Preface Official Specs Versions Price Short Review Long Review What's Included Manual and Packaging Build Quality and Durability Size Retention Power User Interface and Operation Modes LED and beam Tint vs... Beamshots, Runtime, etc table. Comparisons Conclusion What I like What I don't like Up Next Notes
Preface
The RovyVon lights have been popping up over and over, so I reached out to RovyVon on amazon about some review units. I’d hoped to get a sampling of various iterations, but in the end RovyVon agreed to send the GITD version, the Aurora A5.
Official Specs and Features
Versions
There are two versions of the GITD (glow in the dark) light. One has a red emitter on the side. The other has a UV emitter on the side.
Aside from those two, there are many different body options. Those are technically different lights, so I’m not going to make an exhaustive list. Notably, there are stainless steel versions, titanium versions (which look to have tritium!), aluminum versions, and some soft-coat aluminum, too.
Price
Prices range from around $25, to the $36 range for this exact light, to over $60 for the titanium version.
If you purchase this light on RovyVon’s official site, you may use the coupon code zeroair for 10% off! Not just this light, but from your whole order on the site!
Short Review
I love this thing! I love the GITDness of it. I love that it has secondary and tertiary emitters. The output is stunning. I could deal with a little mode improvement, and XP-G3 isn’t my favorite, though.
Long Review
What’s Included
- RovyVon A5 keychain flashlight
- Pocket clip
- Chain for wearing around neck
- Charge cable
- Lanyard
- Spare micro-USB cover
- Paperwork (If mine came with a manual, I’ve misplaced it.)
Package and Manual
The A5 ships in a display-ready, clear front package, with a bunch of specs on the back of the box. A small portion of those specs are covered with an amazon inventory sticker.
Build Quality and Disassembly
The Aurora A5 is nicely built. The body is fully plastic aside from the bezel, which appears to be stainless steel.
The body is also clear, which means the internals may be viewed through the body. Seen below is the pouch cell. It’s not coin/button cells! (I think that’s a solid decision.)
The end of the light has a nice bit of branding, with the tiniest font known to man.
Size
Officially 2.12 x 0.57 in, and 0.03lbs. I weigh it at 11g. Eleven grams! This clip adds about 1g, so 12g total with clip.
It’s not the smallest light of this style I have. But to be fair the smaller in the photo below is a different cell (10180) and none of these have secondary emitters.
Smaller than an 18650!
Retention
Of course the tail end of the light is a receptacle for two of the accessories. The neck chain, and the lanyard both connect here.
The other option is the 1g pocket clip, which friction fits around the body (middle) of the light. There are two positions, and the clip will fit in either orientation in both positions.
Here you can see the two positions.
The clip lives best on the side of the light without the switch, but it can be fitted on either.
Being that this is a steel clip, and the body is plastic, I can see that eventually the body will become worn a little if you remove/install the clip often. Of course the metal bodies won’t have that issue.
The clip is very useful on a ball cap. Here are some examples:
The lantern is quite useful this way, too.
In lantern mode, the A5 is useful for map reading and the like:
And of course this gets the GITD going very nicely.
The main emitter is equally useful, but the low is a bit too bright in my opinion for pitch-dark close-up work.
Great for hiking, though! (That’s just a photo of my grass.)
Here is LMH with the main light, on the bill of a cap:
Power
The battery is built in and not removable. It is charged via micro-USB, which has a push-in rubber cover. This cover stays attached. The plug is a little harder to manipulate than most I’ve used, but it works just fine.
Here’s a runtime on the highest mode of the front light. I reset the runtime at about 6 minutes, and near-high output was achieved again. The output drops very quickly, and eventually settles at around 75 lumens (equivalent to Medium mode). The light never switches off, but does switch to very low, and the side red emitter indicates the battery is low.
Similarly a runtime on Medium. This mode also has a stepdown, starting at about 275 lumens, and settling in at around 75.
The side light was too low to test on my calibrated tube, but I did test the output a different way. So this isn’t calibrated, and the output is very low, but it’s useful information nonetheless. The overall runtime is ten hours with the side light, and there’s a reasonable amount (70%) of output for over 8 of those hours.
Charging of the small cell proceeds at around 350mA. Charging looks great, and reliable.
User Interface and Operation
There’s a single side switch for operating the Aurora A5. It’s a clicky e-switch.
The UI is fairly versatile.
Here’s a UI table!
| State | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Click | No Action |
| Off | Hold | Momentary High |
| Off | Double Click | Low Front Light |
| Front Light On | Click | Mode Advance (L,M,H,Strobe) |
| On | Hold | Off |
| Off | Triple Click | White Side Light On |
| Side light On | Click | Mode advance (White, Red, Red flash)* |
* After a certain amount of time being “on” the next click turns the side light off.
Modes
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | 550 | 37m | 388 |
| Medium | 210 | 55m | 258 |
| Low | 19 | 150m | 19 |
LED and Beam
A huge fly in the ointment with this light is the main emitter: it’s a Cree XP-G3, and rated at 6000-6500K. That’s much too cool for my tasted. And the light can’t be disassembled, so it’s not easy to change the LED (I won’t say it’s impossible.) The emitter is behind a TIR optic, and provides a nice spot with little spill.
The side emitters are of course, all spill. I can’t find documentation on what these are, but it looks like they’re just about as cool as the main emitter. There are two of these, and they provide a nice diffuse beam. This is a single mode white light, too. (I would love to see a lower option for the side.)
This is white wall shots, just to show how dim they really are.
The red emitter is between the two white side emitters. It’s used for low voltage warnings, too, which is a nice touch. It also has a strobe setting.
Tint vs BLF-348
Beamshots, Runtime, and Lux Measurements
| Rovyvon A5 | |
|---|---|
| Emitter | Cree XP-G3 |
| Emitter Notes | 6000-6500K S5 |
| Cell | Internal |
| Runtime | Chargetime |
| LVP? | ? |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | 550 |
| Lux (Measured) | 37 lux @ 5.759 m |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd | 1227.1 |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 70.1 |
| Throw (Claimed) (m) | 80 |
Random Comparisons and Competitive Options….
There’s a glut of 10180 lights I could mention here. But I can’t think of a single one (though I’m sure it exists) with dual secondary emitters, and a glow in the dark body. It’s hard to beat the feature rich-ness of the Aurora A5!
Conclusion
What I like
- GITD body
- Four emitters, and an effective lantern mode
- Great micro-USB charging
- Over 700 lumens at startup is ridiculous for this tiny light!
- I like this style TIR better than any other style
What I don’t like
- Can’t be disassembled
- Very cool white
- Both low modes aren’t quite low enough for me.
Up Next
I hope to have another charger this week, and possibly a flashlight too! We shall see!
Notes
- This light was provided by RovyVon for review. I was not paid to write this review.
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.wordpress.com. Please visit there for the best experience!
- Whether or not I have a coupon for this light, I do have a bunch of coupons!! Have a look at my spreadsheet for those coupons. It’s possible to subscribe and get notifications when the sheet is edited!!
ZeroAir Reviews 
Thanks 👍
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You’re welcome! And if you’re the CRX I know from all over the forums, I hope you get one of these lights and work your magic on it. 🙂 I’d love to see this one with Nichia.
Actually I’m in discussions with RovyVon about getting a stock version with Nichia! They’re quite receptive!!
Also note the giveaway on reddit for this light:
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Have you explored the reprogramming of this light? I saw a comment on Amazon that asked about it. The reply was that is was possible to reprogram it but that the warranty would be voided. I would love to get one of these and reprogram the low level to get a moonlight (0.5 lm) output. I find myself using my zerbralight all the time on moonlight mode.
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How long is the expected battery life? Considering the battery is non replaceable, how many recharges can we expect?
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I don’t know, but here’s what I found:
“LiPo Battery Life Span. As you use your battery, charging and discharging it, the capacity of it will slowly drop. So if your battery is 1300 mAh out of the box, it might drop to 75% of that (about 1000 mAh) after 200 charge/discharge cycles. A LiPo may last 300 to 500 cycles, depending on how it is cared for.”
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