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.

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@liquidretro1

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

Find all my social media at https://linktr.ee/liquidretro

See my Amazon Store with my gear recommendations https://www.amazon.com/shop/liquidretro

 

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

Acebeam E70 Mini Review(Triple Nichia 519a, 2000 Lumens, 18650)

Acebeam has a new light, in the E70 Mini, it’s a smaller version of the E70 but this time it’s running on an 18650, and runs triple Nichia 519a LED’s. The Nicha 519a LED is the new hotness in the enthusiast flashlight communities. It’s the successor to the popular Nichia 219b, but the new version is brighter, and more importantly, has become known for being very neutral and rosy if you want. Thanks to Acebeam for sending this to me, and these thoughts and opinions have not been influenced by anyone. 

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@liquidretro1

Enjoy this review? Buy me a Coffee/Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Liquidretro

Find all my social media at https://linktr.ee/liquidretro

See my Amazon Store with my gear recommendations https://www.amazon.com/shop/liquidretro

 

Pickup the Acebeam E70 Mini from Acebeam Direct at https://shrsl.com/3m7bt and save 10% (on any Acebeam) with the code “Liq10”

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

Package & Accessories

The E70 Mini arrived in a white retail package with a clear window showing the light inside. Pretty minimal info on the package, but it is surprisingly compact. Inside the accessories and extras included, a 3100mAh button top protected 18650 battery with onboard USB-C charging, Short USB-A to USB-C charging cable, Acebeam Lanyard, spare o-rings, warranty card, and manual. 

 

Construction & Design

The E70 Mini for all intents and purposes a scaled-down version of its larger brother the E70 with a few minor exterior changes. For now, it’s available in aluminum that’s anodized matte black. It’s a premium feeling of anodizing, and the inner tube is the same blue aluminum we have seen on other E70 versions and the RX Ryder. I would expect to see different colors or materials of the E70 Mini at some time but for now just aluminum.

 

The tail features the same style of a flat metal button over the eswitch, it has a shiny finish that matches the clip well and is probably made of stainless steel like the clip. It has some interesting mounting options at the rear I will cover a bit later in the review. The light will tailstand too but it’s not magnetic.

The body tube has the same milled pattern as the E70, with a similar inner liner of blue aluminum and at the top 6 slots for 1 x 6mm tritium tubes, where the head has slots for 6 more. Threads on the body are square cut, and anodized. Inside you can see the spring at the tail, and head. Longer batteries or protected batteries are required, here, unprotected flat top 18650s are just too short to make contact. The bezel on the head is made from the same steel as the clip and rear switch. It has a crenulated bezel but it’s not sharp. The bezel does unscrew pretty easily too which should make maybe dedoming those LEDs (A popular thing to do with the Nichia 519s) possible without too much effort. The TIR optic sits behind an anti-reflective coated piece of glass with an o’ring keeping everything watertight.

 

Retention

The rear of the light has 3 wing like parts spaced out evenly around the light, and each is unique, you have the stock clip that comes on the light, with spacing that’s slightly wider than the more standard “Steel Flame” style clip, but to the left, there are threaded holes that fit the standard “Steel Flame” sizing, and then the third has larger unthreaded holes for the lanyard. 

The clip itself is stamped steel but slightly curved and uses a milled piece to make it stand out a bit. I found this to be a fantastic clip. It reminded me more of a custom light with this clip than a production light. It carries pretty deeply in the pocket too. I like the glossy finish here, it seems to almost take on a little color with oils from your hands. I carried this around the 4th of July holiday and found it to be nice and secure in shorts. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 111.34mm in length, 25.96mm at the head, and 23.39mm at the body. Weight with the Acebeam battery and clip installed came in at 124.8g or 4.4oz. It’s impact resistant to 1M and water-rated to IP68 (2 Meters). Here are a few photos of similar sized or spec’d lights that I have in my collection. 

 

LED & Beam

As mentioned the E70 Mini is using the latest LED from Nichia the 519a. This LED has quickly gained a cult-like following over on /r/flashlight and on the BLF forums because of its great neutral tint, that leans to the rosy side of things and high CRI. With my Opple meter, I measured 4973k and 97 CRI. The DUV of the light is very neutral as you can see. It’s the most neural emitter I have seen in a production light this year for sure. No PWM was observed either.

The TIR optic here produces a large even hotspot with basically no spill. It’s in that middle ground between thrower and flood, good for EDC type users, and the optic does a good job of diffusing that there are 3 LEDs here. I will be interested to see if people dedoam the light as that show make it throw a bit more, and rosy up the tint. I measured the parasitic draw at 72.1µA.

 

Outputs

I measured outputs in my Texas Ace PVC Lumen tube and came a bit short in most of the categories, but everything was within 80% of the claimed lumens after 30 seconds.

 

Heat & Runtime

I tested my runtimes with the optional 3100mAh Acebeam battery. Turbo was good for right at a minute before stepping down to around 500 lumens. The heat peaked at 57C (135F) at the 1:15 minute mark, so this is mostly a thermal-based step-down. You can trigger turbo manually again and I did this during filming some night shots a few times and the light did get hot enough where it was too hot to hold. Running from turbo after the initial step down is pretty flat for 1:45:00 then gradual step downs for another 45 minutes till it shuts off.  

I did runtime measurements for Turbo, High, Mide 2 and Mid1 as well and plotted them all on one graph here. Turbo and High give the same total runtime which was a little bit of a surprise. Mid 2 was good for 3:51:00, and Mid1 shut off just shy of 8 hours. 

 

UI

The UI here is as far as I can tell the same as what was in the full-size E70. It’s a little different from other lights but easy enough to understand once you know you have to double press to turn on and it’s this element that builds safety into not turning on accidentally. 

 

To turn the light on you can double press the tail switch to turn the light on in low, the light does have a memory so if it’s recent it will turn on in the last mode used excluding turbo. Once on, long press and hold to advance into the 4 available modes. Double press to turbo, triple to strobe. The light also has moonlight mode which you can access from off by long pressing, as well as lockout. Lastly, to turn off it’s a simple quick press to turn off.

 

Recharging

The Acebeam E70 Mini doesn’t have onboard USB charging. Instead, it has an optional Acebeam battery with onboard USB-C charging on its side. I had no issues charging via USB-C PD, or C to C cables on a variety of chargers. The battery is a 3100mAh button-top protected cell that I measured at 3049mAh in my Vapcell S4 Plus charger. 

I measured LVP of the cell at 2.931V and charged the battery to full at 4.131V in 3:02:00. Charging curve looked good and the battery charged at an average of around 1A, definitely on the conservative side. The battery does seem to have a powerbank feature, that I can charge my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with. With a meter and load, I was able to pull 2A without a problem. 

 

Final Thoughts

I had a positive review of the Acebeam E70, mine was in brass and has the High CRI LED, but it was too big and heavy for a front pocket EDC for me. The E70 Mini solves that problem, with the smaller size it still fits nicely into my hands, but the smaller diameter and lighter weight make it much more carryable. It’s still not a small 18650 light with its dual-wall construction but it’s a lot more doable. 

The best part for me might be the LEDs and beam pattern. The Nichia 519a LEDs live up to the hype for me. I have done LED Swaps on one of my Reylight LANs and a Reylight Pineapple Mini in Timascus where I dedomed it too and the result is just a pretty much perfect tint in my opinion. If you are a tint snob it’s a fantastic LED. It’s not the brightest LED available but it produces one of the best quality light/tints in my opinion right now. The TIR optic makes for a very usable beam too.

It’s not perfect, the UI here with the long press to turn on takes getting used to but it’s really only that small change. It’s not ideal in my opinion but it does provide extra protection so that it won’t come on accidentally in your pocket. It also doesn’t accept flat top unprotected batteries which I happen to have a fair number of. I do wish turbo lasted a bit longer before stepping down on its own too without retriggering, and the markings on the light don’t line up with the clip on my light. I do really like how they put some markings inside the battery tube to hide them.

This is probably going to be my new pick for someone wanting to spend between $50-100 on a 18650 sized flashlight with a tail eswitch, especially if LED and Tint is important to them. While there are cheaper ways to try a Nichia 519a LED this would be a great way to get into one with a great light around it. 

Pickup the Acebeam E70 Mini from Acebeam Direct at https://shrsl.com/3m7bt and save 10% (on any Acebeam) with the code “Liq10”

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

Jetbeam RRT01 Review 2020 Version (Rotary EDC, Nichia LED, High CRI, 950 Lumens)

Jetbeam has a new version of the RRT01 Raptor out for 2020. If you remember back to last summer I reviewed the 2019 version of the light and loved it. The 2020 version adds an Optional Nichia emitter and changes how the rotary ring and UI work as well as being more flexible with different battery versions. Thanks to JetBeam for sending this to me to look at and review. 

 

Watch this review on YouTube: 

**Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidretro/ 

Join the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiquidretroReviews/ 

 

Versions

There are now 3 versions of the Jetbeam RRT01 that all share the same name. There is the original from about 8+ years ago, the 2019 version and now the 2020 version. Each having their own differences in performance, batteries, and LED. I do wish JetBeam would have added a V1, V2, V3 or used a different name with the light so it was easier for the consumers to tell the difference. The easiest way to tell the difference between the 2019 and 2020 is to look at the tail. The 2019 has a place for 3 tritium vials, whereas the 2020 has a button on the tail cap.

 

Packaging & Accessories

The packaging of the RRT01 is very Jetbeam, it’s a blue and black retail hanging package with all the details you need on the outside and side panels. As far as accessories, it depends on the version you get. My kit has the optional 2x extensions tubes that allow you to use 18500 and 18650 batteries in the light. In addition to this  it comes with a 1100mAh JetBeam branded 18350 battery with microUSB charging onboard, 3 extra  orings, an allan key, 2 extra screws for the clip (Not torx), and replacement rubber boot for the rear switch in gray. You also get a lanyard, manual, and other paperwork. 

 

Construction

The light is made from aluminum and anodized a warmer light gray with the control bezel being a silver. It’s nice to see a different anodizing color here. Machining is very good. Starting at the tail, there is a bezel around the center mechanical on/off button. When the button is in the off state the light doesn’t tail stand super well, but when the light is on the button has retracted enough that it tail stands great, so really a pretty thoughtful design as it helps you find it when you want to turn the light on. 

The body section of the light has knurling around it with 2 flats with the minimal labeling on each side. The light then grows to match the size of the head and control ring. Threads are wide, square cut and non anodized. By default the light will fit 18350’s and CR123A batteries which are great sizes for EDC but if you want more runtime you can insert one of the extensions and use a 18500 if you have them or add both if you want to use a 18650. Just remember to use a protected battery as this light doesn’t have LVP. When the extension are in place it’s a little less elegant I think and heavy in the head. 

 

The rotary control ring has some areas milled into it to give grip. It has a detent on both ends of the control area. From 0 to 100% is about 160 degrees of rotation. There is no detent in the control ring for the 2020 version of the light. The ring moves quite easily, I would like to just touch more resistance. The rotary really allows you to dial in the exact amount of light you want very quickly.

The head has an aluminum bezel that’s mostly built into the light and not proud. It is not glued but you will need a tool to get it loose. The glass lens is double anti reflective coated and it has a deep reflector with a light orange peal.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 91mm in it’s shortest configuration. Each extension adds 15mm to the overall length of the light. Maximum diameter on the head of the light is 26mm, and minimum diameter at the head is 24.5mm. The extensions are slightly larger in diameter coming in at 26.46mm vs the 26mm of the head of the light. 

Weight in it’s shortest configuration with the included battery and clip is 114.6g. With a 30Q and the 3x extensions came in at 153.9g. 

 

Comparisons

The most obvious comparison with the RRTR01 2020 is the 2019 version and the lights look very similar. The largest difference is that the 2019 version is shorter without the tail switch. The lens’s are a little different too, the 2020 lights lens has a light orange peel and is deeper and the bezel is smooth. The diameter of the head is slightly longer too. The extension tubes fit either light. When you put the extensions on the light looks a little funny to me, it seems longer and the proportions are just off a little. For an 18650 light it’s a little on the long side when compared to the FW3A. 

 

Retention

The RRT01 like it’s predecessors are using the “standard” steel flame pattern clip meaning most aftermarket clips on the flashlight market should fit here. THe stock clip is a little longer than many at 61mm. The screw holes are hex head instead the more common torx. 

 

In the pocket it carries reasonably well. The slotted tail bezel that’s around the tail button sticks up a little more then I want but does protect the button well from accidental activation. It’s still deep enough I consider it deep carry. I found the short length to be about perfect in the pocket, it’s doable to carry with the extensions on and an 18650 but it’s center of gravity is more to the head. 

 

LED & Beamshots

There are 2 LED’s offered in the RRT01 Raptor (2020), a Cree XP G3 offering 80 CRI, and a Nichia 219C at 90CRI. I have the latter and it’s a nice warm 4000k. For me this is a great combination of tint and high CRI. JetBeam claims both are rated for 950 lumens, and that would be higher then I would expect out of a Nicha 219C as they typically don’t put out quite as much light as the Cree XP G3, so I take that with a grain of salt. It’s enough light to do the job easily. The beam here is nice for EDC, it has some center spot, about 20% of the beam and then fades to a useful spill. The rotary is very smooth and makes this light infinitely variable sub lumen up to 950. See the video version of this review for my Nightshots.

 

Heat and Runtime

Runtime here is very linear, I started my test with the included 1100mAh 18350 battery on full power. Output here was very linear and seems to not be regulated super well. There really isn’t much of a stepdown and the light ran above the 40% relative output out until 28 minutes. At 34 minutes the light shut off when LVP on the battery kicked in at 2.94V. The runtime here surprised me a bit, it’s rather short but then again this light doesn’t have much of a step down. It does get warm and the highest temp I saw was 59C around the 17 min mark. 

I then tested with a 3000mAh 18650 battery. You need to use a protected battery with this light, I didn’t do that my first test and the result was the light ran until the cell was dangerously low right at 1V. I was not happy about ruining a battery here, but the result was significantly longer runtime. FL1 was at about 95 minutes, total runtime was just at 1 hour and 40 minutes. You can see thermal regulation kick in at the top end a bit. 

 

UI

UI here is pretty unique to most other flashlights but it works pretty well. The RRT01 2020 version adds an on off switch at the tail of the light and combines with the rotary function in the head to change the brightness of the light. Once on rotate the ring to the right to increase in brightness, increase to the left to decrease in brightness. It is truly infantly variable as fast or as slow as you want. On my light I can turn the ring about 1/12 of the way before the LED begins to turn on. 

 

This light does have an infinitely variable SOS and strobe modes as well. When on just rotate to to the maximum brightness setting and then to the left slightly 3 times and you get SOS, do this 4 times to get strobe. You can then dial back the brightness if you want. To exit just turn the light off and it goes back to normal.  

 

Recharging

The light includes a 1100mAh Jetbeam branded 18350 battery that has onboard microUSB that you plug into the side of the battery. It has a multicolor LED on top that goes red when charging and green when charged. LVP is built into the battery and it stopped at 2.94V. Charged it stopped at 4.16V. When I plugged it in to charge I did notice the top of the cell got pretty warm, about 110F but this quickly dissipated. My guess is it’s doing this at first to gradually limit current going into the battery at the start of a charge. Overall the battery took 92 minutes to charge, and the maximum charge rate I saw was around the 70 minute mark at 1A. It’s a little odd to see that high of charge rate at the end of the charge cycle. 

 

Pro’s

  • Nichia LED, my biggest complaint with the 2019 version of this light was the LED that was chosen.
  • I am a sucker for a rotary interface, it works here well but requires shifting your grip to turn on then adjust the output.
  • I like the anodizing color here, a warm gray, almost sand color.
  • Nice overall EDC light with options to go to 18650 too.

 

Con’s

  • No Low Voltage Protection, must use protected cells if you plan to run the battery to exhaustion,. . 
  • A little awkward with the extensions installed, it throws the balance way forward.
  • Confusing naming with the previous versions of the light.
  • On the expensive side with the extension kit

 

Conclusion

The JetBeam RRT01 is the 3rd irrieteration of the light that shares the same name, while confusing for customers it’s a light I am enjoying. I really like rotary interfaces, I think they should be done on more flashlights as it’s intuitive and easy to operate for people of any age. The addition here of the on/off button on the tail instead of detents in the rotary makes the light less likely to come on in a pocket or when not in use but I think detracts from the overall rotary aspect of the light That said it still works pretty well but just requires you to change grips when using the light to turn it on and adjust the output.

The inclusion on some version with the extensions is smart, allowing you to use more battery types, it’s kind of an after though on design but it works reasonably well, especially if you want the extra runtime of an 18650, just be sure to use a protected battery since the light itself doesn’t have LVP. 

The optional Nichia 219C emitter here is great. One of the features I liked least about the 2019 version was it was cool white and it’s great Jetbeam listed to this user feedback myself and others had. Overall this is a fun edc light, it’s a little on the expensive side but one I can still recommend. Make sure to check my links in the description as I will list any coupons or sales I get where you might be able to get a discount. 

Banggood has a 30% off coupon for the 2020 version of the Jetbeam RRT01 at https://ban.ggood.vip/V8ca by using code:  BGRRLM