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Sofirn SC31 Pro Review & Giveaway ($27, 2000 Lumens, USB-C, SST40, 18650)

Sofirn has a new low cost EDC 18650 light out with the SP31 Pro. It features an SST40 LED capable of 2000 lumens and available with 2 different tints and onboard USB-C charging for a very low price. Thanks to Sofirn for sending this to me and providing a discount to my viewers. I also have a SP31 Pro to giveaway so make sure you check out the description of this video and top comment on how to enter to win. 

 

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Enter the Giveaway https://gleam.io/Xmkd9/sofirn-sc31-pro-5000k-kit-giveaway

 

Pickup the Sofirn SP31 Pro from Amazon. Don’t forget to click the Coupon code on the page for an additional discount too.

5000k Kit https://amzn.to/39JoSGf with Coupon DCNKLHS3

6500k Kit https://amzn.to/39yFJLC

 

Packaging

Sofirn won’t win any packaging contests but for lights that are sold online I don’t really give any bonus points for spending more in this area. It’s functional, generic, and does the job. With the light you get a Sofrin branded 3000mAh battery (Light only options exist), USB-A to USB-C Cables, lanyard, and spare orings, button cover, and USB port cover as well as a decent manual. 

 

Construction

The SC31 Pro has nothing I can find wrong with it, it’s a budget light but all the edges are chamfered anodizing is consistent, and markings are good. Starting at the tail, it’s slightly recessed but still tail stands well, non magnetic. The lanyard attachment point is on the tail as well. Internally you have a single spring and what looks like room for a magnet if you wish. 

 

Threads are square cut and nicely greased. The body tube has one pocket clip area milled into it, but the tube is reversible so it could go on the front or back. There is standard diamond knurling and it’s about average grip. 

The front of the light is removable. Internally it has a pretty stiff spring and it should work with all non proprietary 18650 batteries. Externally there is a silicone button thats fairly flush, the button has some texture to it to help you find it, and 2 LED underneath that work as a locator, and battery status indicator when charging. Minimal milling on the sides for heat dissipation. The USB-C Charging port on the rear has a rounded cover with a large flat. Mine fits pretty well and is out of the way. The head itself has a minimal bezel with no crenulations. There is a reflective coated glass lens, smooth reflector and LED centering is good. 

 

Size and Weight

The SC31 Pro is very similar in size and dimensions to the popular Wurkkos FC11. And for good reason, Sofirn is the parent company to both companies. I measured the SC31 Pro at 115.7mm in length, minimum diameter at 24mm, maximum diameter at 26.5mm. Weight with the battery and clip was 110g or 3.88oz. It’s IPX7 water rated.

 

Retention

The SC31 comes with a basic lanyard that attaches at the tail cap if you want. The pocket clip is decent but not as deep carry as I would like with 22mm of the light sticking up out of your pocket. It is a friction fit clip but fairly tight. If only this was a deeper carry clip it would be even better. 

 

LED & Beam

The LED that’s being used here is the Luminus SST-40 LED. It’s available in both Cool white (6500k) and Neutral white, and I have the latter here in 5000k. It surprised me a little as mine has a bit oa a rosy tint, it’s nice despite being only 70 CRI. It has a smaller hot center, with a medium amount of spill. There are some some kind of ugly outer edges in the beam with reflections off the edge of the reflector and bezel. Maximum output is rated at 2000 lumens and with the ramping modes you can adjust it to anything you wish. The light does have PWM but it’s minimal and only visible with my oscilloscope. This is expected since its running Andruil. 

 

Heat and Runtime

One thing that I have started doing is comparing my lights running Andruil as they come from the factory and then after thermal calibration. While I firmly believe that lights should come calibrated from the factory the reality is for the money here they don’t and that’s a shame because it’s worth doing. ZeroAir has a good writeup on this in his reviews, and I followed that and the difference in my lights were impressive. Turbo runtime went from 1:50 when uncalibrated to 3:05 after calibration, with peak of that being right at 2 minutes. So if you get this or any Andruil light it’s worth going through the calibration procedure. Output was also roughly 13% better during most of the duration too. This does effect overall runtime going from 7:05:00 uncalibrated to FL1 to 4:05:00 when calibrated to FL1 but this is a trade off I am willing to take for more output and a less aggressive thermal restraint. Max temp I saw when calibrated was 41C but this is my own setting and was at the 7 min mark. 

 

UI

The Sofirn SP31 Pro here uses the Andriul firmware by Toykeeper. It’s standard Andruil but I did notice one difference at the top and bottom of the ramp I don’t get the blink like I do on say my FW3A, and most other Andruil lights. I like this. By default the light ships in ramping mode, there is a stepped mode too. Andruil is good but complex. It’s highly configurable (for example you can change the behavior of the backlight switch) so make sure to take some time to understand it fully. 

 

Recharging

The Sofirn SC31 Pro has onboard USB-C charging. It supports USB-C to C charging cables as well as USB-C PD in my tests. It’s great to see a budget light support this. Total charge time of the included 3000mAh 18650 battery from LVP at 2.780V to full at 4.145V was 2:30:00 with the maximum charging rate just at 1.88V. I have no complaints here, and it’s great to see at budget prices.

 

Pro

  • My NW SST40 LED here in 5000k has a really nice tint with a rosy hue
  • Fantastic value for a complete kit
  • Andruil firmware is a love it or hate it thing, but it provides a lot of options for the enthusiast or budding flashaholic. 

 

Cons

  • The pocket clip here is a small letdown, it’s not as deep carry as I would have hoped. 
  • Non magnetic tail, although easy to modify to make magnetic. 
  • Edges of the beam are a little ugly. 

 

Conclusion

I am not ready to call this the Wurkkos FC11 killer since it’s an extremely similar light made by the same parent company but what I will call it is an extremely good value for a slightly more advanced light because it has Andruil UI. While I love the LH351D in my FC11 the tint here in the SC31 Pro is better in my opinion, slightly brighter, but you do lose the high CRI of the LH351D. 

 

The Andruil UI is complex, and that may be a turn off for some new to the hobby, but for a noob there is muggle mode. Take some time and study the diagram to understand how it works and I think you will enjoy it. Build quality here is appropriate for the price, nothing is bad but it’s also not class leading. This is a great all around light for the money here and I have no hesitation recommending it, especially at the price Sofrin has offered to my viewers with the discount you can find in the description. About $25 at the time of filming. 

 

Enter the Giveaway for the Sofirn SP31 Pro Kit (5000k) https://gleam.io/Xmkd9/sofirn-sp31-pro-5000k-kit-giveaway

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Olight Obulb Review (Warm White, Red, Magnetic, Lantern)

Olight has a new Mini lantern out called the Obulb and comes in 3 colors. It’s magnetic, floats in water, and has warm white modes along with red modes. Thanks to Skyben for sending this to me to check out and do a short review. 

 

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Pickup the Olight Obulb at Amazon from Skyben

Red: https://amzn.to/35pQyyl

Green: https://amzn.to/2LiMbOL

Grey: https://amzn.to/38vRFyo

 

Packaging and Accessories

Packaging here is standard Olight white box high quality. On the front and top are photos of the light on their respective side, on the back is your information panel with runtimes and outputs. Accessories include the Obulb itself, a USB MCC 1A charging cable, and a Olight self adhesive magnetic backer that acts like a coin too. 

 

Constructions

The obulb is available in 3 colors, a green, similar to the Olantern, a gray, and red that you see here. Red to me makes it look a lot like a pokeball I think. The dome is made from translucent polycarbonate and is reasonably thick. The bottom half is a rubberized plastic that provides some grip and it has the signature blue metallic strip in the middle. 

 

On the bottom there are 3 brass contacts for charging, and the internal magnet is strong enough to easily hold it’s weight up and be reasonably vibration resistant. 

Thanks to Oweban for sacrificing his Obulb so we can see inside, he provided me with these pictures to share what the circuit board, and battery configuration looks like. It’s a stacked design with the LED and Driver board being on top, a total of 8 LED, 4 for each color, Under that sits a 630mAh lithium polymer battery pouch, an aluminum tray, and then the board with the recharging pads and 2 buttons. It is IPX7 water rated meaning it can be submerged upto a meter for 30 minutes but it floats too. It’s drop rated for a meter too. 

 

Size & Weight

This is pretty small, somewhere between a golf ball and baseball size. It measures 54.2mm in diameter and 48.4mm tall. Weight is 56.4g and it is IPX7 water rated and floats in water. 

 

LED & Beam Shots

The Obulb has 2 LED colors, a warm white and a red. The warm white is a pretty warm, I would guess it’s about 2500k, the LED being used here is unknown, from looking at the circuit board it’s not square like most flashlight LED, it produces a good tone. Low is good for 3.5 lumens and high is 55 lumens. Low is enough light ot read a map, navigate a bathroom or low light tasks like that. High is enough light to prepare or eat a meal, navigate a small room with etc. It’s a nice even light. Red mode is rated at 7 lumens and fairly bright for a colored mode. 

 

Runtime

I did measure runtimes in the White and Red modes for this light. In High mode for the White emitter the light held it’s rated output very consistently through out the range, total runtime was 3:40:00, this is 40 minutes longer then what Olight rates it for. Low mode is rated for 56 hours of runtime and I didn’t test this due to the length of the test. Red mode is a similar story but a little more sag in the output, holding at about 90% relative output for the duration of 8:40:00, this is an hour and 40 minutes better then what Olight rates it for officially. Heat isn’t a concern here at all, with the light remaining room temp to the test during use. 

 

UI 

The light has 4 simple modes that are linear with no short cuts and does have memory. The button is on the underside of the light but that doens’t matter since you can press the top as well when it’s on a hard surface. It takes a reasonably hard press to make it come on though. Once on long press to change modes. The mode progression is Low White, High White, Red, Red Flashing. 

 

Recharging

Charing the internal 630mAh lithium polymer pouch battery is done on the bottom of the light with Olights MCC 1A charging system. Charging took 90 minutes with maximum charge rate of 0.6A so pretty much exactly 1C. 

 

Pro’s

  • Warm White from Olight
  • It Floats and is waterproof
  • Strong magnet allows it to be mounted on any magnetic surface.
  • Better then expected battery life

 

Con’s

  • Not something you will EDC probably or use daily
  • Battery is sealed an non user replaceable. 

 

Conclusion

I like the Olight Obulb. It’s not something I will use everyday but it can come in handy in a lot of different places. This is a nice simple light to give to young kids that is easy to operate but doesn’t have small pieces like many cylinder lights do. If you had a pool I could see tossing a few of these in to give ambient lighting at night, or using it in a shower to give you more light if needed. I may end up putting it in my car for winter to use that red blinking mode as a locator beacon should I happen to go off the road in a blizzard but I could also see it being nice on a bedside table, in a tent while camping etc.

 

I can’t help to think what the Olight Olantern would have been like with these white LED’s to create a nice warm tint. It’s a nice choice in LED and a surprise from Olights standard cool white. The price is also reasonable and the choice of colors is a nice touch. I am a fan of the Obulb even though I won’t use it all the time. 

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Olight Warrior Mini Recall News!

Here is the link to the official Facebook group post on the matter https://www.facebook.com/groups/Olight/permalink/3455317721188648

See my review of the Olight Warrior Mini at https://youtu.be/k-kKoWlt9Mk

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Klarus XT11 GT Pro Review (2000 Lumens, Cree XHP 35 HD, USB-C,18650)

Today I have a newer light from Klarus the XT11 GT Pro. This is an update to a light that Klarus has made previously. Klarus (Affiliate) sent this to me earlier in the year for review, and I appreciate their patience as it took me a little while to get to it. 

 

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Pickup the Klarus XT11GT Pro at Amazon https://amzn.to/2MqwsgY

 

Construction

The XT11GT Pro is made from aluminum and is anodized in a smooth medium gloss black anodizing. Visually it’s different then the standard XT11GT. It features the same tactical tail cap, with the large center button being a mechanical switch with a grippy silicon cover and the paddle on the side to allow for mode selection. The paddle was upgraded to aluminum here for incredibility. The clip is a clip on, non fixed and rotates around the body of the light. It’s not deep carry with it leaving about 32mm exposed from a pocket. 

The body is milled with small horizontal lines going around the body of the light and then it has small relieves milled in. It’s a nice change from traditional knurling and provides a good amount of grip. The threads are nice and square cut and it’s a dual wall construction. The head and body tube appear to be once piece. As we get to the head of the light it grows in size, It’s got a built in anti roll ring that adds some style and nicely disguises the USB charging port cover. This is definitely one of the better designs I have seen for this. 

The bezel is a little aggressive and the outer edges have some sharper sides. It’s a gunmetal color and stainless steel I believe. It’s easily unscrewed by hand. Inside is a anti reflective coated glass lens, a fairly deep smooth reflector 

 

Size and Weight

I measured the length at 139mm, minimum diameter on the body at 25mm, maximum diameter on the head at 35mm. Weight with the included battery and clip was 169.2g. 

For an 18650 light it’s a little on the long side, but that’s not unexpected with the deeper reflector. Here are some comparison shots with the light and some others.

 

Retention

Your 2 Retention methods on this light is with the included pocket clip. Unfortunately this isn’t deep carry carry with about 32mm of the light exposed if you do decide to use the clip. With the size of this light that’s ok, as I think it’s more of a bag or coat light myself. The included holster does the job pretty well too, no complaints there. 

 

LED & Beamshots

The XT11 GT Pro is using the Cree XHP 35 HD LED in cool white at 6500k. This is an interesting choice of LED”s since it’s officially been discontinued by Cree. That said plenty of existing stock still exists and Klarus must feel like they have enough to meet the expected demand of this light. The beam it’s self is a good all arounder. The deep smoother reflector means the light has a fairly small hotspot and it throws pretty well but there is also spill to allow for short and medium range light. So a good all around beam. 

The light will run on 18650 batteries which is how I will use it, but it will also run on 2x CR123a batteries which is nice as a backup. As a result the working voltage is 2.8V to 6.4V/ No PWM was observed. 

 

Runtime & Heat

I measured runtime with the included 3100mAh battery. Turbo runtime was 50 seconds before stepping down to 90% and then it ran for another 2 minutes 10 seconds before settling at 30% relative output where it ran for an additional 1:37:00. Total runtime was 2 hours. Max Heat I saw was 42C at 1:35. 

 

UI

Like many of Klarus recent lights this has 2 modes of operation, a Tactical and a Outdoor setting. The tactical mode allows the main button on the rear of the light to go to turbo, and the paddle to be a shortcut for strobe that you can lock on by holding for 2 seconds.

I primarily tested the light in it’s outdoors setting though. When in this setting the primary button on the rear is a shortcut to turbo both as momentary or locked on. Once on you can use the paddle to decrease the modes from turbo, high, Medium, and low. You can also use the paddle when the light is off to start in moonlight mode and then increase in output for each push. It’s a system that works better then I expected and is pretty intuitive once you use and get it.  

 

Recharging

One of the updates the XT11 GT Pro has is USB-C charging. Unfortunately it doesn’t support USB-C to C or USB-C PD charging. So you need to use the supplied (or similar) USB-A to USB-C cable to charge the light. The port cover here is nicely shaped and fits well into the side of the head. It’s one of the better executions I have seen of this in 2020. 

I charged the included 3100mAh battery from LVP to full in a total time of 3:23:10. It wasn’t the fastest charging rate, as the maximum I saw was right at 1A. There is a small LED indicator light built into the side of the light to act as a battery charge state indicator. Green is anything more then 70%, orange is between 30-70%, and red is less then 30%, red flashing is less then 10%. 

Packaging

My light is a super early production light (Serial number 17), and doesn’t have a box so I can’t comment on that. I can tell you the accessories it came with. My light came with a 3100mAh button top protected IMR 18650 battery, a Klarus branded lanyard and a USB-A to USB-C charging cable. It also came with a nylon, Klarus branded holster. It has a Dring and velcro belt loop. It seems to be solidly made. 

 

Pro

  • I like the outdoor UI setting here once you get the hang of it but it’s a little different.
  • Nice size in the hand for an all around light if you want your buttons on the rear.


Cons

  • Seems expensive
  • Cool white only
  • No true moon light mode, lowest is 10 lumen output
  • No USB-C to C compatibility and slow charging

 

Conclusion

My conclusion for the Klarus XT11GT Pro is that it’s a good all around light general purpose light. The 2 UI modes allow you to use it tactically if you want or use it in the outdoor mode which is more appropriate for everyday uses like power outages and camping. The beam is useful with enough throw and spill to do both jobs pretty well. What I don’t care for is the asking price I am seeing at the time of filming. It’s high in my opinion currently. Around $50-60 would make it a good value but at nearly double that I would struggle to pay full price. So if you’re interested I would watch for a sale or coupon. 

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Olight Baldr Mini Review (600 Lumens, Green Laser)

Today I have Olights newest compact mountable light the Baldr Mini that features an integrated green laser designed for your smaller weapons. Thanks to Skyben for sending this to me to look at a review. 

 

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Pickup the Olight Baldr Mini at Amazon

Black: https://amzn.to/3aKgxEr 

Desert Tan: https://amzn.to/3hn9OkM

 

Packaging & Accessories

The Baldr Mini comes in a standard high quality Olight white cardboard box. For a tactical product it’s a very non tactical classy box. Inside you get the light itself, the MCC (Special) magnetic USB Charger, and the adjustable rail insert, screws, and a small torx wrench to make this change to accommodate your mounting needs. By default it comes with the Glock sized adapter installed. 

 

Construction

The Baldr Mini follows similar design ques from Olight’s other pistol mount lights, the one it’s most similar to is the PL-Mini 2 Valkrie 2 which I also did a review of. The Baldr mini is Olights line of lights that feature a laser integrated into them. The light is made from aluminum and features the same mounting system as The Valkrie 2, which has a nice quick disconnect tool less lever, and then a rail design that allows the light to slide forward or backward to get it positioned exactly where you want it. This is one of the better mounting designs in my opinion from the different weapon lights I have tried. 

On the back you have very similar buttons that hinge down that Olight has had since the PL-Mini. They are silent and work pretty well for my fingers. Your other control is a slider under these buttons that allows you to select between laser only on the far left, laser + light in the middle, and light only on the right. On the far extremes this slider doesn’t stick out to catch at anything either. At the front you have a larger 17.8mm glass lens with a smooth short reflector. What’s different here is the laser is integrated right above the main LED so there is a notch out of the reflector. 

The depth of the light is 4mm greater then the PL-Mini 2 to accommodate that laser which is ok with me. At the bottom you have the magnetic Olight charging base, the polarity on the magnet here is different from standard Olight flashlights, and require the use of the “Special” MCC chargers. On the side panel you do have 2 adjustment screws to adjust the aim of the laser to match the Point of impact. You have elevation and windages adjustment screws. For me I didn’t have to adjust these much to get them close to shoot at my indoor range. 

Size & Weight

I measured the length here excluding the buttons at 48.75mm, width at 27.25mm, and height at 36mm. I measured the weight at 86.1g. This is 13..1g more then the PL-Mini 2. The Baldr Mini is IPX4 water rated. 

Small bit on retention, due to this lights slightly larger size it won’t work with holsters you already own for other Olights. 

 

LED, Laser, and Beam Shots

The exact LED in use here isn’t specified but I can tell you it’s cool white with a maximum of 600 lumens and capable of throwing out to 130 meters. I would guess tint is about 6000k. The beam is slightly smaller then the PL-Mini 2. I expected beam distortion due to the hole in the lens from the laser but it’s really very minimal and only noticeable at short distances of less then 10 feet. 

 

Runtime

Internally the light has a built in non user replaceable 230mAh battery. I did 3 runtime tests, in all 3 modes. So for the light only mode the light lasted out to 48 minutes, you got near peak runtime till 0:2:30 minutes and it looks to have a timed step down to around 18% which is substantial. 

 

Light only mode looks like a similar curve but just longer, it adds another almost 20 minutes of runtime for a full runtime of 48 minutes. I used the same techniques to measure the laser only mode, and while I don’t know that I trust the output graph to measure % of relative output, I do trust the runtime data. Total runtime was 2:28:00.

 

UI

The user interface here is very simple, with the two paddle switches at the rear of the light doing the same thing. There is no strobe mode on this light. On the very bottom you have a 3 way slider switch to allow you to select between Laser only on the left, laser + Light in the middle and Light only on the right. This switch has nice positive detents and I don’t think it will easily slide on accident. 

 

Recharging

Recharging the internal 230mAh lithium polymer battery is accomplished via the bottom magnetic recharging system that Olight uses on most of it’s other lights. However here the magnetic polarity is reversed like it was on the PL-Mini, and PL-Mini2. I believe this is due to the small battery and slower charging rate it requires. Charging time from empty took a little over 40 minutes to complete with the max charging speed at 0.35A. 

 

Conclusion

My conclusion on the Olight Baldr Mini is that I appreciate the addition of the laser for a minimal penalty of weight and added thickness. I thought the laser in the lights main reflector would negatively impact the white light output here but it’s really minimal and you don’t notice it. For me it will replace where I was running the PL-Mini2 on my Glock 19 and the Baldr Mini will go on instead. If you plan to put this on a carry gun or something you need a holster for make sure you can find holster support before purchasing. Hopefully Olight will get more holster manufactures onboard for future lights in 2021. 

 

I will have a link to where you can pick this up on Amazon from Skyben in the description below. If you have any questions or comments please let me know in the comments below and I will see you on the next video review! 

 

Pickup the Olight Baldr Mini at Amazon

Black: https://amzn.to/3aKgxEr 

Desert Tan: https://amzn.to/3hn9OkM

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Wuben Gecko E61 Pen Light (Giveaway, Multifunction Pen, 130 Lumens)

Today I have something a little different: a multifunction penlight from Wuben. It has white, red, and blue LED’s, ink pen, glass breaker, and a stylist attachment. Stick around because I am going to be doing a giveaway of the E61, so make sure you watch the video to see how to enter. Thanks to Wuben for sending me the E61 to review and an extra so I could do a give away. 

 

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Giveaway Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJCGn5XjANt/

 

Pickup the Wuben Gecko E61 on Amazon at

Black: https://amzn.to/38q95LA

Blue: https://amzn.to/3mBG5pl

Or from Wuben Direct https://www.wubenlight.com/products/wuben-e61-gecko-multi-functional-tactical-pen-edc-flashlight

 

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging here is quite nice, you have a black sleeve around a blue bifold box, with a Wuben logo in the middle. The lid is magnetic on the sides to keep everything nicely together. Inside all the accessories are in small boxes, it’s a impressive package for a pen. 

The E61 Gecko includes quite a few accessories, You get the pen body itself, a manual, micro USB Charging cable (Short), 4 different tips (Stylus, glass breaker, ballpoint pin, and inkless point). 

 

Construction

The light is made from aluminum and is anodized in a black or blue finish. I have the blue here but will be giving away the black version. Instead of being round like most pens, this one is more rectangular. At the pen end it has an area milled that allows the head to be pulled out of a detent and then rotated into to swap from the ink pen to one of the other available tip options. 

In the middle of the pen there is a circle that is magnetic. It’s strong enough to hold the light up in horizontal and vertical positions, and is a good balance point to allow it to spin, so kind of a fidget toy too. This allows the pen to become a mini work light too with the light bar folded out. 

The clip here is machined out of a solid piece of aluminum and is attached via the pivot mechanism the light portion is made from. It has a small place that looks like a tritium tube would fit my my 1.5mm x  6mm are too big, so possibly something smaller would fit. The clip allows for deep carry and has good retention in jeans and other pants I tried. 

The light portion is on the top back of the pen and folds out from the top. It has 270 degrees of rotation, with detents at 90 and 180. It stays in place but there is a bit of what I would in the knife world call blade play which is unfortunate. The light is allowed to shine through the opposite side of the body too.

 

Size and Weight

I measured the size and weight of the pen, as it came to me in the box with the glass breaker tip installed at 51.3g. Overall length when closed was 142mm, length when open is 215mm. Diameter is roughly 14mm by 10.5mm. It’s a little slimmer diameter to a Sharpy marker.

 

Here are some comparison photos to some other EDC Pen’s I have.

 

As a Light

The light here has 5 LED’s on it’s light bar all behind a diffusing piece of plastic. Instead of using RGB LED they went with individual LED’s for each color, white, red, and blue, with 2 white LED’s for more output and more even light. 

Output levels are 3 lumens, 30 lumens, and 130 lumens according to Wuben. This is powered by an internal  120mAh lithium polymer battery. Runtime follows the voltage curve of the battery pretty well, indicating this isn’t likely a regulated driver. It also doesn’t have low voltage protection so keeping the battery on the fuller side would be better for health. ON high the light got about 2 hours of runtime before it hit 10% relative output. Heat isn’t an issue here. 

The user interface is pretty simple here, single click to turn on, and long press to cycle though the 3 white modes. The light starts on Low, Med, High, and does have memory. Single press turn off at any point. To get into the flashing red, blue, red/blue mode, double press when on or from off. Single press to turn off. Memory does remember the flashing modes too. 

 

The light is rechargeable via onboard microUSB. When charging the switch on the outside of the light will turn red, and then blue when charged. I measured charging speed of the internal 120mAh battery at a wopping 0.10A. Total charge time was 53 min and the curve was flat. 

 

As a Pen

The Wuben E61 Gecko is a light duty pen in my opinion. That’s mainly due to the small size of the cartridge 22.5mm in overall length. This doesn’t leave much room for ink about 9mm of visible ink in my cartridges. The good news is here that the cartridge is a pretty standard design ballpoint design, so you can find things that will fit in your average Bic pen, or hotel pen, but to use these you need to first write 90% of the pen so you can cut the empty tube and it will fit. In the hand it’s ok, it’s not the worlds most comfortable pen, but for short uses it does the job just fine. I like the diameter here better then say the Olight Open which I will review in the next few weeks. 

Don’t forget the other accessories on the opposite side of the pen too, you have a metal scribe tip, a ceramic ball for a glass breaker, and the stylist tip. These may end up being a little more practical depending on your use case and the ink pen may become a secondary for you.

 

Pro’s 

  • Non proprietary ink cartridge but it will require a bit of customization.
  • The light bar function here is more useful then your average pen light, especially with the side magnet making it an actual usable light.

 

Con’s

  • It would be nice to see USB-C here.
  • Very small ink cartridges.
  • Pivot points seem to use a proprietary head design.

 

Conclusion

I like that this isn’t a tactical first pen light, It’s pretty usable for everyday, although with the very small ink cartridges I wouldn’t want to do tons of writing with it or you will be swapping in new cartridges frequently. So like a lot of pen light designs it makes compromises on both the pen and the light side. The weight here is nicely balanced so that when using it, it doesn’t have a lot of weight at the back end which is good. 

As a light it has a fairly even beam in white mode and is fairly decently diffused. It’s L,M,H which is good, and double click to get into the colored strobe mode which is good. I just kind of question what you would practically use the red, blue, red/blue strobing modes for practically, maybe to get someone’s attention on the side of the highway? 

Let me know what you think of the Wuben Gecko E61 in the comments below, and don’t forget to visit my instagram @Liquidretro to enter the giveaway to get one for yourself. 

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Klarus WL1 Review (550 Lumen, LED Worklight, White & Red, 180 degree rotation)

Today I have a new light from Klarus the WL1 Work light. This is a COB LED light with white and red LED, on an arm that rotates and pivots to allow you to place the light where you need it while working. If you have an old “trouble lamp” this is the 21 centuries answer, it’s battery powered, and USB Rechargeable. Thanks to Klarus for sending this to me. If you do any type of work on your car or house you will definitely want to stick around and watch this one. 

Pickup the Klarus WL1 Worklight from Amazon at https://amzn.to/3oXYhuR


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Packaging &  Accessories

Packaging here is nothing special, it’s a lightweight cardboard box designed for hanging retail. A nice photo of the light is printed on the front along with some detail all around. Inside the light is held in a plastic carton that’s fit to the light itself. Accessories include the light itself, a USB-A to Micro USB cable and a manual. 

 

Construction

The WL1 is made from plastic, and it’s in very Makita-like colors. It’s a solid feel but there are mold marks in various places and there doesn’t feel like there is a lot of glass reinforcing inside. The back has a rubberized grip that houses the switch, LED indicators, and above the USB port cover. The top’s silver plastic house 4 screws that I assume has some metal inside to reinforce the hinge mechanism.

 

The light bar itself is made of black plastic and folds out a full 90 degrees. It then is able to rotate clockwise 90 degrees so that the COB LED’s face outward when it’s in its most compact form. It can hold any position between this and does so with friction, there are no detents. The clear lens here is plastic.

On the bottom you have a fairly strong magnet that is more then capable of holding the weight of the light in any position. The sticker here that covers the sticker on mine is pretty easily scratched.  There is also a metal hanger that works well to hang it on a branch, wire, rope, or ledge. There is also a hole to allow the spot on the end of the light bar to poke out to use kind of like a normal flashlight.

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 151mm in the folded position, and  the length in the unfolded position of about 325mm. I measured the weight at 171.6g. I don’t have another light thats similar to this to really compare it too but I did put a Convoy S2 for size comparison. The light is IPX5 water rated. 

 

Retention

On the bottom you have a fairly strong magnet that is more then capable of holding the weight of the light in any position. The sticker here that covers the sticker on mine is pretty easily scratched.  There is also a metal hanger that works well to hang it on a branch, wire, rope, or ledge

LED & Beam

The Klarus WL1 has 2 LED sources on this. First you have the main COB LED’s that provide your area lighting. No specific LED is mentioned here but the tint is 6500k, and produces a maximum of 550 lumens, with the other modes coming in at 220 and 22 lumens each. This same COB also has a red mode and produces 30 lumens which is fairly bright. Lastly there is a red blinking mode which no output is given but i would guess it’s the 30 lumens. Both in red and white modes the COB LED is quite even light, but the beam itself is more an ellipsis beam pattern. You do have a hard cutoff at the edges and there is distortion in color at the very edges. Neither are fantastic but for a work light I didn’t notice it during actual use. 

 

The light also has a single 5mm LED on the end of the boom, no data is given here and it’s not very bright. 

 

Heat & Runtime

The light has an internal 2000mAh battery, no size is mentioned but I would guess it’s an 18650 just given the size of the light. If so it’s a little disappointing it’s kind of lower capacity. The white light has 3 output modes, I did my first runtime test in high or 550 lumens, and the light was able to hold t his for about 5 minutes before stepping down to 90% relative output slowly. From there it stepped down again to about 50% relative output and then was pretty linear with the battery decline out to 2 hours of total output. Medium mode it was able to sustain 80% or greater out to 2:15:00/ Total runtime was 3:46:00. 

 

Red outputs were stable throughout, there was a small amount of almost continual design through the curve here. The light was able to sustain 80% relative output or better for the first 5:30:00 of runtime. Total red runtime was 6:45:00. Heat during both types of light was not worth measuring. 

 

UI

UI here is ok with some room for improvement. The button ison the rear of the right and flash with the grip. From off the light turns on in medium mode, a quick press again goes to high, pressing it again goes to low. Pressing it again goes to red, then to blinking red. Then back around. There is no memory so each time the light is off it will reset to medium white. If you long pres from anywhere the light switches to the LED on the end of the boom, and it has 2 modes. I think this could be improved by making red a double click, and have the light be L,M,H. 

 

Recharging

Charging on the WL1 is accomplished via a microUSB port on the back of the light just above the button. It’s a really linear curve, and not the typical charge curve I see for a battery. Total charge time of the internal cell was 3:58:00 so a fairly low charge rate. The first 20 minutes or so started out at 0.85A but then decreased from there. 

 

Pro’s

  • Priced around $30 at the time of filming
  • Built well for the price
  • Useful amount of area lighting
  • Magnetic base with hanger

 

Con’s

  • UI here could be a little better, I would have preferred the white light start with L, M, H. 
  • Cool white only
  • Could be a higher capacity battery or user replaceable.

 

Conclusion

If your current work light is a light bulb in a cage on an extension cord, or old school halogen bulb on stands the WL1 is a nice portable replacement. I found it really helpful when I did an oil change both under the car and in the engine bay. It’s not the best beam or tint but it’s a work light and it does a nice job at a pretty affordable price with a 1 year warranty from Klarus. 

I think this would make a nice Christmas gift if you have someone who likes to work on cars in your life, or likes to do projects around the house too. The portability to attach it magnetically to surfaces and then twist the light to exactly where you need it is nice. 

Pickup the Klarus WL1 Worklight from Amazon at https://amzn.to/3oXYhuR

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Olight Olantern Review (360 Lumens, Flicker Bulb, Olight Fan Request)

Olight Olantern Review (360 Lumens, Flicker Bulb, Olight Fan  Request)

Today I have the Olight OLantern, before you change to the next video, this isn’t a boring battery powered lantern. It’s the result of numerous requests to Olight, so lets see if they delivered what the fans really want or not. Thanks to Skyben on Amazon for sending me this to look at and allowing me to tell you the truth on it. 

 

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Pickup the Olight Olantern from Skyben on Amazon.

Green: https://amzn.to/3lQkiKh

Gray: https://amzn.to/2VXfb0x

Red: https://amzn.to/2VMjQlL

XANAD Case: https://amzn.to/2KABHqb

 

Packaging & Accessories

Olights packaging is the nicest in the production flashlight world, it makes me wonder how much extra goes to packaging. The lantern is a big heavy duty cardboard box with photos of the light on all 4 sides. Very little information is on the exterior. It opens up throughout the bottom and is a tight fit. It sit’s on the box of accessories which include the manual, a microfiber cleaning cloth, an extra long MCC3 charger capable of up to 2A, and the flame flicker bulb. 

 

Construction

The lantern itself is made from a polymer front top top bottom. It’s available in a gray, red, and the green you see here. A rubber texture has been applied to a few areas for extra grip, the top cap, and bottom tail cap. The middle section is a hard thick, dense polymer. The lens or globe is a clear acrylic and while it will scratch it seems to be reasonably scratch resistant. It has a bit of a reflector built into the to help distribute light. This globe twists off from the body to allow you to swap out the emitter from cool white to the flickering flame, and there is a oring around this connection. Inside around the emitter is aluminum as is the blue ring around the exterior.

The electronic button is in the front and and has a slight backlit edge. This servers as a power indicator and helps you find the light in the dark. The light is motion sensitive so once you pick it up it comes on. 

The bottom rubber piece is scalloped and relieved internally to allow the light to charge while standing up with ease. There are 3 screws in the bottom that allows the light to come apart fairly easily. While the battery isn’t designed to be user replaceable it is quite easy to remove it. It connects to the circuit board with spring loaded pins. There was some debate early on if this was a rebranded product or an Olight original design and after looking inside I am confident it’s an Olight design, as all the circuit boards do have Olight copyrights on them. Internally its pretty simple design. 

 

Size & Weight/Competition

Length with the handle folded in was 135mm, with it unfolded 191mm, maximum diameter on the base was 65mm. I measured the weight at 346.5g. Water rating is only IPX4. So it can handle splashes from all angeles but no more.

A lot of people will compare the Olight Olantern to the BLF/Sofrin LT1 because the lights end up being near the same price. The Olantern is lighter, and smaller, with less features, a more simple but less useful UI, and longer charging time. The two are in different leagues really. The Olantern is probably better to hand to a non enthusiast and in terms of weight but in almost all other aspects the LT1 in my opinion is the better lantern. 

 

Retention

The lantern has a handle that is a metal hanger and coated in the same rubberized coating, at the top it has a plastic piece with a dip in it. This looks a little funny but is actually really useful, as it allows you to hang the light on a wire or rope and not have it fall off. I could see this being used in a tent, or with a rope strung between a few trees while camping etc. 

I do enjoy a case for my BLF LT1, and the OLantern will fit in the one I have for my LT1 here but with a good amount of extra space leftover. The XANAD case does double duty well.

 

LED & Beam

The Olantern has 2 LED Modules, first the primary is a cool white module with 3 output settings. No emitter or tint data is given for either. It’s quite cool white my guess is 6500k or cooler. The beam is pretty even but if you wanted to diffuse it even more I have seen people put thin paper inside the globe for more diffusion. 

The other is the flame module, it’s 1 mode only and flickers, and is quite warm, with an orange tint. I really wish this had more output and 3 modes like the main module did. 

 

Olight lists the official outputs as the following.

  • High 360 lumens
  • Medium 120 lumens
  • Low 30 lumens
  • Flaming Module 1 Lumen

 

Heat & Runtime

I tested runtime on the highest output on the main cool white module, and got 6:55:00 so a little better  then what it’s rated for. During this time it decreased in output ever so slightly but ran this entire time at 90% of relative output which is good. It does get a little warm during use, especially around the blue metal band, with peak temps in my uncooled environment at 39C. This was around the 2 hour mark.

 

My flaming module runtime test fell a tad short of the claimed 80 hours of runtime. I recorded only 46:42:00, due to the length of time this took I didn’t run this one again to see if my results improved. 

 

UI

The UI here is very simple. Single press turns the light on to the last mode it was used in. Long press to go to the next mode, and mode progression is L, M, H. There is no short cut to the highest or lowest output. The flaming module has only one mode, so it’s just on or off.

 

One kind of neat and useful feature is the illuminated halo around the side switch, it reacts to motion to help you find it and to save power, so if you bag was to move it was in or you pick it up but can’t find the button in the dark it will start glowing a dim green so you can find it. 

 

Recharging & Power

This light runs off of a proprietary battery pack consisting of 4x 1900mAh 18500 batteries for a total capacity of 7600mAh. This is a custom battery pack and is designed to be non user replaceable. As mentioned above it’s quite easy to get into the light however though so if Olight made this battery available as a replacement I think it’s something the average person could replace. Recharging is done via the Olight magnetic MCC3 charger you get on recent Olights. It will operate while charging, and has the standard green when charged, red when charging. 

 

Charing time here is very long, from empty where the light shut off I measured it taking a full 8:30:00  to recharge, Peak charging speed I saw was 1.38A. This is a pretty conservative recharge rate. If you were charging off solar power it would be best to top up then expect to get a full charge in a day in most places. Comparing this to my BLF LT1 which had a capacity of 12,000mAh but charged in 10:15:00. This is still along time but also a battery that’s 4,400mAh larger.

 

Areas for Improvement

I see 3 major areas that olight can make improvements to on the next Olantern. The first is the waterproofing, this is only rated for IPX4 which means it can repel splashes from any angle but more then this may cause problems. This means it’s ok in the rain but isn’t to be submerged. The lantern only has one Oring between the globe and module, this surprised me for the price point the lights at, and Olights usual good build quality. 

 

LED Tint – This shouldn’t surprise anyone if you know Olight you know they like that cool white tint. They might say that’s for the best performance, or most amount of lumens but in this case neither are the most important, quality of light and runtime are the big things you want for area illumination. With the replaceable “bulb” design Olight could easily come out with an addon or have given people the choice. Even better make the tint variable like the BLF LT1. 

 

LED Storage – The flaming “bulb” is fun, but it’s output doesn’t make it super useful for more then just ambiance. The problem I see is there is no way to attach the extra blub to the light, or store it, so I see it is more likely to get lost. Hopefully version 2 corrects this. 

 

Conclusion

Lanterns are not something you think you need, till you have one and then if you are like me you will find yourself using it more and more. It’s great for camping but also if you lose power frequently or live in an area with storms. This is great for those areas getting hit by tornadoes and hurricanes or this time of year blizzards. 

 

At first I wasn’t impressed with the design here from the photos, I didn’t find the light attractive and was kind of put off by the mostly polymer construction, but once I got it in hand it felt better built than I was expecting. That said this is a space that has competition in it, not only from other lantern or lantern like products but also from silicone cones to put on top of your existing flashlights to act as a diffuser. All of those make the normal asking price here hard to swallow in my opinion. It’s a useful amount of light and it feels solid in the hand but I just had higher expectations for the normal asking price.

I don’t think this is the light that the hard core Olight fan was asking for but it’s not a bad place to start. Hopefully Olight decides to make some revisions and come out with a version that is has the ability to shift the tint, swap in other bulbs, is more water resistant, and is a better overall value. If they do that I think it will appeal to more enthusiasts and be the light that the hardcore fans really wanted. Until then you have a pretty well built light for the mainstream at a high price point when it’s not on sale.