Why have most flashlights only white light? In different situations you might want different colors. Red light should help with dark adaptation, while green light is often used for hunting. All three colors in one flashlight? And a thrower? The Cyansky H3 v2 is such a flashlight.
This flashlight was provided by Cyansky for this review, without any obligations. Thank you very much!
The review is also available in German on my website: SammysHP Blog › Cyansky H3 v2
Supplied parts and hardware
- 21700 Li-ion battery with 5000 mAh (3.59 V on delivery, button-top, 76 mm long, integrated USB-C charging)
- Lanyard
- Holster
- USB-C cable
- Replacement O-ring (2x)
- Replacement tail switch cover (1x)
- Manual (EN, CN)
Length: 170 mm
Diameter (head): 42.5 mm
Diameter (body): 25.4 mm (1 in)
Weight: 160 g + 73 g for the included battery
Starting at the head, it comes with a slightly crenelated bezel (stainless steel?). The silver color makes it very distinct from the rest of the flashlight. Maybe not very tactical in its shape, but definitely helpful because you can see if the light is turned on while standing on its head.
Everything else appears very simple. A few rings here and there, slightly flattened tailcap to stop the light from rolling away on a flat surface. The battery tube is smooth, no knurling at all, which makes it slightly slippery. The black anodization isn’t glossy, it has a slight satin finish, but not scratchy like a chalkboard.
There’s no charging port, which makes the flashlight more robust against water and dirt. But the included battery has its own USB-C charging port. Especially when you have a second battery in rotation it’s good that you can charge it outside the flashlight and don’t need a separate charger.
During charging a status LED next to the USB port lights up in red. It switches to green once charging is finished. The charging current is only 1.4 A which is rather slow for a 5000 mAh battery. A full charge takes about 4.5 h.
The H3 doesn’t come with a clip and has no way to attach one. But it comes with some kind of holster: A simple belt loop with an elastic band. Simple, but effective. There are also two holes in the tailcap to attach a lanyard.
You can disassemble the switch by unscrewing a retaining ring. This way it is easy to replace the switch cover in case it gets damaged (never happened to me). The tailcap has a thick double spring.
At the driver side there is a spring as well. This protects the battery on impact and allows for a wider range of supported batteries. You can unscrew the head, which is different from all my other Cyansky flashlights (which are all glued).
Machining is perfect, all edges are rounded, the anodization is without defects. The flashlight is rated at IPX8, so it can be submerged up to two meters and it should also survive drops of two meters height.
User interface and features
KISS – keep it simple, stupid! The H3 has a mechanical forward clicky at the tail to turn the flashlight on and off and also provide momentary light. An e-switch at the side controls the brightness/modes.
To enable the lowest mode you have to hold the side switch while turning on the light. There are no other shortcuts, turbo and strobe can only be enabled after the light was turned on. That’s OK for a hunting flashlight.
| State | Action | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Tail switch half | Momentary of last used brightness |
| Off | Tail switch full | Turn on (last used brightness) |
| Off | Hold side switch + press tail switch | Eco |
| On | Tail switch full | Turn off |
| On | Click side switch | Change brightness (Low → Medium → High → Turbo) |
| On | Hold side switch | Strobe (variable frequency) |
The tail switch has long travel and precise actuation and can be used easily with gloves. The side switch is harder to find and you might have to rotate the light for a while.
The momentary function of the forward clicky allows you to blink with the flashlight. But there is a 185 ms delay between pressing the switch until the light turns on. This makes short blinks difficult.
The switch includes a status LED that shows the approximate state of charge of the battery for three seconds after the light was turned on:
| Color | State of charge |
|---|---|
| Green | 75% – 100% |
| Green blinking | 50% – 75% |
| Red | 25% – 50% |
| Red blinking | < 25% |
The concept of using a tail switch to turn the light on and off and a side switch to change the brightness is very common, but has some downsides because you have to change your grip between the two switches. Having both switches together makes the manufacturing much more difficult, though.
Illumination
The H3 v2 uses a Luminus SFT-40, cool white, low CRI, but a great LED for throwers due to its small and slightly rounded area.
The LED is behind a glass with “magenta” anti-reflective coating in a smooth, deep reflector. This creates a very tight beam with small spill.
What makes it so special are the integrated color filters. By turning a ring at the head you can switch from white to red or green light.
The filters are located in a filter revolver, each with its own little reflector behind it. The control ring is connected with some gears and can easily rotated with one finger. Each color snaps precisely into place.
From a mechanical point of view it’s awesome! No more putting color filters in front of the light. On the other hand they are still filters and absorb unwanted wavelength. The cool white LED doesn’t have much green and red, and from the 1600 lm of the white light, only 400 lm in green and 100 lm in red are left.
Update: Unfortunately it turned out that the filters have problems with heat. Turning the light on in high, the red filter will darken within the first 5-10 seconds and the output will drop dramatically. Green is affected as well, just not as much. As far as I can see they recover after cooling down, but I don’t know if there is any permanent damage.
In comparison with the Cyansky K3 v2 you can see that the H3 has a little less throw and a smaller spot. But the spill is slightly brighter.
Driver and runtime
The runtime is only roughly specified by the manufacturer in the table. However there is also a runtime diagram in the manual.
| Mode | Brightness¹ | Runtime¹ | Intensity¹ (Throw²) | Current³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbo | 1600 lm | 2 h | 82 656 cd (575 m) | 6.50 A |
| High | 800 lm | 4 h | 37 056 cd (385 m) | 2.08 A |
| Medium | 150 lm | 16 h | 7 225 cd (170 m) | 0.36 A |
| Low | 30 lm | 66 h | 1 482 cd (77 m) | 0.13 A |
| Eco | 2 lm | 400 h | 0.25 cd (1 m) | 0.01 A |
| Off | ––– |
¹ According to manufacturer ² ANSI FL1 ³ Measured
Turbo runs for amazing four minutes until the brightness is slowly ramped down to about 40%. The flashlight reaches a maximum temperature of 51°C, after the stepdown it stabilizes at 35°C.
At 3.0 V the indicator LED starts to blink red and the main LED blinks every three minutes. There is no low voltage protection, the flashlight runs until the battery is completely drained or the battery protection kicks in. After I stopped my runtime measurements the voltage was at only 2.55 V.
Brightness is regulated without PWM. Due to the mechanical side switch it doesn’t need any current at all when it is off. You can also loosen the tailcap for a mechanical lockout.
Conclusion
Flashlights with more than one color of light are rather rare, especially when you are looking for a thrower. The Cyansky H3 v2 is way ahead in this area. I have never seen a flashlight with an integrated color filter revolver anywhere else. There is nothing to complain about in terms of manufacturing quality, performance and beam. Really great!
However, you should be aware that the brightness and range of the colors are limited by the use of filters. Therefore the H3 cannot replace dedicated flashlights with a single color. If you only need white, I would prefer the Cyansky K3 v2 because of its more compact dimensions and better throw.
If you got curious you can find the Cyansky H3 v2 here at AliExpress (no affiliate).