Pricing & Availability
Banggood sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the product page on their website where you can see current pricing. That’s a tracked link so they know I sent you, but I’ve chosen not to earn affiliate commissions. At the time of writing it’s $67 USD, but you can use code BGCMP1692 for a few dollars off. I don’t think they cover tariffs for shipments to the US.
What comes in the box?
RRT01 comes in a retail box with a plastic insert. Inside is:
- The light itself
- Battery (inside the light)
- Two extension tubes
- User manual & paperwork
- USB A-to-C charging cable
- Wrist lanyard
- Spart parts (O-rings, switch boot, clip screws)
Design & Construction
RRT01 has a unique design with a rotary control ring around the head, a clicky switch on the tail, and a screw-on pocket clip. I think it’s a good looking light and I appreciate the contrast between the light grey ring, bezels, and clip and the dark grey body.
Build quality is good. It doesn’t “wow” me but I don’t have any distinct complaints.
Size & Measurements
Zebralight SC65c HI | Convoy T3 | Jetbeam RRT01 | Convoy S7 | Mini Maglite
| Measurement | Measured (mm) |
|---|---|
| Bezel Diameter | 26.1 |
| Maximum Head Diameter | 26.1 |
| Length (18350 configuration) | 91.1 |
| Length (18650 configuration) | 120.6 |
| Switch Diameter | ~12.5 |
| LED Footprint | 3535 |
| Body Tube Diameter | 22.5 |
| Tailcap Diameter | 24.5 |
| Included 18350 Battery Length | 39.5 |
| Weight with included 18350 battery (g) | 114 |
| Weight with protected button top 18650 (g) | 155 |
Switch & UI
This is what makes RRT01 special. There’s a forward clicky tailswitch for on/off and a rotating ring for brightness adjustment. It’s dead simple and works well.
How it’s different: I’ve reviewed a few lights with “rotary” brightness adjustment, but they’ve all been an infinitely spinning rotary encoder that controls several stepped brightness levels. This light’s rotary knob acts like a potentiometer with a distinct start and stop and smooth, infinite brightness adjustment between.
The light grey ring is greased and slightly gritty out of the box, though it doesn’t hurt operation. It travels about 120 degrees and the bulk of the brightness range is in the middle 60 degrees. The first ~30 degeees of travel, the light is off. The last quarter of travel has little change in brightness. There are strong detents at either end and it’s great that you can adjust the ring before turning on the light. Overall it works well.
The tailswitch is a forward-clicky mechanical switch, so you can half-press for momentary or full-press for constant on. It’s recessed so it can tail stand and is highly unlikely to turn on by accident, but it can be a bit hard to access. I typically leave it “on” all the time and use the ring to turn the light on/off. That faint green O-ring around the outside is glow-in-the-dark.
Strobe: From on at high brightness, quickly turn the knob low-high twice (high-low-high-low-high) to activate Strobe. Turn the light off with the knob or switch to deactivate Strobe. The strobe is constant frequency.
SOS: From on at high brightness, quickly turn the knob low-high three times (high-low-high-low-high-low-high) to activate SOS. Turn the light off with the knob or switch to deactivate SOS.
Emitter & Beam
RRT01 has two emitter options available, a Cree “XPL CW” and a Nichia 219C. My 219C sample is 80CRI, 4000K, with ~0.0050 DUV. A Nichia 519A LED would be a nice improvement, but I’m pretty happy with this 219C. The LED is set in an orange peel reflector.
The beam is a great, balanced profile (~15cd/lm). The hotspot is narrower than many popular EDC lights right now, but not as narrow as a dedicated thrower. There’s plenty of spill for peripheral illumination. I really like it for daily utility use.
In the beamshots below, camera settings are fixed and the wall is 2.8M away.
In the beamshots below, camera settings are as similar as possible, the basketball goal to the right of the hotspot is 39M away, and the power pole in the center is 185M away.
Mode Chart
Disclaimer: All of my measurements are taken at turn-on. Lumen measurements were taken on a Texas Ace 3.5″ Lumen Tube. A candela measurement was taken at 10 meters with an Opple Light Master III on the highest brightness, and other candela figures were calculated relative to that. CRI, CCT, & DUV data were taken for each mode from a few feet away at the center of the hotspot with the Opple Light Master and Waveform DUV Calculator. Runtime tests were performed with the Ceilingbounce app on my smartphone. These tests were performed with a fully charged included battery unless otherwise specified. I cannot measure moonlight directly, so moonlight readings are calculated based on the brightness relative to the next-lowest mode. None of this is professional equipment, so take these measurements with a grain of salt.
The official specs on the box are 950lm, 7200cd, and 220m.
| Level | Lumens | Candela | Throw (Meters) | CRI (Ra) | Color Temp. (K) | DUV (Tint) |
| Max (Li-Ion) | 820 | 12000 | 220 | 79 | 4140 | 0.0051 |
| Arbitraty medium brightness (Li-Ion) | 90 | 1320 | 73 | 82 | 3980 | 0.0047 |
| Max (NiMH) | 160 | 2300 | 97 | NM | NM | NM |
Moonlight: This light is known mainly for its rotary knob, but secondarily for it’s wildly low moonlight mode. You can get it so dim that you cannot see any light coming out of the LED unless you’ve got dark-adjusted eyes in a pitch-black room. Sometimes you have to kickstart it by ramping to a higher brightness, then back down.
Runtime
Performance is unimpressive but will do the trick. It gets plenty bright and runs for a decent length of time at reasonable brightness levels. Regulation could certainly be improved but it’s not something you’ll notice during use.
Thermal Management: I didn’t observe any worthwhile thermal regulation. The normal and cooled tests are very close, and the light gets extremely hot if you leave it running at the highest brightness. I could barely touch it and don’t recommend it. That’s all with the included Li-Ion cell. Heat isn’t an issue running on a NiMH battery. it just gets warm, not hot.
LVP(Low Voltage Protection): Isn’t built into the light. That’s why it supports lower-voltage batteries like AAs and CR123As. The included 18350 has protection circuitry built in that will cut power when the battery is empty. If you use any other li-ion cell in this light, it should be a protected cell.
Driver
The driver must have boost circuitry inside because it can run a 3V LED off a 1.5V AA cell. On Li-ion batteries (>3V) I suspect it’s linear. It’s hidden under the aluminum and plastic cover which didn’t want to come off even after I removed that screw in the photo above.
Voltage immunity is poor on Li-Ion batteries like the included 18350 cell. Take these measurements with a grain of salt because it’s hard to get the knob back into exactly the same position. Despite that, it’s clear that the entire brightness range trends downward as the battery voltage goes down. If you’re using a battery with a voltage of 3V or lower (like a CR123A or AA) then I suspect voltage immunity would be much better, at the cost of lower overall brightness.
PWM: No PWM is audible but I can see some flickering at extremely low brightness levels. I checked with my Opple and found some sawtooth at all brightness levels (except max) with more sawtooth at lower levels.
Parasitic Drain: 26 microamps with the ring in the off position. That will take ~5 years to drain the included battery. If you turn off the tailswitch, there is no parasitic drain at all.
Batteries & Charging
The battery included is a 1100mAh 18350 cell with USB-C charging and protection circuitry, which works well. It also supports a wide variety of other batteries thanks to two included extensions and no low voltage protection. It’ll work with Li-ions like 18350s, 16340s, 18650s, and 14500s. It’ll work with CR123As (even the rechargeable LiFeP04 kind). It’ll work with AAs (alkaline, NiMH, and Lithium). The only caveats are the battery must be a button top and it should have a protection circuit if it’s a Li-ion cell. It’s worth noting it only supports one battery at a time.
Charging is facilitated by a USB-C port on the included 18350 battery. There’s no charging built into the light itself. Charging the included cell takes about 45 minutes, which seems a little fast to me. There’s a small LED that glows red when it’s charging and green when it’s fully charged.
The battery indicator: There isn’t one.
Carry & Ergonomics
Ergonomics are ok but not great. The tailswitch is very comfortable in a cigar grip but difficult to actuate in a reverse grip in the shortest configuration. The rotary ring is comfortable to turn in a forward grip, but the clip partially blocks it in the shortest configuration. Using one or two extension tubes and a longer battery fixes those ergonomic issues, but they make the light uglier, heavier, and bulkier. There’s no one grip where both controls are comfortable to use one-handed, so I typically leave the tailswitch “on” and use the ring to turn it on and off.
Clip score: 6/7
- Attachment doesn’t pop off or rotate accidentally✅
- Can be removed and bent back into shape if needed✅
- Bezel-down carry is at a reasonable depth✅/❌
- It’s shallower than I’d like. A loop-over deep carry clip would be an improvement. Half-point.
- Landing location is smooth, and away from the bezel, and doesn’t block ports or switches✅/❌
- The clip partially blocks the rotary ring on the head when using the included 18350 battery. Half point.
- Mouth/ramp and loop(s) are wide enough for pants material✅
- Finish is durable✅
- No bidirectional clips without reason✅
Competition
Here are some lights in the same class and how they compare.
Noctigon KR4 & Emisar D4V2: smooth ramping alternatives
- lower base price but few people order the base configuration
- no battery nor charger included
- KR4 has a tail switch, D4V2 has a side switch
- support 18350 or 18650 batteries (if you purchase the optional 18350 battery tube)
- single button with smooth brightness ramping through Anduril 2 firmware
- tons of hardware customization options (body color, bezel, switch, clip, magnet, etc)
- no dedicated brightness knob
- not complicated to use, but not dead-simple either
Streamlight Protac 1L-1AA: “tactical” alternative
- Less expensive
- Not as bright
- a bit longer and narrower
- Supports a single AA or a single CR123A battery (no extension tubes required), but no Li-ion support
- Dead simple UI with optional programming, but no rotary knob
Olight Seeker 4 Pro: bigger, brighter alternative
- significantly more expensive
- significantly larger and brighter
- rotary knob is also a pushbutton
- brightness adjustment is stepped, not infinite
- only accepts a proprietary 21700 battery
- proprietary magnetic charging system (though it includes a USB-C adapter holster)
This section is not comprehensive. If I didn’t include a particular light here, it doesn’t mean it’s bad or doesn’t deserve to be here. I simply cannot list every possible competitor.
Conclusion
The UI and switches are excellent and the whole point of this light. The smooth, stepless dimming through the knob is fantastic and I don’t know of any other light that matches it. It will run on a huge variety of batteries too. The clip and beam are great. Build quality, brightness and throw are good. Runtime and ergonomics are fair. Regulation and voltage immunity are poor (on li-ion batteries). It continues to be the go-to rotary EDC light.
Thanks to Banggood for sending me this light for review!
