Tag: EDC Flashlight

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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.

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YLP Unicorn 1.0 Review (Samsung LHD351D, 90 CRI, 18650 EDC Light)

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. 

 

YouTube Version of this Review: 

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Packaging & Accessories

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. 

 

Purchase the YLP Unicorn 1.0: https://ylplight.com/en/katalog/1/ruchnye-fonari/unicorn-10/

Use code “liquidretr” at checkout to save 15%

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/rEswFKr

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Lumintop Glow I Review (Turboglow on a Keychain Light)

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. 


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Packaging & Accessories

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. 

 

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/FU0HES3

Lumintop’s official website for the Glow I http://www.lumintop.com/glow1.html

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Wurkkos FC11 Review (Samsung LH351D 5000k 90 CRI, USB-C, 18650, $30) Discount Available

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

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Astrolux MF01 Mini (5500 Lumens, 7x SST20 LED, USB-C Recharging (Kind of))

Astrolux has gotten into the multiple LED flood and secondary LED’s with the MF01 Mini I have before me here. It’s available in 5 body colors, 3 material choices, and 3 LED tints with a high CRI option I have here. Thanks to Banggood for sending this to me and providing my viewers a discount. Make sure you check the description below if you are interested in this 5500 lumen light.

 

YouTube Version of this Review:

Get the Astrolux MF01 Mini at Banggood for $45.99 with Coupon code BGMF01Mini at http://bit.ly/340Nczj 

 

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging is consistent with other recent Astrolux lights. A white box with minimal info on the outside other then the lights name and a silver line drawing of the light. Inside things are packed nicely with foam for protection. Accessories on this one include the light itself, A basic lanyard, and 2 adapter tubes for 21700 and 18650 batteries. No charging cable is included here which is disappointing considering this light requires USB-A to USB-C. 

 

Construction

My MF01 Mini is made from Aluminium and has clear anodizing. They offer a variety of colors including black, olive green, a tan/gold, and gray. They also offer a special edition in Brass, copper and an aluminum copper combo. Machining is average, a few tool marks can be found on flat surfaces, they are smooth to touch and nothing wrong for a light in this price category.

The light tail stands well with the flat base, and the lanyard hole is at the base. Inside it has large stiff dual springs, this allows it to accept 26650, 21700, and 18650 batteries with the included adapters. Rattling was a small problem with the 18650’s but not an issue with the larger cells. The body tube has a crosshatch knurling patterning put on.

The head grows in diameter some, it has 4 gills milled in on either side for cooling. The switch is domed and sits prowd. It’s a silicone button and has texture on top. It has LED’s underneath to indicate charge status like other Astrolux lights. Opposite the button is the USB-C charge port. It’s covered by a silicon port cover and includes an area for the tab to sit. It’s out of the way no issues. The bezel on my light is aluminium however a stainless steel one is available for extra durability. There is a glass lens on top of the 7 LED optic. Underneath the optic you have the daughter board with the secondary LED’s. The light is IPX7 water rated, and I had no issues running it under a stream of water. 

Size & Weight Comparison

This is primarily a 26650 light, but other similar sized batteries can be run. I measured length at 112mm, Minimum diameter on the body at 33mm, and maximum diameter on the head at 44mm. Weight with a 21700 battery installed was 254.6g.

The Fireflies E07 is a similar light also with 7 emitters and secondary LED. It’s smaller in diameter and lighter then the MF01 Mini, but the MF01 Mini does a better job of dissipating heat. That said the Mini can run 3 different battery types which is handy. 

 

LED | Beam | Runtime

The MF01 Mini is using 7X SST20 LED’s. My example is using the 4000k tint, but 5000k and 6500k are also available. With the 4000k tint, the CRI is 95, less so on the cooler tints. The SST20’s have a bit of a reputation for having a bit of a green tint, especially at lower powers and that’s pretty apparent here. Andril firmware is great but it also means the LED’s can be driven very low and this is where the green comes out. At higher powers the tint is pleasing to me, it’s no Nichia 219 but not bad either. The beam is floody, with ever so slight hot spot in the center. For a floody light it throws decently well. 

The light also has secondary LED’s in 3 colors, under the optic. Green on the outside, blue in the middle, and purple/pink in the center. These LED’s are on all the time the light has electrical contact.They are somewhat adjustable if you take the bezel and optic off there are 3 pots where you can adjust the brightness of each up to a point. There is a current limit so it’s better if 2 of the 3 are bright.

Runtime

I did my long duration runtime test with a Keeppower 5200mAh 26650 battery since that’s really what this light was originally designed for. It does fit 18650 batteries and 21700 with the included adapters. Total runtime here with this battery was just shy of 400 minutes. 99% of this time was at about 15% relative output.  Turbo output is good for under a minute on this light and it continues ramping down fairly quickly.

Heat on this light surprised me, I expected it to get quite hot based on other lights I have that are similar hot rods but that isn’t the case in my example and it’s a bit of a problem. So heat at 1 minute was 81F, at 5 minutes was 83F, and at 10 minutes 82F. The problem with this the light will start stepping down pretty quick. After I calibrate the light this should improve and allow the light to stay brighter for longer with the byproduct being heat. Low voltage protection kicked in at 3V. 

 

UI

This light is using Toykeeper’s Anduril UI. It’s currently one of my favorites available as it has a ton of options and neat little easter eggs that commercial UI’s don’t include. By default the light comes in ramping UI which is where I left it. The ramping is fast and logical. A stepped mode is available that you can configure as well if you prefer. 

The light has thermal controls, you can configure beacon mode, as well as 5 types of strobe including candle mode, party strobe, and lightning storm. You access these with 2 taps and a hold, and then two taps to change modes inside this group. Candle and lighting mode are my personal favorite. How practical these are could be a point where one could argue, but I like that they are present and it just makes things fun. Due to how you access these strobe modes I would not call the light a tactical UI or tactical light as you have to remember a series of presses and pauses to get there. 

 

Personally I find the UI to be easy to use for what you want to do most often, but a little more complex to get to those modes you don’t use very often. This is a UI where you should take a look at the manual or at least the graphical manual for the UI and spend some time playing with your light to get the most out of it.

 

Recharging

This light has an onboard USB-C port for recharging, however it doesn’t support USB-C to USB-C cables, meaning you have to use a USB-A to C cable for recharging. For me this kind of defeats the purpose of having USB-C. Charging was reasonably fast, I charged my 5200mAh Keeppower 26650 battery in 3 hours and 30 minutes at a max rate of 1.85A. The battery stopped charging at 4.19V.

 

Pro’s

  • 5 colors, 3 tint’s available in Aluminum, Copper, Brass options are also available
  • High CRI (95)  available with the 4000k tint option
  • Versatile battery options with this light (21700, 26650, 18650 all work and the light includes spacer tubes

 

Con’s

  • Only support for USB-A to USB-C Charging. Doesn’t work for C to C.
  • With great power and lumens comes heat! 
  • The SST20 LED’s in my example have a pretty green tint at lower outputs

 

Conclusion

Good competition for the Fireflies E07, Pretty good value at around the $60 mark normally or about $46 with my coupon in the description at the time of this video release. I enjoy secondaries on lights like this. They use minimal power and make them different from the competition. Overall a pretty good value light, hopefully Astrolux and other flashlight manufacturers will soon allow their USB-C lights to use C-C cables! Make sure if you decided to pick this one up, to take advantage of the color options here both in body color and tint. Let’s support one less black flashlight! 

 

Get the Astrolux MF01 Mini at Banggood for $45.99 with Coupon code BGMF01Mini at http://bit.ly/340Nczj 

Full image gallery can be found at https://imgur.com/a/AGU2g8L

Banggood is also having some other #BGBlackFriday sales you may be interested in below.

 

From Nov 27th – 30th

Black Friday:  http://bit.ly/2OnCmwJ

Saving Tips:  http://bit.ly/37cNPYB

Carve up $1,000,000 Bonus:  http://bit.ly/2rT3aNz 

Home Garden Outdoor:  http://bit.ly/32TftGE

 

Groupbuy link: 

XANES® 1282 XHP70: http://bit.ly/35czCZM

Amount: Need 20 persons

Groupbuy price: $14

 

XANES 1102 L2 5Modes: http://bit.ly/3415AYQ

Amount: Need 2 persons 

Groupbuy price: $6.99

 

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Lumintop EDC18 Review (2800 Lumens, Triple LED, Side Switch) & 11.11 Sales

The Lumintop EDC18 is Lumintop’s newest EDC style light. It borrows very heavily from the FW3A that was designed by the BudgetLightForums but built by Lumintop. It features the same light engine, similar optic and similar ideas. Lumintop however has refined some of the qwerks of the FW3A to gear it a little more two a consumer oriented EDC market. Thanks to Banggood for sending this too me to look at and review.

A quick word that if your watching this video shortly after it’s made live, Banggood is having huge 11.11 day sales on tons of things in their store including flashlights and other goodies. I will have links in the description below to where you can find the sales and the Lumintop EDC18. 

 

Pickup the Lumintop EDC18 at Bangood for $39.90 at http://bit.ly/2MXLwjR with coupon BG18

 

Banggood 11.11 Flashlight Sales (Limited Time) http://bit.ly/32tSnpO and Main Venue Sales: http://bit.ly/36jJylo 

 

YouTube Version of this Review: 

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/jiymjZR

 

Packaging

Packaging of the Lumintop EDC18 is the brown cardboard box that the FW3A had too. The outside slipcovers are different with corresponding photos of the light and the emitter on the outside. Not much detail on the outside, which makes sense. Inside ithe light is protected in form fitting white foam. The EDC18 came with a few more nice extras. It includes a lanyard, a deep carry pocket clip, magnetic tail cap, and glow in the dark silicone diffuser. 

 

Construction

The EDC18 is made from aluminium that’s anodized in a smooth eggshell black finish. Machining was good with no problems but mine did have a slight anodizing flaw on the heatsink that you can see under good lighting and then inside where the tube makes contact with the head it looks like some masking failed during anodizing. I will fix this after my review with a little sandpaper, neither are deal breakers and easy fixes. 

Starting at the tail cap, it’s flat and contains a strong magnet that can easily hold the light of the weight up in a horizontal and vertical position. There is a small hole in the back for a lanyard. Knurling on the tail cap and body are very shallow and no aggressive. I have found this type of knurling on other Lumintops to pick up and hold dirt easily. 

The clip is deep carry which is nice, it fits quite tightly but does rotate around the light. It does have a small shelf on it which I tend to not like but I have not found it to be a problem here. It’s reversible to either end of the light and at least on mine retention is good in the pocket but it’s not flush against the body when mounted at the rear of the light. I will make note that a deep carry clip is also available for the FW3A now too on NealsGadgets and I need to pick one up.

The head is where the largest differences are. Lumintop decided to give the EDC18 a little more mass in the head which is good for heat dissipation without much additional size. It’s got some milling to dissipate heat and add style. The only UI button is also found in the head. It’s a silicone button with a clear rabbit (Lumintop’s logo) and a green LED underneath, so when it’s got a battery installed it’s a glowing rabbit which is kind of cool. The switch underneath is an electronic switch and takes a decent amount of force to press. I didn’t have trouble with it in my pocket. 

The front of the head features a recessed lens with a polished aluminum flush bezel. Underneath is the bare carillo style optic. No glass lens is sitting on top like on the FW3A making this EDC “lens” more susceptible to scratching. This also isn’t a genuine Carillo optic, but instead a Chinese domestically made version. Performance wise they are very similar, it does look like mine has a slight flaw in it though. 

A quick note about the modality of the EDC18. The FW3A was a modders dream with no glue and built to change but this made the light a little finicky at times. The EDC18 takes a little different approach, it has retaining rings in the head and tail to keep parts aligned and a single piece body tube to make it more reliable. The bezel does unscrew so that you can swap out the optic, put a glow gasket in, or replace the opic with one with tritium etc. While the light is still moddable it’s less so then the FW3A.

 

Size & Weight

I measured length at 94mm, minimum diameter at the body tube at 25mm, and maximum diameter at the head at 27mm. Weight with included clip and my Sony VTC6 battery is 120.9g.

 

In comparison the FW3A in aluminum with the same battery and it’s clip it weights 98g. The FW3A is just a hair shorter and the head and tail are very similar in diameter. The biggest difference is the taper in the body on the FW3A. In my time carrying the light it makes a difference in how comfortable it is.  

LED/Beamshots/Runtime

My example of the EDC18 is using the Nichia 219C LED’s in about 4000k. For me this is one of my favorite LED’s and tint’s. It’s high CRI,  and just a slightly warm neutral color. That said it’s a “hot” LED and doesn’t produce as many lumens as the other LED’s being offered. The other choices available are SST20, Cree XP-L HI in Neutral White or Cool white. If your looking for all of the 2800 lumens here, go with one of the Cree emitters. For me I will happily trade a little performance for that preferred tint.

The beam here is nice and useful for EDC, it’s a fairly diffused light, not a thrower, and what we would expect from a Carclo style optic. 

Runtime on the EDC18 was very similar to the FW3A which makes since because it’s basically the same emitter engine. I did 2 runtime tests, the first being just showing the first 4 minutes in the highest output mode and as you can see this light heats up super fast and almost immediately starts to reduce it’s output. By about 4 minutes the light is stable and it runs here for well over 200 minutes. I stopped the test so the graph would be readable but let the light run and it was still at this output when I woke up the next morning. LVP kicked in about 2.87v.

 

As with the FW3A this light works best using the ramping firmware to bring it up to the level of light you need and not more, to maximize runtime and minimize heat. Thankfully that’s easy to do with Andril.

 

UI

This light is using Toykeeper’s Anduril UI. It’s currently one of my favorites available as it has a ton of options and neat little easter eggs that commercial UI’s don’t include. By default the light comes in ramping UI which is where I left it. The ramping is fast and logical. A stepped mode is available that you can configure as well if you prefer. 

The light has thermal controls, you can configure beacon mode, as well as 5 types of strobe including candle mode, party strobe, and lightning storm. You access these with 2 taps and a hold, and then two taps to change modes inside this group. Candle and lighting mode are my personal favorite. How practical these are could be a point where one could argue, but I like that they are present and it just makes things fun. Due to how you access these strobe modes I would not call the light a tactical UI or tactical light as you have to remember a series of presses and pauses to get there. 

 

For instance 4 clicks gives you lockout, and another 4 clicks unlocks the light, or you could just unscrew the head a tiny bit. If you activate momentary, the only way to clear it is to unscrew the head to do a full reset. 6 clicks from off gives you muggle mode which limits the lights output and output for a less complicated interface. 

 

Personally I find the UI to be easy to use for what you want to do most often, but a little more complex to get to those modes you don’t use very often. This is a UI where you should take a look at the manual or at least the graphical manual for the UI and spend some time playing with your light to get the most out of it.

 

Pro’s

  • Andril Firmware
  • Great extras’s are included like the deep carry clip, and diffuser
  • Magnetic Tail
  • More Reliable, less fiddly
  • Button top cells work here in addition to flat tops but no protected batteries

 

Con’s

  • Less modifiable then the FW3A, but this means more reliability
  • Larger profile makes it a little less pocket friendly.
  • Knurling is pretty smooth and minimal

 

Conclusion

My conclusion on the Lumintop EDC18 is that this version is a version of the FW3A that’s designed a more for the mainstream consumer. It trades ultimate compactness and modality for a slight increase in size, and a little more reliability. What this means is it’s less likely to have problems out of the box but your not going to be able to modify it like what people are doing with the FW3A. It would still benefit from everyone doing a thermal sensor calibration. 

 

The biggest difference is really if you want a tail or side switch because that’s the biggest difference for me. I honestly like both. I think for EDC I prefer the feel of the FW3A in my pocket because of it’s slightly tapered body (and deep carry once I get my deep carry clip) and slightly smaller size. That said there have been times I miss having a magnet in the tail, especially when at work. So for me it’s really hard to pick just one, I don’t think either are bad choices for a compact hot rod triple light. So I would if you can get the emitter you like in both, go with where you like your switch best, FW3A for tail switch, or the Lumintop EDC18 for a side switch. 

 

Pickup the Lumintop EDC18 at Bangood for $39.90 at http://bit.ly/2MXLwjR with coupon BG18

Posted on

Folomov C2 Review (400 lumens, 98CRI, Super small, 14300 battery, Summer EDC)

The Folomov C2, is a very small EDC light with a very high CRI (98CRI) warm beam, magnetic tail cap, and USB rechargeable battery. It might be a just about perfect little summer EDC. Thanks to Folomov (Affiliate Link) for sending it to me to take a closer look at and show to you guys.

Just a reminder to everyone to make sure you join my Facebook page for the YouTube channel and my reviews, where I try to post a few days a week, new arrivals etc, and take a look at the Patreon page I have setup for the channel as well.

 

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/CKowYeZ

Youtube Version of this Review: 

Packaging

Instead of a box, the C2 comes in a small tin with foam inserts. The top cover is laser engraved with the name and brand. It would make a nice gift box. Included with the light is a pocket clip, battery, extra orings, manual and micro USB charging cable.

Construction

The light is made from aluminum and hard anodized a satin black. Starting at the tail it’s magnetic, and flat, so it tails stands well. The tail cap sides have just a little milling in them to add style and a slight amount of grip. Inside threads are anodized and square cut. The body is tiny at only 19mm in diameter, It has 2 flats where the minimal labeling for the light is (Just the brand and model name).

The button and clip segment grow in diameter slightly, similar to the Olight Mini series of lights. Folomov choose a gray button that has 2 LED’s underneath to give a bit of a charge indication. They are green when the battery is charged and turn red when the battery is low. The head section has small teardrop areas milled in. The bezel is a polished aluminum. The glass lens sits recessed a little and underneath is a orange peel reflector.

The clip is fixed in a tip up position and fixed rotation, this allows you to mount the light on the bill of a hat if you wish to do so. The bad part about this clip is the bend at the top is just too tight, there is only about 1.5mm of space at the top of it, so it’s difficult to fit over the brim of most hats, and even pants or shorts pockets are usually thicker than that at the seam. The result is it just doesn’t carry as deep as it could, but it still carries better then many lights.

Size and Weight/Comparisons

This is a seriously small light, I measured length at 55mm, max diameter near the switch at 19mm, minimum at 16mm. Weight only comes in at 31.7 grams with the battery and clip. The light is IPX8 Water rated as well.

The C2 does share a lot of design features with the Olight SMini series of lights, but is about 20-30% smaller. It’s not a revolutionary design but one that works well. For me the C2 has proven to be a great summer carry, as I am wearing shorts more, I want smaller and lighter weight things in my pockets and the C2 fills that gap while still having quite a bit of power. The magnetic tail cap just add to it’s utility. It does only have tip up carry which some people will love, others will hate.

LED/Beamshots/Runtime

The little Folomov C2 is using a Nichia 21A LED. The tint is 3000k and an exciting 98 CRI. The beam has a hot center that covers about 30% of the beam and then a minimal amount of light in the spill. I like warm high CRI beams, I will admit the warmer tints can take some time getting used to especially if you have a lot of cool white low CRI lights now. For me I always will take high CRI if I can get it as I just prefer colors to look natural and it’s good for any photography too.

Folomov rates the light at a maximum of 400 lumens in turbo, 160 lumen in high, 50 lumen on medium, 10 lumen on low, and ½ lumen on moonlight. It also has strobe, SOS and bacon all at 160 lumens.

Runtime is nothing outstanding, due to the 14300 sized battery at 250mAh. It’s just a really small battery in terms of capacity, part of this is to fit the microUSB charging circuit on which barely fits. So in my runtime tests the light was on for 65 minutes. Turbo is really only good for about a minute, before stepping down pretty significantly. The next 30 minutes you get a usable amount of light. The last 30 minutes is just above moon light mode modestly.

Low voltage protection kicked in at 3.08V. The light does have reverse polarity protection and some thermal protection. Parasitic Drain was measured at 2.0uA.

 

UI

The UI is straightforward and logical in illumination mode.  Low, Medium, High, and then it repeats. Direct access to low is available by long pressing from off, and a double click takes you to turbo. Low, Medium and high are available for memory as well. There is lockout mode which you can activate by pressing the button 3 times quickly, and you do the same to unlock. This mode is very similar to Olight’s UI, so if you know it you will catch on quick.

There is a tactical mode which I think is a little silly on a light this small but it does have it. To go between the two you click the light 7 times from off. It makes the side switch a momentary turbo if pressed and held. If the button is pressed quickly it locks turbo on,and if you double click the side switch you get strobe.

The light ships in the default mode which is where I think most people will want to leave it.

 

Recharging and the Battery

Recharging the 14300 battery is easily accomplished with the MicroUSB port on it’s side. The USB charging circuit sits on top of the battery and has red/green LED to indicate charge status. Full Battery Voltage was measured at 4.207V. Total recharging time took just 1 hour and the maximum charging speed I saw was 0.3A which is appropriate for a cell of this size.

I suspect the battery being used here is really more like a 14200 sized sell with the last 10mm, being the USB recharging circuit. You can see the line in the battery. 14200s are also much more available then 14300s, that said I am not finding any 14200’s that match the capacity here. While I understand why they went with USB recharging especially for such a small cell, it does hurt capacity as it takes up valuable space.

 

Pro

  • Warm White high CRI. 98CRI is just fantastic on an EDC this size.
  • Small size, this was smaller than expected and carries really nice
  • Easy to use UI that’s what you would expect

Cons

  • The pocket clip is narrow, meaning anything but very thing pockets won’t ride all the way down in the clip.
  • Not a common battery size, Folomov says they will at some point have additional batteries for purchase.
  • Low capacity battery at only 250mAh.

 

Conclusion

For me the Folomov C2 is a hit. It’s enough light to get me through an office or light duty EDC use, but has enough power to do a few other small tasks. For any larger tasks I would want a larger light nearby in my home, car, or office. It’s not a light I would go camping with or use for extended times due to the small battery but it’s more useful than most keychain lights without being too big in a pocket. I love the high CRI warm LED, this is what sets it apart from the competition that typically prefers cool white LEDs. My only main concern is the availability and cost of replacement batteries. Folomov has said they will be available but hasn’t said when or at what cost.  Overall it’s a nice light, with a straight forward UI for a pretty affordable price. I recommend it for a very small light weight EDC.

 

Save 20% on the Folomov EDC C2 now through June 13th at https://amzn.to/2MCjAE5 (Affiliate Link)

Posted on

Klarus ST15R Review (Bike & Camping Flashlight)

Klarus has a new handheld light on the market called the ST15R Night Guardian. It’s a general purpose light that comes with a bike mount, diffuser and a clip to go with you where you go. It runs on multiple lithium battery sizes and will recharge 18650’s via onboard microUSB. Thanks to Flashlightz for sending it to me to take a look at today.

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/WrODgx0

YouTube Version of this Review:

Packaging

Packaging on the Klarus ST15R is a retail top hanging box, that’s mat black with the light in raised gloss black on a camping scene, It touts the lumen rating on the front, that it includes a battery and that it’s rechargeable. The sides show a few feature such as the intelligent thermal protection system, USB rechargeable and others. On the back you get headlining features, and more detailed specifications including LED used, Brightness ratings, runtime, throw, and sizes and weight.

The package includes Flashlight, YLE 18650 2600mAh battery (More on that in the recharging section), pocket clip, lanyard, extra oring, MicroUSB charging cable, Bike Mount, and silicone reflector dome. The dome is nice, I wish more lights included them in the package.

Construction

Klarus stepped up the game on the ST15R in my opinion. The light is very nicely machined and the finish is without fault. The light is made from 6061-T6 Aluminium and anodized in a smooth mat black, with a very light texture. Starting at the tail, you have the mechanical switch that takes a firm press, covered with a silicone boot. It has 2 small raised areas for a lanyard to pass through and that allows the light to tail stand. While not truly deep carry the clip on the ST15R is only 20mm from the top allowing for a decently deep carry, much better than some of the competitors lights.

The tail and body are one piece, below the tail section there is a ring milled out for the clip to attach. The clip is fairly standard, it’s removable and rotates 360 degrees, plenty of relief to fit jeans or a fairly thick piece of clothing but there is a ledge that will get caught slightly. The finish looks to be a glossy parkerized type finish, not paint.

The body tube portion of the light has a nice milling pattern of a tight fine spiral of about 180 degrees. While this does not provide a ton of grip, I like the way it looks alot, it’s something different over standard knurling and is easier to keep clean too. I think it’s a classier look as well, and I suspect it isn’t cheap to machine either. Threads are anodized, and squarecut. There are springs on both ends of the light as well.

On the head section the button for me is a nice little upgrade. It’s an electronic switch with LED indicators underneath the bezel. The way the LED’s are diffused in the bezel makes the light soft and pretty even it just looks nicer than I expected. The LED’s are green, yellow and red based on the battery charge level. Opposite the button is the MicroUSB recharging port with a silicone cover. The cover is tight and there is a little extra bit to fit down into the port. I didn’t have any trouble with any of the MicroUSB cables I have but if yours had a wide connector area it might not fit. The of the head do have some milling for heat dissipation.

The front of the head section itself is smooth, the bezel is a silver anodized aluminum. It looks like the head is assembled from the front. The glass is double anti reflective coated with a large visible black o’ring. The reflector is smooth and deep. The LED is nicely centered and surrounded with a black disk.

Size/Weight

I measured length at 142mm, maximum diameter at 33mm and minimum diameter on the body tube at 25mm. Weight with the included battery, and clip came in at 152G.

Length wise it’s slightly shorter than an Olight Warrior X, and very similar in most dimensions to a Nitecore MH12GTS. See the video for some visual comparisons of this.

 

LED/BeamShots

LED in use is a Cree XP-L HD V6 LED, no official tint data is given but I would call it a bright white, not too cool, but not warm. I don’t find it offensive and like it. For nature stuff it’s probably a little too cool for my ideal light.

The beam pattern has a definite hot spot, more like a thrower, the spill is pretty minimal, less than 5% of the light if I had to guess. I like that Klarus decided to include the diffuser on this light, since it is a bit throwy this really change things up and provides more light 360 degrees around. Now you could use it not only at night while hiking but also inside a tent suspended from the top, etc. More lights should come with a diffuser.

Working Voltage is 2.5 – 8.4V beaning it has no problem taking 18650, 2x 18350, or 2x CR123A.

Low – 10 Lumens

Medium – 100 Lumens

High – 400 Lumens

Turbo – 1200 Lumens

 

Strobe – 1200 Lumens

Beacon  – 100 Lumens

SOS – 100 Lumens

 

For my runtime tests I used the included 2600mAh battery. Total runtime was 210 minutes. The curves on this are generally pretty gradual, no hard step downs until the end. I believe this is due to the active thermal controls the light has and not timed step downs. The light held 80% relative output for right at 20 minutes which is pretty good. The graphs really tell the story, so make sure to check those out.

UI

The light has an on/off switch on the tail, with an electronic switch in the head. Once turned on you have constant on modes, Low, Medium, High and Turbo and you cycle through these with a single click each. The light does have memory mode if switched off with the tail switch in the constant on modes. When the light is on double clicking the switch in the head gets to the strobe modes. Long press on the same button to switch between Strobe, Beacon, and SOS. There are no shortcuts to turbo, or low.

While charging you can can click the mode button and the light will come on in low.

 

Recharging

The light recharges via Micro USB in a port opposite the button. It is recessed and wide cables or cables with large molding may have trouble reaching. I didn’t have this problem on the 3 or 4 I tested. The light does have LED indicators around the button so it will show battery charge status for 5 second when the light is turned on or changed modes. Green is greater than 70%, Orange is between 30-70%, and red less than 30%, and red flashing is less than 10%

The light includes a 2600mAh 18650 battery that is a button top and protected cell. It says working voltage is 4.2V to 2.75V which is a bit low for my preferences. On mine I can clearly see the label of the underlying cell and in this case it’s a YLE INR18650A260 the datasheet can be found http://www.yiklik.com/upload/manual/INR18650A260.pdf This is a Chinese battery supplier, that makes a variety of 18650’s. It seems they have been focused more on batteries for bikes, other personal transportation, and tools more then high draw flashlights.

Recharging Speed was measured at 1A, so charging the light over USB from it’s shut off point took 3 hours and 5 minutes in my test. Terminating Charge Voltage after rest of the battery was 4.17V.

When charged the red LED’s around the switch go to green, and the light gives a brief low power flash of the main emitter. I like this, it’s more noticeable than just an LED changing color.

Pro’s

  • Can take a wide variety of batteries, 18650, 2x CR123A, 2x 16340, 2x 18350
  • Definite upgrade in machining, finish, and packaging.
  • I love the slight sliver of LED’s around the switch, it just better done then similar lights that do this.
  • Includes a bike mount and diffuser dome.

 

Con’s

  • Not a big fan of double click to strobe, I would prefer a double click to turbo UI with triple click to Strobe.
  • No Moonlight mode.
  • Not using a well known established brand of battery for their branded cells.
  • No holster is included, not a big deal for me personally but worth mentioning.

 

Conclusion

To sum up the Klarus ST15R is a nice balance for a light that can be used in a lot of different applications. I wish the user interface was a little different, because I don’t like strobe so easily accessed with a double click. It’s nice that it comes with a bike mount and a diffuser, and I think this improves its usability with it’s more throwy beam. The LED isn’t a super cool tint which can happen with other Klarus lights, so I like that too. The fit and finish is a step up too in my opinion from some of the Klarus lights I have looked at in the past. I love the milling pattern on the body and the anodizing seems to be nicer as well. It’s a pretty nice light and let’s hope Klarus continues this trend in 2019.

 

Pick one up at https://www.flashlightz.com/klarus-st15r-1200-lumens