Exceed Designs Rampant R8 Flashlight Review
The Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight has a unique rocker side dual e-switch, MANY options, and amazing build quality, all for a reasonable price. Read on!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight product page.
Versions
If you just glance at the product page, you’ll see a bunch of product listings. They really break down in two ways – by body material. Titanium (seen here) and aluminum are available. The listings break apart further because Nichia 519a (seen here) and Luminus SFT40 are two emitter options. Those two differences (body material and emitter) make up the biggest differences. Next are the finishes of the material. There are many of those – stonewash, raw, rough stonewash, Works edition bronze, and jet-black aluminum.
Once you’ve picked your product and are on the page, you can add or pick a number of items. Those include removing the dome from your Nichia, reflector or TIR, charger, extra cell, short/long clip, etc.
Price
The Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight ranges in price from around $135 to at least $257.
What’s Included
- Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight
- Exceed Designs 3400mAh 18650
- Spare o-rings (3, each different)
- Spare pocket clip screws (2)
- Charging cable (may be optional – ships outside of box)
- Certificate of Authenticity
- Sticker (4) (may be optional or bonus)
Package and Manual
Below you can see the box insides – there’s a slot where a manual might go, but my package does not include a manual per se.
There is this sort of quick-start guide, but the actual Exceed Designs Rampant R8 EDC flashlight manual is a YouTube video.
Build Quality and Disassembly
The Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight has a build quality just like that of the Exceed Designs Rampant R4 flashlight. It’s very good. Incredible, even. Normally, titanium threads can be “icky” but these threads are very good. They’re as smooth as titanium threads can be.
This is the “Bronze Ano” version, which is special among the bunch.
The R4 was “long for a 14500-cell light,” and the Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight is equally long for an 18650 light. But it works. It’s a good bit longer than the TorchLAB BOSS 70, a light that’s already long for an 18650-cell light.
Despite the Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight having a tactical mode, the head has only a button for contact. The tactical mode isn’t first, but it’s there – I would not consider this a tactical light.
The tail end does have a spring though.
The cell tube is fully removable on this R8 version. I think this leaves room for an 18350 version, which I’m here for. I don’t know what the name might be, though – R83?
Here’s a neat little attention to detail that most users won’t ever even see. On the pocket clip below, you can see the product name engraved on the backside of the pocket clip. That’s fantastic.
Size and Comps
Dimensions: unstated.
I measure as follows:
Head diameter: 25.04mm
Body (thinnest) diameter: 22.04mm
Tail diameter: 23.95mm
Tail diameter with clip: 27.58mm
Length 126.3mm
Weight –
If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here. If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll also show that here too!
Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. The version below is a custom laser-engraved Convoy S2+ host by GadgetConnections.com. I did a full post on an engraved orange host right here! Or go straight to GadgetConnections.com to buy your Convoy S2+ now!
In the photo above, you may note that the SRM (standard reference material) flashlight for comparison has changed! I used a TorchLAB BOSS 35 for ages. Now what you can see as the 18350 SRM is the Hanko Machine Works Trident. While I have not reviewed or tested the Gunner Grip version seen here, I have tested a Hanko Machine Works Trident Total Tesseract in brass. I love the Trident, and it’s a striking contrast next to the inexpensive Convoy S2+, which also makes a great standard reference material.
Below you can see the Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight beside the R4 – They’re very much the same in design and look (aside from the finish). The user interface is the same, too.)
Retention and Carry
There’s a two-screw pocket clip included with the Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight. This particular Bronze Ano has a titanium pocket clip with a bronze finish.
The clip doesn’t touch the body – this is purposeful. For swapping cells, you’ll remove the head anyway, but it’s nice that this has been considered. In their video, they say once you get the clip where you want it, you can snug it down. (This will be “considerable effort” since you’ll need to remove the clip to bend it.)
There are two clip lengths, too. This light has the longer option. But below you can see both sizes.
I didn’t get one, but you can also (separately) order a “USA-made Horween sheath.”
Power and Runtime
The Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight runs a single cell. Included with the purchase is a 3400mAh 18560. It’s a button top.
The cell goes into the Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight in the usual way – positive end toward the head.
Below you can see runtime tests on the highest four stepped output levels. Exceed Designs makes a claim about the highest level, but I can’t find any runtime claims or runtime duration claims. Further, I’m fairly certain the output claim of 1300 lumens for the domed (default) version of the Nichia 519a. This light that I have is the domed version, so I’d expect something closer to the 1300-lumen claim. But this is nowhere close. You can check the current table below – my light only draws around 2.6A on the highest mode, which would certainly not produce 1300 lumens.
In any case, it is what it is. I would probably not buy this light mainly for output. But if I did, I would already know to not expect 1300 lumens. Being that this light runs an 18650, I do think more than ~500 lumens should be possible, though.
Each mode shuts off with low voltage protection.
Charging
The Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight itself doesn’t have built-in charging. But Exceed Designs does include an 18650 with the light, and the cell has built-in charging. There’s a USB-C charging port on the positive end.
Some packages (maybe not all, but this is unclear) include a USB-A to USB-C charging cable.
You almost certainly have a USB-C cable somewhere around your house, so I wouldn’t get too bent out of shape over this cable. Both A to C and C to C work just fine and the charge cycle looks about the same for both. Charging is reasonable at 1A. That’s well under 1C. That’s fairly quite slow.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Step 6 (Highest) | 1300 | – | 489 (0s) 469 (30s) |
2.62 |
| Step 5 | – | – | 335 (0s) 327 (30s) |
1.65 |
| Step 4 | – | – | 225 | 0.99 |
| Step 3 | – | – | 116 | 0.38 |
| Step 2 | – | – | 18 | 0.04 |
| Step 1 (Lowest) | – | – | 0.47 | [low] |
Pulse Width Modulation
What we have here is not PWM, to the best of my knowledge. I think this is called “SMS ripple,” and I can’t see it visually when using the light. There are a whole bunch of other levels, but as the runtimes and table above, and photos below, these are just the stepped modes.
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 Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight has two switches. First is this mechanical tail switch – a forward clicky.
That mechanical clicky is covered with a theme-matching bronzed titanium (metal) switch cover. The cover is smooth and does not protrude above the edges of the light. It’s a very nice switch.
The action is fairly deep and very good – if you’re keeping track of the R8 vs the R4, this switch is much better than that on the R4. There’s just so much more access to this tail switch.
Next up is the switch used to actually change the output levels – this switch on the head. I’ll call it an e-switch but it’s really two e-switches. They allow the rocker to work two ways, for going up or down in output (among other user interface things.)
In its resting state, the e-switch cover does not add to the diameter of the head. That’s great! But because the switch cover has a nice flat spot in the little, it’s easy to find just by feel. It’s a very nice switch!
When either side is pressed, the other side rises up. Below you can see about as high as it goes. There’s a gasket under the switch cover and over the e-switches, so you aren’t sacrificing any waterproofness with this setup.
All these e-switch features in the head make the light longer than many other 18650-cell lights. I can deal with that for such an interesting user interface. Again, the light is bigger but not that much bigger (or “not annoyingly bigger”).
Here’s a user interface table! Note that the “Down” side of the rocker switch is toward the tail and the “Up” side is toward the front of the Exceed Designs Rampant R4 EDC flashlight.
There are two mode groups – EDC Mode (default) and Tactical Mode. There isn’t a manual for the light, and there’s no user interface diagram, either. There’s a video, which you can view here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnNoSqfMP_0
I believe that video is designed as the user interface manual (among other things), so all my information below is a combination of playing with the light in hand and watching the video. The table is probably not perfect.
| State (Either mode) | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| On | Double-click Down on the rocker switch | Moonlight |
| On | Double-click Up on the rocker switch | Boost |
| On | Click Up on the rocker switch | Stepped modes up to Boost (6 levels) |
| On | Click Down on the rocker switch | Stepped modes down to Moonlight (6 levels) |
| On | Click tail switch | Off |
| Moonlight | Click Down on the rocker switch | Level 2 (ie, output goes up by one level, where Level 1 is Moonlight) |
| Moonlight | Click tail switch | Off, but Exceed Designs describes this as “Moonlight Lock”^ |
| Off | Tap 10x, then click | Iterate between EDC and Tactical mode. The light blinks numerous times to indicate the change, but there’s no indication of which group was implemented. |
| State (EDC Mode) | Action | Result |
| Off | Click tail switch | On (mode memory) |
| On | Hold Up on the rocker switch | Ramps up |
| On | Hold Down on the rocker switch | Ramps down |
| Level 2 | Click Down on the rocker switch 2x | Moonlight (this is expected behavior – stating it here for comparison to Tactical mode) |
| State (Tactical Mode) | Action | Result |
| Off (for more than 10s) | Tap tail switch | Boost (Momentary)^^ |
| Off (for more than 10s) | Click tail switch | Boost^^ |
| Off (for not more than 10s) | Tap tail switch | Conserve mode (momentary)^^ |
| Off (for not more than 10s) | Click tail switch | Conserve mode^^ |
| Moonlight | Click Down on the rocker switch 5x | Moonlight Lock^^^ |
| On with Moonlight Lock activated | Click rocker forward then back | Unlock moonlight |
| On (Except in Moonlight Lock‡‡) | Click rocker Up† 3x | Strobe††,‡‡‡ |
| Strobe | Hold rocker Up††† 3s | Beacon‡ |
| Beacon | Hold rocker Up††† 3s | SOS |
| SOS | Hold rocker Up††† 3s | Previous steady mode |
| Any strobe mode | Click rocker Up† 3x | Previous steady mode |
| On | Double-click Up on the rocker switch | Boost |
| Moonlight (but not Moonlight Lock) | Hold Up on the rocker switch | Ramps up (note the intricacy of getting ramping on Tactical group: you must be in Moonlight but not Moonlight Lock. |
| Moonlight (but not Moonlight Lock) | Hold Down on the rocker switch | Ramps down (note the intricacy of getting ramping on Tactical group: you must be in Moonlight but not Moonlight Lock. |
| Level 2 | Click Down on the rocker switch 2x | A much higher level – probably “Conserve” (which is around Level 3). You would expect this to result in Moonlight. (Big oops.) |
^ Exceed Designs describes this as step 1 of the “Moonlight lock” but really that’s just a fancy name for “putting the light in the moonlight mode and then turning it off.” It’s a clever way to describe mode memory, but it is not a special way to access moonlight outside of normal operation.
^^ Tactical is supposed to always start on Boost mode. I do not find that to be the case. It seems that the light remembers either the last mode and gives you the next mode (between Boost and Conserve) or it simply has mode memory (between Boost and Conserve) in the Tactical group, too.
^^^ This is more of a real “moonlight lock” than the other mode-memory style “lock.” It does not work in EDC Mode, though. (sad panda)
† It doesn’t actually have to be Up. Clicking Down on the rocker will enter strobe, too. But the manual (video) says “Up.”
†† Only Tactical Mode has Strobe modes.
††† To do this step, it does need to be the Up rocker.
‡ This is not a standard beacon – this flashes brightly 3x approximately every 2 seconds.
‡‡ Strobes seem disabled if Moonlight Lock is enabled. But Strobes are not disabled if you’re just in Moonlight.
‡‡‡ Accessing strobes while Moonlight Lock is enabled (but not on, see footnote ‡‡) disabled Moonlight Lock.
LED and Beam
The emitter in my Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight is a Nichia 519a. There are two options for the lens t00 – a TIR (seen below) or a reflector.
I typically prefer TIR optics, but I don’t have a super fantastic reason for that. This TIR works great in the R8 – the beam profile is exactly what I like.
LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)
This Nichia 519a is a 5000K edition. It’s stated to be 5000K, and the measurements are right around that. Very good! The CRI is still High – 96 or above across all modes. This is very good.
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. These photos are taken around 18 inches from the door.
I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!
Summary and Conclusion
I’m impressed with the Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight as the first flashlight offering from Exceed Designs. It is very good. The execution of the plan is fantastic – the light feels great in hand and for use. I don’t love how long the light is, but the design is solid. The idea of the rocker switch used here is great. The implementation of it is very good, but there are a whole bunch of footnote-type things in the user interface that should probably be cleaned up. I appreciate that a cell is included, and I’m boggled by how many options there are for the light. If you never plan to use the light out of (let’s say) the 80% standard uses, you’ll love it. If you use strobe or moonlight a bunch, I’d read through the user interface table a good bit. Even with those asterisks, for the price, the Exceed Designs Rampant R8 flashlight is an excellent value and a wonderful flashlight!
The Big Table
| Exceed Designs Rampant R8 Flashlight | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Nichia 519a (5000K) |
| Price in USD at publication time: | $195.00 |
| Cell: | 1×18650 |
| Runtime Graphs | |
| LVP? | Yes |
| Switch Type: | Both |
| Quiescent Current (mA): | – |
| On-Board Charging? | Yes |
| Charge Port Type: | USB-C (on cell) |
| Charge Graph | |
| Power off Charge Port | – |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 1300 |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 469 (36.1% of claim)^ |
| Candela per Lumen | 9.91 |
| Claimed Throw (m) | – |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 166lux @ 5.671m = 5339cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 146.1 |
| Claimed CCT | 5000 |
| Measured CCT Range (K) | 4800-5100 Kelvin |
| Item provided for review by: | Exceed Designs |
| All my Exceed Designs 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 I like
- Great build quality
- Reasonable price (Very reasonable price for all the uniqueness)
- The rocker switch is quite great.
- Many options on nearly everything (body material, emitter, optic or TIR, anodizing, etc.)
- TIR/Reflector option
- High CRI
- Amazing attention to detail (note how the pocket clip and rocker switch line up perfectly!)
What I don’t like
- Mode memory
- Does not come anywhere close to the claimed output
- The user interface is good if you don’t use any non-standard modes (including moonlight)
- It’s quite long
Notes
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Do really love this light. The marketing is spot on!
One more great review (of a million)
Yeah I really like the light too! The R4 as well- both very nice lights.
Thank you for reading!