Reylight Dawn Custom Maratac Gen 2 Flashlight Review

CountyComm worked with ReyLight a while back to make this custom Reylight Dawn Custom Maratac Gen 2 Flashlight. Here’s some testing!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Reylight Triple Emitter Dawn Custom Maratac™ Gen 2 product page.

Versions

Well, this is Gen 2, as I said. Also, this light is called the “Dawn,” so it’s worth mentioning that Rey has a light that’s actually called the Dawn, which is not all that much like this one in appearance.

Price

The price is $95.

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Short Review

This one looks in person as good as I thought it would from the photos. Performance is good enough, and the size is good too. All in all, I’m happy with the light, although I’d prefer it to have a better driver (namely offering a lower low).

Long Review of the Reylight Triple Emitter Dawn Custom Maratac

The Big Table

Reylight Triple Emitter Dawn Custom Maratac™ LED Flashlight Gen 2
Emitter:	Cree XP-L HI (Triple)
Price in USD at publication time:	$95.00
Cell:	1×18650 (included)
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	Mechanical
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	2500
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1747 (69.9% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	5.3
Claimed Throw (m)
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	717lux @ 3.622m = 9406cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	194.0
All my Reylight 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.

What’s Included

• Maratac Reylight Dawn Triple Gen 2 Flashlight
• Samsung 30Q 18650 cell
• Spare o-rings (2)
• CountyComm sticker
• Plastic carry case

Package and Manual

There is no manual.

Build Quality and Disassembly

Build quality is excellent. In particular, in comparison to other Reylight I’ve had, I’d call this one a huge win.

I mentioned above one of my dislikes about this light (which is the output options). Here is my second: The bezel is too thick, and covers too much of the optic/output. Probably not that much of a difference in output, I just don’t like it all that much.



There’s no knurling, just these large dimples in the body. The edges of those dimples aren’t softened, so they actually provide a decent grip.

The lights are individually numbered. I got number 315, woop!


To my eye, the head anodizing is just a bit different than the body. The body is extremely good, and the head looks a “little thinner” (even though I have no way to measure the thickness of anodizing.)

The threads on the head are unanodized, square-cut, and not too long.

Both head and tail have nice robust springs.

Driver access is very easy, with just a copper retaining ring holding all this in. It’s a standard 17mm driver. And you’ll probably end up wanting to change the driver because the mode options are just not great. Output is pretty great, but just three modes, and nothing very low? Not for me. (H1f7 would be great in here, of course.)

Size and Comps

Weight 2.68 oz (No battery
4.3 oz (with Samsung 30Q)
4.3″ Long x 0.98″ Width

It’s on the order of the Convoy S2+, but it seems smaller than that.

You’re probably thinking what I was thinking when you saw this “Dawn” Reylight. “That’s an 18650 Gemini.” Well, you’re right that it looks like a 18650 Gemini, but the heads are not interchangeable. Whaaattt you say? Yes, the heads are not interchangeable. I was extremely surprised to discover this. The Maratac has square threads, while the Gemini has trapezoidal (or triangular) threads. You could force it. Once, I’d guess.

 

Retention and Carry

The only means for carrying the Dawn is the already-attached pocket clip. This is a thick clip, held in place by two anodized Hex screws. The clip also feels like stainless. It’s a titanium clip and is also the standard clip hole spacing. So if you wish to use a SteelFlame clip, you may. It’s a very nice clip – I like the shape and large mouth.

 

Power and Runtime

The Maratac Dawn runs on a single 18650 cell. An appropriate cell is included – the Samsung 30Q. That’s a flat top unprotected cell, and that’s likely the best thing for this light. But there’s enough give that you could likely run any type 18650 cell you wanted to in this light.


Here are a couple of runtimes. Turbo first – Turbo falls off quickly. At 30s, I measure 1747 lumens. The claim (which is almost certainly a “startup” claim) is 2500 lumens – I measure 1989 at startup. The light steps down to a well-regulated output, which it holds for a couple of hours. The light does shut off with LVP at around 2.8V.

The high output is fairly well regulated, at around 800 lumens.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	2500/1250	1m+2h	1747	7.65
High	1250	2h	799	2.65
Low	200	12h		0.22

Pulse Width Modulation

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 Maratac Dawn has a single switch. It’s a standard mechanical forward clicky.

Here’s a user interface table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	On (Low (if off for more than ~4s)
Off	Tap	Mode advance (Low > High > Turbo)
On	Click	Off
On	Tap	No Action

LED and Beam

Maratac went with Cree XP-L HI emitters at a 5000K temperature. That’s not a bad choice – I’d opt for something warmer, but this is still solid. The temperature of 5000K gives a nice mix of good temp and high output.


Also included by default is a green glow gasket.

Beamshots

These beamshots always have 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.

 

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 on the Reylight Triple Emitter Dawn Custom Maratac

What I like

• Great build quality
• Nice cell included
• Glow gasket included
• Size is good

What I don’t like

• Only three modes
• Lowest mode is 200 lumens – too high for low

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Notes

• This light was provided by me for review. I was not paid to write this review.
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