Reylight Krystal

Reylight Krystal review

Introduction:

Rey, the owner of Reylight, has been passionately active in the flashlight community since 2012, where he started selling customized flashlights to the BLF community. Now, he designs and produces his own lineup of flashlights. Besides using exotic metals like Damascus, Mokume, and Titanium, many of his flashlights are also available in aluminum.

His designs and quality are improving with every new model, and the Reylight Krystal caught my attention the moment he shared some of his prototype pictures. He included the waterproof capsule that perfectly fits the light.

Anyway, I’m really excited about this bad boy! Let’s continue.

What I got:

  • Reylight Krystal with Nichia 2019C and an amber secondary
  • Waterproof capsule to hold the Krystal

Specifications

Brand/modelReylight Krystal
CategoryTitanium flashlight / EDC Flashlight
LED4* Nichia 219C
Lumens2500 lm
Beam intensityN/A
Battery config.1*18350
MaterialTitanium
Modesmultiple
Blinkiesmultiple
ReflectorTIR
WaterproofN/A

Handling of the light

Although 18350 flashlights haven’t been my favorite sized lights, they have been however one of the most popular battery types with exotic metal flashlight bodies. The Krystal, which is made of Titanium, is one of those designs that fit this perfectly.

Some new manufacturers these days are including a “titanium” version of their current line-up, which doesn’t fit this type of metal! I’m thinking about the Fireflies E07, Emisar D4Ti and Lumintop FW3 Ti. They don’t justify the metal they are made of imho. The Krystal on the other hand, is a perfect candidate for titanium, mokume, damascus, or even trimascus.

The size is a great fit for an EDC flashlight! The weight and feel is also perfect for its size. Not too slippery, nor too rough. Somehow the dimensions of this light are just perfect, not too long, nor too short.

2 main pieces

A body and a head… that is all to it! No tailcap!

Tailstand?

  • Yes …

Build Quality 

As I mentioned earlier, some manufacturers started to include a Titanium version of one or more of their flashlights. Compared to the first Titanium Reylight flashlight I have, this is way ahead of it in terms of quality and design.

Pocket clip

The standard pocket clip is very solid and sturdy. The clip rests on 1 of the pointy parts of the knurling on battery tube, so you need to be careful attaching it to your pants. Especially if you want to attach it to your formal pants! This is not recommended. If you ever want to carry it to a wedding for example, just slip it in your pocket… and don’t show it off.. you know, like real flashoholics like to do…

Trits

The tailcap and head both have 8 slots for adding tritium vials. In my opinion, this is where titanium EDC flashlights stand out so much, I will add them to mine as well, and hopefully don’t forget to add some pictures afterward. You can also order a 18650 battery tube that has more slots to add your trits.
The size of the trits is 1.5mm * 6mm.

Threads and O-rings

Since the light is made of Titanium Alloy, the threads are unanodized and you can’t, therefore, do a lock-out by untwisting the head from the body. The electrical circuit will always be closed.

There is only 1 O-ring on the body, which should be able to withstand some water coming in. I’m not so sure about the tailcap though. I don’t want to take it apart either.

LEDs, Lens, Bezel and Reflector

When you order the light from Rey, you are able to ask for a secondary LED color. You can choose a Red or Amber secondary. I chose the latter. This secondary LED is only accessible in 2 of the 3 mode groups. More on that later.

The main 4 LEDs are either Cree XPL for max brightness or the Nichia 219C as a Hi CRI option. This should enable you to get more vivid and true colors compared to a Low Cri LED.

The TIR optics are protected by a sapphire lens for any scratches or damage.

Dimensions Reylight Krystal:

  • Length : 86 mm / 3.39″
  • Head diameter: 27 mm /  1.06″
  • Width body : 23 mm / 0.9″

Weight:

  • Weight:: 85.8 gr / 3.03oz.
  • Weight Head: 39.7 grams / 1.4 oz.
  • Weight Tube: 46.2 grams / 1.63 oz.

Titanium EDC Flashlights compared

Some Titanium EDC flashlights compared

From left to right: Jetbeam E1, Reylight Krystal, Reylight Triple TI, Sunwayman V10r Ti, Jetbeam DM25.

User Interface:

You can either choose to have a simple, straightforward User Interface, with just the main LEDs, or you can choose to include the secondary LED in your menu.

The UI exists of 4 main mode groups, +1 hidden mode group.

  • 1-Indoors : Moon 0.5% – Low 5%- Medium 25%- Turbo 100%, starts at moon by default, no memory.
  • 2-Outdoors: Medium 15%- High 50%- Turbo 100% off-time memory.
  • 3-Tactical: 100% strobe.
  • 4-Secondary LED: 25%- 100%-crazy strobe- beacon with 20% brightness background- breathing- beacon
  • Hidden group: main LEDs, Heartbeating- crazy strobe- beacon with 10% brightness background- breathing- strobe

Since the Krystal uses a mechanical clicky switch and not an electronic switch, the UI is rather straightforward.

From OFF:

  • Single click: last memorized output
  • Double click: Off again

From ON:

  • Half press: Change modes from Low to High
  • Single click: Turn Off
  • Double half press : Turbo

Changing mode groups on the Reylight Krystal:

Turn the light on in any mode group you want.

Now do 9 half-presses (half-press the switch, so there shouldn’t be a click) and you’ll enter the configuration mode. The flashlight will blink 4 times in a row. Each blink represents a Mode Group. If you want to use mode group 1, fully click the switch at the first blink. If you want to use mode group 4: fully click the switch after the 4th blink.

Hidden mode group: Something that I don’t like as much about this UI is the hidden mode group.
You can enter the hidden mode group when you turn the light back on within 3 seconds after turning it off. You can imagine this happens more than you’ll probably want it to happen. So if there is 1 complaint to give about the Krystal, this is it. Without the Hidden mode group, this would have been great… but I guess I can’t have everything.

Batteries and charging:

The Reylight Krystal is a 18350 battery flashlight. But you can also order a 18650 battery tube. In order to reach the maximum output, you better use High Amp batteries like Keeppower or Efest batteries.

Performance:

You are probably looking forward to this section, right? The Reylight Krystal is a small but powerful flashlight. Small enough for an EDC flashlight, and powerful enough to blind any intruder on your property. I measured the lumens in my 50Cm DIY integrating sphere.

The battery used for this runtime test was an Efest IMR18350 700mAh.

Lumens measurements with Efest 18350 700mAH

ModeI measured
Low0.64 lm
Med63 lm
High380 lm
Turbo1465 lm

The Lumen output is nowhere near the claimed 2500 Lumens, but that is understandable since I don’t have the CREE XP-L version, but the Nichia 2109C LEDs. And at the same time my Efest 18350 are a little older… but not used much.

Runtime:

Runtime was measured using the Android Ceiling Bounce App, which was developed by a Budgelightforum member. Without cooling, this bad boy became extremely hot, even though it decreased in output rather quickly. After the runtime, it was very hot to the touch.

The Reylight Krystal uses a relatively short Turbo mode, which makes sense if you look at the size of it, and the material it is made of (Titanium). At about 1 minute and 45 seconds, the light reached a 20% output, which stayed relatively stable till about 19 minutes when it started to drop. When it reached 20 minutes, the light started to blink, as a Low Voltage warning.
This is what I would give it in regards to total runtime of a single 700mAh 18350 battery: 20 minutes.
The battery Voltage was about 2.7Volts when I put it into the charger again.

Throw:

  • Total Throw measured at 5meters: 7,000 cd (167 meters)

Overall conclusion

Pros:

  1. Titanium
  2. Trit slots to make it even more appealing
  3. Small size, great for an EDC light
  4. Reverse polarity protection
  5. Low Voltage warning
  6. Choice of emitters
  7. Available in multiple variations (heat treated, stone washed, shiny and even an exotic metal in the near future)

Cons

  1. Hidden mode group too easily accessible… this is a major Con imho
  2. Short runtime on 18350 battery (not strange, just a con for this type of battery)
Marco
Author: Marco

Overall Rating: Good ★★★★

I’ve been holding my breath for this Krystal. Back in 2014, I got his first BLF Triple Titanium, which was the first titanium light he built. Now more than 5 years later I have the Krystal, and it’s so much better in many regards. For a titanium flashlight, this is a bargain.

Reylight Krystal for sale:

Discontinued. Instead, check out the following articles:

  1. Best EDC Flashlight
  2. Best Titanium Flashlight