HD Video Review: Rayus C01 AAA Nichia 219 b11 keychain light. Stress tests and jokes!

Ok, so here's my review of the new Rayus C01. Rayus is a brand new flashlight manufacturer, that as of this review, only has three lights. This is the first review anywhere of any of their lights. In a collaboration between shiningbeam and Rayus, they sent me this light to check out. I don't know the retail cost yet, so you'll have to contact the manufacturer. The light comes in one of two tints, the light they sent me is the Neutral White tint version of the light and it uses the Nichia 219 5000k, which is a high CRI (83+) LED. This review is primarily the video review, but I'll throw in a few pictures to make this post a little less boring looking.



In the video, I go over a ton of stuff about the light. There are tint comparisons, beamshots on white walls. Plenty of shots of the light in action around the house, with the scene illuminated only by the flashlight.


There's also a lot of bad jokes, a drop test from a two story window, and a I throw the light in my washing machine with a load of laundry. WILL IT SURVIVE????? You need to check out the video to see!


A few tech specs about the video. It is available in crisp 1080p High Def, but you'll probably need to set that up by clicking the little gear box on the youtube player. I recently acquired a professional microphone and mixing board, so the audio quality of the voiceover has improved dramatically. And I nixed the music because I hate trying to fight copyright issues, when someone tries to claim "public domain" music as their own. So sorry, but the music was terrible anyway.











And here are some iphone "macros" of the light.









And last but not least, a tint comparison. Can you guess all the lights? It's in the video as well, but here's a photo I also took of the tint comparison.















Thanks for looking!

Thanks for the review, I've been waiting to see some more info on Rayus. Btw, the LED in this one looks much more like a Nichia 119 than a 219 (due to the die size) to me.

Well it's listed as a 219 in the manual. And on their website. I have no other Nichias, so I can't compare them.

They have two other lights listed but I don't have any more review samples and I don't know who was given them. I'm looking forward to seeing how their other lights perform, as I'm more interested in 18650 lights anyway.

Is there only one brightness mode? I think I saw you had it on a blinky mode in the video? If so what is the UI for it?

jruser said:

Is there only one brightness mode? I think I saw you had it on a blinky mode in the video? If so what is the UI for it?

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1 mode twisty. That blinky thing is what it does instead of shutting completely down. I guess it means "needs a new battery."

Thanks for the info. I'd love a Nichia keychain light, but a one mode light would be too big of a tradeoff.

Very enjoyable review and loved the video (subscribed as well)! May have to pick one up.

How would you rate the build quality?

ronniepudding said:

How would you rate the build quality?

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I own a Fenix LD15, which is a very similar style but larger light, and I'd say the build quality is nearly identical.

moshow9 said:

Very enjoyable review and loved the video (subscribed as well)! May have to pick one up.

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Thanks a lot!

Is it really as dim as ~20 lumens??

OMG

That is so 90's retro :twothumbs

shelm said:

Is it really as dim as ~20 lumens??

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Their website shows 29 lumen output for the Nichia 219 model and 35 lumens for the XP-G2. http://www.rayuslight.com/detail.aspx?cid=191

I think 30-35 lumens with a 4-hour run time is a good level for a single-mode keychain AAA light. I carried a Thrunite TiS on my keychain for a while and liked the simplicity, but I found the ~60 lumen output too high for many uses (reading a map for instance) and the the run time unacceptably short. Of course one of the most appealing things about the TiS is that it was ~$8 shipped... but based upon the sample I have, you got what you paid for with that light in terms of build quality.

If Rayus indeed has Fenix-like machining and anodizing (I have no reason to doubt mhanlen on that point), -- and considering that the Nichia 219B option is rare in a keychain light -- then $15 sounds OK in comparison to the TiS. If it was a few bucks cheaper it would probably sell better, but I think I'll try one.

HD Video Review: Rayus C01 AAA Nichia 219 b11 keychain light. Stress tests an...

It's a light er, um flashlight. I thought that the fenix ld15 was a tad thin walled, but it seems that these size keychain lights are all like it. But yeah if the word "fenix" was written on the side I wouldn't think twice about it.

I don't own a single thrunite so I can't make an apt comparison to the TiS, but the 30 lumens is perfect for close up stuff around the house at night.

Rumor has it that it can run off a 10440, even though the manual forbids it. A guy on another forum said he tried it with no problem, and rayus customer service responded that they tried it as well with no problem. I won't try it because I don't really need it. But this light is a good simple balance between runtime and output. Plus the tint is nice.

EDIT: I tried a 10440 battery and I only have a flat top efest 350mah. It does not work with a flat top, and I was unable to try it with a button top. Other people have been successful with a button top and have had no issue. But do not use a flat top.

Re: HD Video Review: Rayus C01 AAA Nichia 219 b11 keychain light. Stress tests an...

I dig the name though.

R.A.Y.U.S


So much better than mikropluebear, supabeam, supfire, or a$$beam LMAO

Re: HD Video Review: Rayus C01 AAA Nichia 219 b11 keychain light. Stress tests an...

If you look at their 'PT10' model listed on the website it looks more like they use the same OEM as Fenix do for at least some of their models, not just that they are similar in quality.

Re: HD Video Review: Rayus C01 AAA Nichia 219 b11 keychain light. Stress tests an...

RedForest UK said:

If you look at their 'PT10' model listed on the website it looks more like they use the same OEM as Fenix do for at least some of their models, not just that they are similar in quality.

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Yeah it looks a lot like the TK22... just a little bit of difference in the center knurling and that's it.

Re: HD Video Review: Rayus C01 AAA Nichia 219 b11 keychain light. Stress tests an...

One final thing to add to this thread. The LED is in fact a Nichia 219, but instead of the 4500k 92+ CRI, it's a 5000k 83+ CRI Nichia. A vendor did some digging, and although the emitters looks nearly identical, it's just a tad cooler than originally thought. Since it was a Neutral white, and a 219, I didn't realize the difference- but I figure I needed to address it.

Re: HD Video Review: Rayus C01 AAA Nichia 219 b11 keychain light. Stress tests an...

Power draw/runtime?

Re: HD Video Review: Rayus C01 AAA Nichia 219 b11 keychain light. Stress tests an...

You must have not seen the time lapse section regarding runtime in the video, but it's 3 hours and 45 minutes of constant brightness before it tapers off. It's at about 2:45 in the video, FYI. My multimeter is on the fritz, so I can't give you a tailcap measurement sorry.

Re: HD Video Review: Rayus C01 AAA Nichia 219 b11 keychain light. Stress tests an...

After seeing your review I broke down and ordered one. The tint alone had me sold.

Re: HD Video Review: Rayus C01 AAA Nichia 219 b11 keychain light. Stress tests an...

bodhran said:

After seeing your review I broke down and ordered one. The tint alone had me sold.

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So did I!