Astrolux A01 AAA measurements (High CRI Nichia)

Astrolux A01 is a new waterproof mini flashlight that uses an AAA battery and a high CRI Nichia LED. Its maximum width is 16,6 mm on the head with a length of 72,7 mm. Weight is 16 grams without a battery and 29 g with an Eneloop. The light is available in black, silver and purple finish.

The light is available only with a Nichia 219B LED. Color temperature is just shy of 4000 K on an Eneloop and a tad higher on a 10440. The light is high CRI with a color rendering index of over 90. Color temperature stays consistent in the spill.

Switch is a twisty type. Changing between the two modes is done by switching the light off and back on again. After the second round the light goes to strobe mode (L-M-H-L-M-H-Strobe-L-M-H…). On my other sample the connection is not very reliable and the light sometimes flickers especially on the low mode when touching the light.

In addition to alkaline and NiMH batteries, the A01 works with a 10440 lithium ion cell too. On a 10440 the output increases to 226 lumens from Eneloop’s 87. Prolonged use of 10440 battery is not recommended though, since the light gets very hot during use. With a fan blowing on it I measured the head at 47°C after 5 minutes. This is way too hot to comfortably hold with bare hands. With an Eneloop and no fan the temperature climbs up to 54°C after 10-20 minutes. The light gets cooler as the ouput diminishes.

On an Eneloop the output is well regulated until to about 40 minutes after which the light starts to dim faster. Only the high mode works well with a 10440, on low and medium the output varies sporadically. There’s no straight up flicker but sudden variations in output. An Eneloop worked fine after using the 10440, so the driver did not get damaged.

The beam angle is 83° with a hotspot of 27°.

There is no PWM.


Astrolux A01, Rayus C01, Fenix E05, DQG Tiny AAA 7

Measurements

Please note: lumen measurements are only rough estimates
My diy integrating styrofoam box cooler has been calibrated using a Fenix E05 on high with manufacturer’s claim of 85 lumens. Verified with an Olight S10 that has been measured with a Labsphere FS2 integrating sphere by valostore.fi. Results may be more inaccurate with especially throwy or floody lights.

For spectral information and CRI calculations I have an X-rite i1Pro spectrophotometer with HCFR for the plot and ArgyllCMS spotread.exe for the data. For runtime tests I use spotread.exe with a custom script and a i1Display Pro because it doesn’t require calibration every 30 minutes like the i1Pro.

Explanation of abbreviations
CCT = correlated color temperature, higher temperature means cooler (bluish)
CRI (Ra) = color rendering index consisting of 8 different colors (R1-R8), max value 100
CRI (R9) = color rendering index with deep red, usually difficult for led based light sources, max value 100
TLCI = television lighting consistency index, max value 100
x,y = coordinates on a CIE 1931 chart

Spectral distribution

Tint

Runtime (high)

Temperature

On an Eneloop after 10 minutes on high without a fan.


On a 10440 after 5 minutes on high with a fan.

So according to your data this can run on 10440?

Nice measurements again, love the spectra and CRI confirmation, I can get addicted to these little reviews

I didn’t notice any ill effects afterwards, but as usual your mileage may vary. I was happy to sacrifice one of two A01’s for the test, but was happily surprised that nothing broke.

Great information, thank you for putting it together.

I had run one of the ones I had on a 3.2V LiFePO4 10440 for ~5min or so, with no apparent ill effects… Thanks for this update! My 3.7V 10440 was a flattop and would not work in this light.

Great work there maukka! CRI testing, color temp testing, and even R9 values!

EDIT: regarding the 10440 use, I think if it can work on 10440 then afterwards still work on eneloop/alkaline then it should be good.
Some AAA lights are unable to function correctly on regular AAA after they’ve taken 10440.

Agreed! At present, there is no one else combining spectral and CRI data with the other hard numbers Maukka provides. Your reviews, Maukka, are among my favorites.

I also appreciate the objective description of the flicker Maukka reported in one of his samples. Hopefully that can be improved by cleaning or applying DeoxIT.

Presumably, beam intensity measurements were made to determine the beam distances reported in this review. As long as the data are available anyway, I would like to see candela numbers posted alongside beam distances. That is, however, only a small nitpick.

I am not, in general, a fan of twisties, but I made an exception for this high-CRI model. Mine should be arriving soon.

Many thanks!

Great review, I especially like the CRI and heat values. I’m surprised it gets so hot on an Enloop, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised on a small light.

If you really wanted to risk the light, it would be interesting to know how hot it gets on a 10440 without fan cooling. (Probably do it somewhere safe, in case the battery goes up.)

I’m looking forward to getting mine (that I ordered a month ago). Ordering two more, based on positive reviews like this.

I been testing this light on a AAA alkaline (Defiant brand batteries from Home Depot) and its run time on medium mode is very impressive, my Astrolux A01 ran for 14 hours non stop, ( for 9 hours it did not dim all that much, but after that it began to dim noticeably, but still very usable light even at 14 hours. it ran 2.5 times longer as my modded Tank E01 on medium mode with the same Alkaline battery type, and roughly the same output (both with a 219B emitter.) my Tank07 E09 with 219 sucked the AAA alkaline cell empty in 5 hours on medium.

Thanks for your great review, nice to have the CCT, CRI, TLCI data. :nerd_face:

now available in Copper!

Too expensive :frowning:

It’s $20 with the group buy code, not $30 as listed. Not cheap compared to the aluminum model (which is a good deal), but if you like copper it’s not a bad price.

I’m not sure why copper doubles the price, because surely there isn’t much value in the copper, but perhaps it’s more difficult to manufacture or just lower scale.