Romisen RC-N3 II CREE XP-G R4 2-Mode

Has anyone ordered one of these yet? It looks like a great value from http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-214/**NEW**-Romisen-RC-dsh-N3-II/Detail Its about time that we are seeing some more cheap XP-G AA lights.


**NEW** Romisen RC-N3 II CREE R4 2-Mode LED Flashlight "Black"

SKU: 1209
Price: $25.75
This item is in stock


*This Customized 2-mode RC-N3 uses a Premium CREE XP-G R4 emitter, about 70% more output than the regular model*
*Uses premium 2B tint Cree XP-G R4*


* This light comes with an extension tube, which allows you to use it in 2 formats 1 X CR123A or 2 X AA
* Tactical monentary-on forward switch

* Constant brightness: Up to 280 LED Lumens
* Compatible with 2 x AA and 1x CR123A
* Runs fine with some RCR123A, but not recommended by manufacturer
* Water resistant design
* Aluminum alloy casing
* Glow in the dark tail cap
* Textured (OP) aluminum reflector


Dimensions: 6.18 in x 1.1 in x 1.1 in
Weight: 3.35 oz

I'm not very keen on 2xAA designs and it can't use RCR123s so it wouldn't suit me at all well. That said, it seems a nice enough light.

Hi

I have the old version of this light and I dont use anything else than RCRs in it.

I know that they wrote that they do not recommend them, but so far (more than

a year) it have worked without any trouble with rechargeables.

Edit.; Forgot to mension that the extensiontube can be used on the C6 as well.

That's useful to know. I thought SB usually got his own drivers and assumed he meant 3V or 3.2V rechargeables which I have no intention of buying for one light. It doesn't look bad on the single RCR configuration.

He has to put that in as well, but as for the light using rcrs its fine. Havent put my order in yet, have to pay my tab first.

It's a little off topic but....................

I bought this light from Bryan @ ShiningBeam, but it's the Q3-5C NW model. I really like the "warmer" tint.

I'm using the light in the 2AA mode & am very happy with both the light & the CS @ ShiningBeam.

Mike

You just cant beat bryans service when it comes to lights......do you know that he will test the light out to make sure its working properly. I cant for him to get the new LMinis.

I bought one from shinning beam and I gotta say it's not nearly as bright as i was hopping it would be. Compaired to a single mode r2 xre drop-in that is several years old now. The r2 is much brighter than this r4 light. I know the emitters are different but up close and in a ceiling bounce the romison is dimmer. Shining beam says 280 lumens. This is almost dx like of him to say that. On a set of eneloops, low mode draws .73 amps and high mode draws .9 amps from the tail. Yes the low mode is too high.

I had one from dx for around 16$ that performed very well. Had the usual medium mode not really a low and disco mode which was very powerfull. It was decently bright tho. Would say on par with better 1AA flashlights let say skyray S-A1 1AA. Maybe perhaps a bit colder tint but still reasonable. At that time was my best thrower.

Yes, I have one of these I ordered from Shiningbeam. The specs said 280 lumens so I thought, WOW this is heckuva bright for a 2AA light.

The flashlight arrived within a week (very fast) and I eagerly opened it up and started using it in the 2AA configuration. Out of the many lights I own, it is one of the dimmest. Just to give you an example: 2 of my (budget) lights that are rated at 180 and 190 lumens are noticeably brighter than this one.

Later, I thought that maybe it would be brighter using a single CR123 battery, so I ordered a few. The batteries arrived 3 days ago and I promptly popped one in and switched on the flashlight. NO difference. The output was the same. I have now decided to give this light away as a present as it does not meet my needs (more power). And another thing... it's not that cheap. I have a number of lights that cost $12 - $18 that are brighter than this; except they're not AA ones.

Shining beam says 280 lumens. This is almost dx like of him to say that. On a set of eneloops, low mode draws .73 amps and high mode draws .9 amps from the tail.

A r2 properly driver at 1A @ 3.5v is 3.5w. N3 in this case is like .9*2.4 or ~ 2.5W minus loses or <2W. The ~10% difference in bins is not going to make that up.

Yeah i know it's a fault of the driver. This thing has a POS driver. Good thing this light wasn't for me. I purchased it for a friend who i would only trust with a AA light. He will think it's very bright anyway. He has nothing to compare it to. It wasn't very expensive but I could have bought somthing much cheaper had i known that it would be like this.

It doesn't have a crap driver. Most AA lights are limited to 1-2A anyway partly because you may need to use alkalines at times, and higher currents will require higher production standards which isn't necessarily worth it in a flashlight.

It's par for course if we're talking non-lith.

Yup, that's the whole point. If I had no other lights I might have thought the same. So far I've bought more than a dozen lights ranging from $5 to $25 and therefore have some sort of reference as to how a flashlight should perform, with regards to its price. Ordering online has its risks, and this is one of them. You never really know what you're gonna get, although sometimes reviews can give you a fair idea of what to expect.

The problem is that i think I'm the first person to post negatively about this light. Both here and at cpf, people generally have nothing bad to say about it. I think perhaps many people who tend to buy 2AA lights are stuck on 2AA lights and don't know any better.

There are tangible benefits to AA lights.

This is my first post ever on any forum so here we go. I could not resist commenting on this thread as the first lights I bought revealing my addictive light acquistion disorder were from SB and included the rc-n3 II. My version was an older one which had an XR-E which I found to be dim compared to the other lights in the same order with same emitter. I popped in an RCR123 but the light wouldn't run due to design of the tailcap which shorted the battery as it was too tall. I rectified that with a plastic washer in the tail switch and BAM! 3.7 volts wakes this light right up.

Not happy with leaving things alone I decidided to push the envelope (those envelopes always seems to be in my way)Wink. I just had to see what the xr-e would do directly driven sooooooooo..... popped out the driver hotwired direct, pulled off tailcap to insert ammeter and OMG! nearly 2 amp draw and WOW! BRIGHT! I fully expected to have sacrificed something in the name of "cheap lightquest science" but this lil light just keeps going. I have run it as long as 25 minutes without color shift or uhm.... flames. The body of the light & aluminum reflector seem to disapate the heat well enough to keep this light from becoming a flame thrower *YMMV*. Don't try this at home kids.... I use the light all over the place without any failures thus far.

SUMMARY:

While in its out of box form its a rather ordinary unremarkable light, once modded, I have yet to find its equal. I would love to compare it to its higher priced peers like an Jetbeam RRT-0 or Incendio V3 ultra etc. but I'm too cheap to buy one of those just for comparison. Bought a few xpg r5s which I expected to outperform this lil guy but to my surprise, it out throws them and almost keeps up with them in shear output. This light remains the brightest pocket thrower I have seen. I currently own about 20 or so lights mostly 'budget' or midpriced. I have xr-e various bins, an MCE mg rx-1 converted to sst50 then recently XML so I have a new but somewhat informed frame of reference. For the money I paid, I am WAY happy.

Welcome get2net!

I'm glad you chose BLF for your virgin post...and a fine post it was. It's not well known, but I love seeing lights modded... Sounds like you made yourself one fine little pocket torch. Hope to see you post some more.

Cheers! :beer: :bigsmile: :beer:

Aloha and welcome to BLF get2net!

Very nice virgin post. :bigsmile:

Blimey! Welcome to BLF :)