Klarus RS20 Passaround

[Str8stroke]

Well here she is charging up before her trip to les. I was planning on getting her off today, but I ran out of time.

You can use the light while it is charging.

Some thoughts about the light:
Nice grip in your hands
Built in USB charging
Obviously selective outputs & leds.
The side flood led is surprisingly useful if you walk a dog or do outdoor tasks
Proprietary battery that can be installed with positive up or down. So doesn't matter how you install it.
Has a red led that lights up the tail to show charging. So that is nice. I like that you can use the light while it is charging. So you could carry a USB backup battery and really have you a long running set up. This would be great for hunters or campers who may need a long run time.
Main led has excellent throw. I produces a perfect beam with a very distinct hotspot. The main reflector is very deep.

Only complaints I have are you must have a USB to charge it, the buttons are hard to find on the body. With gloves it may be impossible. Lastly, the UI may be tricky for some to operate. It is a press hold to keep on. I found the timing kinda odd. But others may not.

Overall impression. Nice quality light that has flexible uses. Rechargeable battery is nice. Only needs a different UI and buttons that light up too. That would solve my issues.

My time with her was nice. Thanks to Klaus & Mr Mom for the pass around.

 

[stanmore]

Hmm, I meant to post this yesterday, but I can't see any evidence that I did, and I was able to 'restore saved content', so I guess I did something wrong anyway, I shall still post it, and add a bit to the end!

Hi guys, this thread finally made me make an account so that I don't miss this kind of thing in the future! Had I known these passarounds were a thing, Id've been on this one faster than you could blink, I'm definitely a fan of Klarus lights! Being a student with (seriously!) limited funds, I only have three lights at the minute, two by Klarus and one be LED Lenser. First I bought the XT11, and after a nervous period of it malfunctioning in a rainforest, I bought the XT2C as a backup - which now sees as much use as the XT11.

Anyway, to the point....
I've been tempted to buy this light for a long time, certainly back when they were on the first model, wanted it even more after they released the newer one! Like I said, if I had known (and been eligible) a while ago, I would have been in on this passaround as soon as I'd seen it, alas I am not and I had not seen the thread anyway. I did however order myself on at the weekend! :laughing: Should have it in a day or two and I'll definitely add my review after next weeks camping trip!

Hope to get in on a future passaround sometime, thanks for the opportunity and for opening my eyes!


Now the little extra bit - I received the RS20 today, hopefully I'll be able to post a quick review soon as there aren't all that many on it yet, but it's sad to say, had I been part of the passaround and handled this light before I purchased it, I don't feel I would have spent the £110 on it. A great light yes, but not for so much money...

 

[les_garten]

A quick not on the Klarus light. I believe it is defective.

It will not reliably go into high mode. I have to lock out the cap to "reset" the light and then it may or may not get all it's modes. The modes don't always setup like you think they would. It is very inconsistant with mode switching and they don't all seem to work right. I've only turned it on a few times with the OEM battery and a 18650 of mine and it behaves the same. At first I thought the OEM battery might have issues, but now know that's not true.

The OEM battery charges a might high, it is 4.24 vdc at the end of the charge.

I have fooled around with trying to figure out why it is not working properly and can't get a handle on it.

Personally, I really don't like the mode interface. It is counter intuitive compared to most every other light out there.

You press the button in and out and it is always momentary unless held down for a period of time. You must hold to turn off. If you momentary press while on it switches modes, but your brain wanted to turn it off and you forgot to hold.

Not my cup of tea RE the interface.

Uses proprietary format batteries that I believe are unprotected and probably not usable in any other flashlight. All protection is in the light. That protection built into the light may be causing it to have issues presently.

I noticed when I got it, that after running a short time it would dim. I thought the batt was low and charged it. But now assessing it further, I think it just has some issues. The side light is interesting but not worth the complication IMO. It does have the capability of getting very bright on the side light of being somewhat dim.

I think it needs to go back to the mothership for a tuneup, it has been acting up since I got it.

 

[Str8stroke]

les, I had no major issues getting into High, but the voltage was always high on the cell. I did notice that I was stuck in Low on the side light and just thought it was part of the strange UI. Thats why I said some folks would find the necessary Timing odd. It needs a big magnetic ring switch! That would solve all that wacky hold click stuff.

Plus, I couldn't ever remember what switch to press.

Want to hear something funny: I gave it to a 12 year old, and they had no problems working it completely. ha! The UI may have been designed by Nintendo!

Now, the side light is really neat, but a few times I had a hard time turning off the side light. Kinda like it was stuck on. You said you couldn't get it into High gear. I felt stuck in Low on the side light. Then I played with clicking and holding and seemed like I figured it out. At least I thought I did. ha!

Once you get it into High, it has some pretty darn good throw.

Following the strange UI, Did you notice you can put the battery in either way? There is no Top or Bottom to the battery.

BTW: I charged it fully the night before it was shipped out to you.

 

[Crazyeddiethefirst]

During the early days of CPF, passarounds were quite common. They were a great way to play with a flashlight for the cost of postage. I remember the days that manufactures sent prototypes to CPF members as a product development venue as well. Many member suggestions were included in final releases. I still have a few of those beta development lights in my collection.

This passaround opportunity has been up for two weeks now and I am quite surprised that there are no takers. I know that the forum category of passarounds is new to CPF again and that this thread has only 200+ hits at this time.

Please help me understand the lack of interest:
1. Is it because of lack of exposure? Duh, if you have not seen this thread, how would you know? How would you know to respond?
2. Are passaround opportunities diluted with group buys?
3. I'm just not interested in passarounds of any type at this time? Explain.
4. I'm not interested in this particular flashlight?
5. Are passaround rules too restrictive?
6. If I was interested in the flashlight, I would have purchased it instead of waiting for a passaround.
7. There are many expert reviewers here on CPF. I do not feel that my personal review can be up to their standard. (Don't worry, your quick thoughts are always more than welcome.)

Fellow CPF members please offer your input on this matter.

Manufactures are interested in placing their products in expert (your) hands for an honest review and for feedback from your experience. Sarah, a truly wonderful person with Klarus, has generously donated an RS20 to the community. It is in your hands now.

Lack of participation will close the door on future opportunities.

Please share your thoughts here or if needed by PM.

I look forward to putting the Klarus RS20 through the paces in real life mode this summer while camping. Our Buffalo NY deep snow pack has just begun to melt. The camping season will be in full swing in a few months.

Mr Mom,
I have been here for a few years and love passarounds. I am on the forum at least 20 x per day. Yet somehow I did not even see this thread until today. Don't know how or why. I agree that there must be rules to keep the light cared for, but also agree it should be fun. This did not seem all that different from the passarounds Greta did with the PK FL2(which I now am a proud owner of one). Would anyone be interested in maintaining a list of people interested in passarounds? Then, in addition to the passarounds thread, a pm to those who had expressed interest could bp up the numbers.
If a light is $60 or less it is obtainable for most, but on the more expensive lights a passaround would allow more people to experience it firsthand. I applaud Sandra and Klarus for providing the light, and you for organizing it. I guess I need to keep an even closer watch. Thanks,
Ed

 

[les_garten]

les, I had no major issues getting into High, but the voltage was always high on the cell. I did notice that I was stuck in Low on the side light and just thought it was part of the strange UI. Thats why I said some folks would find the necessary Timing odd. It needs a big magnetic ring switch! That would solve all that wacky hold click stuff.

Plus, I couldn't ever remember what switch to press.

Want to hear something funny: I gave it to a 12 year old, and they had no problems working it completely. ha! The UI may have been designed by Nintendo!

Now, the side light is really neat, but a few times I had a hard time turning off the side light. Kinda like it was stuck on. You said you couldn't get it into High gear. I felt stuck in Low on the side light. Then I played with clicking and holding and seemed like I figured it out. At least I thought I did. ha!

Once you get it into High, it has some pretty darn good throw.

Following the strange UI, Did you notice you can put the battery in either way? There is no Top or Bottom to the battery.

BTW: I charged it fully the night before it was shipped out to you.

I did notice the cell would go either way when I was trying to figure out how to test the voltage.

I'm pretty well convinced it has some problems and is not working correctly.

I wonder if the Klarus folks are easy to get a hold of?

 

[MrMom]

Stanmore,

Welcome to CPF and the hobby. Passarounds were quite popular in the early days of CPF. They allow one to "play with a light" for the price of postage. Although this one is for CONUS, perhaps someone in the UK can do one. I hope you enjoy your new RS20. Like you, I believe this makes a fine camping light. Thanks for posting.

In the very near future I will be setting up passarounds in a new thread for 2 flashlights which have not yet been released and have never been seen before. The most that I can say at this time is that the artistic talent for these flashlights come from a well known pedigree.

Hmm, I meant to post this yesterday, but I can't see any evidence that I did, and I was able to 'restore saved content', so I guess I did something wrong anyway, I shall still post it, and add a bit to the end!

Hi guys, this thread finally made me make an account so that I don't miss this kind of thing in the future! Had I known these passarounds were a thing, Id've been on this one faster than you could blink, I'm definitely a fan of Klarus lights! Being a student with (seriously!) limited funds, I only have three lights at the minute, two by Klarus and one be LED Lenser. First I bought the XT11, and after a nervous period of it malfunctioning in a rainforest, I bought the XT2C as a backup - which now sees as much use as the XT11.

Anyway, to the point....
I've been tempted to buy this light for a long time, certainly back when they were on the first model, wanted it even more after they released the newer one! Like I said, if I had known (and been eligible) a while ago, I would have been in on this passaround as soon as I'd seen it, alas I am not and I had not seen the thread anyway. I did however order myself on at the weekend! :laughing: Should have it in a day or two and I'll definitely add my review after next weeks camping trip!

Hope to get in on a future passaround sometime, thanks for the opportunity and for opening my eyes!


Now the little extra bit - I received the RS20 today, hopefully I'll be able to post a quick review soon as there aren't all that many on it yet, but it's sad to say, had I been part of the passaround and handled this light before I purchased it, I don't feel I would have spent the £110 on it. A great light yes, but not for so much money...

 

[MrMom]

Ed, Thanks for your post. Do I hear a volunteer?

Your post reminds me of the "birth" days of CPF when I spent hours on the forums constantly checking in. Reload, reload, reload. Back then it was possible to read each and every post in all sub-forums. LED's in flashlights were a new and home brew concept only. Heck, we were still doing the Tim Taylor to incans then. Managing CPF threads now must be a logistical nightmare! Thank goodness for the volunteer mods!!! I do understand your point regarding the less expensive flashlights not lending themselves to passarounds. Back then LED mods and production runs were much more expensive lending to greater interest in passarounds. Now, the economic scale saves us $$$.

Mr Mom,
I have been here for a few years and love passarounds. I am on the forum at least 20 x per day. Yet somehow I did not even see this thread until today. Don't know how or why. I agree that there must be rules to keep the light cared for, but also agree it should be fun. This did not seem all that different from the passarounds Greta did with the PK FL2(which I now am a proud owner of one). Would anyone be interested in maintaining a list of people interested in passarounds? Then, in addition to the passarounds thread, a pm to those who had expressed interest could bp up the numbers.
If a light is $60 or less it is obtainable for most, but on the more expensive lights a passaround would allow more people to experience it firsthand. I applaud Sandra and Klarus for providing the light, and you for organizing it. I guess I need to keep an even closer watch. Thanks,
Ed

 

[MrMom]

Hi all.

I have alerted Sarah to some of the questions and concerns posted in this thread. Hopefully she has someone from her technical department that can chime in here.

Thank you for your input.

 

[bonbonbin_]

During the early days of CPF, passarounds were quite common. They were a great way to play with a flashlight for the cost of postage. I remember the days that manufactures sent prototypes to CPF members as a product development venue as well. Many member suggestions were included in final releases. I still have a few of those beta development lights in my collection.

This passaround opportunity has been up for two weeks now and I am quite surprised that there are no takers. I know that the forum category of passarounds is new to CPF again and that this thread has only 200+ hits at this time.

Please help me understand the lack of interest:
1. Is it because of lack of exposure? Duh, if you have not seen this thread, how would you know? How would you know to respond?
2. Are passaround opportunities diluted with group buys?
3. I'm just not interested in passarounds of any type at this time? Explain.
4. I'm not interested in this particular flashlight?
5. Are passaround rules too restrictive?
6. If I was interested in the flashlight, I would have purchased it instead of waiting for a passaround.
7. There are many expert reviewers here on CPF. I do not feel that my personal review can be up to their standard. (Don't worry, your quick thoughts are always more than welcome.)

Fellow CPF members please offer your input on this matter.

Manufactures are interested in placing their products in expert (your) hands for an honest review and for feedback from your experience. Sarah, a truly wonderful person with Klarus, has generously donated an RS20 to the community. It is in your hands now.

Lack of participation will close the door on future opportunities.

Please share your thoughts here or if needed by PM.

I look forward to putting the Klarus RS20 through the paces in real life mode this summer while camping. Our Buffalo NY deep snow pack has just begun to melt. The camping season will be in full swing in a few months.

Personal view that this will not a issue, because, if person who can share great/special review experience and show we can know, show the features, advantages to users, maybe there will have more opportunities. let's try it!

 

[bonbonbin_]

I did notice the cell would go either way when I was trying to figure out how to test the voltage.

I'm pretty well convinced it has some problems and is not working correctly.

I wonder if the Klarus folks are easy to get a hold of?

Maybe you could contact them and release your question..............

 

[les_garten]

Does anybody have a US contact for Klarus? I can't find it, all there is in the manual are Chinese phone numbers.

 

[les_garten]

@MrMom

Do you have somebody I can talk to about the light not working properly? I really can't test it or use it presently because of the issues I mentioned above.

 

[MrMom]

@MrMom

Do you have somebody I can talk to about the light not working properly? I really can't test it or use it presently because of the issues I mentioned above.

Les,

Your questions bring up some interesting considerations.

I do know that Sarah from Klarus is monitoring this thread as well as their engineering person, info via private email. BTW, Sarah is a wonderful and honest person to work with. My role here is to administer the passaround only. I hope that Klarus would post here regarding their product. Sarah has indicated in private email that the UI has been upgraded to address some of your concerns and points, although, I believe that they should do this publicly here.

Taking this to another level, your questions have identified the need for all Asian companies wising to do business in the US to have a dedicated US representative on staff to represent and correspond regarding their product. The US is a huge market. PR and product service is a critical tie.

Thanks for your participation and posts. Well enjoyed.

MrMom

 

[les_garten]

Les,

Your questions bring up some interesting considerations.

I do know that Sarah from Klarus is monitoring this thread as well as their engineering person, info via private email. BTW, Sarah is a wonderful and honest person to work with. My role here is to administer the passaround only. I hope that Klarus would post here regarding their product. Sarah has indicated in private email that the UI has been upgraded to address some of your concerns and points, although, I believe that they should do this publicly here.

Taking this to another level, your questions have identified the need for all Asian companies wising to do business in the US to have a dedicated US representative on staff to represent and correspond regarding their product. The US is a huge market. PR and product service is a critical tie.

Thanks for your participation and posts. Well enjoyed.

MrMom

Hmmm, OK.

Here's the consideration for me.

The light does not work really.

I don't know why my experience is do different from the previous tester, but the light is useless. I guess I'll post a video with the demonstration of it's issues. The problems are predictably reproducible. It is so bad that I would not use this light as it works now for anything. It is definitely not working as designed. I'm not keen on the user interface but this one just doesn't work right, which is separate from the design.

 

[bstrickler]

I don't know if I'd really qualify, because I haven't been around much over the last 2 years, even though everything else about me fulfills the requirements, mostly because I was juggling between full time college, and a full time job, leaving no time for fun stuff, but I've been eyeing this light for a while now, and think this would be a perfect way to find out if the light is a good fit for me.

Hopefully you are able to get the problem with the light remedied, Les!

 

[les_garten]

I don't know if I'd really qualify, because I haven't been around much over the last 2 years, even though everything else about me fulfills the requirements, mostly because I was juggling between full time college, and a full time job, leaving no time for fun stuff, but I've been eyeing this light for a while now, and think this would be a perfect way to find out if the light is a good fit for me.

Hopefully you are able to get the problem with the light remedied, Les!

I'm going to shoot a video and post it. thanx for reminding me.

 

[lytumup]

I'm going to shoot a video and post it. thanx for reminding me.

Could you update us if there is a link for the video please? What happen to the light was it shipped back to Klarus to get fixed? Is this pass around still going on?

Thanks

 

[les_garten]

Could you update us if there is a link for the video please? What happen to the light was it shipped back to Klarus to get fixed? Is this pass around still going on?

Thanks

I haven't shot the video yet. I have no place to send it to get fixed. I'm just kinda sitting here wanting to get rid of it.

 

[MrMom]

Les, try: [email protected]