Review of Xtar Moon RC2 - Impressions

Disclaimer: This light was won in a giveaway
There are several excellent reviews with the technical information so this review will focus more on everyday uses and pros/cons.

I’ve been using this light for a few months, and i’m really liking it, it has some flaws but has a different beam output then any flashlight and this format will likely become more popular if more people try it. It has several competitors in this segment but has a nice egg shape instead of rounded rectangle. It “tailstands” by definition, it actually spends most of its life tailstanding
I sometimes carry this as my EDC light, its not the brightest and has almost no throw but an excellent 80 CRI and a unique light distribution, not a flashlight, not a lantern but a combination with clip so you can attach it to your clothing as a work light keeping both hands free and its more constant, has area lighting instead of spot and its much lighter then a headlamp.

It has 5 modes in this order Low, High, Medium, Moon (30 lumen, 120 lumen, 60 lumen and 3 lumen)
Hold the electronic switch for strobe

Mine has developed a quirk a few weeks after i got it, the green light in the electronic switch is always on and goes red when the charge is low but the green does not always work, i have to press on the case or squeeze it and the green flickers back to life or only works while i am pushing on the case.

Pros

• 80 CRI is very nice
• Internal charging ability
• 4 hour battery life on high seems to last forever between charges, especially for those of us used to 1 hour or less on our hotrod lights.
• The light can be used while its charging
• The light distribution is unique, has value as a work light and room illumination
• Design lends itself to one handed operation

Cons

• 150 lumen max, surprisingly decent, but as flashaholics we want brighter. How doable is this, and is the heatsinking able to take more current, i don’t know
• Battery is built in and not removable, when this battery loses capacity in the future the light is basically useless
• No way to determine charge level except low battery, the indicator turns red at about 10% and flashes under about 3%, no more information then that (i like to keep my batteries under 80% to increase battery life). Xtar could design this light to only charge to 80%, making the battery lifetime easily double
• Since the case is glued/plastic welded shut there is no modability to this light
• The clip is plastic and bends, i don’t know how long it will last before it breaks.
• The modes make no sense, i would prefer low/medium/high and hidden strobe/moonlight