Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD

Specifications

Brand/model Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD
LED Nichia 219F
Maximum lumens 650 lm
Maximum beam intensity 2,304 cd
Maximum throw 96 m
Battery 1*14500 Li-ion, 1*AA Ni-MH, 1*AA Alkaline
Onboard charging No. Acebeam 14500 Li-ion cell has USB-C charging.
Material Aluminium. Stainless Steel outer shell.
Modes 4
Blinkies SOS
Reflector Smooth
Waterproof IP68
Review date April 2022

Introduction

The Rider RX by Acebeam is one of the first fidget torches on the market. It is available in a variety of metals and colours.

Acebeam hosted a giveaway on Instagram and I was selected as a winner. I asked for the Rainbow PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) version due to how gorgeous it looks.

I am a big fan of small EDC torches with tactical forward clicky buttons, and I am curious to see how much fun the fidget feature adds.

Packaging

The Rider RX came in a small white retail box with a window to see the rainbow colours shine.

The following was included in the box:

  • Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD
  • Acebeam 14500 920mAh Li-ion cell
  • Acebeam lanyard
  • Spare o-rings
  • USB-A to USB-C cable
  • User manual

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD accessories Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD accessories

Torch in use

The Rider RX Rainbow PVD is smooth and comfortable to hold in a moderately sized hand. There are no sharp edges.

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD in hand

There is a small lanyard hole on the pocket clip.

A forward clicky tailswitch with a smooth CNC’d aluminium switch cover has been used. The spring in the switch has a decent amount tension while pressing it. The torch turns on momentarily while half pressing the switch and I can cycle through the modes by quickly half pressing or quickly fully clicking multiple times.

The pocket clip is massive relative to the size of the torch. The torch may be a little bit too heavy to attach to a hat using the reverse side of the pocket clip. It is not going to roll anywhere with the pocket clip.

A protruding button on a small EDC torch usually prevents tailstanding. However, this is not your average EDC torch. I can make the Rider RX tailstand by first turning it on, pushing the pocket clip to the side and down so that the button is hidden, and the head of the torch is exposed, and then by placing the Rider RX upright on a surface.

The fidget feature consists of being able to move the pocket clip from side to side and slide the pocket clip down. Ball bearings make a satisfying click into little holes while fidgeting.

It is a bit difficult to clean the Rider RX. I put the torch in a pocket with some dirt and the fidget mechanism became very gritty. I had to find a T9 screw bit, unscrew the two screws holding the pocket clip on, pop the inner tube out, and wipe the dirt off the inside of the outer shell and off the inner tube.

Build quality

Rainbow PVD is gorgeous! This is my first Acebeam torch and I am absolutely impressed with the build quality.

Attention to detail has not gone unnoticed. The bezel around the tailswitch has a purple and blue finish to suit the overall look and feel.

The outer shell and pocket clip are made of stainless steel while the main tube and head is made of aluminium.

Copper threads on the head have been lightly lubricated and it is smooth to unscrew.

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD front Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD right Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD back Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD left

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD tailstand Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD head removed

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD spring Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD tailcap Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD head

LED, bezel, lens, reflector and beam

The Rider RX has a single Nichia 219F LED with a smooth reflector and a centering ring.

I have taken Correlated Colour Temperature (CCT) and Colour Rendering Index (CRI, RA of R1-R8) measurements with the Rider RX positioned one metre away from an Opple Light Master Pro III (G3).

The CCT is about 4700K and it is 90+ CRI.

The Delta u, v is slightly positive (green) on lower modes but it is very neutral on mid and high modes.

I like the neutral tint. The hotspot has a slightly square shape like some of my other small EDC torches.

Mode Lux (lx) CCT (K) CRI (Ra) x y Duv
Li-ion Ultra-Low 51 4490 96.0 0.3622 0.3695 0.0024
Li-ion Low 394 4747 94.3 0.3539 0.3677 0.0045
Li-ion Mid 1447 4746 93.9 0.3536 0.3648 0.0032
Li-ion High 3292 4755 93.4 0.3525 0.3575 0.0001
Ni-MH Ultra-Low 13 4425 93.7 0.3641 0.3679 0.0010
Ni-MH Low 79 4531 95.3 0.3609 0.3692 0.0027
Ni-MH Mid 467 4649 94.9 0.3571 0.3691 0.0040
Ni-MH High 1003 4640 94.7 0.3571 0.3665 0.0028

Calculate Duv from CIE 1931 xy coordinates

Dimensions and size comparison

Dimensions

I took the following measurements using digital callipers.

Measurement Unit (mm)
Torch length 96.0
Torch length while extended 103.7
Tube diameter 18.6

Weight

I took the following measurements using a digital scale.

Measurement Unit (g)
Weight of torch with battery 81.4
Weight of torch 59.8
Weight of battery 21.6

EDC size comparison with its competition

The Rider RX is not the shortest AA/14500 torch but it is one of the narrowest AA/14500 torches that I have.

From left to right: Lumintop FWAA TiCu, Sofirn SP10 Pro, Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD, Olight i3T Brass, ReyLight Pineapple Mini Ti Stonewashed

Lumintop FWAA TiCu, Sofirn SP10 Pro, Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD, Olight i3T Brass, ReyLight Pineapple Mini Ti Stonewashed

User interface and driver

The Rider RX has a simple user interface where you can cycle between Ultra-Low, Low, Mid and High by momentarily pressing the forward clicky button quickly or by fully pressing. If you cycle through every mode twice, then you will access the SOS mode.

The driver has physical reverse polarity protection to prevent damage when a cell is inserted in the wrong direction. This may prevent flat top batteries from being used.

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD driver
State Action Result
Off Click On (mode memory)
Off Momentarily click within one second of the previous momentary click Cycle (Ultra-Low, Low, Mid, High)
On Click Off
On Click within one second of the previous click Cycle (Ultra-Low, Low, Mid, High)

Low voltage protection

The Rider RX does not appear to have low voltage protection. The included 14500 cell has low voltage protection.

SOS

Cycle through Ultra-Low, Low, Mid, High twice to access SOS mode.

There is a slightly longer pause between S-O and S.

PWM

I noticed visible PWM when the battery was almost empty.

What I like about the UI

  • Simple.
  • Forward clicky.
  • Momentary on.

What could be improved

  • Strobe could be added.
  • Direct access to Strobe and SOS from off would be nice.

Batteries and charging

Battery

The Rider RX supports button top AA/14500 batteries with multiple chemistries, including: Li-ion, Ni-MH and Alkaline.

A button top Acebeam 14500 920mAh cell with built-in USB-C charging was included inside the Rider RX. The cell arrived with a voltage of 3.835V, and it was isolated with a piece of plastic to avoid standby drain.

A capacity of 939 mAh was measured using Capacity Test mode at 250mA with a Vapcell S4 Plus.

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD 14500 920mAh Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD 14500 920mAh USB-C

Charging

I tried to charge the Acebeam 14500 920mAh cell using the following power supplies:

Power supply USB Type Protocol Does it charge?
Apple 61W Power Adapter USB-C PD No
Google Pixel Power Adapter USB-C PD No
Generic 5V 2.4A Power Adapter USB-A Yes
Xiaomi PB100DZM USB-C PD No
Xiaomi PB100DZM USB-A Yes
XTAR PB2S USB-C PD No
XTAR PB2S USB-A Yes

Performance

Official specifications from the manual:

Li-ion Battery

FL1 Standard High Mid Low Ultra-Low SOS
Light Output 650~450~330 lumens 280 lumens 70 lumens 7 lumens 450 lumens
Runtime 2min+6min+55min 60min 3h 8min 53h 60min

Ni-MH Battery

FL1 Standard High Mid Low Ultra-Low SOS
Light Output 200~150~85 lumens 80 lumens 5 lumens 0.5 lumens 150 lumens
Runtime 1min+6min+120min 130min 24h 7 days 1h 8min

Alkaline Battery

FL1 Standard High Mid Low Ultra-Low SOS
Light Output 200~150~85 lumens 80 lumens 5 lumens 0.5 lumens 150 lumens
Runtime 1min+6min+35min 52min 24h 7 days 30min

Lux Meter: UNI-T UT383BT
DMM: UNI-T UT139C has been used to measure current under 10A.

Lumen measurements

Mode Amps at start Specs Lumens @turn on Lumens @30 sec Lumens @10 min
Li-ion Ultra-Low 0.04 A 7 lm 10 lm 10 lm 10 lm
Li-ion Low 0.23 A 70 lm 74 lm 74 lm 74 lm
Li-ion Mid 0.75 A 280 lm 266 lm 253 lm 235 lm
Li-ion High 2.38 A 650 lm 660 lm 582 lm 335 lm
Ni-MH Ultra-Low 0.04 A 0.5 lm 2.6 lm 2.6 lm 2.6 lm
Ni-MH Low 0.36 A 5 lm 16 lm 16 lm 16 lm
Ni-MH Mid 1.72 A 80 lm 88 lm 88 lm 89 lm
Ni-MH High 3.90 A 200 lm 195 lm 190 lm 83 lm

Standby drain

A mechanical forward clicky switch has been used so there is no standby drain.

Runtime graphs

I built a lumen tube and forked bmengineer’s project RuTiTe to add support for a VEML7700 light sensor and MCP9808 temperature sensor with help from Owen. Calibration lights from maukka were used.

Note: Lumen measurements may be off by more than 10% with my DIY lumen tube.

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD Li-ion runtime graph

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD Li-ion High runtime graph

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD Li-ion Mid runtime graph

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD Li-ion Low runtime graph

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD Ni-MH runtime graph

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD Ni-MH High runtime graph

Acebeam Rider RX Rainbow PVD Ni-MH Mid runtime graph

I love how Acebeam have tried to be transparent by including a breakdown of when the light output steps down for High modes. Instead of simply saying that High will last an hour, Acebeam has stated that High will start at 650 lumens and last 2 minutes before stepping down to 450 lumens for 6 minutes etc.

The Rider RX switched off when the Acebeam 14500 920mAh Li-ion cell reached 3.07V and the eneloop pro 2450mAh Ni-MH cell reached 0.81V at the end of each runtime test.

Li-ion High started at 660 lumens, dropped to 454 lumen after 2 minutes, dropped to 335 lumens after 8 minutes, dropped to 255 lumens after 46 minutes and then switched off.

Li-ion High and Mid modes lined up with Acebeam’s runtime estimates.

Li-ion Low lasted more than 5 hours, passing Acebeam’s estimate of 3 hours 8 minutes.

Ni-MH High and Mid modes lined up with Acebeam’s runtime estimates.

Throw

I took lux measurements with a UT383BT at 30 seconds for each. Li-ion Ultra-Low, Ni-MH Ultra-Low, and Ni-MH Low were measured at one metre. All other modes were measured at five metres.

Mode Specs (cd) Specs (m) Candela measured (cd) Distance (m)
Li-ion Ultra-Low - - 37 12
Li-ion Low - - 225 30
Li-ion Mid - - 1075 66
Li-ion High 96 2,304 2,750 105
Ni-MH Ultra-Low - - 7 5
Ni-MH Low - - 62 16
Ni-MH Mid - - 300 35
Ni-MH High - - 750 55

Beamshots

5000K WB, 1/3 shutter speed, ISO 100

Li-ion Ultra-Low, Low, Mid, High

Acebeam Rider RX beamshot Li-ion Ultra-Low Acebeam Rider RX beamshot Li-ion Low
Acebeam Rider RX beamshot Li-ion Mid Acebeam Rider RX beamshot Li-ion High

Ni-MH Ultra-Low, Low, Mid, High
Acebeam Rider RX beamshot Ni-MH Ultra-Low Acebeam Rider RX beamshot Ni-MH Low
Acebeam Rider RX beamshot Ni-MH Mid Acebeam Rider RX beamshot Ni-MH High

Conclusion

The Rider RX is a fun fidget torch! The build quality is wonderful. The tint is nice. I highly recommend getting an Acebeam Rider RX in a design that appeals to you.

Pros:

  • Rainbow PVD looks gorgeous.
  • Fun fidget feature.
  • Wonderful build quality.
  • Neutral tint.
  • Multiple battery chemistries are supported (Li-ion, Ni-MH, Alkaline).

Cons:

  • No low voltage protection built into the torch.
  • USB-C to USB-C charging does not work with the included 14500 battery.
  • Difficult to clean the fidget mechanism if dirt gets inside.

Product page

Product page
Acebeam Rider RX on Amazon