Tag: torch review

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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

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Acebeam Ryder RX Review (Nichia 219F, Fidget Toy Flashlight, 14500)

In this review I am looking at the Acebeam Ryder RX, a 14500 or AA sized EDC light, with a neutral white, high CRI with a feature you don’t see on many flashlights, a built-in bolt action fidget toy. Now I had a fidget spinner back in the day but used it for about 10 minutes before it founds it’s way to my drawer to collect dust. Acebeam did send this to me to take a look at and for that I am thankful. 

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Pickup the Acebeam Ryder RX on Amazon (10% off coupon on the listing page)

Silver – https://amzn.to/3EvBJdU

Sophisto Grey – https://amzn.to/3uZ8gWM

Rainbow – https://amzn.to/3MjKA58

Blue – https://amzn.to/3rDVISq

Titanium – https://amzn.to/3vyYJVk

Other Acebeam models on sale

L17 White (20% off) – https://amzn.to/3OpHWN9

TK17 (25% off) – https://amzn.to/3OoL1No

Packaging & Accessories

The packaging here is a small color print white box, with a slide-out plastic tray holding the light and the accessories. The light comes with lots of accessories, 4 extra O-rings, a wrist strap that’s branded, a short USB-A to C charging cable, a 920mAh Button top Protected Acebeam 14500 battery with onboard USB-C charging, and a user manual. 

Construction and Design

The Ryder RX comes in many different cosmetic finishes (Polished Stainless, Sophisto Grey, Rainbow PVD, Blue) and a growing number of materials (Stainless Steel, Titanium) for the outer shell, with 4041 Stainless steel, with a blue aluminum inner part. A titanium model is also available for a small upcharge. It’s a robust design and I think it will be very durable, thanks in part due to that one piece thick stainless steel outer casing. The design of the body here reminds me of the Acebeam E70 with the inner and outer tube design and the cuts made to show it. 

Let’s talk about the fidget factor here, the pocket clip is attached to the inner blue aluminum tube, An L slot is cut into the outer tube, and there are detent balls installed that give a very positive sensation and nice mechanical click when you actuate the clip side to side or down. It’s fun, but kind of loud, this isn’t something you could do in a meeting or while on a Zoom call. 

When in the down position it exposes the flashlight head, allowing you to unscrew the tip of the head to access the battery for recharging, etc. Doing this does hide the button at the top which is how you turn the light on and off though. The front bezel stands proud slightly of the AR coated lens which is in front of the small smooth reflector. 

For me the Fidget factor is fun but almost requires 2 hands at times to really get good use out of it, for my medium-sized hands and to slight the light into the down position. Side to side is easier to actuate, and you can see they even thought ahead and put an area in the tube to relieve the clip, to prevent it from scratching through lots of fidget use. One thing to note is that to actuate the light you want it in the up, and left position, when it’s in the up and right position I find there isn’t quite enough resistance to make pressing the tail button easy.

Retention

The Ryder RX has a stainless steel dual-direction clip, similar to the Acebeam P15, here though it’s optimized for EDC use instead of a weapon mount. The clip stands out from the body here more than most normal flashlights but it ends up working well. Retention on the pants is above average and despite the clip being a little larger than normal I had no issues with it snagging on things like a seat belt during the week+ I exclusively carried it. There is a lanyard hole at the top of the clip where you can attach it if you wish.

Size & Weight

I measured the length of the light in the retracted position as 96mm, and 103.4mm in the extended position. The diameter is 18.6mm excluding the clip. Weight with the included 14500 battery was 82.3g. The light is IP68 water-rated to 2 meters submerged. Here are a few photos with similar-sized 14500 lights, like the Reylight Lan and Pineapples. 

LED & Beam

The Ryder RX is using a Nichia 219F a new LED from Nichia and this is my first time seeing it, Acebeam says this is at 5000k and High CRI. My Opple Light Meter Pro I measured the tint at 4981k and a 96 CRI. The beam doesn’t have any tint shift across the beam, although the medium-sized hot center isn’t perfectly round. I would be interested to see what this light would be like with a TIR optic since I tend to really like those on EDC style lights like this, but the lens here works pretty well. I also think the new Nichia 519a would really shine in a package like this and likely put out a little more output. There is PWM here according to my meter but it’s pretty fast.

Output tested at 30 seconds using a “Calibrated DIY PVC Lumen Tube”.

Acebeam Ryder RX Claimed Lumens As Tested Lumens
14500 High 650 473
14500 Medium 2 280 221
NiMH High 200 135

Heat & Runtime

For my runtime graphs I used my “Calibrated DIY PVC Lumen Tube” and the included 14500 battery the light came with. On high we can see the major step downs at 2 minutes going from around 480 lumens to 350 lumens for about 6 minutes, and then for an additional hour slowly decreasing from about 250 lumens down to zero. The heat peaked at 9 minutes at about 55C. 

I also compared High to Medium modes, we can see medium was very steady for the full 1:22:00 runtime all covering between 220-100 lumens. 

I also did a heat and runtime test with an Ikea LADDA 2450 NiMH battery since this is a dual fuel light, This provided the longest overall runtime of 3:06:00 but also the least amount of light with the bulk of that runtime being around 50 lumens. 

UI

The UI for the Acebeam Ryder RX is simple with no programmable options. The light has 4 modes plus SOS and has memory mode. It has a forward clicky button that means a half-press gets the light to turn on or to change modes before you do a full press to lock the light on. This means you can get it to come on in a momentary mode silently. 

The light will come on in the last mode used as long as it’s not SOS and progresses through the 4 modes in a linear fashion. Getting to SOS it’s a little different. You have to do a full cycle through the 4 main modes twice fairly quickly, and then the light will start blinking. 

Recharging

To recharge the light, you need to remove the battery from the light by putting it in an extended position, unscrewing the head, and sliding the cell out. From here you can put it in an external charger, or use the onboard USB-C port on the battery to recharge. When charging there is a Red LED on the positive end that’s red when charging, and green when charged.

Charging the included 920mAh 14500 battery the light came with took 2:42:00 with a maximum charge rate of 0.45A. A pretty conservative charge rate of ½ C with most of this time being in the constant current phase of charging. When fully charged the battery measured 4.149V, and the cells LVP kicked in at 2.874V. NiMH LVP was 1.082V

You can use another button top 14500 batteries in this light, but Flattops, don’t make contact. It’s also worth noting that the head itself doesn’t have LVP because this light is capable of running lower voltage NiMh or Alkaline batteries too. So worth mentioning so you don’t damage your 14500s by running them to exhaustion, and on that note, the light can’t charge NiMH cells.  

Final Thoughts

The Acebeam Ryder RX really ticks a lot of boxes for me on an EDC light. If you follow me on Instagram and see the pocket dumps I post from time to time, you will know I like the 14500 sized lights for front pocket carry, and the Ryder RX is just in that sweet spot in terms of size and output in my opinion. 

I thought the pocket clip here was going to be too bulky but after carrying it, I have decided it works extremely well, is a nice tight fit on my pants and adaptable to many different thicknesses of materials. That dual-direction clip also means you can use it as a make shift headlamp on a hat if you want too. 

Best of all might be the LED choice here, Neutral white and High CRI! It’s like someone was finally listening to many enthusiasts who were tired of all the cool white and low CRI lights from major manufacturers. 

Overall as an EDC light I really like the Ryder RX. While I won’t use the fidget factor of it often, it’s kind of a neat bonus and has created something different which is nice to see too. Pricing here is at the time of the review seems pretty fair too for the quality your getting here, and to upgrade into the titanium light is only $10 more, so a bargain if you are a Titanium junkie. So on that note, I can recommend the Acebeam Ryder RX as a solid buy in my opinion. 

Pickup the Acebeam Ryder RX on Amazon (10% off coupon on the listing page)

Silver – https://amzn.to/3EvBJdU

Sophisto Grey – https://amzn.to/3uZ8gWM

Rainbow – https://amzn.to/3MjKA58

Blue – https://amzn.to/3rDVISq

Titanium – https://amzn.to/3vyYJVk

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RovyVon Aurora A33 Review (180 Lumens, Nichia 219C, 90CRI, USB-C)

Today I have a new penlight from Royvon, It’s available in a variety of exterior colors, and comes with an optional high CRI LED as well, and even has USB-C to charge it’s internal lithium ion battery. Thanks to Royvon for sending this to me to review. Link to where you can find it as well as my social media channels are down below in the description.

 

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Get 10% off the RovyVon Aurora A33 with my links below until 5/10/21.

Nichia Emitters: https://amzn.to/2P2Y6SY

Cree Emitters: https://amzn.to/2P2Y6SY

 

If you like my spiffy new background for this video, and want one for yourself as a large mousepad or nice desk mat, you can find it over at PhotonPhreaks at http://bit.ly/PPDeskMat and get 10% off with the code “LiquidRetro”

 

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging is a simple black box with a line drawing of the light on the outside. The box has a black and orange theme, it is printed to reflect the LED that’s in this light with a sticker on the back telling you which version and body color you have here. 

Accessories are limited and include the light, pocket clip thats preinstalled but removable, and a 6” USB-A to USB-C cable along with a manual and warranty card.

 

Construction

The Aurora A33 is made of aluminum and in my example is anodized in green. Several other body colors are available including Black, Gunmetal, Red, and Desert Tan. Starting at the rear it has a flat metal button with a nice machined circular pattern in it for a bit of texture for the eswitch. There is a ring around the button that makes it sit slightly recessed, this also helps protect the button too. It feels a little odd but does help you locate it and helps keep from turning on in the pocket. The button is does have a bit of a vague feeling to it that I am not a huge fan of but does has a nice click. 

 

To access the charging port the  rear tail section unscrews slightly. This is easier shown then described but it’s best to grab the tail section itself not the clip since the clip rotates more easily. Once unscrewed the USB-C port is exposed as well as a LED indicator when recharging. There is an oring to keep everything sealed

 

The body tube has some spirals milled into it for texture and style. These are better then normal knurling visually but could be a little more aggressive in my taste. The body tube and head are one piece with the front bezel being glued in place it looks like. The front features a glass lens and TIR style optic. Internally there is a 600mAh LiPo battery sealed inside the light. This is non user replaceable battery. 

 

Retention

The primary method of retention is the included deep carry pocket clip on the A33. It’s a clip on style clip and can be removed if you want. The unfortunate thing is here that it does spin around the light with a little bit for effort, I wish it was a bit tighter fit. It’s a fairly wide and substantial clip, and the steel is springy. It’s reasonably secure in the pocket but I wish it was a little stiffer so it was more secure. There is a small step in the clip that your pocket can snag on. That said I am a fan here, the clip overall is better then 85% of flashlights I review. 

 

Size and Weight 

I measured the length of the Aurora A33 at 119mm, maximum diameter tail at 16.5mm, minimum diameter at the body at 14.6mm. Weight with the clip installed is 42.2g. The light is IPX8 rated which I did test overnight in a glass of water.

 

LED & Beam Shots

The Aurora A33 is available with 2 LED’s I have the Nichia 219C at 5000k and 90 CRI, but a Cree XP-G2 with cool white, and about 20 more lumens (200 lumens total) on it’s highest output if you prefer. The light is using a TIR reflector and produces a medium sized hot center and a medium amount of spill. It’s good for this style of light where your mostly going to be using at short and medium distances.

 

Aurora A33 on Left, Nitecore MT06MD

 

There is some PWM that my scope noticed here, it’s fast and not noticeable to my eye or camera. But the scope does catch it. 

Output modes on the Nichia model are officially rated at 0.5 Lumens, 15 lumens, 60 lumens, and 180 lumens

 

Heat and Runtime

The light has 4 modes, and I did runtime graphs for the two highest modes. On high, the light lasts for a total of 88 minus, the first 12 minutes are above 90% relative output and you see a slight step down in output. At the 45 minute mark your still producing 80% of relative output. After this though you see a sharp decline for the remaining amount of time. Highest temp I observed was around 36C at the 40 minute mark.

 

In medium the light lasts an impressive 5:48:00. It an long S curve making me think there might not be much regulation on this mode. That said it was running at 60% relative output out to the 2:50:0) mark. 

 

UI

UI here is mostly simple as long as you remember you have to long press to turn on the light. Once on single presses will allow you to go up in the 4 modes. Long press to turn off. There is no memory modes and you always start at the bottom of the mode range. Which changing modes I did notice that I had to give it some time to go up the range, I couldn’t click fast or double press to go up the range faster. That’s a little annoying, I would love a double or triple click to turbo here. 

 

This is a revised UI than this light originally shipped with, and Royvon has yet to update their website to reflect this but I confirmed this with the company. 

 

When the power does get low you do get a red LED indicator that comes on, however this LED is normally covered with the top of the cap that covers the USB-C port. 

 

Recharging

Recharging is accomplished via USB-C onboard the light. It will charge via USB-C to C. To get to the charging port the tail cap must be unscrewed a bit. This is a little hard to do due the oring seal and the facto the pocket clip rotates fairly easily. Once open this will expose the port and charge status LED. When low on power (10% remaining) this light will remain red. When charging it a slow fading blue LED and when charged it’s solid blue. Total charge time on the internal 600mAh LiPo battery was 1:02:00. Max charge rate was .52A.

The light will work through all modes while charging but the button to turn the light on is hard to press, especially if you have larger fingers. 

 

Pro’s

  • Neutral white, high CRI emitter option is available. Nice choice with the Nicahia 219C LED.
  • Good deep carry pocket clip, I wish it didn’t rotate as easily and was a bit stiffer.
  • Affordable and available in a good variety of colors.

 

Con’s

  • Built in battery is non user replaceable. 
  • Takes slightly longer to turn on with the long press to on then I would like but it won’t come on accidentally this way.
  • The instructions talk about 2 modes on the later models like I have this has been eliminated for simplicity.

 

Conclusion

I like the Royvon Aurora A33 as a pen format sized light. It’s got the enthusiast in mind with a number of body colors and a neutral high CRI LED option. The Nichia 219C in 5000k is a great choice here for a number of tasks.

I like that it has onboard USB-C charging as well, it makes it convenient to charge and fairly quick. The UI here is good, not great, and I would say the same with the pocket clip, I would just like it to be a tad more secure.

Overall as long as you don’t mind the sealed battery I think this the best pen light I have reviewed in a few years. It’s affordable, has a choice of LED, and body color, good clip and just an overall well rounded package that I can recommend.