I guess Nicolicous is not the target market for this light. I am. So are many others. The Astrolux looks Sweet, but if I only had $40, Iād buy the ReyLight.
Agree with what gunga and DB mentioned.
I have the S41, and no doubt will also pre-order the new S41S but the ReyLight brass light fills a niche market not targetted at beginners or first time buyers.
I have the BLF Reylight Ti triple and Iām waiting for the reviews of this light before I jump in to add to my collection of brass and copper lights.
I made the prototype for the Astrolux, itās based on my own modification to the copper X5 and I sent an aluminum model to Neal for them to go by. They tweaked it as they saw fit, of course, and as production could handle. They also re-designed the mcpcb with certain dangerous elements, namely putting the positive trace very very near to the screws that could short it to ground. Perhaps some have already forgotten itās potential issues. At any rate, it is indeed a fairly sweet little light and certainly not a direct contender to this brass custom AA Rey has designed and implemented. Different animals, as it were. One is a potential hot rod that could get someone in trouble, the other is a sweet elegant gift option that any kid can use. A businessmans EDC, as it were.
Edit: Makes me wonder whoās seen the MecArmy PT16 in Titanium or Brass? $260 or $190 respectively? Um, yeah, nope. Rey delivers.
For half the price of MecArmy PT16 titanium or brass, can get the Blackwater SR71.
mhanlen has a video rrview of the Blackwater.
Solidly built, pity about the dreadful UI as the using the same UI as MecArmy PT series gen1
If Rey decides to design his triple EDC but with brass or copper, and newer driver than his Titanium triple, Iāll join the que again
I know you mod lights and im impress with your work. I also can mod too but no way near you but I do respect your skills. I hate modding because it takes time to get the parts also the cost adds up further as well as thing can go wrong during the modding. However this is not about the modding discussion rather a product offering on the market.
Like i said earlier, I honestly like the light design but it hasnt got me to a point to click the buy button. At this stage itās just a pretty brass tube thatās all.
lets look other light manufactors why they are doing well and have unique features.
zebralight SC5AA with same batery configuration as Reylight AA- can pump 535Lumens on burst mode with good modes spacing as well as supper moon mode 0.1 Lm constaly running 4 months. No other lights can do this and they are unique whereas ReyLight offering 170lumens on burst (not so wow) and any cheap lights can do this too.
Imalent lights- offer cool and innovated features such as touchscreen like no other flashlights can deliver or copy. They do have issues but heading into a good direction and maybe one day they will have it running perfect once they work out the bugs.
Foursevens flashlights - offering cool and crazy features like bluetooth control and others. They do have issues but they are unique and innovating the technolgy. Perhaps it will be perfect oneday once they resolve bug issues.
The bottom line is consumer want to spend their money with good features, good design in comparison with other flashlights offering in the market. If you donāt think like consumers or deliver what they want then itās going to be a tough road of business.
The reality is that I have been observing both lights from bangood when they released to the market ( S41S and Reylights AA) for similar price and it speaks for itself.
ReyLight Brass 219CT - 1 preorder
Astrolux S41S- 74 preorders and i still havent order my lights yet. This number will continue to grow and you can watch it later
Edit: I wont be further discussing on this topic as it will open up a can of worms. I dont mean to put negative things to the post rather contributing my view . The manufacturer can choose to listen to customers or refuse and itās their choice of a dry business road.
Nico, youāre comparing a quad pocket rocket to a genteel business manās EDC. The target market is on opposite ends of the spectrum. Price point is not particularly it at all. AND, the quad has TKās excellent driver, only Li-ion of course, obviously Manker is making good use of itās BLF affiliation and drawing the crowd based on output and membership.
Rey doesnāt have this background. Doesnāt have TK programming driverās for him. Neither does ZebraLight for that matter. And have you bought a ZebraLight lately? (was it $40 or less?) I am one that doesnāt care for the ZL programming, pulled the driver out of mine and put a TK written driver in. I havenāt seen a light made by anyone that can put out over 500 lumens on an AA cell. Not even close.
A lot of folks want an AA light that can take a regular alkaline cell as well as the Li-ion cell. This fills the bill in a nice way and makes the power. Logically speaking, too much is too much, even for me. Whatās the point in having a tiny light that can make a zillion lumens if you canāt hold onto it? Iāve made AAA sized Li-ion 10440 lights make over 1000 lumens, itās just not practical though and the reality is they canāt be used in a normal environment.
This is not about what is best, what is cheapest, what makes the most burst lumens. This is about Rey, offering us a light we like. In much the same way that Old-Lumens sells anything he makes. Rey has a following of people that like what he does. Iām one of em.
Weāre obviously talking about a light in this little brass AA from Rey that is, as yet, unseen. Letās get it in our hands and run the tests and see just exactly what it actually does before knocking it as an under performer, right? Iāll have one Tuesday and weāll see what it can do.
Well, even if anything else in this light fails to attract, this is the first light I see with the 90+ CRI 219C, well sourced, Rey! I have not even had the chance to test it!
I donāt really find the S41 / S41S very interesting, in large part because I already have a Reylight Ti 18350 completely customized to my preferences, and itās prettier, lighter, and has a clip. The Astrolux one goes for maximum output at a minimum cost, while Reyās triple focuses more on doing it with style.
This brass light is interesting to me for similar reasons ā because itās a beautiful high-quality hostā¦ and it has a clip.
The Astrolux light makes a decent pocket rocket, an attempt to fit as much power as possible into a small space, but Reyās lights are art.
If the zombie apocalypse came and I needed a practical survival light to stretch my last few batteries as far as theyāll go, Iād pick a Zebralight. But in common daily life scenarios Iām not too concerned about those things, and would rather have something a bit more luxurious. Like, a Jeep versus a Cadillac.
Zebralight has been consistently leading the pack for driver efficiency and boost power, and thatās a wonderful thing. But itās not a very useful comparison here. The 535-lm SC5 AA doesnāt accept 14500 cells, is low-CRI cool white, only comes in military drab aluminum, requires 14+ clicks to go between 8 lm and 48 lm, isnāt moddable, and it costs nearly twice as much. Totally different beast.
I like Zebralights and have several, but if someone gave me a SC5 AA for free I probably wouldnāt use itā¦ because for my purposes itās kind of a downgrade from my Olight S1 Ti. However, this brass light is more unique and is something Iād find excuses to carry and use.
As a general rule, if it has a tritium slot, itās probably not in the same market as type III hard-anodized aluminum lights.
I will start a pre-sale thread soon, after Gungaās review. They will be sold and shipped by banggood.I have a job, and I donāt have much time to check and ship them one by one.
Thanks for the TK firmware last year. I canāt remember why I quitted and went for else.