Aukey has released a new line of chargers called the Omnia. Today we are going to take a look at 2 of these models as well as some high quality USB-C and Lightning cables they now offer as well. Thanks to Aukey for sending these to me to take a look at and review.
A quick few words on the packaging that everything comes in. The chargers come in cardboard boxes with simple line drawings of each charger on them, and the color that each is, with minimal other information. Inside the charges come with a simple manual, warranty card and that’s it. No cables are included with either.
The two cables come in more retail looking boxes, printed in full color and more descriptive information on each. The USB-C to Lightning cable came wrapped around a reel. Which helped it keep it’s length in check. The USB-C cables came wrapped in their own bags. Each included a warranty card as well.
Charger Construction & Performance
Both chargers I am looking at today are part of their new Omnia Power charging lineup. Omnia power is a term for all the latest charging technology rolled into a one chip solution. In the 2 charges I am looking at today that’s GaN (Gallium Nitride) technology, allowing more power to be smaller and lighter weight, USB-C PD technology for Power Delivery support meaning it can increase and decrease power as the device needs it, Dynamic Detect technology to ensure the power is distributed efficiently between the different ports.
Let’s start by looking at the PA-B4 which is the charger I have been using most since it’s dual USB-C ports. These are quite small in size for being capable of delivering 65W. Here it is compared with the Anker charger I reviewed a few weeks back that didn’t have GaN technology, and only provided 30W or so. Here it is compared with a dollar bill and standard household key. It also has folding prongs which is nice to keep it compact when not in use.
On the front of this charger there is a small white LED that lets you know when it’s in use, it’s not too bright which is good. The top port has a little computer next to it to let you know this is the highest power port that’s available. This can deliver the full 65W if your devices support it. When both ports are in use the top port delivers up to 45w and the bottom port delivers 12W. My laptop requires a max of 45W so for me this was a good fit, in the photo you can see here it did 43W and I plugged in my ipad at the top and it was charging at 8W speed since it was over half full. For me this makes a great travel charger since I can charge my laptop at full speed and charge my phone or ipad all with one compact charger.
Specs the BA-B4 supports for output are
Port 1 65W via PD 3.0
20V @ 3.25A
15V @ 3A
12V @ 3A
9V @ 3A
5V @ 3A
Port 2 18W via PD 3.0
12V @ 1.5A
9V @ 3A
5V @ 2.4A
The PA-B3 is the same size as the PA-B4 and features 1 USB-C port with all the same specs, capable of 65W. The big difference is instead of a second USB-C port this charger has a USB-A port. Unfortunately the USB-A port doesn’t support any of the Qualcomm quick charge standards and it’s just a standard 5V 2.4A port. When both are in use the top port reduces from 65W to 45W.
Specs the PA-B3 supports for output are
Port 1 65W via PD 3.0
20V @ 3.25A
15V @ 3A
12V @ 3A
9V @ 3A
5V @ 3A
Port 2
5V @ 2.4A
Cable Construction and Performance
A few quick words about Aukey’s braided cables. I have enjoyed my time with them and have no complaints about them. Both come with velcro organization loops to help keep everything organized and helps keep things looking nice during travel and use. I have found the right angle USB-C cables really nice to use when I am using my phone and charging it at the same time, I think it’s less stress than a traditional cable. It fit fine over my case but if you have a larger case it may not have the clearance for you. Quality wise it’s very comparable to my Anker cables and I like the red color.
The USB-C to lightning cable is great too as it allows me to charge faster then the standard cable and charger that came with my ipad. The 6.6ft length is great here, if you don’t have a longer cable your really missing out, as the stock is pretty limiting. When combined with the Omnia chargers both my devices were able to charge as fast as they are capable of with these cables. No complaints.
Pro’s
Compact size, and delivered the performance it stated.
LED’s are not super bright, great for charging at night.
45W is just enough to charge my Dell laptop and phone at the same time.
Great build quality on the cables, on par with other braided cables I have from Anker.
Right angle cables are pretty useful especially when holding a phone while charging.
Con’s
Little bit of weird behavior when charging high watt devices and plugging in a low wattage device on the PA-B3, it sometimes wanted to stop charging on the first and and I had to replug it to get it going again.
I wish Aukey offered a longer right angle USB-C cable.
Conclusion
Aukey’s latest Omnia chargers are the real deal. They combine the technology you should be looking for with high wattage chargers, with GaN, USB-C PD, and have the dynamic delivery technology to make sure you can charge each of your devices as fast as the charger and device will allow.
I can recommend these chargers if your looking for multiple port, high wattage chargers. If you don’t have one yet, you really should pick up one. They are smaller, faster, and just as safe as what your device came with. If you travel a lot it’s a must have, and for most people they will enjoy the added speed of recharging in every day use too. Make sure to check them out in links below.
Pick up any of the chargers or cables with the links below.
YLP is a Russian Flashlight manufacturer (Lights are made in China) that is new to the US market. Their name when translated roughly means bright ray. They have been known by enthusiasts for a few years but it’s been more difficult to buy their lights, having to use google translated versions of their website. Recently they have launched a US English version of the website and got in touch with me to take a look at some of their lights. The YLP Unicorn 1.0 has been on my radar since last year so I selected that to take a further look at and review myself. Thanks to them for sending this out and providing a discount that’s in the description along with links to follow me on various social media platforms. This will probably be a little bit longer of a review so settle back and enjoy.
Packaging on the Unicorn 1.0 is a nice magnetic closure box full of printing, showing the light on the front, a lot of the highlights on the sides and more details on the back. It’s nicely designed without looking excessive. Inside the light is protected with some custom cut black foam. Accessories include a pocket clip preinstalled, a basic lanyard, and 2 extra o’rings. The manual that came with the light is in borth Russian and English. It’s pretty thorough but an advanced manual is available online as well and I will have a link to it in my description. One other thing to add, my light shipped in a box covered with cool Russian stamps on it too, definitely cool looking and not what I am used to.
Construction
The light is made from aluminum and hard anodized in a gray/brown almost tan color. It’s a really nice color and nice to see something other then black. Machining here is good, with no complaints. Branding is extremely minimal with just the Unicorn 1.0 name and Unicorn logo on the rear of the tail cap, it doesn’t even say YLP on it anywhere!
The tailcap itself is flat, and magnetic. The internal magnet is held in place with the tail spring so if you want to remove it, it’s easy to do so. You have a place for the lanyard to go on the side of the tail cap if you choose. Threads internally are beefy and square cut.
The knurling on the tail and body tube is aggressive, it feels good in my hands but you may see some accelerated wear of your pants under the pocket clip. It’s pyramid shaped with the tip left on. There is a Y shape milled out of the knurling to add some style to the light, you can see some tool paths in this but I think that’s done on purpose. The tube itself is not removable as it seems to be glued to the head.
The head itself has shallow heatsyncs around about ¾ of the range. The button sits in a slightly raised block on the head but is then recessed inside this. The button itself has a clear silicone cover over it. Underheat there are red and green LED’s used for indicating battery voltage and as a locator beacon. The button itself is on the small side and may be a little hard to actuate with larger gloves on. The front of the light has a smooth bezel with the TIR optic in place. There isn’t glass over the optic so you may see some scratches over time.
Size & Weight
The YLP Unicorn 1.0 is a pretty compact light for what all it offers. I measured it’s overall length at 102.2mm, maximum diameter in the head at 27.20mm, and minimum diameter on the body at 25mm. When compared to the FW3A is about 20mm shorter, and the Wurkkos FC11 is about 14mm longer. The Unicorn 1.0 weighed in with a Sony VTC6 battery and clip onboard at 113.6g. Compared to the FW3A’s 98.2g, and Wurkkos FC11 at 111.8G.
Retention
The Unicorn 1.0 features a reversible pocket clip with plenty of room in it’s top loop for thicker pants. It’s not super deep cary but I found it to carry quite well. As I mentioned earlier the knurling here is aggressive and while I like the feel in my hand, you might find it wears out your pants pocket a little faster them most lights, especially under the pocket clip. The magnet in the tail is quite strong and has no trouble holding the light. It’s also fairly easy to remove if you wish. I had no issues with it activating in my pocket during cary thanks to the recessed e-switch on the head of the light.
LED & Beam
The YLP Unicorn 1.0 is using a 4200k Samsung LH351D at a minimum of 90 CRI. This is one of my favorite emitters right now and a fantastic choice for EDC in my opinion. It’s warmer in tint and doesn’t have any of the green that the LH351D in the Wurkkos FC11 had. My LED was nicely centered, and has a TIR style optic. The light doesn’t have a glass lens, which means overtime you might see a few scratches. Not a huge deal with everything else going on here. The beam pattern does have a defined hot center, and the transition to the spill isn’t the smoothest but it’s not bad either.
One of the side effects of this light not being designed for huge output numbers is heat is well controlled and it’s also configurable in the UI if you want to push it a bit more.
1 Minute = 90F
5 Minutes = 101F
10 Minutes = 104F.
I measured the parasitic drain of the eswitch at 22?A which is pretty minimal. I didn’t measure any PWM with my scope or eye.
Runtime and Outputs
Officially the light produces the following in it’s default UI. .
Turbo 850 lumens
High 450 lumens
Medium 170 Lumens
Low 40 Lumens
Moon 3 Lumens
Runtimes here didn’t have any big surprises from the regulated driver. I performed my tests with a 3000mAh Sony VTC6 battery but you don’t need such a high output battery in this application, a NGR18650GA battery would be a perfect comdination here. Turbo was good for just under 4 minutes, and we then saw stepdowns to 65% relative output. This continued to decline to about 50% output at the 30 minute mark or so but then the light started increasing in output as it cooled and the battery was able to keep up. This peaked at 60% relative output before a sharp decline to the lights lowest mode at the 130 minute mark where it continued running till LVP kicked in at 2.859V at 300 minutes. It’s nice to see active thermal controls on this one.
UI
This light has 4 different UI modes. By default it comes in what YLP calls Basic UI where the light has 5 discrete modes and memory mode turned on. It starts off in low and when you hold the button it starts ramping up about every second. When it gets to the top it automatically starts ramping down. Single click to turn off, Double clicking when on gets your to the maximum output. 4 Clicks gets you to battery check mode where the light flashes the batteries voltage. The way the basic UI works with it cycling up and then down instead of resetting takes a little getting used to as it’s different from a lot of lights and requires you to go up through high before going lower if thats what you want.
The other main UI modes are UI1, which is ramping with memory mode turned on. UI2 which is ramping with memory on and the buttons light on, UI 3 is 5 modes, memory off, and starting on medium instead of low.
The light has other advanced features which are best if you look at the advanced manual on the YLP website as you can adjust the thermal settings, and engineering mode where you can configure each UI mode through a series of clicks. These are complex and for time sake I won’t go over them in this review, but the manual has you covered and the translation is decent. You can find the full advanced manual here.
Pro’s
Great overall size and clip
Wide acceptance on it’s battery type, flat tops, button tops, protected, unprotected it takes all the 18650 types.
Not another black light
Great LED and Tint
Very flexible user interface the default Basic UI does it for me just fine but ramping is available if you want it.
Con’s
Knurling is quite aggressive, and if EDCed in a pants pocket this will eat away at it over time.
Not the brightest light in this class but more than enough to get the job done with less heat and more usability.
Lowest output mode should be 1 lumen or less
Minor annoyance with the Basic UI, I would prefer it start back over on low after reaching top output rather then reversing back down through high, mediu, low etc.
Conclusion
This is a light designed with practicality in mind instead of big numbers for a marketing purpose. As a result it can sustain itself on higher outputs without large stepdows. It’s using a high CRI LED with a pleasant tint and very useful beam pattern. For me it ticks all the boxes on what I want as a solid all purpose flashlight.
I have taken it walking several times over the few weeks I have had it and it’s done great with that. It’s a useful beam pattern and I like the combination of tint and high CRI LED. It has a lot of UI options for you if you want, if not the default UI I enjoy.
I hope we see YLP continue the Unicorn line of lights, making enhancements and tweaks as it goes along. At this price point it’s a lot of value, coming in significantly less than some of the well known brands that also share animal names. I look forward to seeing other lights from YLP, after reviewing the Unicorn 1.0 the bar was set high, lets see what they can deliver. I recommend the YLP Unicorn 1.0 without reservations.
If you are considering picking up a YLP Unicorn 1.0 make sure to check the description for a link to their English website and use the code in the description to save 15% off the price which helps cover shipping cost.
Lumintop has a new small keychain style light on the market that’s using using TurboGlow as part of the heads structure. It has a built in battery and microUSB recharging. Thanks to Lumintop for sending this to me to review.
The light comes in a small nicer cardboard box with foam holding it in place. It comes preinstalled with the non removable battery. Accessories include a short 5” USB-A to Micro USB cable and a split ring attached to a small chain and clip for attaching to your keys or other device.
Construction
The Glow I is made from aluminium and works off a twist design but is different from some other similar lights. First the tail cap is removable, and held in place with an internal neodymium magnet and indexing notches. Pull force to disconnect here I would guess is about 5-6 pounds. I think this is sufficiently strong for many scenarios but if you were concerned about it coming off accidentally a bit of superglue or JB Weld would make this more permanent.
I found the magnet here to be actually really nice. It means the light could server as a short under the hood light in your car at night if needed etc. The body of the light has a hole in the side the body is twisted all the way to the left reveals the microUSB charging port. There is a small internal LED in the port that goes red when charging, green when charged.
To operate the light you screw it to the right until it turns on. The light has only 1 mode and no UI to speak of. The head is captured so you don’t have to worry about it getting loose or lost during charging which I know has been a minor issue with other similar lights. The internal 80mAh 10180 battery is sealed and not replaceable.
The turbo glow barrel built into the head of this light, and serves as the walls of the reflector, meaning it’s directly exposed to the LED anytime it’s on. This means it gets charged up everytime the light is on, and since it’s turbo glow it’s much brighter and lasts significantly longer then standard glow in the dark material. It even does a pretty good job of charging and maintaining charge during normal exposure to room or sunlight.
Size & Weight
This is a small light, similar to the Olight i1R I reviewed a while back. It’s currently been my keychain light. I measured the length of the Lumintop Glow I at 45.3mm, maximum diameter around the turboglow at 15.6mm and minimum diameter on the body at 14mm. Weight was 16.4g without the keychain. It’s pretty comparable in size and diameter to the Olight i1R. See the photos below for other peers.
LED & Beamshot
The Glow I uses an Osram LED. No specific model or temperature is given but no surprise here, it’s cool white. Lumintop lists the output officially has 40 lumens. This is more than sufficient with the size and application here. The light is using an optic with a built in diffuser. The result is a pretty standard beam, floody, good for short range which is what you would expect with this light.
Runtime
Runtime here out of the 80mAh battery was better then I expected. My total runtime was around 80 minutes, with the first 60 of that being near the 40 lumen mark and declining. The light actually ran significantly longer but it doesn’t have low voltage protection so it would be best after you notice the decline in output to charge it.
Recharging
Charging took 1 hour and 10 minutes and the fastest I observed was 0.12A via the microUSB port. While that’s pretty slow this is a very small battery so that’s what you would expect.
Pro’s
Turboglow from the Netherlands is integral to the design and is really pretty effective.
Captured head although in theory the tail could come loose unintentionally.
Good size and construction
Con’s
No Low Voltage protection here, or removable battery means you need to be careful about running the light too long and keep the battery topped up.
Non removable/replaceable battery
Conclusion
This is a neat little keychain light. I like that it’s small and compact but still has a decent amount of output for its size and task. The addition of authentic TurboGlow (Seriously if you have not tried TurboGlow it’s significantly better then any other GITD material) separates this light from the competition for me. It’s a clever design making the TurboGlow an actual part of the light body vs just an insert. I wish the light did have LVP to protect the internal cell since it cant be changed. The magnetic connection here is a give and take, it’s handy but if your concerned about the light dropping off unintentionally it’s an easy fix with some superglue or JB Weld. I don’t think it will be an issue for me. Let me know what you think of the Lumintop Glow I in the comments below.
Reylight has a new Pineapple Mini available in Raw copper with a Nichia 219B R9080 LED. This light has the same milling profile as found on the brass Pineapple that Reylight may be best known for, but is an entirely new design from the Previous Copper Pineapple Mini made several years ago. That light was a twist design, where as the new Copper Pineapple Mini is a tail click design. Full disclosure, Rey at Reylight is a friend and sent me this light to evaluate and review. I will do my best to remain impartial and give an honest review.
The arrives in a clear plastic bifold box. The light itself is vacuum sealed in plastic to prevent a patina to form on the raw copper during shipping. ReyLight offers the light for sale with a 320mAh 10440 battery preinstalled if your country allows such a thing. The only other accessory that comes with the light is the pocket clip which is preinstalled. No manual is shipped with the light, but some directions are available on the ReyLight website.
Construction
The light is made from Copper and is delivered raw, with no coatings to inhibit or slow the natural patina from forming. The surface texture of the copper is what I will call a machined finish. It’s not perfectly smooth or a mirror polish and there is a slight feel of tool paths on the light if you drag your fingernail across the surface. I think I will probably end up hand polishing mine up after this review and then letting it patina naturally.
Starting at the tail cap you have an extended button with a place milled in the middle for a 1.5 x 6mm tritium tube. Tolerances on this button are quite a bit better then other Reylight Lan/Pineapple lights. There is no rattle and much less side to side movement when pressed. The tail is removable and inside you will find a rubber boot for waterproofing the switch action. Inside the switch/spring assembly itself is fixed in place in the body.
The body itself is milled to look like a smaller version of the Reylight Pineapple. If the light is standing up the horizontal edges have been chamfered a bit much like on the Pineapple, but the vertical milled reliefs are more 90 degrees. These give the light more purchase in your hands and but not so much that it will cut you or damage clothing. It’s a nice way to give the light more grip without being too aggressive.
The head here is fairly basic, with some horizontal groves milled in similar to but a smaller and shallower version of what’s on the body. The front bezel is smooth, and the lens is recessed with a GITD oring. The reflector is relatively deep for it’s size and has a very light orange peel on it.
Retention
The Pineapple Mini 2019 is using a generic pocket clip not specifically engineered for this light and as a result I think that retention is a little compromised here. The pocket clip is not reversible and only attaches at back end of the body tube. It’s a clip on style and seems very tight. It doesn’t easily rotate and is stiff to pull off. For me the clip on the new Copper Pineapple Mini isn’t perfect. I wish it had more space at the top for thicker pocket material, and a little deeper carry. I think both of these combined with possibly a little more stiff button or forward clicky switch would help with it not coming on in my pocket accidentally. That said it’s only happened twice in the week plus of carry. That said a few people have been trying various other clips on the Reylight Facebook group and the best I have seen is the clip from FreeLux on the Synergy 1 flashlight.
Size & Weight
I measured overall length at 89mm, maximum diameter at the head 15mm, Minimum diameter at the body at 12mm. Weight with a 10440 battery and clip came in at 60.7g.
Peer Comparisons
When I initially saw the light on the Reylight Facebook page I thought it was a bit long for a AAA light given the size of the old Reylight Mini Pineapple but the action of operations were different on the two lights. That said after getting it in hand it’s nearly identical to my copper Olight i3T which is also a tail switch light. Clip location relative to the top of the tail is super similar too. The olight is about 10 grams heavier. The older Reylight Copper Mini Pineapple is similar in diameter due to it’s different mode of operation.
LED | BeamShots | Heat
The LED here in use is the Nichia 219B R9080 at 4500k and it’s a tint snob’s and high CRI fan boys dream LED. Output isn’t up to modern standards but what it lacks in output it makes up for in quality! These are fairly difficult LED’s to get a hold of in a decent quantity as I believe they are no longer produced. The tint here is a good mix between neutral white and warm, but it’s a little rosy pink in color. CRI measures roughly at 97. I think I am going to see if I can get my hands on a few more of these to swap into some other lights as it’s just a fantastic LED in my opinion. Reylights the maximum output with a 10440 battery at 300 lumens.
The beam is well suited to EDC use, it has a traditional beam profile, with a slight hotspot of higher intensity and then some spill. Cut off is fairly hard here. Good for general use of a light of this size and output.
Runtimes
The light can run with a AAA or 10440. From my runtime here you can see that performance is much better from a 10440 since with a AAA you get a very brief amount of bright light before a large step down for a long time. I used the 320mAh that Reylight makes available as an optional purchase with the light for my tests. I was running in mode 2 (Factory Default) at 100% output and the highest output was good for 1 minute before the light stepped down to about 30% relative output. From here it was a pretty linear decline decline making me think it most likely has an unregulated driver. Total runtime was just over 80 minutes on the 320mAh battery. Heat is a non issue with this light due to it’s rapid step down.
With the 750mAh AmazonBasics NiHM battery maximum output was only good for 1 minute and then it stepped down to about 18% relative output. It ran for longer then I expected and I ended up stopping the test at the 220 minute mark before I went to bed. Outputt here was a good deal less. My recommendation would be to run the light with a 10440 as your primary power source and use a AAA or NiHM as a backup power source only.
I measured LVP on the 10440 coming in at 3.116V and on the NiHM at 1.04V.
There is a little bit of PWM in the light but’s quite minimal and only something that’s showing up in my scope.
UI
The Reylight Copper Pineapple Mini is using a reverse clicky switch for it’s operation with 4 available operating modes and then a variety of options. The driver also features high temp protection, LVP, memory, mode progression options (LMH, HML), Moonlight On or Off, Memory on or off, and the ability to set it back to default.
The light doesn’t come with a manual, but Reylight Facebook group member Kevin Manley created this programming guide and said I could republish it here as well. A big thanks goes out to him.
For me I turned on memory mode and moonlight mode. I will throw a link to a PDF I created to make this a little more better visually formatted as it looks complicated but with the light in hand and a little practice it’s not too bad.
Pro’s
The LED tint is just really nice here.
Raw Copper!
Small narrow profile and good purchase in the hand.
Better tolerances in the tail switch assembly.
Several output options, and pretty programmable especially for a small light.
Con’s
I have had some minor issues with the proud tail button coming on in low mode in my pocket.
I wish the pocket clip allowed for deeper carry and a bit of a thicker pocket material.
Driver seems to be very conservative on temps and is really more optimized for use with 10440 batteries as opposed to NiHM or Alkaline.
Driver is glued in place.
Conclusion
If you are a raw copper fan or tint CRI/Tint snob you can buy this light and enjoy it just for these reasons alone. The LED here in use is relatively rare outside the custom or modified flashlight world, they are hard to come by in large quantities but are absolutely lovely in terms of tint (a slightly rosy 4500k) and super high CRI at 97. It really makes plants and other colors pop.
The original Mini was a fun light with it’s small size and raw copper but it’s driver had some issues. The new one here fixes those issues and adds a tail button instead of twist operation. For me the clip on the new Copper Pineapple Mini isn’t perfect. I do hope Reylight offers a custom clip for this light in the future.
It’s nice to see a light with so many mode options on a small light. For me the default Mode 2 option works pretty well and I think this is where I will leave it. Overall this is a fun little light and one I am enjoying quite a bit. If your interested in checking it out I will have a link to where you can get it from the Reylight website down in the description below.
Olight has introduced a new right angle light with the Perun. The name comes from the Slavic God of Thunder. The Perun makes some kind of odd design choices from the fairly popular Olight H2R it logically replaces, that I will go through during this review. Thanks to SkyBen on Amazon for sending this to me to take a look at and review. This will probably be a longer review so grab your favorite cold or hot beverages and enjoy.
I think it’s fair to say Olight might just have the nicest packaging in the production flashlight world and one wonders what it adds to the cost of a light. The box is a heavy white cardboard with pictures of the light on the front, it’s a magnetic box that folds out from the side. On the back you have a nice summary of the light, along with features specs, and package contents. Inside your greeted with a quick start card that tells you to remove the protective battery spacer, and charge the light, new on the Perun are warnings to make sure to keep the lens free from mist and scratches or the lights sensor may prevent higher operating modes.
Standard accessories include 3500mAh proprietary Olight battery 10A capable (ORB-186C35), pocket clip, Lanyard and lanyard threading tool, and 3rd generation faster MCC charging cable. No headstrap comes standard with the Perun, like it does for nearly every other right angle light on the market. Instead Olight choose to make the strap an optional extra or part of a bundle deal. The strap itself is very similar to what was on the H2R with only some screen printing on the side being different. It’s a magnetic mount and it’s easy to get the light on and off, and it will even work with the pocket clip attached although I don’t recommend it.
Construction
The Olight Perun is made from black anodized aluminum as expected. The body and tail cap are all one piece like we saw on the Baton Pro. While similar in design these two tubes are not interchangeable as they as slightly different lengths. Patterns are different as well, the Peruns texture is larger pyramids with the points not milled off. I think it’s attractive and aggressive looking but interferes with the operation some as I will explain in a minute.
The head is a collar design, with the pocket clip only attaching here, While it is a dual direction clip, it’s quite far from deep carry. I measured 20mm of the light’s head sticking up out of my pocket, which for me is way too much for EDC in a front pocket. I could see someone clipping this on a vest, or backpack strap possibly. The backside of the head has some groves milled in for style and heat dissipation. The top of the light is where you find the large silicone button thats slightly domed and angled away from the lens. This is easy to operate with gloves and produces a good click for an electronic switch. It’s surrounded by a blue signature ring. The lens of this light itself is again surrounded by a blue ring. The lens itself is plastic, it contains a clear center so you can easily see the LED underneath. It doesn’t really have a reflector to speak of. On top of the lens is a blacked out section, when looking up at it you can see a sensor is mounted inside, and this is the IR sensor used to dim/turn off the light if something comes close to it. More on that here in a minute.
The strap is a high quality one with an over the head piece. The mount is magnetic to hold the light but it’s not strong enough to hold the light with any movement. There is a rubber/silicone strap that stretches over the light to secure it. It even allows for use with the pocket clip attached but it’s a stretch. Combine this design with the increased texture on the body and it makes rotating the light a little difficult, it’s best done so from the tail side, as if you do so from the head side it’s more likely you will unscrew the head from the light rather then rotate it.
Size & Weight
I measured the length of the Perun at 112mm, maximum diameter at the head at 25mm, and minimum diameter on the body/tail at 23mm. Weight with the included battery and clip came in at 115.7g.
The natural competitor here is the previous model, the Olight H2R. I measured the length of the H2R at 110mm, maximum diameter at the head at 25.3mm and minimum diameter on the body at 20mm. Weight of the H2R with it’s included battery and clip came in at 109g.
Next to my Nitecore HC35 the Olight Perun looks tiny, that said the Nitecore is running 4 LED, and a larger 21700 battery. Be sure to make sure your subscribed so you can watch the review of the Nitecore HC35 coming in the next week or two.
See pictures of the Nitecore in the video.
LED | Beamshot | Mode Spacing
Unfortunately Olight has not said officially what LED the Perun is using. I can tell you it looks like a quad package and is a fairly large domed emitter. My guess is it’s a Cree XHP 50.2 LED. It’s tint is pretty cool white, easily 6500k or greater. The beam pattern here is all flood with no real hotspot at distance thanks to the TIR optic. When I compare it to my NW H2R the first thing I notice is the huge difference in tint, and the second thing I notice beam angle. While both lights are all flood, the Perun is a little wider and slightly less throwy. Olight rates them at 12 meters of difference in throw, to the eye though it’s hard to perceive the difference. The IR sensor doesn’t seem to change the beam pattern here which is a good thing.
Olight has recently started adding runtime progressions in the manual which is nice to see a manufacturer being honest about what their lights will actually do. For my own runtime testing I tested with the included battery. Turbo mode was good for just at 2.5 minutes and then it started stepping down from there to about 55% relative output for roughly 10 minutes. From there I saw one more step down to about 35% relative output for 90 minutes, We then saw 3 more major step downs over the next 60 minutes or so before the light ran in moonlight mode till LVP kicked in. Total runtime was just at 165 minutes. Heat was pretty well controlled, the hottest I saw during my runtime test was 104F at the 5 minute mark..
Here is the official output figures and mode spacing.
Moon – 5 Lumens
Low – 30 Lumens
Medium – 120 Lumens
High – 500 Lumens
Turbo – 2000 Lumens
My comment on mode spacing here is that it’s a huge difference between the 500 lumens of high and 2000 lumens in turbo. While I would prefer something in between the benefit is that high mode can sustain itself without stepping down for 3 hours.
PWM
I will insert some shots of my PWM tests here. There wasn’t any thing to see or find on my scope here.
UI
The Olight Perun has the standard Olight UI many of us have come to know, and I like with the slower fades from off/on and between modes. From off, long press to activate moonlight mode at 5 lumens. To turn on in normal modes single click the switch, to change brightness level hold the button and the light will cycle through the 5 available modes lowest to highest. Double click to access turbo. Triple click to access strobe. The light also features memory mode for normal modes.
Lockout can be accomplished when the light is off by pressing and holding the switch for 2 seconds until moonlight mode comes on and immediately shuts off. To exit lockout press the button for about 1 second until moonlight mode stays on. Personally I will just give the body of the light a ¼ turn to mechanically lock it out. The light features a short 3 minute timer, and a longer 9 minute timer. If these are setup (See the included manual) the light will automatically shut off when the end of the timer is reached.
The other thing the Perun has is an IR sensor that when the light detects it’s too close to an object it steps down in brightness to 30 lumens and if held there past the 60 second mark it will shut off the light entirely. Olight warns in the manual and the card right inside the package that dust or scratches on the (plastic) lens may affect the lights ability to run in high mode. There is no way to disable this sensor in the UI of the light.
In practice I found this interesting to use and experiment with and a little gimicky. Lighter colored object seem to make the light reduce output further away about 3-4 inches, where darker objects made that distance much shorter 1 inch or less. Angle of attack seemed to matter too, the distances were greater if the light was straight on to the object vs at an angle to it. For instance I could put the Perun right up to a wall at an angle and still get the full 2000 lumens, vs if I angle it straight on it turned off a few inches out.
I see the thought process behind including something like this, as you see people on forums burning holes in their jackets and pants sometimes with high power flashlights that turn on accidently. But I think it’s a design flaw in the UI to not be able to turn it off. A scratch in the lens, or a dusty/super heavy rainy environment reduces the lights output substantially and potentially even shuts it off after 60 seconds. Overall, I am not a fan of the IR sensor here when you can easily electronically or mechanically lock out the light instead.
Battery & Recharging
Olight choose to go with a proprietary 3500mAh 10A capable discharge battery for the Perun. However the somewhat exciting and unexpected news here is that you can use a standard button top generic battery as well in the light for everything except using the the magnetic charging system. I tested with a 3400mAh high discharge battery from Thrunite and the light ran well, even in turbo mode without a problem. The manual even points this out, it was all unexpected and quite nice to see.
Charging the included 3500mAh battery was accomplished with the new MCC 1.5A charger. I saw charge time take just at 4 hours from LVP at 2.88V and terminated at 4.17V. No voltage was detected at the tail cap and no charging speed issues.
Pro’s
Slightly less output here in turbo means you no longer need a high discharge battery, but a proprietary Olight battery is still needed for charging.
A standard button top 18650 will work in the light, but won’t charge.
Attractive overall design, good head band if you purchase it
High mode sustains itself for 3 hours, but it’s only 500 lumens.
A little more runtime then the older H2R, and it can sustain high for longer.
Con’s
Making the headstrap an optional extra
Clip doesn’t make for a practical EDC due to how much of the light sticks up from your pocket
Lack of a Neutral White Emitter and true moonlight mode
No glass lens over the plastic TIR, meaning it’s more susceptible to scratches which can impact the performance of the IR sensor and potentially making the light only work in low.
No setting to turn off the IR/Proximity sensor.
Conclusion
The Perun is just an odd mix of what seems like a step backwards combined with small upgrades that don’t matter much for actual use. The result is a light that in my opinion isn’t really better then the model it logically was set to replace with the Olight H2R which I was a fan of.
It’s nice to see Olight reducing the requirement of a high discharge battery being required here, allowing a higher capacity battery to be used. It’s also nice to still see and be mentioned in the manual that a normal button top 18650 battery will work, but not charge in the light.
The IR sensor seems kind of like a gimmick, this isn’t a very practical light to EDC in front pocket like the H2R was, or other right angle headlamps like the Armytek Wizard or Elf is. So dimming when something is near isn’t super needed here. I could see it being useful to throw it in a bag and it won’t come on and melt something but we have electronic or mechanical lockout for that too which is an easier and more reliable option in my opinion and doesn’t potentially compromise the light if the lens were dirty, or scratched.
The aggressive texture on the body looks good but again makes the light as a headlamp a little harder to use in the mount.
Admittedly these are mostly things enthusiasts care about, if you hand the Olight Perun to a non enthusiast they are going to think it’s a great product. It’s bright, comfortable, attractively designed, easy to use, and bright, but for many enthusiasts there are probably better choices. Mine is going to probably go to a family member who is in need of a headlight and doesn’t care about the things I mentioned, for them it will be a nice fit. So with that said let me know in the comments if this is the right headlamp for you?
Wowtac has a new ultracompact 18560 EDC light on the market with the A6. The light is running an SST-40 emitter in either cool or neutral white (Maybe?), it comes with an 18650 battery and is microUSB rechargeable all for a very affordable price. Thanks to WowTac for sending this to me to review.
Packaging here is a basic Wowtac brown cardboard box, that’s shared with the A6 and A7 models. It notates what model and emitter are inside. Accessories included with the light are a WowTac branded button top 2600mAh 18650 battery, a microUSB cable, 2 extra orings, pocket clip, and a spare port cover. The manual is in English, German, Japanese and Chinese and in case you don’t know WowTac is supported by Thrunite and covered by a 2 year warranty.
Construction
As expected the light is made from aluminum and anodized black. Machining here is good. The tail cap is recessed slightly and allows for good tail standing and has an attachment point. Inside is a single spring and no magnet.
The body tube and tail cap both feature some pretty aggressive knurling. While I like this in my hand, it will most definitely wear a spot in your pocket. The body tube is not reversible meaning the pocket clip is only mountable on the rear of the light. I would prefer a little deeper carry clip but this one is good and does an adequate job.
The head of the light features a semi translucent button with blue and red LED’s underneath. The blue LED comes on for the first few seconds when the light is in use and then when recharging the light will go red to indicate charging, blue to indicate charged. On the sides there is a little bit of milling for heat dissipation and style. On the rear there is a small silicone cover for the MicroUSB recharging port.
Size & Weight
I measured the overall length of the Wowtac A6 at 97mm, diameter at the head at 24mm, and diameter at the tail at 23mm. Weight with the included battery and clip was 96.1g. The water rating is IPX-8 rated which is good for this type of onboard charging port.
This is a small light for an 18650 side eswitch. It’s the shortest side switch 18650 light I have that has onboard USB charging. The Emmisar D4 and BLF FW3A are both shorter but by very small amounts. The Olight S2R Baton II is just a little longer and slightly slimmer. It’s roughly the same lenght as a Reylight Lan or Pineapple but thicker due to the 18650 vs 14500 battery.
LED & Beam Pattern
This light is using a SST-40 LED and in my example is cool white. A neutral white version is listed on WowTac’s website and in the literature but the neutral white doesn’t seem to have ever been available in the past few months. Maybe it’s delayed significantly. The reflector here is unusually large and short, with a nice orange peel. The result is a beam profile with a decently large hot spot and a good amount of spill. I do notice some tint shift across the beam from the hot spot to spill unfortunately. Overall a very useful beam for EDC and general tasks in my opinion. Sorry for the beamshot tint here, it’s more blue and green then it should be, not sure what went on photography wise, ill have it sorted for my next review.
Heat & RunTime
For my runtime tests, I used the included Wowtac branded 2600mAh battery. This is an adequate battery for the price, but you can replace it with any quality 3500mAh if you want more runtime. Turbo on the Wowtac A6 will run for 1:30 before stepping down significantly. It went from 100% relative output to roughly 28%. 1460 lumens to 400 according to the manufacture. The light then ran slowly declining to about 20% relative output for 170 minutes. The last 100 minutes or so were a slow fade and then it ran in low then firefly for a total runtime of 260 minutes.
Heat was well controlled during my runtime tests, and the hottest I saw the light get was 93F within the first minute.
Listed output modes are:
Firefly – 0.5 lumens
Low – 12 lumens
Medium – 80 lumens
High – 400 lumens
Turbo – 1460 lumens
Strobe – 350 lumens
Mode spacing is ok, other then turbo sticks out here quite a bit. I would be prefer high be a bit brighter and medium and be stepped up a little to compensate.
UI
The UI utilizes a single e-switch up on the head of the light. The button is small and would be hard to use with gloves. UI here is simple and shares from other Wowtac & Thrunite lights. From off, long press to go to firefly mode. A short click from off will get you in to normal mode with memory. The light starts in low and if you hold while on it will progress from low to medium and then to high. Double click to go to turbo. Double click from turbo to go to strobe.
PWM
My scope does detect some PWM on this light in Low, Medium, and High, but my eyes don’t see it with my eye.
Recharging
The A6 has onboard recharging via microUSB. It’s disappointing that it’s not using USB-C as other lights in this price class like the Wurkkos FC11 uses USB-C. Anyways I charged the A6 from LVP at 2.757V to Full at 4.13V in 3 hours 14 minutes at a max of 1A. Constant speed out to just about the 2 hour mark before decreasing as the battery fills up. I tested the included battery capacity in my Xtar VC4s at 2389mAh out of the rated 2600mAh.
Pro’s
Great Value & a complete kit
Choice of emitters maybe
Small size
Con’s
Missed opportunity to add a magnet to the tail cap.
Neutral white is listed as an option but has never actually been available for purchase yet.
LVP kicked in and shut off the light at a fairly low 2.757V.
Huge drop in output between Turbo and High 1460 lumens vs 400 lumens
Conclusion
My conclusion is that the Wowtac A6 is a good, low price, high value 18650 based EDC style light. Due to it’s small size and pretty decent pocket clip it rides well in the pocket. The interface is intuitive and makes sense. The beam pattern makes sense here for EDC, it’s flody with a hotspot, I just wish it had less tint shift and that high was a little brighter, but this can hold its own.
I can recommend this light but wish the Neutral white would come available soon. Hopefully we will see it sometime soon after Lunar New Year.
Today I have a EDC gear review of the KeySmart Pro. This is a Key holder and organizer that can fit up to 14 keys. It also features Tile integration and to help you locate your keys with your smartphone and vice versa and a small flashlight. Thanks to KeySmart for sending this to me to take a look at and tell you about.
YouTube Version of this Review:
Purchase the KeySmart Pro on Amazon at the following Links:
The KeySmart Pro comes in a nice retail box, that really emphasizes the tile functionality here. The back goes into more what the KeySmart is the accessories that are available for it.
What comes with the standard pro here is the KeySmart Pro itself, a small microUSB cable, and a manual. Optional accessories are available as add on purchases on the KeySmart website such as a Nano Scissors, USB 3 Flash drive both that go inside, a small pocket clip, quick disconnect carabiner or a magconnect. The magconnect looks the most intriguing to me and is something I would add on myself as it would allow me to more easily disconnect my car key from other stuff which is something I frequently do in the summer or on weekends.
Initial Impressions Physical
Build quality physically the KeySmart is made from a white non glossy plastic, the back piece here has some flex with it. The front side is where all the electronics are and it’s thicker. You have a micro USB port in the middle for charging the small built in flashlight and keeping the Tile going.
Putting your keys on seems easy enough and in concept it is but in practice it was kind of finicky. The box says it will hold up to 14 keys, 7 on each side but I think that would make it quite difficult to put together. What I found helps is to put about 3 keys on each side separated with the included washers between the keys and screw one side together and then do the other. They used a flat head screw which allows you to not need a tool as you can use a coin but honestly I would have preferred a large torx bit or something that doesn’t slip out as easy. One other thing to note is that when apart you have two sides, a screw side and a collar side. The collar side for me too big on some keys, the order you put the keys is important as a result as is the straightness of the keys. If a key is bent it will bind with others.
The bottle opener is a must to include in my book, only because it’s the loop that allows you to connect the KeySmart Pro to other stuff. My car key is too big to fit inside here so having a way to connect my KeySmart to other stuff is important and the bottle opener does that.
The Flashlight on the KeySmart is fairly low power, you won’t be using this for much other then to illuminate the key hold on a door and for that it works pretty well. You can click one to be on in momentary mode or double click the small button and the light will stay on for 10 seconds.
Tial integration
So if you don’t know Tial is a system thats integrated into a larger and larger number of devices that allows you to in this case find your keys with your smartphone using Bluetooth. You do need to download a free app to your Android or iPhone and once paired (an easy process) you can launch the app to find your keys via making the KeySmart play a song. You do have to be in range and from my testing that’s about 45 feet. I put them on different sides of the house and it was too far, but you could easily go room to room in your house and do the find sequence. Alternatively you can double press the Tial button on your KeySmart to find your phone even if it’s in silent mode. KeySmart says the battery will last for up to 45 days, a claim I was unable to verify.
Conclusion
Everyone’s keys are a little different, I like the idea of everything being more compact and in one place but for me I miss the ability to separate and downsize easily for certain situations like formal wear or going to the gym where I just need a car and house key. I also end up having a few bulky keys and fobs that don’t really fit the KeySmart Pro without additional rings and disconnects that I don’t always want to have with me. So for me I think I will use this more in the summer when I don’t have a jacket pocket to throw keys in and want something slimmer for my shorts pockets. That said the Tile feature here is really handy and does slim and organize your keys, I think this would be especially useful if your prone to losing your keys or say had many bags or jackets you put your keys in last and needed to locate them. The little light on the end of it works surprisingly well too to find that key hole at night too. The plastic here flexes a little more then I would hope but so far it’s held up. Maybe they could sell an aluminum back plate if you wanted a little more rigidity without much more weight.
So if you are interested in the KeySmart Pro or know someone it would make a perfect gift for I will have a link to where you can pick it up in the description below. Let me know if you think the KeySmart Pro would be a good fit for your EDC.
Purchase the KeySmart Pro on Amazon at the following Links:
Anker has a new charger out on the market with the PowerPort III Duo. This is charger has 2 USB-C PD Ports and outputs total of 18W per port or 36W in total. It features Ankers PowerIQ 3.0 technology meaning it optimizes charging rates for your devices for maximum speed. Thanks to Anker for sending this to me to check out and do a review on.
YouTube Version of this Review:
Packaging & Accessories
Packaging consists of a rectangular Anker box, that’s white and embossed wither an artistic Anker device pattern, the sides are a nice blue. The back doesn’t have many details about the charger itself, just the model number model name and customer support numbers for the most part. Inside the charger is held in place with a blue cardboard holder, with the manual and happy/no happy card. No cables are included in the package which is a little frustrating.
Specs And Power
As mentioned before this charger features dual 18W USB-C PD ports with Ankers PowerIQ 3.0 technology for a total of 36W.
Input Power is 110-240V and is 50-60Hz capable meaning it’s a good world travel charger.
Output Spec: 5V @ 2.4A
9V @ 2A
12V @ 1.5A
PowerIQ 3.0 allows for universal fast charging compatible up to 100W (Should your device and charger support them). This allows the charger to wok to whatever your device supports, Apple Fast Charge, Samsung Fast Charge, and USB PD.
I only have 1 USB-C to C meter right now and tested it by plugging in a 20,000mAh Anker Powerbank to charge and right away it started charging at 17.46W (8.90v @ 1.96V). I then plugged in my ipad via USB-C to Lightning cable and the ipad was happily charging. There was no change in the powerbank charging so each port is indeed separate. The charger gets a little warm (105F in the warmest spot I could find) while charging both devices at the same time but nothing to worry about.
On a recent trip with this charger I did have 1 complaint while I charged my smartphone and iPad at night and that was the LED in the front was just too bright in my room. Due to how the hotel was configured this unfortunately faced my bed. I was able to easily fix this by a bit of electrical tape though.
Conclusion
I have been using the PowerPort III Duo as a bedside travel charger for my mobile devices and for that it does pretty well. At 18W per port this isn’t enough to charge most laptops but works well for smartphones, tablets, gaming systems and power banks.
It’s a little disappointing to see the lack of gallium nitride charging tech on this charger to make it smaller and or deliver more wattage. That said that technology is still somewhat new and on the more expensive end and this charger is priced more on the budget side. Ankers charger and powerbank naming system is currently a little confusing on the naming structure in my opinion, and it’s a little hard to find the product you need without looking at them all. Some simplification or a different naming system would be appreciated in my opinion.
My conclusion is this is a good charger and if you should buy it really depends on what devices you have and what they support. This is a good general charger for me, it charges my Note 8 phone and iPad as fast as they need. I don’t have a Nintendo Switch and it’s not the fastest charger for one of those if you have one but still will charge it while playing games if needed. There are less expensive higher wattage chargers on the market but they tend to be single port. So this is a good mix of reasonable charge rate, 2 ports, in a still fairly small package (2.5” x 2.5” x 1”). It does also come with Ankers 18 month warranty too should something go wrong.
