Noctigon KR1AA Review – Compact Enthusiast Carry

Pricing & Availability

Hank from Emisar/Noctigon sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the official product page on intl-outdoor.com where you can see current pricing. At the time of writing it’s $51.16 USD for this exact configuration. That’s a great price considering all the features and customization options offered.

What comes in the box?

KR1AA comes in a basic, standard Emisar/Noctigon box. Inside is:

• The light itself
• Spare O-rings
• Clip spacer (to fill the clip slot if you remove the clip)
• No battery

Design & Construction

KR1AA is the same KR1/KR4 design language shrunk down to a 14500 size. It’s sleek, elegant, and looks great. Disregard the nicks on the bezel; I dropped it before taking these photos.

Build quality is fine. No major issues. The tail threads feel a bit rough but not problematically so. Hank said using a flat-top battery might help since that would put less pressure on the spring. It’s worth noting the matte black anodizing tends to grab and show dust, grime, and wear readily.

Size & Measurements

Olight i3E | Noctigon KR1AA | Convoy T3 | Zebra SC65c HI | Mini Maglite

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Head Diameter	21.5
Length	79.1
Switch Diameter	~12.5
Optic Diameter	16.9
Optic Height	6.8
MCPCB Size	inaccessible
LED Footprint	5050
Body Tube Diameter	17.6-20.8
Pocket Clip Stock Thickness	0.8
Pocket Clip Inside Diameter	19.1
Tailcap Diameter	20.8
Tailcap Length	17.0
Driver Diameter	inaccessible
Weight without battery	37g
Weight with Eneloop	63g
Weight with Vapcell K10	57g

Switch & User Interface

The light is controlled by a stainless-steel electronic tail switch. It looks great and it’s (optionally) magnetic. Initially it had a switch that was too easy to press and would turn on in my pocket. However, as of April 2026 all new KR1AAs ship with an updated, firmer switch. It’s got a much stiffer, more precise action that also fixes the pocket-activation issue. I carried with the updated switch for one week with no accidental activations. Good on Hank for listening to feedback and updating the switch!

This light comes with an advanced, configurable firmware called Anduril 2. I’m not covering it in detail here but I’ll put it through the checklist. The default simple mode works fine, but I put it into advanced mode and made some configuration changes to suit my preferences. There are no flashing pads that I can see, and the body tube is glued to the head, so firmware updates may not be possible.

Basic E-switch UI Checklist: 11/12

• 1C on/off✅
• 1H to change brightness✅
• Stepped levels✅
  • By default it’s smooth ramping, but you can set it to stepped.
• Main rotation is Low-Med-High✅
  • This is configurable. By default it’s smooth ramping, but you can set it to have as few or as many modes as you like.
• Moonlight shortcut: 1H from off✅
• Low shortcut: 1H from Moonlight✅
• Turbo shortcut: 2C from anywhere✅
• Strobe shortcut: 3C from anywhere❌
  • 3C activates the battery voltage readout mode. Strobe is 3H. I wish these were reversed to be more industry-standard.
• Mode memory for Low, Medium, and High✅
  • This is configurable. By default it will memorize the last mode you used unless it’s accessed via shortcut. One cool thing you can do is called “manual mode memory” where you can set the light to always come on at a particular brightness, regardless of the last mode used.
• No mode memory for Moonlight, Turbo, and Strobe✅
  • If you access these via shortcut they will not be memorized. If you access it by ramping to that level, it will be memorized.
• 4C or separate switch to lock/unlock✅
• Does something when you click the switch in Lockout mode✅
  • Momentary moonlight. Handy! It’s worth noting that mechanical lockout (loosening the tailcap) works great here too.

Emitter & Beam

KR1AA is available with two LEDs (Luminus SFT70 or Noctigon NTG50) in a variety of color temperatures. I chose an NTG50 in 4200K. It’s warm-ish, rosy, and high-CRI. It’s a great looking LED. It sits behind a custom TIR optic.

There are also four RGB auxiliary LEDs visible in the above photo that can shine through the optic when the main LED is off. They have two brightness levels, the dimmer of which is good for finding the light in the dark without draining the battery too quickly. You can choose their color or set them to a variety of color-changing modes that look really cool. They aren’t for providing illumination, just for looks. They don’t produce an RGB “beam” you can use to see.

The beam is soft, floody, and free of artifacts. It’s good for close up and indoors, but lacks some punch outdoors. This NTG50 4200K is just lovely for illuminating things close up, like looking closely at something in my hand.

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 are above, followed by my own measurements below.

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Turbo	1600	5600	150	98	4120	-0.0054
High	620	2200	93	98	4040	-0.0062
Medium	160	560	47	98	3900	-0.0088
Low	10	35	12	99	3990	-0.0092
Moonlight	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Moonlight gets extremely dim, too dim for my Opple to pick up.

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
Turbo	480	1700	82	98	3910	-0.0099
High	480	1700	82	98	4030	-0.0071
Medium	160	560	47	99	4000	-0.0084
Low	10	35	12	98	3890	-0.0111
Moonlight	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Runtime

Performance: Both brightness and runtime are much more on the 14500 battery than a NiMH AA. Turbo time is short, as expected for such a hotrod. Sustained brightness is right around 200lm, and that’s quite respectable. My first Emisar D4V2 (a significantly larger light) had similar sustained brightness.

Thermal Management: My Turbo Cooled test shows a significant increase in sustained brightness, meaning this light has active thermal throttling that will adjust brightness to give you maximum performance without overheating.

LVP (Low Voltage Protection): The Anduril 2 firmware used here has low voltage protection built in. It will lower the brightness any time the voltage is critically low, and eventually shut off. It will run for ages at very low brightness levels though, so I ended all my runtime tests before it had actually shut off.

Driver

The driver is a “high-efficiency boost driver”, and it’s a boost driver 100% of the time. Many AA-14500 lights’ drivers work in boost-mode on AAs but work in a less-efficient linear-mode on 14500 cells because their ~3V LED has a lower voltage than the ~3.6V battery. This light uses higher-voltage LEDs so the boost-driver is in boost-mode all the time. The positive contact is a brass button.

Voltage immunity is good/average. It maintains most of the Turbo brightness down to ~25% charge, and all the other modes are flat down to 25% charge or less. That’s exactly what I want because it shows the components are high quality and they’re being pushed hard for great performance.

PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes or camera, nor audible to my ears. I also checked with my opple and found no flickering of any kind except Turbo, which had some minor, fast sawtooth.

Parasitic Drain: The driver doesn’t like my probe multimeter so I can’t get a parasitic drain reading.

Batteries & Charging

The battery is not included. I’m using a Vapcell K10 1000mAah 8A unprotected button-top cell for most of my testing. It supports flat-top li-ion cells and AA’s too. It does not support protected cells.

Charging: No charging solution is included by default. You can optionally add an unspecified charger for $15. Most batteries with a USB charging port built in are protected, and protected cells are specifically not supported, so those probably won’t work.

The battery indicators: I prefer four-diode indicators, which this light doesn’t have. It has two less-intuitive methods that are more granular and suited for enthusiasts.

• Voltage readout: Clicking 3x from off will cause the light to blink out the battery voltage. For example, three blinks, a pause, six blinks, another pause, and eight blinks means 3.68 volts.
• Aux color: The RGB aux LEDs can show battery charge level based on color. They can either do that constantly, or just for a few seconds after you turn off the light.

Carry & Ergonomics

Ergonomics are great in a cigar grip and whatever the second photo grip is called. A reverse grip is doable, but pretty cramped. The ribbing on the battery tube and matte black anodizing provide plenty of grip.

Magnet: There’s an optional magnet in the tail and it’s strong enough to hold the light on a vertical surface. The combination of a tailswitch and a magnet is rare. That combo in a light this small is unheard of.

Competition

Here are some lights in the same class and how they compare.

Emisar D3AA: side switch alternative

• same maker, just under a different line
• similaror same driver, performance, UI, color options, and battery options
• three 3V LEDs instead of one 6/12V, with more options to choose from
• side switch

Convoy T3: mechanical alternative

• less expensive
• single LED with a reflector, no aux LEDs
• reverse clicky mechanical tailswitch
• simpler UI
• wide variety of LED and body color options
• available with 14500 battery (also supports AAs)
• pocket clip sold separately
• a bit larger

Acebeam Pokelit AA: the easy alternative

• less expensive and available on Amazon
• comes with a USB-C rechargeable 14500 (also supports AAs)
• single LED in a reflector, not quite as bright
• forward clicky tailswitch
• bidirectional clip (can clip to a hat like a headlamp)

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

This is a fun, compact enthusiast light with Anduril 2 firmware, a great driver, RGB aux LEDs, and a lovely main LED. Overall performance is excellent, though I’d like more throw. The clip is superb and it’s small and light in the pocket. Initially the switch was too soft and it turned on in the pocket. As of April 2026, new KR1AAs include a much better switch with a firmer click. It’s just about everything an enthusiast could want in a compact daily carry light.

Thanks to Noctigon for sending me this light for review!