Tag: Budget Flashlight

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Wurkkos TS12 Review (Budget Pocket Thrower!)

Today I am taking a look at the Wurkkos TS12, a small pocket thrower with onboard USB-C charging. It’s using a new YLX N3535B round LED and is powered by a 14500 battery all for a bargain price. Thanks to Wurkkos for sending this to me to review any discounts or coupons I have will be in the description.

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Get your own Wurkkos TS12 for a discount at https://wurkkos.com/products/wurkkos-ts12-mini-edc-flashlight,-1050lm-432meters-powerful-rechargeable-light-with-bezel?DIST=REJCFVQ%3D&VariantsId=11017

 

Packaging & Accessories

Wurkkos packaging on recent models has been a lot nicer and this is no exception, it’s a full color slip with technical specs on the back over a white box with magnetic closures, a sticker on the end of the box let’s you know what the specs of your model are. The light ships with a few accessories, a generic lanyard, 2 spare orings for the tail cap, and USB-A to USB-C charging cable. You can get it with a 900mAh 14500 for an additional $2 which is worth doing in my opinion.

 

Construction & Design

The TS12 is made from 6061 aluminum and anodized in black. The light is a mini thrower and has a form factor similar to the Lumintop GTmini, but with a bit more of a tactical feel. The tailcap is flat and magnetic so it tailstands without a problem. In the hand the deeper groves provide decent grip for a light with no knurling on it. There is only a spring in the tail cap, threads are standard ACME cut and the head and body tube are all one piece. 

The button has a silicone cover, with an LED in it’s center that’s used for a charge status indicator. The USB charging port on the rear is small, not all your USB-C cables will fit due to width restrictions. The front bezel is aluminum I believe and anodized in a gunmetal finish and glued in place. The front lens is thick glass, and below it is a deep smooth reflector with a small round LED in the center. 

 

UI

The light has two UI modes, a stepped that it ships in by default and a ramping option that you can switch to. Stepped mode is a very traditional flashlight interface, simple click to turn on, long press to go up through the 3 main modes, double press to go to turbo, and triple press to go to the blinking modes. Once in the blinking modes, you can double press to move between strobe, SOS, and Beacon modes. The light also has moon mode which you can access from off by long pressing. 

 

To switch to ramping mode when on click 4 times to switch between mode groups, the light will flashlight to confirm. 

 

Ramping mode works like you think with double click to turbo, and triple click to strobe although when ramping if you hit peak output the light will reset down to low instead of stopping. Not idea IMHO.

 

Retention

For retention, there is a small lanyard hole in the tailcap for the included generic lanyard. The light looks like it’s designed for a clip to attach at the rear however one is not included. I like it’s slightly longer length than the GTNano I have since the body tube is a little longer. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the length at 90.9mm, body diameter at 20mm, and head diameter at 33mm. Weight with the battery came in at 2.61oz. The light is IPX8 water rated and drop rated for 1M. 

 

LED & Beam

The Wurkkos TS12 is using a new LED the YLX N3535B  which is round instead of square. There isn’t much information available for this LED that I can find, but from testing, I can tell you my example is 5536k and 57Ra on my Opple Meter. Its tint is more yellow in DUV than we see from most other LED’s. To my eye, it looks yellow-green but that doesn’t show up on the meter much. In a thrower, we typically don’t care as much about high CRI so this isn’t as big of deal. It’s something I would notice though if using it on something reflective like snow. The beam has a small hot center, and a few diffused rings in it. The spill has a small area around the hot spot where it’s reasonably intense and then a huge drop-off for everything past that. I don’t notice much of a difference here with the LED being round vs. square and having optics. There is fast PWM in the light.

 

Outputs

My measured outputs (On my TexasAce LumenTube) were generally pretty close to what was claimed by Wurkkos for the TS12.The exception was Turbo at the standard FL1 reading of 30 seconds was 844 lumens instead of the 1050 lumens claimed. I saw 1050 lumens but only on the very initial startup output. 

 

Heat & Runtime

Turbo stepdown on the TS12 is pretty significant and occurs pretty quickly. It goes from a peak near 1050 lumens to around 300 lumens in 90 seconds. I do wish it could sustain more lumens for longer. Peak heat was around the 15-minute mark at 46C which is warm but won’t burn you. Around the 35-minute mark on out to an hour, the light began to sea saw in output, too slowly to see with the eye but enough to see in the graph before running on low. While the light stayed on (but in a very low output) for another 90 minutes, when starting in turbo the effective useful runtime is about an hour. Starting in High, you got a lot of more of this sea saw output much sooner and a little bump in effective runtime. In medium, it did about 3:20:00 of total runtime and no sea saw output. 

 

Recharging

A couple of notes on charging with the TS12. I found the USB-C port to be a bit narrow, the ID of a USB-C port is 8.1mm wide while the width of the surrounding aluminum for this recessed port is only 11mm so you can’t use a particularly wide cable or an adapter to get there in my experience. The included battery rated at 900mAh and I tested it at 881mAh on my Vapcell S4 Plus charger. This isn’t a light where a high drain battery is required. Charging itself was without issue, and it charged fine with PD charging. I record the light charging in exactly 90 minutes at a maximum charge rate of 0.84A. Full the battery measured at 4.12v which is a little low. LVP kicked in at 2.980v.

 

Conclusion

Pocket throwers have a more limited niche use in a lot of situations. It’s made it hard to justify on price sometimes, but the Wurkkos TS12 delivers a solid mini thrower, with solid performance for a budget price. It’s an easy light to recommend in the pocket thrower class without a lot of strong negatives.

 

Get your own Wurkkos TS12 for a discount at https://wurkkos.com/products/wurkkos-ts12-mini-edc-flashlight,-1050lm-432meters-powerful-rechargeable-light-with-bezel?DIST=REJCFVQ%3D&VariantsId=11017

 

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Vezerlezer ED10 Review (2200 Lumens, SST40, USB-C, New Brand)

Today I have the first light from a new company Vezerlezer with the ED10. No idea if I am pronouncing the company name correctly or not. This is a 18650 based light, with an SST40 LED, onboard USB-C charging and a side mounted switch. Thanks to Vezerlezer for sending it for me to check and providing a discount code for 30% off good till 2023. 

 

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Pickup the Vezerlezer ED10 from Vezerlezer at https://bit.ly/VEZED10

Use code CTZK5A8E to save 30% off the ED10 until 2023

 

Packaging & Accessories

The ED10 packaging is a nice retail style box, with a black, green and gray color scheme and various flashlight stats through out. Accessories that come with the light include a branded lanyard, extra oring, pocket clip, USB-A to USB-C cable, and a 2600mAh battery. 

 

 

Construction & Design

The ED10 isn’t breaking any new ground in terms of design but it does what it does pretty well. I am only going to hit the highlights here. Machining and anodizing are what I would expect in this price range but the edges are lacking champers around the head. The tail cap is flat, allowing it to tail stand and is non magnetic. 

There are quite a few markings on the light, with the logo, URL, model and company name appearing no less than 4 times, and they seem to be masked before anodizing, if scratched a bit it reveals bare aluminum at least on the tail. 

The body has a nice spiral shallow knurl in it. It reminds me of the Klarus ST15R I tested a while back. It provides a minimal amount of grip though. The pocket clip mounts at the rear of the body tube and the tube is non reversible.

The light does come into 3 pieces, with springs on both the head and tail. The head has a large anti roll ring, the switch is a metal eswitch with a near silent operation and a RGB led indicator at the center. The head has a large bezel that is removable, Inside is a lightly orange pealed reflector. What’s kind of unique is the reflector threads into the head which isn’t super common. As a result of all of this, it should be an easily modified light. 

 

Retention

Retention options with the Vezelezer ED10 are the included lanyard which attaches best on the side of the tail cap, or on the pocket clip. Your other option is the pocket clip. It’s a fairly deep pocket clip but the way mine is bent near the body it catches going into your pocket a bit. I think I can probably fix this with some pliers if I wanted to. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured length at 4.4” or 112mm. Maximum diameter at 1.1” (28mm) at the switch area, and minimum diameter of 0.96” (24.5mm). Weight with the cell and clip was 4.59oz or 130.2g. The light is IP68 rated and drop rated to 1.5m. Here are a few comparison photos to similar lights. 

 

LED & Beam

The light is running an SST40 LED in cool white. My Opple meter measured the tint at 6076k, and a CRI of 67 when in high mode. The beam profile is what I would call normal, primarily a central focused beam with minimal spill with no strange artifacts. PWM is present on all modes, it’s very a rapid PWM and I have a few graphs that show this from my Opple meter on high and turbo. Parasitic draw was measured at 20uA which is ok.

Official Outputs

  • Turbo – 2200 Lumens
  • High – 1400 Lumens
  • Medium – 560 Lumens
  • Low – 128 Lumens
  • Eco – 30 Lumens
  • Moon – 1 Lumen

Heat & Runtime

For my Relative output Runtime graphs I ran the Vezerlezer ED10 with the included 2600mAh battery. Turbo lasted to 2:40 with peak heat coming about the 3 minute mark at 51C. You can see active thermal protection on the light working through out the runtime as it takes little steps up and down to keep the temps regulated just under 50C before eventually turning off as power runs out at 1:40:00.

In my relative output comparison graph where I am basically comparing the runtime curves to one another (not total output), Turbo and high look very similar with high being slightly longer in runtime like you would expect but not in medium mode. Medium mode 

UI

The ED10 has 2 UI modes, stepped or ramping. To switch between them with the light off hold the button for about 5 second till the light flashes then let go. In stepped the light has memory mode. From off if you turn on and keep pressing the light will step up all the way to turbo and it stops. You have to press the button again to then step down. Anywhere you stop on that ramp, the next button press will step down. This is logical but takes time to get used to.

 

In ramping mode it behaves just like you would expect, except it only ramps to high mode, and you have to double press to go to turbo. The ramping is quite fast, and seems to be on a curve instead of linear. With the moon to mediumish being quicker then medium to high or so, maybe that’s because it leaves out turbo? In any mode triple click to get strobe.

 

Recharging

The ED10 charges via USB-C under a silicone cap opposite the e-button. The silicone cap fits well and stays out of the way. While charging the button turns into a charge indicator, red when charging, green when charged. The 2600mAh battery ended up testing 2694mAh, so that’s good.

Unfortunately C to C charging does not work here, so stick to the included USB-A to C cable. The charge curve here looks fine, it’s quite flat during the constant current charging for 2:32:00 minutes, but not very fast peaking at right around 1A. LVP is around 2.94v and the light charges the battery to 4.16v.

 

Final Thoughts

Not knowing what to expect from a brand new company I would say they have a pretty solid offering here for a first attempt. The exterior design is a nice size, I like the body tube milling rather than just standard knruling but you do pay in a bit less grip, and the port cover fits well. The beam properties are solid too, nothing really negative to say other then my standard gripe of cool white. 

That said there is room for improvement. The tail cap is just begging for a magnet with how flat it is, the pocket clip has that edge that catches on pockets, and they have went a bit overboard with the branding in my opinion on the light. I wish the battery was a larger size for the money being spent, 2600mAh isn’t that much in 2022 and the light really should be capable of C to C charging.

 

There are those firmware flaws that I mentioned in the UI section that another reviewer had found, None of them are deal breakers for me but they should be fixed. Ramping here is maybe a touch too fast in my opinion but I would rather it be faster then too slow. 

 

So in all a decent first attempt from a new model. The UI is easy to use, and the beam is suited just fine for EDC or general use. If they offered LED tint’s I think they could be a serious competitor with brands like Sofirn and Wurkkos for quality budget offerings. With the discount code that Vezerlezer has provided I think that puts the ED10 about where it should be price wise but it’s original MSRP is a bit too high to be competitive. 

 

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Wurkkos TS21 Review (3200 Lumens, SST20 90+ CRI, 21700, USB-C)

Today I have a fun one that I think you will want to stick around and watch, with the Wurkkos TS21. This is a newish light that Wurkkos has come out with, it’s a compact design, has 3 emitters, runs off a standard 21700 battery, uses the Andruil 2 firmware, and has onboard USB-C charging. Wurkkos did send this to me to look at and review, and they have offered a 20% discount on Amazon which is in the description if you’re interested in picking one up. 

 

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Pickup the Wurkkos TS21 from Amazon and save with the coupons below, or from Wurkkos direct (no coupon)

Gray from Amazon https://amzn.to/3rxyEFD Use code X5KSZIQH to save 20%

Black from Amazon WARNING THIS IS RUNNING Anduril 1 Read the listing carefully https://amzn.to/3Jb3byH Use code 5SDBMRK8 to save 20%

More options from Wurkkos direct are at the end of the review.

 

Packaging & Accessories

Wurkkos has a pleasant but basic white box with orange ends that largely displays their name in the middle. On the side is a sticker telling you what model you have inside, body color as well as emitter choice. Inside the light was in bubble wrap and continued the 5000mAh 21700 battery, pocket clip, Lanyard, extra orings, a USB-A to C Charging cable, and literature. 

 

Construction & Design

The TS21 is made from aluminum and in anodized in a variety of colors. It’s currently available in Champagne (A metallic tan color), Metal Gray, Black, Red (What I have here), and a splatter camouflage. The anodizing here is god, but I have noticed my red isn’t super durable, this isn’t uncommon with aluminum anodizing because black is the most durable color available.

The tailcap is flat, and magnetic, not super strong but enough to hold the weight of the light. The lanyard hole is an eyelet and is a little sharp. The body tube is nicely scalloped and completely reversible. It has groves milled in to accept the pocket clip on either end. 

The head grows in side, and contains minimal heat syncing. The button press feels about what you would expect from an eswitch, but the button itself kind of rattles around some, not the best feeling in the world. There are LED indicators under the switch that are used to show the charge status, and act as a locator LED. They go Red, Blue, and Amber in color. At the front there is a stainless steel bezel with large but shallow crenulations, a glass lens and a triple TIR optic. Note this isn’t the standard size you have seen in other lights like the FW3A, etc, it’s slightly larger.

Thread are anodized, square cut and nicely lubricated from the factory. Internally, the front is just a button contact, out the rear there is a large gold coated spring, and the tail cap is magnetic. It’s just strong enough to hold the light on a painted metal surface with a slight amount of slippage. 

 

Retention

Retention options are the dual direction pocket clip, which allows you to put the light on a hat and run a makeshift headlamp, or use more traditionally as a pocket clip. It’s reasonably deep carry and will mount on the rear or front of the light. Your lanyard attachment points are either on the tailcap of the light, or on the pocket clip. As mentioned the mount on the tailcap is a little sharp and can be a hot spot for larger hands. Speaking of fit in the hands it’s pretty good, It’s a reasonably compact design and provides a modest amount of grip. 

 

Size & Weight

I measured the TS21 at 113.3mm (4.46”) in length, maximum diameter at the head at 28mm (1.1”) and minimum diameter on the body at 26.06mm (1.02”). Weight with the battery and clip installed came in at 158.7g or 5.10oz. The light is IPX water rated and here it is compared with a few similar style lights and the popular Wurkkos FC11. 

 

LED & Beam

The TS21 has 3 Luminus SST-20 Emitters, mine shipped with the 4000k tint but 5000k and 6000k are also available. These are behind a narrow TIR optic and it creates a very nice narrow semi floody beam. It’s a very practical and useful beam for a variety of tasks in my opinion. The bezel does interfere ever so slightly at short ranges with the very outside of the spill with the narrow optics here. With my not so scientific Opple meter I registered 3780k with 95 CRI. You have to take those CRI numbers with a grain of salt, but they are high enough to consider “high CRI” for me. It’s a pleasant warmer tint. 

Officially Wurkkos rates this as making 3500 lumens with 217M of throw. That may be a little optimistic with these specific warmer LED’s and I suspect they achieved this using the cooler tint LED’s that typically have a small performance advantage. This is a FET driving light and there is PWM here, it’s how ramping is achieved. It’s not noticeable to the eye for me but my equipment can pick it up. Personally I didn’t notice any whining during ramping. For me Turbo pulled 7.8A at the tailcap with the included battery, so you don’t need a particularly high drain battery for this light. See my night shots section of the video version of this review for a full demonstration of the beam and some comparison with other lights.

 

Heat & Runtime

So for my heat and runtime tests I used the included Wurkkos branded (standard non proprietary)  5000mAh flat top battery. I calibrated the light to a 60C and ran two rounds of tests. The graphs are using the FL1 standard so 100% of relative output is taken at the 30 second mark. First was my standard Turbo test, where I take the light to its absolute top output and just let it go. In doing this I saw the light almost immediately start stepping down at about 25 seconds it then ran at about 100% output for a minute and a half as heat peaked just under 50C. This makes me rethink my thermal calibration may need to be revisited. I won’t lie if I said I didn’t struggle with this a bit. Anyways output continues to decrease and it stabilizes between 30-45% of relative output for another nearly 4 hours. Total runtime down to 1% relative output was just shy of 5 hours.

I then ran a runtime which was the top of the default ramp curve. For this is was able to sustain 100% relative output for a little longer and the total output graph was pretty similar. Active thermal management shows itself in both modes well with the light increasing output as it cools even though the battery voltage is declining. This is something Andruil does well. LVP was measured at 2.994V. 

UI

The TS21 when it came out originally came with the Andruil 1.0 firmware by Toykeeper, but they are now shipping it with Andruil 2.0. This is my first light with Andruil 2.0 so it had a bit of a learning curve. I won’t pretend to be an Andruil expert, but I will say the diagram on how to navigate the light is absolutely critical to learning it and doing more advanced settings like setting the thermal calibration which I highly recommend doing. 

The light ships in Simple UI mode and this is a benefit of Anduril 2.0 as it’s your basic flashlight functions like turning on, increasing and decreasing brightness, battery check and lockout. It’s much easier to not end up in an advanced mode or get lost. Much better for more novice users or someone who wants something easier, that said it’s not calibrated so you can expect your runtimes to be less, especially at high outputs.

 

Your basic functions are ramping (Which can be switched to steps with 3 Clicks once on), double press to go to top of ram (Technically not turbo). In advanced mode you have the full range of features including all the blinking modes, changing the color of the auxiliary channel which on the TS21 is on the button, etc. You can see I somehow unintentionally turned my button LED to be on all the time in orange. You can of course go in and disable this. I think in time as I use Andruil 2 more I will like it but right now it’s a little confusing and not muscle memory yet. 

 

Recharging

Recharging is done via the onboard USB-C charging port built into the light. The silicone port cover here fits well but is rounded so it does help it roll on it’s side. A note on the battery here, it’s a flat top 21700 that’s non proprietary which is fantastic to see. The light supports charging via USB-C PD but doesn’t benefit from a speed increase as a result. 

Recharging from LVP at 2.994v to full at 4.17v took 2:53:00 at a maximum of 1.85A at the very beginning of charging, with the bulk of charging a bit lower then that. This is well under 1C for this battery and safe for long term use. 

 

Final Thoughts

Wurkkos has made their name in offering quality lights that appeal to enthusiasts at affordable prices and the TS21 is no different. It’s nice and compact, I don’t generally EDC a 21700 light because of it’s size but this is small and compact enough that I would if I was anticipating needing the output or runtime here. Because of that size though and this having 3 emitters it does build heat quickly and ramps down. This may be a slight disappointment if your not used to that, my advice would be to calibrate the light, raise that ceiling but also don’t run the light on the maximum output if you don’t need it. 

Multiple body color options from launch, LED Tint choices including warm, neutral tints, and high CRI are great to see at this price range. The number of manufactures that offer this keep declining and I think it’s an important feature. I hope consumers appreciate this complexity this adds to production and inventory with lots of additional SKU’s. 

 

Andruil is an enthusiasts UI for sure, it’s not super simple, but Andruil 2 with it’s separation of simple UI from Advanced UI improves this so it’s still a easy to use flashlight if you want it to be without all the complications, but those power features are there too if you want. Just make sure you have a diagram handy if you want to venture into the Advanced UI. 

So I can recommend this one both to new users, and enthusiasts. It’s a compact light with good performance, emitter tint options, high CRI, and body colors with onboard charging. This updated version I tested here today is a good way to try out Andruil 2 if you don’t have a light with it. With the coupons Wurkkos has provided I can get the light shipped to me for under $40 next day with a battery, which I think is a great deal. 

 

How to Purchase the TS21

Pickup the Wurkkos TS21 from Amazon and save with the coupons below, or from Wurkkos direct (no coupon)

 

Gray from Amazon https://amzn.to/3rxyEFD Use code X5KSZIQH to save 20%

Black from Amazon WARNING THIS IS RUNNING Anduril 1 Read the listing carefully https://amzn.to/3Jb3byH Use code 5SDBMRK8 to save 20%

 

All colors from Wurkkos https://wurkkos.com/products/wurkkos-ts21-new-color-metal-gray-and-champagne-with-anduril-20-21700-led-flashlight-3sst20-3500lm?VariantsId=10082

 

Blue Splatter from Wurkkos https://wurkkos.com/products/%E3%80%90pre-sale%E3%80%91wurkkos-new-ts21-with-anduril-20-nichia-219c-5000k-usb-c-rechargeable-21700-led-flashlight-with-power-bank-function-magnet-tail?VariantsId=10154

 

20350 Tube for the TS21 https://wurkkos.com/products/20350-short-tube-tube-work-for-wurkkos-hd20-ts21

 

Diffuser for the TS21 https://wurkkos.com/products/wurkkos-white-diffuser-for-ts21-soft-composite-materials-bright-indoor-reading-hiking-tent-lighting-with-malleability?VariantsId=10156

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Wowtac W1 Review ($26, 562 Lumen, 16340, EDC Budget Flashlight)

Wowtac has released a new small form factor EDC style light with the W1. It features a 16340 battery, onboard micro USB charging, deep carry pocket clip and tail magnet all for a very affordable price. Thanks to WowTac for sending this to me to review. 

 

YouTube version of this Review: 

https://youtu.be/4RcYz26y-GQ

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Packaging & Accessories

Packaging for the W1 is much like other Wowtac models, with a brown cardboard box with minimal information. The box does suggest there may be a neutral tint version of this light eventually but it also might just be production flexibility. The included accessories is a Wowtac branded 650mAh 16340 battery, deep carry pocket clip, extra o’ring and recharging port cover, and microUSB cable as well as the manual. 

 

Construction

Construction of the W1 is pretty standard. The tail is magnetic and flat so the light tail stands well. It’s threaded for a lanyard (not included), and the 2 way deep carry pocket clip that snaps in place but can rotate. The body of the light is heavily diamond knurled. It feels nice in the hand for a small light. 

Inside the threads are square cut and anodized, the spring is relatively long in the tail cap. Inside the head there is a solid post instead of a spring. The diameter of the head is a 3.2mm larger in diameter then the body and 6 sided. It features an electronic button that requires a solid click with LED’s underneath to indicate charge status. On the back is the micro USB port and silicone cover that stays out of the way when in use. 

 

The front bezel is a bit thick and silver colored, it’s nearly flat with the glass lens with AR coatings. The optic underneath is wide and shallow with a light orange peel. The LED is nicely centered but seems small for the reflector.

Sizes, Weight, & Competition

I measured the Wowtac W1 at 68mm in length, 20mm in diameter at the body, and 24mm on the head. Weight with the battery and clip was 56.3g. The light is rated for IPX8 for 1.5 meters, so it will easily survive the bucket test here.

Comparing to Wowtac W1 to other similar lights, the two that are most similar are the Olight S1 mini Baton and Thrunite T1. The W1 look a lot like the T1 in design, with the body being knurled instead of milled and being overall smaller due to the different battery sizes in use. The Olight S1 Mini Baton uses the same sized battery as the W1 and is smaller overall. I will compare the beams between the two in my night shots. I do like that the W1 is head down for carry vs Olight’s head up design. 

Retention

The pocket clip is a push on style dual direction clip. It mounts only at the tail. It’s designed primarily for head down carry and does a nice job of being deep carry. However since the size of the head is larger I found myself needing to pull the pocket clip out a little to attach it to my jeans pocket easily.  Overall good but it takes an extra step to clip on to the pocket. 

LED & Beams Shots

The W1 features a Cree XP-G2 in cool white, while neutral white is mentioned on the package they are not available for purchase at the time of this review. The beam here is a little different. It has a small hot center, that throws decently well for a light this small. Then it has a wide, fairly weak spill. On lights this size I do generally enjoy a TIR style optic for EDC use because it does a good job of a blend of beam characteristics. There is Cree rainbow with this light in the beam with the center being warmer with some green tint and the outer spill being cooler.

There is some PWM in this light, its fairly minor and not noticeable to me by eye or by camera but I can see it via the scope. 

Wowtac lists the output specs of the W1 as the following.

  • Firefly 0.5 Lumens
  • Low 12 Lumens
  • Medium 60 Lumens
  • High 197 Lumens 
  • Turbo 562 Lumens with step down to 215 lumens after 1 min.

Heat and Runtime

Heat is well controlled on this light, after 1 minute I measured temperatures at 87F, at 5 minutes 95F, and at 10 minutes 98F. 

 

Runtime 

No big surprises were found in the runtime of this light. Turbo stepdown is large and occurs after 1 minute. From there the output fell as the battery depleted, We got another major step down at the 70 minute mark where the light faded into it’s lowest output of around 0.5 lumens till low voltage protection kicked in (2.88V) at 170 total minutes. Of this total runtime I would say about 70 minutes of that is useable light, not too bad for a 650mah 16340 sized battery. 

UI

The UI here is the same as many other Wowtac and Thrunite lights which is a good thing. When the light is off firefly mode can be accessed by long pressing on the power button. From off a single quick tap will turn the light on in the last mode it was in (not turbo or firefly). To change modes when the light is on long pressing will cycle through the modes in an increasing order, Low, Medium, High. To get to turbo, double click on the button from any mode. Triple click from any mode to get strobe. 

 

Recharging

Recharging the light is accomplished via the built in microUSB port on the head of the light. When charging the main button turns red, and then blue when charged. Charging from LVP at 2.88V to full at 4.142V took 1 hour and 50 minutes and the maximum charging speed I saw was 0.48A which is safe for this size of battery. 

Conclusion

The Wowtac W1 is another good budget light from Wowtac, especially if you’re interested in a new small EDC light. At the price point of around $25 for a complete kit, the W1 is a good value and pretty easy to recommend to people. I do wish they had a neutral white option, that and USB-C would set this light apart from the competition.

 

The beam pattern here isn’t my favorite with it being almost more of a thrower then a small area flood that is typically useful in EDC, at lower outputs the spill isn’t that useful. The light carries in the pocket pretty well, and also clips onto a hat easily for a quick access headlamp if needed. I wish the clip was slightly longer so it rested on the body and made getting it into the pocket just a little easier. All this said this is a high value light for the price and a nice inexpensive place to start if you want to start EDCing a flashlight in your pants pockets on a daily basis. 

 

Pickup the Wowtac W1 on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2UUwlMq

View the full Image gallery at https://imgur.com/a/JsOmc88

 

Wowtac is also looking for 100 volunteers to try the W1 flashlight on Facebook @wowtacflashlights and share their feelings and help WOWTAC improve. (follow us on Facebook and join our group, contact to get a free W1) There are also weekly flashlight GAW on WOWTAC Facebook page.