Wurkkos (Pronounced Workos) is a new brand on the market. They are being produced along with the assistance of Sofirn and sharing a factory. The Wurkkos FC11 caught my eye because it was using desirable Samsung LH351D high CRI emitter at 5000k, had USB-C and is pretty affordable. Thanks to Wurkkos for sending this to me to take a look at and review. Be sure to check the description of the video for a discount available to my viewers for this light.
YouTube Version of this Review:
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Packaging & Accessories
Packaging is a yellow and white cardboard box with just the company name on the outside. Inside the light came wrapped in a bubble, and accessories include 2 extra orings, generic lanyard, and a USB-A to USB-C cable. The light comes with a non deep carry pocket clip on it and a Wurkkos branded 3000mAh 18650 battery inside. I tested the battery capacity at 2854mAh on my Xtar VC4S charger. I can read the battery code as 01VCEAJ?1224?18CF0000180.
Construction
The Wurkkos FC11 is made from aluminum and hard anodized a semi gloss black. Very similar to Thrunite or Sofirn’s lights. The tail is flat, and magnetic, strong enough to hold the light horizontally. The knurling on the tail cap is straight but with some inpercise milled flats around it, It’s not noticeable unless your really looking. Threads are shallow square cut and anodized.
The body tube is ribbed which I like the look of, it’s different, not a grippy design though. The clip only attaches on one end of the tube but the tube is reversible so you could mount it at the front if desired. I do hope Wurkkos releases a deep carry pocket clip for this light as it would improve it’s EDC ability in my opinion. There is a little battery body rattle when the light is shaken violently but it’s minimal, and dual springs in the tail would improve the noise you get if you strike the light, but it didn’t ever lose contact with the battery for me.
The head is pretty standard looking, the semi transparent button has texture on top and sits fairly flat, it has a blue bezel that kind of reminds me of Olight but looks good. The sides around the pill area have a bit of a fin shape milled in and could use a little more deburring. The USB_C charging port is opposite the button and covered with a large silicone door that fits pretty well. The lens is plain mineral glass, the reflector has a basic orange peel and the Samsung LED is nicely centered.
Size & Weight
I measured the FC11 at 116mm in length. 24mm at the tail, and 25mm at the thickets part of the head. Weight with the included battery and pocket clip was 112.1g. The light is IPX 7 rated (Water upto 1 meter).
Size wise there are a lot of similar lights to the FC11. Length and diameter wise the Convoy S2+ is basically identical but my S2+ is the UV model so not a great comparison for beam shots. My Thrunite TC15 is about 7mm longer and about 1.5mm larger in diameter.
LED | Beam Shots | Heat
The Wurkkos FC11 is using the Samsung LH351D LED, in 5000k and is also considered high CRI at 90. This is a great LED to use, and one of the light communities favorites right now because of it’s high CRI and neutral tint. It’s also my first time getting a hold of this LED and I am a fan. Mine seems to be pretty neutral with just the slightest tint of green but I have heard of others getting a more green tinted LED. That’s how the bin lottery works unfortunately. The light uses an orange peel reflector behind a non AR glass. The beam profile here is does have a bit of a hot center, but fades nicely into spill. No undesirable rings or artifacts in the beam itself. Good for general use.
Runtime & Outputs
For my runtime graphs here I used the included Wurkkos 3000mAh battery and made sure it was fully charged each time. The driver is non regulated FET, and features a timed step down, after that output is linear to the cells voltage. I didn’t notice any slow PWM in the lower modes for this light and have equipment coming here soon so I can measure this on future lights. When it arrives I plan to update my blog post so make sure to check that out.
Turbo is listed at 1300 lumens and started to step down at about 75 seconds and was fully decreased to right about 25% relative output by 90 seconds. From here the light was a very linear decrease out to 425 minutes of runtime where LVP kicked in at 2.825V. I ran this test both from turbo and just high and got very similar outputs. You don’t see that many modern lights that have output graphs that look like this. It’s a cost cutting measure. Personally I would pay a few more dollars to have a regulated driver.
Heat was well controlled during my runtime tests. At 1 minute I measured 85F, at 5 minutes I measured 87F, and at 10 Min I masured 90F. This is actually pretty cool for a modern light.
Official outputs are listed as following.
- Turbo 1300 Lumens
- High 700 Lumens
- Mid 300 Lumens
- Low 50 Lumens
- Eco 2 Lumens.
UI
The Wurkkos FC11 has 2 UI options for people to choose, a stepped (Default) or a ramping. To change UI while off, hold the button for 3 seconds and the light will flash twice to let you know it’s switched.
The light ships by default in stepped mode, and it’s fairly straight forward. From off, tap to turn on, and tap again to advance in mode. You have eco, low, mid and high as part of the normal modes of operation. To turn off Long press when on. Double click to go to turbo, Triple click to go to Strobe, and 4 clicks to enter and exit lockout. The light also has memory mode for the single click modes. This is all pretty standard but at first I found myself clicking and holding to advance modes as many other lights do but this light doesn’t.
Ramping mode Is fairly straightforward, the light starts low and ramps up quickly to it’s highest output in about 1.2 seconds, and flashes to let you know it’s at the top. If you release and then press and hold the light will decrease in output in the same amount of time flashing to let you know it’s at the bottom. You can stop at any output and then click again to reverse the direction you were going mid mode. The same shortcuts of double clicking to go to turbo, triple click to go to strobe, and 4 clicks to enter and exit lockout work here too. There is no hold from off to get to low mode like you see on some lights when in ramping. Not a deal killer for me.
Recharging
Recharging here is accomplished via USB-C on the light itself. Unfortunately this requires a USB-A to C cable and USB-C to C is unsupported. Charging of the 3000mAh battery was very linear during the 4 hour and 37 minutes it took to go from LVP at 2.825V to full at 4.13V. It almost immediately went to charge at 1A and then declined slowly and linearly creating a very linear but not the most ideal curve for a lithium battery. The lights electronic switch flashes fairly bright red while charging and then goes solid green when charged. The light will operate in low mode during charging.
Pro’s
- USB-C charging but not USB-C to C.
- Samsung LH351D Neutral white high CRI Emitter
- Very affordable price for a complete package
- Magnetic Tail
- 2 UI options to choose from, stepped or Ramping
Con’s
- I would prefer a deeper carry pocket clip option, if so this would make a decent EDC option.
- Some people have reported a bit of tint lottery with the LED.
- Non regulated drive, After initial step down the output is lower and linear based on voltage.
- Dual springs would reduce the small amount of battery movement noise.
Conclusion
I will be honest, when I first saw that Wurkkos was offering me this light, I didn’t know who they were and didn’t think much of it initially, but I am glad that I looked closer and ultimately said yes to get my hands on it. For $30 at time of filming, a neutral tint, high CRI (90 CRI) emitter, onboard USB-C charging and an included 3000mAh battery, I am impressed. This would make a great gift light to give to someone as a first real flashlight or a good way to experience the Samsung LH351D LED if you haven’t already. While the ribbing on the body isn’t revolutionary it’s nice they decided to do something different to make them stand out a little bit from the other knurled lights on the market.
This is going to be my budget 18650 recommendation for people new to the hobby or want a beater light until I run across something better. This is a high value combination, good emitter, 2 solid UI choices and a complete package deal. It’s not perfect but the positives outweigh the negatives. Maybe we will see a slight revised model next year like we have seen from the likes of the WowTac A1 to A1S and they will fix a few of these minor things and stick in a regulated driver. Overall I recommend the Wurkkos FC11 and look forward to see what they do next.
Wurkkos has provided a discount till the end of the month to my viewers that I have in the description below this video, so if I have piqued your interest in this nice value flashlight be sure to check that out and save a few dollars while your at it.
Purchase the Wurkkos FC11 on Amazon at https://amzn.to/382Eqm7
Use the code U3E8R39N at checkout for a 17% discount
Full Image Gallery https://imgur.com/a/cx7CfgE