUC4

or on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3CTfuis

 

Packaging & Accessories

The packaging here is Nitecore’s standard retail packaging. Inside the light is in a black plastic tray and has a few accessories. Included is the light itself, a strap that’s preattached, a USB-A to C cable, a manual, and a warranty card. 

 

Construction & Design

The NU33 has an aluminum outer shell, with a plastic bracket that the tilt mechanism and mount are made out of. It looks like it’s available in black and purple currently. The back of the mount is contoured a bit for comfort, and I will say this is one of the lighter-weight and more comfortable headlamps I have used in recent months. The strap is made of black elastic and is adjustable. The outside of it has silver markings for style and reflections around the entire way. It has tilt control, only down and about 75 degrees. The buttons on top of the light stand proud and have different heights and textures so they are easy to tell apart. The internal 2000mAh battery is sealed inside and non-user removable. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the weight of the NU33 with the strap at 3.38oz, or 95.7g. length is 2.45”, width is 1.7” and it’s 1.34” thick. The light is only IP66 water and dust rated, which is less than we typically see. Light rain should be ok but I wouldn’t do much more than that. This headlamp compares nicely to some of the offerings from Blackdiamond and the like but I don’t have one of those so I picked a few headlamps to compare it to. 

 

LED & Beam

Nitecore doesn’t say which LED’s are specifically being used with the NU33. The main emitter is cool white but surprisingly neutral. On my Opple meter, I measured it at 5867k and 66 CRI and just slightly green with a good amount of tint shift. Its beam profile here is a defused spot, There is plenty of spill out of the optic as well. The axillary neutral white emitter measured at 4575k and 85 CRI. This is your short-range flood emitter, it’s pleasant but only good for short-range tasks as it only goes up to 53 lumens. One thing to note as well as there is no PWM here, it’s a constant current driver. 

Below are the outputs I measured with my Texas Ace Lumen tube. They measured slightly above what Nitecore claimed in all modes. My two comments would be I wish that the neutral white emitter had a high mode reaching 100 lumens and that the low had a lower output option instead of a blinking mode. 

 

Heat & Runtime

Runtimes for the NU33 were pretty good. Turbo is able to maintain its claimed 700 lumens for around 5 minutes while gradually ramping down. From there it was pretty flat out for 3.5 hours, before stepping down a few more times for a total runtime of 4 hours. As expected high gives you quite a bit more runtime out to 10 and a half hours, but the output is much less between 100-200 lumens during this time. For the other modes, I will have to take Nitecore’s word on the output runtimes as they were too long to graphically test. Auxiliary mode runs for 47 and 147 hours respectively and red is rated for 26 hours of runtime on its constant mode. 

 

UI

UI here is pretty simple, the large power button is your on/off button (press and hold), once on pressing the button again quickly will change brightness levels. The other smaller round button is to change the emitter mode. To get to the blinking modes long press on the mode button when the light is on. The light does have lockout just hold both buttons together when the light is off for about 4 seconds and the main emitter will flash a few times to let you know it’s locked. 

 

Recharging 

The light does have a built-in non-user replaceable 2000mAh li-ion battery. Nitecore says this is equivalent to 3x AA batteries or 9X AAA batteries. The light recharges via a USB-C port on the bottom hidden behind a flexible plastic cover that stayed in place nicely. 

The total charge time I saw was 1:13:00 which is a little faster than Nitecore claims. Charge speed was under 1C but just barely for most of the charge and that’s probably why. There are 4 power level indicator LED’s on the left side of the light, each one representing 25% power and if the light is off you can just press the round mode button to turn them on. You can also use the light while charging. 

 

Conclusion

I was pleasantly surprised by this headlamp. It’s very light, yet feels well-built in the hand. It’s super comfortable to wear. I’m not a runner so I didn’t test that but I would expect it would do well here if you had the strap reasonably tight. I was pleasantly surprised the cool white LED here wasn’t cooler, 5800 CRI is workable, especially with the NW flood emitter for more up-close work. 

 

I will give it dings for the sealed battery, making it a disposable product and not very sustainable, as well as the red mode not having a low output mode. 18 lumens is fairly bright. 

I can recommend this one and think it’s a pretty good option for the average person. It’s probably not the best option for a flashaholic though. At the time of filming, the price is around $50 which is an ok value, you can certainly find this size of a headlamp for less with not as many features, etc and you can certainly spend more on similar lights from headlamps often used in the backpacking/climbing world running on alkaline batteries often. 

 

Let me know what you guys think of the NU33 in the comments below, if I have any discounts or coupons I will link to those in the description too. Thanks for watching this review, and supporting the channel, I will catch you on the next one.

Get the Nitecore NU33 at http://bit.ly/3QPXUC4

or on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3CTfuis

Posted on

Skilhunt M150 V3 Review (Nichia 519a, 14500/AA, Great Clip)

I have a new brand here for the channel with the Skilhunt M150 V3 Flashlight. This one surprised me how small but good it is. The optional Nichia 519a, and dual fuel battery ability is what initially attracted me to taking a look at it, but I was pleasantly surprised by lots of other aspects. It’s a well-thought-out light for a fair price. Thanks to Skilhunt for reaching out and sending this to me to review. Links to where you can find it and more info will be below. 

 

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Get the Skilhunt M150 V3 at https://shrsl.com/3vf4o

Or get it on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3vS7Row

 

Packaging & Accessories

The light came in a retail hanging box with lots of good information on the outside. Accessories included were the light, pocket clip, 800mAh 14500 button top battery, proprietary magnetic charging cable, Skilhunt branded lanyard, extra orings and the manual. 

 

Construction and Design

The light is made from aluminum and anodized in 2 colors, a black and a dark gunmetal gray that I have here. The tail is magnetic and is the only part that unscrews from the body tube. The body tube has milled-in grip that’s effective and attractive. There are multiple retention options which I will cover in my next section.

The switch button and magnetic charging point are opposite each other on the head, and that’s a slight problem here, only because they feel very similar to each other. I found myself picking up the light and trying to press the charging point, not the button several times. You can of course press both at the same time and while this fixes the problem it not how I use any other light. I think instead it would be better if they added some to the cover on the switch so it felt different in your hand. The front has the smooth blue bezel, and recessed lens and light orange peel reflector. 

 

Retention

There are multiple retention options for the light here. Starting with a lanyard you can mount it on the tail cap itself, or on the pocket clip. The pocket clip here is really what’s worth talking about. First you can mount it in two places on the light and it’s a dual direction pocket clip. It’s very deep cary when the clip is mounted at the rear, and allows you to easily clip it to a hat without a problem. The tip flares just slightly, so it’s not as likely to catch, and what I will call the front of the clip is angled nicely to assist in getting it over the material of your pants. This is one of the best clips I have seen on a flashlight in some time if you are ok with a non-captured clip. 

 

Size & Weight

One of the things that surprised me about the light is the size. This is one of the smaller 14500 sized lights in my collection, especially considering it has recharging capabilities. With the included battery, and clip it came in at 2.08oz or 59g. Here are some comparison photos, as you can see it’s even shorter than some of the AAA sized lights I have. 

 

LED & Beam

Subscribers (and I hope you are one) will know the Nichia 519a is my favorite LED of the moment. I was delighted to learn that it’s an option in this light and that’s what I went with in this example. Your other LED option is a Cree XP-L2. They mention a Samsung LH351D being available but it seems that was replaced with the 519a maybe? 

On my Opple meter, I measured the light M150 V3 at 4127k, 98Ra (CRI). The tint is smack dab in the middle with no unexpected tint shifts. In the main modes and turbo modes on a 14500 battery, the light is constant current. There is some mild PWM on the lowest outputs. On the tactical strobe, I could visibly see the PWM, and it looked like a rolling shutter to my eye. The beam has a fairly large hotspot, and a medium amount of spill. I have no issue with it but wonder what it would be like with a TIR lens. 

 

Outputs

A quick note on outputs here. The tables that Skillhunt show in the manual and on the website don’t mention the LED option that was tested but I can say with high confidence that it wasn’t the Nichia 519a because the output differences are substantial. In Turbo 1 the chart says the light should make 750 lumens, but what tested with this LED was about 410 lumens. Other reviewers measured similar numbers. This is something Skilhunt should really publish at least on their website. I don’t think it will cost them sales as most enthusiasts that are buying high CRI realize it’s not going to be the brightest LED available, and they are ok with sacrificing some output quanity for light quality. 

 

Heat & Runtime

I’m finishing up my runtime testing here so I will insert graphs that you can pause and draw your own conclusions. My testing did show turbo outputs both T1 and T2 were good for the claimed 3 minutes before stepping down. High was able to sustain it’s output for a solid 50 minutes. You really do get the best performance here with the 14500 battery, output is 4X more, and the bulk of the output is over double the output. Tubo lasts about 1:24:00 with the 14500, and the maximum output with NiMH battery output was 2:45:00 but most of that runtime is sub 100 lumens. The highest temp I saw was about 36C. 

 

User Interface 

Being my first Skilhunt light, the UI here was unknown, and I typically like to just pickup a light and see if I can get it to work and while I did it, it didn’t work like I thought it should. But after looking at the manual which can be a little confusing I was able to figure it out and begin to like the UI. It’s a customizable UI with memory that’s not too extreme like Anduril. 

So a few basics. Turning the light on with a single press will bring you into the main mode group in the last mode you used. Long pressing from off brings you into the ultra-low mode group. Within ultra-low you have 2 brightness options, that you can toggle between by long pressing. This same sub-mode group works with Turbo too, so turbo high, and turbo low if you will. So once you have the low end and the top end set you effectively have a 5 mode light that works like most others. Long press from Off to ultra-low, single press for your main mode groups where you long press to go up in modes in a 3 mode group, and then double press for turbo. Strobe is triple press from on, and it also has 3 strobe modes, tactical, SOS, and Beacon. Lastly, there is electronic lockout which is 4 clicks from off. The mechanical lockout also works well here at the tail cap.. 

 

Recharging

The light has built in recharging via a proprietary magnetic charging cable the light comes with. The contact on the light itself has a weak magnet on it, so I don’t think there will be as many problems on this design as other similar ones on the market. While the light does have the proprietary charging cable it uses standard button top protected 14500 batteries which is great for longevity. It’s also worth noting that recharging only works for liion 14500 batteries, not NiMH which the light can also run on. 

I recharged the light from LVP at 3.253V to Full at 4.127V using the magnetic charging cable in right at 1 hour. Charging started off fairly strong at .8A not the usual ramp on, and peak charge was 0.95A, so just slightly over 1C in charging rate. The button on the light does give a power indicator when in use in 4 different states with 2 different colors. 

It is worth noting that the charging cable that came with my light was defective. I emailed Skilhunt about this and they offered to replace it free of charge. Just bad luck I think on my part. I charged the battery externally without issue while I waited for it to arrive. 

 

Conclusion

I’m impressed with the Skilhunt M150 V3, and it’s going to become one of my recommended 14500 lights. It ticks a lot of the boxes, with a great emitter option with high CRI, Nice build quality, compact size, the ability to use 14500 or NIMH or alkaline batteries, a great clip, magnetic tail and a UI that’s pretty good once it clicks for you. 

I’m not the biggest fan of the proprietary recharging cable here, but I think the trade off of being more water and dirt resistant along with using standard batteries is a good trade off in my opinion. I would rather have a light I can buy batteries for easily in the future, and charge externally if I had to rather then proprietary batteries and cables that some brands with a similar color scheme have typically. 

Overall this is a light I can and will be recommending. I’m curious to if you guys might have one, or one of the older versions, and if this is something you might add to your list of flashlights to pick up in 2023? Let me know in the comments below. 

Get the Skilhunt M150 V3 at https://shrsl.com/3vf4o

Or get it on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3vS7Row

Posted on

Vosteed Rook Review (1800 Lumens, 3x Nichia 519a, 18350)

You may have seen my posts on social media and my first short here on Youtube on this but here is a review of it. Introducing the Vosteed Rook, a first collaboration flashlight with Reylight. It’s EDC focused, featuring 3 Nichia 519a LED, a USB-C Rechargeable 18350, battery, and a choice of 5 colors, Red, Blue, Black, Gray and Orange. What I have here is a prototype that’s in bead-blasted aluminum, with a different clip design. This is a Kickstarter project that is already funded but joining it’s the best way to get a Rook early and at a discount. Hurry though because the campaign ends early January 3rd, 2023. Full disclosure I helped Vosteed make an intro video for the campaign and my link below is an affiliate link. 

Due to this and a few other changes, this won’t be a full review, but it will be pretty close. Thanks to Vosteed for sending this to me to review.

 

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Join the Kickstarter Campaign for the Vosteed Rook https://bit.ly/RookLR1

 

Packaging & Accessories

My prototype here was too early to have any of the packaging you will get. That said I have bought several Vosteed knives and the packaging is top-notch I expect nothing different from the Rook. Yours will come with a 18350 battery with USB-C recharging onboard, and if the campaign reaches $30,000 you will also get an EDC Pouch and Vosteed Patch. 

 

Construction & Design

The rook is made from aluminum and will be anodized in a number of colors initially. Red, Blue, Black, Gray, and Orange. Its design takes inspiration from the Rook chess piece. It features 7 places for 1.5 x 6mm tritium vials, 3 in the tail button which my prototype doesn’t have, and then 4 in the tail section of the flashlight. The button here is a mechanical reverse clicky button, meaning you have to press the button all the way to turn the light on, and then half presses will change modes. The button itself takes a little more force to press and is flush with the top so it tail stands well, and should help prevent accidental activations. Tolerances here are better than the Reylight Pineapple/Lan series so there is less side-to-side play but there is still a rubber disk below so keep that in mind.

The light uses a standard “steel flame” screw spacing, so it will have a wide variety of clip compatibility. Right now I have a standard Reylight clip on it, as my prototype came without one. It’s a tad too long and hits the head section which results in a scratch on this raw anodized bead-blasted aluminum. The production light will have a redesigned clip to add some style and take care of this issue. The clip will be the attachment point for a lanyard if you wish too. In the hand it feels pretty good and the recessed area on the body gives your finger a place to index. 

The light does come into 3 main pieces the tail section, body tube, and head section. There isn’t any knurling on the light but ther various aspects of the design give you something to hold on to that should be adequate for many EDC situations. This isn’t a tactical light designed for extreme or tactical conditions. 

The head has a smooth bezel, a very scratch-resistant sapphire lens, TIR style Tripple optic, on top of the LED’s. The result is a pretty nice beam profile I will get into later on here.

I will grade the light as easy to modify emitter-wise, the main pill unscrews easily and gives you access driver and mcpcb should you want to dedome the LED’s or replace them with something else. 

 

Size & Weight

My prototype is going to have a bit of difference from the production light on size and weight. I know the production light will be slightly longer, have a different clip, and battery, and be anodized. So I won’t give too many specifics here. The diameter is 24mm, the length is 74 and the light is IPX68 water rated. Normal use scenarios shouldn’t be an issue. 

 

User Interface

The Rook is using the Reylight Programabale interface from the most recent version of Reylight’s popular Pineapple, Pineapple Mini, and Lan lights. It has 4 preprogrammed modes with different brightness outputs, by default it ships in mode 2, Moon, 10%, 40%, and 100% output. You can toggle memory mode on or off, as well as moonlight on or off. SOS and Strobe are only available in programming mode 4. The interface is pretty easy to use once you have the light set to how you like it. When changing modes though I would recommend consulting the manual. 

 

LED & Beam

The Rook comes with 2 LED choices, the Nichia 519a LED which is what I have here or Cree XPL Hi LED’s. Both are good choices, but for me I will be sticking to and recommending the Nichia 519a LED’s myself. As mentioned in previous reviews these are the most popular LED’s among enthusiasts in 2022 due to their highly desirable tint, ease of dedoming, high CRI, and increased output over previous similar LED’s. 

On my prototype here with the Nichia 519a LED, on my Opple Meter, I measured 3848k tint, with an RA of 97. The tint was very neutral and pleasing. These should dedome nicely too if you want to push it a bit rosier. The beam here is a very even large hotspot from the TIR reflector and has a minimal spill. It’s ideal for short and medium-range EDC-style tasks. On the higher mode, it does a decent job of lighting up things up to about 100 years I would say. There is PDM here on the lower modes, but it’s fast and I don’t see it with my camera or eye.

A quick note on Outputs, I didn’t get the claimed outputs on my sample. The peak output I saw was just shy of 1400 lumens in my lumen tube. I theorize this is because of a few things. #1 I am using a prototype and I know there were planned minor changes to the driver. #2 The two LED options that are being offered, Typically Cree XPL Hi LED’s will have more output than the Nichia 519a I have in my example. My runtime graphs in the next section will give you a rough idea of what’s happening.

 

Heat & Runtime

Here are the heat and runtime graphs. The light sustains its maximum output for around a minute before starting to step down and stays above 1000 lumens for about 2 minutes. Starting on Turbo total runtime was 72 minutes or so and the maximum temp was a very warm 75C. I then did a comparison runtime between Turbo, Hight and Medium runtimes. High runtime gains you an extra hour or so of runtime, and medium goes out to an impressive 9 hours 20 minutes. 

 

Recharging

As previously mentioned the light will be shipping with a 18350 battery that has USB-C recharging onboard. My prototype didn’t come with this battery, however, so I was unable to test this feature further. I can report the light will work with a standard flat top or button top 18350 battery. The light does have reverse polarity protection and LVP protection.

 

Conclusion

I am a fan of the Rook, it has the makings of what should be a nice, reasonably affordable EDC light in the 18350 form factor. A great LED choice here with the Nichia 519a, and Cree XPL Hi LED options for those that want a cooler tint. Combine that with a solid familiar user interface and it makes for a good all around EDC light. 

It’s worth noting these are “small batch” lights from a single maker. While not a true custom, are CNC produced, they are likely assembled by just one or two people. Both Vosteed and Reylight are small companies with just a handful of employees or a single entrepreneur. That said they both have some of the best customer service I have seen in the industry.

Aluminum may turn off some people here but it really is a great material for flashlights, and among the best in terms of cost, weight, machineability, heat dissipation, and durability. That said I wouldn’t be surprised that if the Rook is a success, we see more specialty materials in the future or a 18650 body tube to increase the length and runtime. Be on the lookout for a few stretch goals the campaign has tool. 

If you are interested there will be a link below that does help support the channel if you decide to back the Kickstarter. As always I’m interested in what you think of the Rook and if you will be picking up one. This is likely my last video for 2022, but I have lots more planned for early 2023, so make sure you are subscribed so you don’t miss the next one. 

Join the Kickstarter Campaign for the Vosteed Rook https://bit.ly/RookLR1