ROFIS R3 ( XM-L2 U3, 18650) ~ The new addition to Rofis' R Series

The flashlight was sent to me by ROFIS for review.
Here's the product's link: ROFIS R3

A
s with all of Rofis' products, the R3 comes in a nice cardboard box with pretty graphics.


The front portion of the package folds sideways for displaying the flashlight while in the box.


Rofis does include a bunch of cool accessories along with the R3.
In total you get a couple of spare o-rings, a wrist strap, the proprietary USB charging cable and the necessary headband to turn the R3 into a headlamp.


As with all of the R Series lights, the R3 follows the well known all-black color scheme with some metal accents.
The knurling along the body is cylindrical, while the operation of the light is accomplished by the side mounted e-switch.


Opposite the e-switch there are the two concentric metal plates that constitute the charging interface of the flashlight.


A reverse mounted pocket clip is also included with the light.
The clip provides good detention and requires a moderate amount of force to get it mounted.


The e-switch is surrounded by a metal ring and is remotely raised.
It's covered by a soft rubber boot and includes an indicator led in its center.


Only the tail side threads are accessible to the user.
The threads despite being quite thin, are very cleanly cut and arrived nicely lubricated.


The tail contains just a thick copper spring and a strong magnet.


Of course, the R3 can be mounted on metal surfaces with ease.


The flashlight comes with a smooth reflector and an XM-L2 U3 emitter in NW tint.


Of course, the rotational head is the selling point of the R Series.
The rotation mechanism is robust and sturdy, while the rotation requires a medium amount of force.


The 90 degree rotation can be completed normally even if the pocket clip is in place.


The included headband is high quality and is strapped both around and over the head.


Both elastic bands are fully adjustable.


The R3 gets easily seated into place and stays secured thanks to the elasticity of the rubber loops.


It can be mounted both fully extended or with the head rotated.


In both scenarios, the switch as well as the charging interface remain accessible to the user.


ROFIS has implemented a sophisticated and easy to use charging system.
The included charging cable contains a magnet which allows it to snap into position once placed close to the flashlight's head.


As said in my review for the R2, the philosophy of ROFIS' charging plug is similar to Apple's Magsafe connector.


Once charging, the indicator LED will shine to notify the user about the battery's charge level.


The maximum charging current that I was able to record was around 1.6A.


The R3 comes with a ROFIS branded, 3400mAh 18650 cell.


The negative side of the battery has the 'R' logo imprinted into it.
Nice attention to detail!


The battery weights around 48 grams.


While the R3 is another 79 grams.


From left to right: Rofis R2, Jaxman E2L, Rofis R3, Klarus XT2CR, Sofirn C8F


User Interface

The R3 is using an identical UI with the R2 that I have already reviewed :)
Here's all the available actions of the R3's UI.

Power on/off: Single press.
Mode switch: Long press while powered on. The flashlight will cycle though Low -> Mid -> High -> Low. The cycle occurs in ~0.75 second intervals.
Turbo: Double press from anywhere.
Moonlight: Long press from off.
Lock Engage: Long press for 4+ seconds while off. Once engaged the light will flash two times.
Lock Disengage: Long press for 3 seconds. Once disengaged the light will power on in Low mode.
Strobe: Triple press from anywhere.
SOS: Long press for 1 second while in strobe mode.


Performance and Beamshots

In order to get my measurements, I used both a DMM and the ROFIS branded 18650 cell that was included with the light.
Here's my ceiling bounce measurements along with the current draw for each power level.


Here's Turbo mode compared to my other lights.


According to my ceiling bounce results, the R3 is indeed pushing the advertised 1250Lumen.
I also went ahead and measured the standby current drain, which ended up being 78μA.

For the last part, here's some wall beamshots of the different brightness modes.
Moon - Low - Mid - High - Turbo


Overall, my opinion for the R3 is just as good as for the R2 that I have already been using for a while.
It's a nicely engineered light that stands out thanks to its quality and its rotational head.

When you say “The flashlight will cycle though Low -> Mid -> High -> Low. The cycle occurs in ~0.75 second intervals” do you mean each step takes .75 so that low back to low is 2.25 seconds or do you mean each change is 0.25 seconds?

I mean that each step takes 0.75 seconds.
So a full cycle (Low -> … -> Low ) takes around 2.25 seconds.

is it always start on low?

Even though I forgot to mention it, mode memory exists :slight_smile:
So the light starts in the last used mode.

Have you calculated the time it takes to recharge the Rofis 18650?

In theory it should take around 2 hours. Once I get the battery fully discharged, I will measure the exact time needed and I will update you!

OK thanks.

Great review thanks!

Is the head glued? (to get to the emitter to replace it)

Can you ask Banggood to stock this in NW?

They show it “coming soon-under restocking” but looks like only one version, doesn’t show CW or NW

NW version 5000K? Where??

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dtools&field-keywords=rofis+r3+
https://www.fasttech.com/product/9642150-authentic-rofis-r3-led-flashlight-set
https://www.dx.com/p/rofis-r3-portable-1250-lumens-flashlight-headlamp-w-multi-angle-lighting-512667#.Wsf8aH8h2M8
http://volumerate.com/product/rofis-r3-portable-1250-lumens-flashlight-headlamp-w-multi-angle-lighting-512667?utm_source=vr&utm_medium=productbysearch&utm_campaign=search

Five web stores selling this and all show only the CW version

It’s rather upsetting that both reviews on this review the NW version, but NO ONE is listing it for sale :rage: