[candle lamp]

Klarus has upgraded their original rechargeable light RS11, known as the new RS11. This upgraded build features a dual switch interface and the latest XM-L2 U2 emitter with same charging solution based on a magnetic dock. The light runs on 1x18650 Li-ion or 2xCR123A battery source.
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The light comes in a store-shelf display packaging. Included in the packaging was the light with removable clip (attached), holster, lanyard, spare o-rings, magnetic USB cable, manual.
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Manufacturer Specifications & features from Klarus website & manual :

• CREE XM-L2 U2 LED with a lifespan of up to 50,000 hours
• Four lighting modes : High / Medium / Low / Strobe
• Output & runtime : High (930lm, 2.5hr), Med. (230lm, 6hr), Low (5lm, 260hr), Strobe (930lm, 5 hr)
• Peak beam intensity : 16146cd
• Max. beam distance : 254m
• Impact resistance : 1.5m
• Waterproof : IPX8 (under water 2m)
• Working Voltage : 3.0V~8.4V
• Battery compatibility : 2xCR123A / 1x18650 (any 18650 battery with PCB protection) Warning : Only use the supplied KLARUS custom 18650 battery when charging the light directly (using the magnetic charging cable). All other batteries must be taken out to recharge
• Charging : Input-5V, Output-4.2V/500 mA Max
• Charging time : 7 hours
• Body color : Military grey
• Reflector : Textured orange peel reflector
• Lens : Toughened ultra-clear glass
• Dimensions : 160mm (Length) x 35mm (Head) x 25.4mm (Body)
• Net weight : 160g (Excluding battery)
• Brand new ergonomic design allows easy operation with just one hand
• Brand new switch design with an enlarged and recessed main switch making it easy to find and hard to activate accidentally
• Brand New custom KLARUS 2600mAh 3.7V rechargeable Li-ion battery, using Samsung cells and a unique contact design that automatically aligns positive/negative current regardless of battery orientation
• Maximum output of 930 ANSI lumens
• Tripod mountable via the standard UNC1/4′-20 threaded mounting point
• Specially designed magnetic charging port. When the charging cable is within 1cm of the charging port it self-locates to make the connection. The charging cable can be removed quickly and safely at any time, which makes it an effective flashlight to use in rapid response situations
• Uses a USB interface chargeable design, so you can charge in the home, office, airport, vehicle, etc. Basically, anywhere that has a USB interface
• Low loss, high intensity, portable USB charging cable
• Strobe can be activated when the flashlight is on or off, giving instant access to a blinding strobe from any mode
• Three lighting modes with memory function make it adaptable for different situations
• Detachable stainless steel strike bezel protects the lens and has a self-defense purpose
• Color filters and a diffuser can be securely attached ; screwed-in to replace the bezel
• Waterproof to IPX-8 Standard (underwater to 2 meters)
• Included accessories : 18650 battery, holster, lanyard, body clip, USB charging cable and two spare o-rings
* Note : The above-mentioned parameters are approximate and may vary between flashlights, batteries and environments. Lumen data and runtime was achieved using KLARUS 2600mAh 18650 batteries
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The hard (type III) anodizing is a matt dark brownish gray and consistent throughout with no chips or blemishes to be found on my review sample. Lettering is not very bright white, but legible against the dark background. There are dual switches in the head.
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You can take the light apart without any tools and get four parts.
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New RS11 has a stainless steel crenellated bezel ring are removable, and my review sample is the silver one allowing light to shine through when left placed head down.
The head part is unique. The bezel ring is not directly touch the o-ring & lens in the head. There is an inner ring similar to bracket between the bezel ring and lens. The reflector including o-ring and lens are only installed from the rear of the head. This structure is more shock-resistance.
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There is a small raised contact spring in the head of the light, so flat-top 18650 batteries should work fine in the light. The light has reverse polarity protection to protect from incorrect battery installation (i.e., the electronics of new RS11 has in-built reverse polarity protection).
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The light uses toughened ultra-clear lens. The purple hue is reflected on the lens. The aluminum reflector has a textured orange pattern. Surface finish on the reflector was nice from visual inspection, and well-centered LED sits at the bottom of the reflector cup.
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There are cooling fins and dual switches on the head side by side.
The dual switches consist of black upper square (on-off & mode change) switch and orange lower round (strobe) switch. The upper switch is also indicated by an embossed Klarus logo, and the lower switch has a series of raised concentric rings.
The upper switch is a bit raised higher than the lower switch, due to the different diameter of the cooling fins. However these side switches are very slightly protruded (i.e., almost not raised) from the head surface. I think there would be far less accidental activation in the bag when carrying the light. Switches are electronic switches, with typical feel for this class.
There is also a tripod attachment mount on the opposite side of the dual-switch, with uses the standard tripod screw diameter (UNC 1/4-20).
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Klarus supplied a custom protected 18650 (2600mAh) rechargeable cell in the light. Labels are rather extensive in addition to the manufacturer and battery name. You will see 7 point series specification about the custom 18650 in a very tiny, but legible font. As shown above, the both ends of the battery actually have both positive and negative contacts. In other words, the inner contact is positive, and the outer contact is actually negative on the both ends. Klarus designed the tail assembly (see below) so that other regular 1x18650 cells or 2xCR123As can be used inside the light.
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The screw threads are trapezoidal-cut of good quality. Both male and female threads in the head are well machined, with being anodized which allows the light to be locked-out when the head is slightly loosened. Threads on head end on the body mate well with no issues of cross-threading or grinding.
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The battery tube (i.e., body) is mostly covered in normal knurling with two flat faces where manufacturer & model name with serial number are printed on and one flat face where the clip is touching. The stainless steel clip-on pocket clip seems to hold on fairly well. It is head-facing, and not reversible. Knurling is not very aggressive. But with all the ridge detail and extra elements around the head and body, overall grip is good and acceptable. The wall thickness of the body is about 2.9mm, and the light feel solid.
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At tail base, you can see two metal circular contacts (i.e., charging dock), and the LED charging status indicator surrounding the charging port. The tail assembly only can be disassembled from the tail base using snap-ring pliers or a long-nose pliers.
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There are two springs on the contact board in the tail assembly, which are used for charging the custom 18650 cell (which contains positive and negative contacts on either end of the battery). There is an outermost ring which makes the negative current path to the body.

When you charge using the built-in charger, charging occurs between two regions of the tail contact of the battery. So you would guess the followings :
• The custom 18650 bundled with the new RS11 will not work in most other lights, unless not only the positive terminal spring in the head is small enough to only make contact with the inner positive plate on the battery, but also the negative terminal spring in the tailcap is large enough to only contact with the outer negative plate on the battery.
But I found there is no such a light that I have.
• The other regular 18650 will work fine inside the new RS11 thanks to the positive terminal spring in the head. However regular 18650 cell will not be charged inside the light due to the different design of the battery terminal. Klarus says "if using any other 18650 or CR123A with (or without) PCB protection, the cell is not be charged." in the manual
• The custom 18650 bundled with the new RS11 should not be charged outside of the light (i.e., there is no regular charger to charge the custom 18650).

In summary, charge the custom 18650 cell only inside the new RS11 light, and don't try to use the custom 18650 cell in other lights. You just need the bundled 18650 cell if you want to take advantage of the charging feature.
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Charging the bundled 18650 battery is done by attaching the included charging cable end to the external tail contacts of the light, and the other end into a standard computer USB port. I feel this magnetic pull is stronger than the Supbeam X40 & K50 v2 I reviewed..
I could measure only ~34mA battery voltage at the tail contacts with a 18650 cell installed inside the light, to be accurate the voltage decrease from 34mAh to 0mAh very slowly, so there will be no risk of shorting out the battery inside the light.
When plugging the USB end into my computer port, I could measure an open voltage (5.15V) at the magnetic contacts of the cable. There is a transparent raised plastic divider separating the inner and outer contacts on the charging cable end to prevent this from shorting out the USB port of your computer. But this charging cable end has a fairly strong magnetic pull and this attract a nearby piece of metal. I found that the inner contact of the charging cable has no magnetic pulling force, but the outer contact has strong magnetic pulling force. So it may be or may not be possible for magnetic contacts to accidentally attract tiny metal pieces and short USB port of the computer. If you want to avoid this potential short-out, you should connect the magnetic contacts to the tail charging port before plugging the USB end into computer.
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The ring LED surrounding the charging port will glow red when charging, and turn green when fully charged.
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When charging the bundled 18650 (2600mAh) cell using the USB 3.0 port, it took 6 hrs and 54 mins for the built-in charger to terminate and the ring LED indicator to turn green from red.
The resting voltage before charging bundled 18650 cell is 3.20V, and the cell read as 4.19V resting voltage at termination. Note that the charger terminated completely once the light went green thanks to overcharge protection function of the custom 18650 cell. This is good and safe. Initially, the light drew 520mA maximum charging current from USB cable and reduced 0mA at the end of charging (i.e., it reduced gradually as time passed). The maximum charge rate for USB2.0/USB3.0 are 500mA/900mA respectively. So the charging current of the light is very reasonable and safe.
Also you have the option to charge the light by a AC/DC adapter with USB interface or car charger with USB interface. But these were not bundled with my review sample. I expect the charging time will be shorter on the AC/DC adapter than the USB port.
Klarus do recommend you disconnect the charging port within 1 hr after the LED charging indicator turns green. Also they recommend you perform periodic charge-discharge cycles every 3 months to prolong the lifespan of the custom 18650 battery.
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User Interface

Press the black upper switch (with the Klarus logo) for on-off. You can temporarily press for momentary, press longer for locked-on. You need to hold it for more than 1.5~2 secs for the light to stay locked-on. You can turn the light off by a quick press-release of the black upper switch.
Press and hold the same switch for more than 1.5~2 secs to cycle through High -> Med. -> Low output and release the same switch to select the output.

To activate strobe, press and hold the orange lower switch. As before, a temporary press will give you momentary strobe, a more than 2 sec press is required for constant-on strobe.
The light has a memory mode for constant outputs only. You should leave the light on for more than 3 secs in a given mode before turning off. If you turn off faster than that, the light returns to its previously saved mode.
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Standby Current Drain

Because dual switches are electronic, there is a standby current when the light is fully connected with batteries installed inside the light. I measured this current as 208uA. Considering one 2600mAh capacity battery, that would give you around 1.4 years before one fully charged battery would be completely drained. This is acceptable and negligible, not a big concern, but you can break this current completely by slightly loosening the head a little for lock-out, thanks to the anodized threads, when not in use.
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From left to right, VicLite 18650(2600mAh) protected, Olight M20S-X, Armytek Viking v2.5, Rofis TR31C, Klarus new RS11, Nitecore MH25, Nitecore P25.
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The head size & light weight excluding battery of six lights are as follows :
M20S-X - 35.4mm / 124g, Viking v2.5- 39.4mm / 160g, TR31C - 39.7mm / 180g, New RS11 - 35.4mm / 152g, MH25 - 40mm / 145g, P25 - 40mm / 172g
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It is good size to hold and can be used. Overall grip is good. New RS11 comes with a nylon holster with closing flap. The light fits in the holster head-up and down. Overall build quality is excellent.
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Measured Dimensions & Weight

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PWM


There is a visible PWM flicker on Low and Med. mode. But Hi has no visible evidence of flicker. I notice there is no buzzing sound on Low and Med. mode, but some buzzing sound on High mode only. In my view, this PWM & buzzing sound are not bad.
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Runtime


New RS11 steps down on High after about 3 mins runtime on all battery sources.
Max. output is lower on the custom 18650 than other battery sources. You can see strange runtime pattern on 2xPanasonic CR123A cells. After about 3 mins runtime step-down and a few mins runtime on High, the light dropped-off rapidly to 30% output, only to then fall out of regulation, started to recover output gradually.
This isn't the issue of the light. This regulation behavior seems to be related to mostly heating up of multi cells, PTC circuits, and brand name of the CR123A. You can refer to this excellent thread which Selfbuilt posted. The cogent scenario would be that "once the battery temp. reaches a certain threshold, the PTC resistance of the cell rises and current limitation kicks in, causing a rapid drop in output. Over time, the temp. drops and the cells recover, showing an uptick in output." Note that all my runtime tests above are done under a cooling fan for safety and consistency reasons, like my other reviews. Output increased negligibly on 2xCR123A or 2xRCR123A relative to 1x18650 (i.e., there is almost no difference in output on different voltage). The light does not list 2xRCR123A under supported batteries even though the stated voltage range is 3.0v~8.4V. I think it is because the current on the emitter on High will be ~3A around.
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Overall output-runtime efficiency seems fine. New RS11 is brighter on 1x18650 battery source than the same class of light before step-down.
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Beamshot

1. White door beamshot (about 50cm from the white door) on max. output on 1x18650 (2600mAh) VicLite protected cell
- ISO100, F/3.5, 1/400sec, Auto white balance



There is the periphery of the spillbeam on new RS11 due to the crenellated bezel ring.
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- ISO100, F/3.5, 1/800sec, Auto white balance


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- ISO100, F/3.5, 1/1250sec, Auto white balance


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2. Indoor beamshot (about 7m from the target) on max. output on 1x18650 (2600mAh) VicLite protected cell
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1/5sec, Auto white balance

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3. 55m Outdoor Beamshot on max. output on 1x18650 (2600mAh) VicLite protected cell
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1sec, Auto white balance

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4. 60~65m Outdoor Beamshot on max. output on 1x18650 (2600mAh) VicLite protected cell
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1sec, Auto white balance


Throw is reasonable for the class in my test.
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Klarus new RS11 was provided by Klarus for review.