REVIEW: Shiningbeam Romisen RC-N3-Q5

[alfreddajero]

I gave a single mode to my bro's father in law...he likes to collect mini-mags and he thoiught it was the brightest thing ever, i even threw in a couple of Cr123's as well. Another good light that i also recommend is the RC A4X which uses a Q5 but updated driver.

http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/t...-X-Cree/Detail

[chickenlittle]

Can someone clarify whether rechargeable batteries are recommended for the Romisen RC N3 II Q5?
I noticed in the posts above many use them but I thought they weren't recommended by the maker/modifier. I would like to use rechargeable RC 123's as well as AA's in it if it doesn't do are damage.
Thanks.

[alfreddajero]

You should be fine going the rechargeable route......i use nothing but now.

[lionelbob]

Due to recommendations on this board, I purchased a Romisen RC-N3 summer of 2009, and another in the fall. They are super bright, and I have not had any negatives with them. I decided to treat some friends and relatives to this light for the holidays, but when I went to order them from shiningbeam, they only had the WW model, with a warm white LED. I tried one, and personally, I think that these are not as bright as the ones I got earlier in 2009. Has anybody been able to find any of non WW q5s?

Regards, Bob

[ledster]

I am thinking of picking up a Romisen RC-N3 II Cree Q5 2-Mode light for use as a bike light in 2AA config. and was wondering if anybody has had any problems with the light changing modes when shaken (momentary loss of electrical connection of batteries). A lot of lights suffer from this problem when handle-bar mounted on a bike on rough terrain.

[jankj]

when I went to order them from shiningbeam, they only had the WW model, with a warm white LED. I tried one, and personally, I think that these are not as bright as the ones I got earlier in 2009. Has anybody been able to find any of non WW q5s?

Warm white LEDs are not as bright and efficient as "cool white". Some people (including me) prefer warm or "neutral" white to the bluish cool white, and find the improved color rendering is more beneficial than the higher output from cool white LEDs. Others disagree - colors is a highly subjective thing.

Shiningbeam.com has the rather bad practice of not showing out of stock items on his website, which is rather frustrating as he runs out of stock on popular items on a regular basis (long shipping times from factories in China to him and all that).

[Niconical]

Shiningbeam.com has the rather bad practice of not showing out of stock items on his website, which is rather frustrating as he runs out of stock on popular items on a regular basis (long shipping times from factories in China to him and all that).

I'd say that's a very good practice. If you can see it and click it, it's there for despatch.
Much better than with many other vendors where you buy then later get a "back-ordered" email.

[rje58]

Agreed! If something is out of stock, I want to know BEFORE I place an order (or in that case, backorder).

I'd say that's a very good practice. If you can see it and click it, it's there for despatch.
Much better than with many other vendors where you buy then later get a "back-ordered" email.

[ps56k]

I have the original Romisen RC-N2...
and have been looking at some options for another purchase.
After awhile, everything starts to look alike.... tube + tail + reflector + LED

I was looking at the Terralux TLE upgrade module for a MiniMag,
heck, the Lightstar 180 is just a bit more.
But the RC-N3 is like my N2 with all the same features
and can run CR123 as a small EDC...

too many choices.... my head hurts...

[pattersonbrl]

I just bought this light the other day from Shiningbeam and am waiting for it to arrive. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if you think this light is sufficient to use for hiking up in the mountains at night? Is it sufficient enough to light up the woods at night and be able to stay on trails easily? I've looked at some reviews and beam shots on here and it looks like it a fairly good light but can someone tell me if the flood/throw are both decent enough for hiking/camping?

[alfreddajero]

Its a pretty good light that works well outdoors....just make sure that you bring extra batts.

[MojaveMoon07]

Warm white LEDs are not as bright and efficient as "cool white".

Does that statement about brightness and, in particular, efficiency, apply to "neutral white" ?

[christofoo]

My experience with Shiningbeam has been crummy.

I ordered the two-mode RC-N3 II Q5, I thought having a longer run-time option would be nice for bike riding.

The first one I got was a dud, it drew around 90 mA in high, 60 mA in low, and was incredibly wussy. The only light I have to compare to is a 1/2 W Blaze (bike-specific light) and the Romisen was no brighter (probably ~25 Lumens). When I initially told Bryan I had a problem he brushed me off, but when I sent him current measurements he replaced it.

Bryan was nice enough to send a replacement before receiving the return, but he wouldn't pay return shipping, but he did send me a CR123A as a gift. On balance, not bad service so far, although maybe a bit scary for anyone who can't measure stuff and doesn't have a comparison light.

The replacement light I got was much better, but I'm convinced that it's substantially under-performing. I don't have any light meters, but I measure the current draw as 430 mA on high with a new CR123A, 440 mA with two fresh Eneloops. This means the AA life will be around 4.5 hours, but I'm pretty sure Q5 life on AAs at >170 Lumens ought to be more like 2 hours, and usually less than that, furthermore Bryan earlier told me that 900 mA is normal for high. I don't have anything I can compare the light to, and I don't have a light meter, but "intuitively" I'm having a hard time believing it's more than 100 Lumens. (It "feels" like about 4 times brighter than the 1/2 W Blaze, coincidentally it draws about 4 times more power.)

To this problem, he responded:
"Tell you frankly, I don't measure current of the flashlights. The numbers are told to me by others. Your new one is perfectly normal on the brightness output levels regardless what current draw they are. If you have other Cree lights, you can do a direct comparison, and you'll see the difference. Because your first one is defective one, so I was extra careful testing your 2nd unit."

Is that even plausible? Is my Q5 double the average efficiency? Even if it was, would the regulator automagically reduce power to give me longer battery life, or would I just have a 400 Lumen light with the same run-time? How much current does your light draw? My BS detector is in the red.

Thanks,
Chris

[Misan]

I liked this flashlight due to the possibility of using different types of batteries. Powerful and cheap.

[Dude Dudeson]

I just bought this light the other day from Shiningbeam and am waiting for it to arrive. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if you think this light is sufficient to use for hiking up in the mountains at night? Is it sufficient enough to light up the woods at night and be able to stay on trails easily? I've looked at some reviews and beam shots on here and it looks like it a fairly good light but can someone tell me if the flood/throw are both decent enough for hiking/camping?

I used one extensively for night hiking last summer, it is plenty adequate. On a moonless night you can see way over a hundred feet away with it.

The hotspot can be a bit bright on the high setting, simply use the lower setting when needed. Great balance of throw and flood though. A bit floodier would be nice for trails, but then again I kind of like having throw capacity on tap when I'm night hiking (that is, no need to grab another light or switch settings).

[amigafan2003]

RC-N3's with XP-G R4's now on Bryans website :-)

[BartholemewH]

Hi everyone,

I'm a complete noob when it comes to LED flashlights (well flashlights in general really), but I'm very interested in the Romisen RC N3 due to the different configs offered.

Of the Shiningbeam RC N3's, is the brand new R4 version the best? The price differential between it and Q5 is not much. I'd probably be looking at using it on Alkaline AA's or NiMH.

Any advice on which N3 or N3 II to keep in the car or around the house would be appreciated.

BartholemewH.

[Superorb]

Hi everyone,

I'm a complete noob when it comes to LED flashlights (well flashlights in general really), but I'm very interested in the Romisen RC N3 due to the different configs offered.

Of the Shiningbeam RC N3's, is the brand new R4 version the best? The price differential between it and Q5 is not much. I'd probably be looking at using it on Alkaline AA's or NiMH.

Any advice on which N3 or N3 II to keep in the car or around the house would be appreciated.

BartholemewH.

If you just want one to keep in a car, make sure you use lithium batteries as they have a MUCH longer shelf life than alkalines. I'd also keep them out of the flashlight in the glovebox in a small plastic baggy or something else so that it won't short out.

It's definitly worth the extra few bucks for the XP-G lights. The 2-mode is also good to have so you don't kill your batteries if you don't need the extra light. The RC-N3 was my favorite light until I switched to 18650 cells and Solarforce flashlights. The RC-N3 is an excellent beginner light.

[alfreddajero]

I have the Q5 version and it is one of my small pocket rockets when using a 16340.

[brjones]

Can the RC-N3 do a "Candle" mode, a.k.a. be a "Mule", like the RC-G2 can? (I.e. be able to leave pill screwed into body, with reflector/head off.) For those who like short posts: that's my main question, if you can contribute but are in a hurry, just skip over the details now.

--------------------

For those still reading, I watched the OP's Youtube video of the single-AA Romisen, the RC-G2, entitled something like 'best cheap flashlight for the money'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvWnT...eature=related
This is DealExtreme sku 3607, but available at many other vendors.
In that review, he screws the head off of the (AA) G2 model, and the pill stays screwed into the body. The head contains only the reflector and bezel, not the business part. *I* think that's awesome, and want to find that in a single 16340/RC123A. N3 is similar as I can tell to the G2 in the Romisen line. But when I watched the OP's video of the N3, he scewed off the head and what looked like the "pill" stayed screwed into the head, letting you look straight into the battery tube at the battery.

Seemed different than a lot of flashlights in that the N3 seemed to have a pill which did screw into the battery tube, but that there were also threads on the top end that the head screwed onto. Or--was the pill press-fitted into the head? The reviewer did not go into this or comment if the pill could be taken out.

Considering he liked the 'candle' factor so much for the G2, I would've expected him to comment how the N3 fits together; I find that often lacking not only in reviews, but in the vendor's photographs. Sometimes a reviewer kindly includes a pic of everything dissembled, but with no comment, not even items assembled 'in a row' as if a real-life exploded diagram, so even then it can be difficult to 'mentally reassemble' the pieces to figure out how it does what it does (for instance, the locking ring in the C6 which prevents users from entirely screwing off the head).

I'd really love some enlightenMEnt. If there were a photographic or video addendum, that would be even better. I really can't figure out how much the N3, G2 and C6 (the flood-to-throw one) are based off of each other. They can interchange bodies (I think?!). Can they exchange switches and even PILLS? (Even if it's just for 'mule' mode.)

The N3's pill clearly goes (threads?) into the head and possibly also into the body (like the Trustfire 801?), while the G2 threads only into the body--however I wonder if the G2 and C6 pills are interchangeable, and how much interchangeability there is between pills generally in the industry? I always see people replacing boards or stars, or individual LED's... seems it would be easier to swap whole pills in. You know, make some standard and sell assembled Pills and get away from the "drop-in" (reflector+pill) model, as the unthreaded drop-ins are reaching their design limitations as far as heat. Screwing pills directly into bodies makes much more sense--both from a heat and flexibility perspective (mule mode). However I see manufacturers who make "mule-able" models like the Aurora/Spiderfire/MTE SSC P7 "C2-esque" often GLUING the head down, locking people out of that feature, even if they can still screw easily out the pill! And yet even they, when I look at the pills of many models, SEEM to have some kind of standard on their hands--but i'm not sure. And DX doesn't sell replacement pills for popular flashlight series, just "drop-ins", and I only know of 2: "P60" and an unnamed (?) format designed for the WF-500. I'm sure there are a lot of C2 owners who got an R2 or something, and would love to have a P7. And there will be MANY P7 Aurora/Spiderfire/MTE owners who would love to put an SST-50 or SST-90 pill in there. The cheapest version of that body goes for around $15 on DX. Would be great for peole to screw in P7, MC-E, and SST modules just like people buy a cheap WF-50* and shop for a drop-in.

I see the future of LED's, and it's pills which screw directly into bodies, not heads, not reflectors which may or may not fully contact a reflector head and which are insulated by air by use of springs attached the pill. If the torch industry can get its act together (maybe they already have) and agree on an unofficial 'standard' like happened with the P60, it will cause a new revolution in sales like P60s got people to stop upgrading their mini-mags when the inherent design made heat management impossible to keep up with technology. Zebralight showed that a bare LED with literally no reflector or optics can do well and be desirable. Yet the ability to switch back and forth from reflector to Candle is priceless to some, especially if it would be combined with a flood-to-throw optic. That flood-to-throw thing seems like a fad now, but you just watch.

Dereelight is the closest I know of to this, selling pills alone, but the pills still only screw into drop-in reflectors--not bodies. They sell pills onlys so ppl can choose their pill and reflector separately.

Thanks Kramer5150 for the OP!! Impressive also how well the diminuitive 'keychain'/clip Romisen C3 stood up to the N3! Now if I could get a mule of THAT going!

[charlie_hng]

The driver pill assembly is screwed in the head. If you removed it, it won't hold on to the battery tube so the answer is no.

[Lion of Zion]

Thanks for the Great review!! Just pulled the trigger on one from ShiningBeam.com. Have been using a SureFire G2 for a long time and wanted something I could use AA batteries in.

[MojaveMoon07]

I'm trying to decide between the RC-N3 [warm white] and the RC-G2 [warm white].

There's a comment (link) about the RC-N3 from DHart that really captured my attention:

"The RC-N3 has a good bright spot, but its a wider softer spot, gradually easing into a nice wide and bright spill... excellent for general use. This smooth, gradually integrated transition from spot to fill is what I love about this light's beam (same with LF3XT and D10). That's why my E1B doesn't get as much use... I tend to use lights more for general use than for distant stuff... but I'm sure glad to have the E1B for times when I can use a compact light that throws well."


This sounds like the beam pattern of flashlights like the Fenix E01, Brinkmann Armor Max 1xAA, and Princeton Tec Rage incandescent; it's a beam pattern that is very useful to me on night time walks.

Does the RC-G2 have a beam pattern similar to that of the RC-N3 as described by DHart ? If "no", in what way is the beam pattern different ?

[jdmc]

Thanks for the great review of the N3 we ordered 2 of the one mode version at BoB and the Catapult V2 at FlashlightCon ....waiting....the order..

[ryaxnb]

So you know, ive reviewed the R4 version here
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=287393
I recommend the R4 version over the Q5 version. Its still a very good throw/flood balance, and is very bright.
At the time, my only other point of comparison was a mini mag. I now have compared it to a Romisen RC-I3 from DX and a river rock cree q5 light, as well as a solarforce l2-r5. the only one that beats it is the solarforce r5, but that runs from 2x123A batteries; as such it has twice the voltage of this light.
Ive also tested regulation and i must say it has incredibly good regulation throughout the battery life.

[forkandbowl]

I'm not sure if this is the same precise model or not, but I know I have the rc-n3. I have one I purchased from DX and I gave my brother one I purchased from goinggear's store. We are both firefighters, and abuse these lights. I can speak more for mien than my brothers though. I use ultrafire rechargeables, and have this light mounted to my helmet. It is great for any time I am on a highway and need help keeping people from running me over. Primarily though it has been a beast in fires. This light has been in fires hot enough to burn the leather shield and thermoplastic eye protection on my helmet and still works like a champ . I consider it to be a crucial part of my firefighting gear. It has been through several dozen fires and still works as new. I have turned several other firefighters on to this light and have heard no complaints.


Great little light.

[MojaveMoon07]

Thank you, forkandbowl.

I've been wanting a budget priced light for use during yardwork that'll tolerate hands dirty from gasoline, grease, oil, etc. and am recently considering either the Romisen RC-G2 or, in light of your review, the Romisen RC-N3 if shiningbeam sells it again.

I was thinking that during exposure to those things that the rubber button over the switch might deteriorate. But maybe I don't have to worry about that if the rubber button on your switch has survived everything you described while on the job.