RovyVon A28 Flashlight Review

What better way to start 2020 than a post about the RovyVon A28 Flashlight. It has a clear body and secondary emitters – red and UV.

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the RovyVon A28 Flashlight product page.

Versions

There are a bunch of versions of this series of RovyVon lights.  But the A28 in specific is available with Cree XP-L (likely HD) and Nichia 219c.  There are also three secondary options:  Red/UV, and White/UV, and White/Red.  What you see here is the Nichia 219c Red/UV copy.

Price

All versions of the A28 go for $58.95.  They can be bought at the official RovyVon site!  Also available for a little less – $56.95 on Amazon(referral link).

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Short Review

I already know I like this series of lights – I reviewed the A23 here, which is a very similar light.  I liked the A23 enough to buy my own brass version – the A29.  So the A28 is one I’m already probably going to like, and after the review work, I like it as expected.  I wish the low was lower though.  That’s my biggest complaint.

Long Review

The Big Table

RovyVon A28
Emitter:	Nichia 219c (90+CRI)
Price in USD at publication time:	$56.95 on amazon
Cell:	Internal
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (A):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?
Claimed Lumens (lm)	700
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	270 (38.6% of claim)^
Claimed Throw (m)	109
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	179lux @ 4.214m = 3179cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	112.8 (103.5% of claim)^
All my RovyVon reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.
^ That’s after the stepdown.

What’s Included

• RovyVon A28 Flashlight
• Lanyard
• Paracord
• Charge cable (USB to micro-USB)
• Spare o-ring (clear)
• Big split ring
• Manual, etc

Package and Manual

Typical RovyVon package and manual.

Build Quality and Disassembly

The build quality is on par with other RovyVon lights.  The body is plastic, and you might have some feelings about plastic flashlight bodies (ie they’re often cheap feeling).  This doesn’t feel like the metal bodies (A23/A29) but it’s still quite nice anyway.

The clear body offers some nice insight into the light, without ever disassembling it.

The bezel (in fact the whole head) is metal.  Probably stainless, but it has a very titanium looking finish.

Also noteworthy is that the body – possibly inside the body is Glow In The Dark.  When you run the UV for a while, the GITD really gets activated.

The threads are body-material too.  That is, the threads are plastic.  No issue there. The head and body mate just fine.

I didn’t disassemble this light any further than you see below.  I’ve done it before, and the internals are the same.  The battery is “user replaceable” but it’s a proprietary battery.  The entire guts of the body come out for a battery swap, too.  More on the guts can be seen here if you’re interested.

Size and Comps

Length: 76mm; Diameter: 21.5mm; Weight: 46.3g

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+.  Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple.  A very nice 18650 light.

And here’s the light beside my custom engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light.  I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.

The A28 and A29 are the same aside from the tritium slots on the metal body.  I still have never installed a single tritium in any light, ever.  Should I do this??

Retention and Carry

The main means to carry the A28 is the pocket clip.  It’s attached with two Philips screws, which sit flush on the clip.

I really like this clip.  It’s easy to use (big mouth), very smooth, and also very deep carry.

Also an option for carry is the lanyard, which is included.  It could attach on the tailcap loop or the pocket clip, since the pocket clip is securely attached (not friction fit).

The included paracord could be attached in much the same way as the lanyard.

Power and Runtime

As stated, the battery is an internal lipo.  It’s technically built-in, but the J-type connector can be seen through the body.  However if you replace the battery with one from RovyVon, you’ll be replacing the entire guts of the body.

Here’s a couple of runtimes on the highest main modes.  As you can see, the stepdown sort of kills the output measurement.

Hard to say if there’s LVP but the stepdowns mean you’ll definitely notice when the battery is low.  That said, I’m fairly sure lipos are more resilient (or at least safer) when discharge is low.

High looks about the same, and steps down in the same way.  The stepdown happens later here, so High actually ends up with a higher output rating at 30s, than Turbo.

Also, a runtime for Red.  Output is quite stable once it trickles down, and also 22 lumens of red is… pretty bright.

I didn’t runtime UV.  I’m not sure how sensitive my meter is to UV, but I can say that the UV emitter on High (there are two UV modes) must be quite inefficient (and/or powerful) because the body heats up a bit with UV on high.  Also for whatever concerns there are about UV not penetrating the body – the UV goes through just fine.  I can’t speak as to what percentage if any is lost in the passage through the body, but even on Low, the UV is useful.

Charging

Of course there’s also built-in charging, via micro-USB on the tail.  There’s a press-in cover, which fits securely.  Every time I tried to open this I picked at the wrong end – so just be sure which side to try to snag.  (The tab is very clear to my eye.)

Charging is quite high, at almost 2C.  Lipos can handle that of course.  The charge profile isn’t all that flat during CC, but it is consistent over different runs.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	700	15m+80m	270^	–
High	450	1.5m+30m	397	–
Medium	120	150m	136	–
Low	30	9.5h	31	–
Moonlight	0.5	72h	–	–
Red	18	14h	16	–
UV	365nm	4h	–	–

^ After significant stepdown.

Pulse Width Modulation

There’s some PWM around the modes, but it’s very fast and not really noticeable.

Red:

UV:

Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.

Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.

User Interface and Operation

The button is a side switch, just below the head.  It’s a metal-cover e-switch.  The metal button has a metal surround, which both gives a place to find with your finger, and helps prevent accidental presses.

Here you can see the black o-ring under the bezel of the switch.

Here’s a UI table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	No action
Off	Hold	Momentary Moonlight^
Off	Double Click	On (Memorized Mode^^)
On	Click	Mode advance (excluding moonlight)
On	Hold	Off
Off	Click 4x	UV
On >3m	Click	Off
Off	Click 3x	Steady Red
Red	Click	Red advance (Steady, Flashing, Strobe)
UV	Click	Iterate UV output (Low/High)

^ Moonlight seems to be momentary only – there isn’t a way to get to it in the main group as far as I can see
^^ The mode is memorized after being on for >3m

LED and Beam

My emitter of choice is the Nichia 219c, which is High CRI (90+).  The other option is a Cree XP-L.  The emitter is under a TIR optic, which I think has seen some changes since the A23 review – see the beamshots of the two for comparison purposes.  A23 beamshot link.

Also in this particular copy are red and UV, which can be seen below.

These beamshots are always with the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.

Red:

UV:

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I keep the test flashlight on the left, and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

• I still love this format.
• UV is useful
• Two modes of UV is neat too (for very UV sensitive people like myself)
• High CRI option

What I don’t like

• Heat based stepdown makes output claim a bit meaningless
• Wish Moonlight was available in the main group.  Even if it was in the cycle.

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Notes

• This light was provided by RovyVon for review. I was not paid to write this review.
• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org.  Please visit there for the best experience!
• For flashlight-related patches, stickers, and gear, head over to PhotonPhreaks.com!
• Use my amazon.com referral link if you’re willing to help support making more reviews like this one!
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