Reylight Dawn Max Titanium Flashlight Review

The Reylight Dawn Max titanium flashlight is very familiar as a Dawn, but the bigger head and single emitter provide a very different (very throwy!) experience!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Reylight Dawn Max titanium flashlight product page.

Versions

Many versions of the ReyLight Dawn exist. This is a wholly new version – still a Dawn, just a Dawn Max. In my case, I received only the head, so all the bodies you see in this post are optional. Of the Reylight Dawn Max titanium flashlight exactly, there are three finishes: Black oil, stonewashed, and raw. They’re all titanium. 3500K and 5000K are both available.

Price

Just the Reylight Dawn Max titanium flashlight head sells for $79 (with one version costing $89). With an 18350 body, the light comes in at $119. With the 18650 body, the light comes in at $129.

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What’s Included

Depends – you can buy just the head or the head and either body. There’s no option for both bodies and one head (at least on the Dawn Max page).

Package and Manual

As above, you’ll get exactly what you buy: head, or head+one body (either size). There is no manual.

Build Quality and Disassembly

I have always appreciated the Dawn. I also love flashlights that look “flashlighty,” and the Reylight Dawn Max titanium flashlight does. As with other Reylights, the build quality here is great!

I didn’t receive the bodies shown here with the head, and as you can see, there’s a bit of mismatch in them. This could be a difference in the finish or just a difference in handling.

The head has some nice teardrops!

The pill, which is easily removable, is copper.

Both head and tail (if you buy one) have a nice spring – the head has what I’d call a “q-lite” spring, great for this application.

Size and Comps

38.6mm in diameter.
47.7mm in height.
86.7g in weight.

Here’s the light in hand:

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. This is a brass version, which is a good bit heavier than aluminum, but has the same dimensions: 24mm in diameter by 117.5mm in length.

Also in the photo above, my Standard Reference Material (SRM) flashlight is the Hanko Machine Works Trident, an 18350 light. 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 to the inexpensive Convoy S2+, another great SRM.

Retention and Carry

If you buy a body, you’ll get this Reylight pocket clip. I lovingly call it the platypus clip.

Power and Runtime

The Reylight Dawn Max titanium flashlight runs a single 18350 or a single 18650. Notably, the titanium head will also work just fine on aluminum Dawn bodies.

Below are a number of runtimes on a few modes, with two different cells. I wanted to demonstrate the difference between using an 18350 and an 18650.

The runtime below was the only demonstration that the light might not have low voltage protection. Even testing with the bench power supply, I am not entirely sure. I think it does, or at least you’ll notice that the output is low and want to recharge the cell. But it does seem possible to over discharge a cell with this driver.

The temperature lines in these charts are included as general context, not precise measurements. The values represent the range (min to max) during testing, but should not be taken as exact readings. A temperature sensor is not always attached to the bezel (or even the hottest spot, assuming that could be defined). Even with ideal placement, too many variables affect temperature to definitively state a specific max value.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Default Lv4 (100%)	–	–	1136 (0s) 998 (30s)	3.18
Default Lv3 (20%)	–	–	243	0.56
Default Lv2 (2%)	–	–	39	0.12
Default Lv1 (ML)	–	–	1.01	[low]
Group 4 Lv3 (50%)	–	–	655	2.01

Pulse Width Modulation

PWM is present in the higher three default modes. It’s fast, though, and you’re very unlikely to be able to see it (without a scope).

Click here to 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

On the Reylight Dawn Max titanium flashlight is a reverse mechanical clicky switch. The switch has a metal cover and three tritium slots.

The switch is very much like many other ReyLight flashlights and the Vosteed Rook.

Here’s a user interface table!  The user interface is actually the same as is used on some ReyLights, including the LANapple.

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	Moonlight^
On	Click	Off
On	Half Press	Cycle modes (Moonlight, 2%, 20% ,100%)^^
On	Tap 8x	Enters programming mode^^^
On	Hold briefly	Return to Moonlight
On	Double tap	Turbo

^ If the light is turned back on soon after turning off (within a couple of seconds), the previous mode will be remembered. If more than 2 seconds, the light will turn on into Moonlight.
^^ The light is user programmable, so only the default output levels are listed here.
^^^ In programming mode, the emitter will blink, then strobe. There are five selections a user can make in programming mode. The selections follow a “blink then strobe.”

The first group blinks once, then strobes. This is the mode group selection.
The second group blinks twice, then strobes. This is the memory toggle.
The third group blinks three times, then strobes. This is the moonlight toggle.
The fourth group blinks four times, then strobes. This is the mode order toggle (lowest to highest or highest to lowest).
The fifth group blinks five times, then strobes. This is the factory reset option.

LED and Beam

The emitter here is a Luminus SFT50. A TIR is used, and this helps keep the beam tight.

The TIR does not have a glass lens. While not unheard of, it is unusual.

The bezel has some very fine teeth. Light can escape while headstanding.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

This is the 5000K version, and comes in at 5000K on average. It’s a nice beam!

CCT (Correlated Color Temperature) refers to the measurement of the color appearance of light, expressed in Kelvins (K), which indicates whether the light is warm (yellowish) or cool (bluish). A lower CCT (below 3000K) is considered warm light, while a higher CCT (above 5000K) gives cooler, bluish light.

CRI (Color Rendering Index) is a measure of how accurately a light source renders colors in comparison to natural sunlight. Scored on a scale from 0 to 100, higher CRI values indicate that colors appear more true to life and vibrant, similar to how they would look under the sun.

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

The Reylight Dawn Max titanium flashlight is very throwy, but still identifiable as a Dawn. I always liked Dawns, so this is a very good combination. I find the price to be reasonable, but it might be nice to have an easy option to buy both bodies (I think you should buy both bodies). Performance is fine, but if you were dissatisfied, you’d probably be able to get to the driver easily and swap in your preference.

The Big Table

Reylight Dawn Max titanium flashlight
Emitter:	Luminus SFT40
Price in USD at publication time:	$79.00
Cell:	1×18650 or 1×18350
Runtime Graphs
LVP?	Questionable
Switch Type:	Mechanical
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	–
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1011
Candela per Lumen	90.6
Claimed Throw (m)	–
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	1822lux @ 6.14m = 68689cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	524.2
Claimed CCT	–
Measured CCT Range (K)	4800-5300 Kelvin
Item provided for review by:	Reylight
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 I like

• Nice build quality
• Reasonable price
• The hex pattern (not a part of the head, which is the focus of the review, but you’ll need the body to run the light, either way.)
• Programmable driver to hone in on the modes you’ll use

What I don’t like

• Possibly no low voltage protection (it’s unclear)
• No lens over the TIR

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Notes

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