Grab the Nitecore EDC27 at Nitecore Store https://amzn.to/3Ogc6V3
Olight Oknife Borzoi Knife Review
OKNIFE Borzoi Gentleman’s Folding Knife: https://us.obuy.com/s/PY6ZN6 10% Off Code: LR10 Obuy Sales Obuy: https://us.obuy.com/s/PNK43O Sales are live now!
Reylight Pineapple Mini Seigaiha Edition (Nichia 519a LED, Titanium)
Urban EDC has created an exclusive edition of the Reylight Titanium Pineapple Mini flashlight by milling a seigaiha wave pattern into the body tube. It’s available in a bead-blasted titanium or a stonewashed finish like I have here. Thanks to Urban EDC for sending this to me to review and show everyone. Links to their website are below in the description.
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Buy the Reylight Pineapple Mini Seigaiha Edition at https://bit.ly/UrbanEDCLR
If UrbanEDC is sold out I am told they will be restocking in a couple of weeks so make sure to check back!
A history lesson on Seigaiha
A little history lesson here first, The Seigaiha pattern first appeared sometime in 6th century Japan. It symbolizes waves, power, and resistance, which are key elements of Japanese culture. It’s also come to symbolize “surges of good luck”. In recent years, the pattern has increasingly become popular in the EDC community. I think it’s classic and elegant. Something that could be used daily, or on special occasions while at the same time adding a very functional grip to the flashlight, pen, or knife.
This also ties in nicely with Urban EDC’s recent brand identity updates to its compass logo that now incorporates the seigaiha waves too.
Brief Bit on the light design and function
As far as the light itself this is mostly a standard Reylight Pineapple Mini I have reviewed before, with a few updates. I like the Pineapple Mini and own several in different colors, materials, etc, and carry one often, due to its slim size, lightweight, and appealing tint.
For those unfamiliar with the Pineapple mini, let’s look at a few of the high points. Starting at the tail there is a 1.5 x 6mm tritium slot in the tail button. Underneath is a reverse clicky switch. The clip sits below that, held in place by the tail cap. That space is required, if you prefer to go clipless Rey sells a spacer or there are ones you can 3D print too. The clip itself is deep carry and has a reasonably large hoop at the top to easily accommodate jeans. The clip is not reversible.
The body tube is the start here on this Seigaiha model, it adds texture that in the hand feels good, not too aggressive on the skin but is more aggressive on your pocket than the standard pineapples. So not only does it look good but it’s functional too. Threads are fine and standard. Mine could have used a bit more grease but that’s an easy fix with some Superlube grease. The head is largely plain with minor styling. Up front there is no crenulation, the AR glass is inset slightly, surrounded by an orange peel reflector. The stonewashed titanium model here weighs 1.37oz with the battery and clip.
LED & Beam Shots
Urban EDC lists the light as having a Nichia 219b LED, but based on the many Reylight Mini’s I have, the 519a Mod’s I have done, and after talking to Rey I am pretty certain these have Nichia 519a LED’s. Reylights 219b’s tended to be around 4500k, and this 519a is closer to 4000k. In my shot below the grey titanium on the left is the 519a, and the brass 219b is on the right. This updated LED is a good thing in my opinion as the 519a has more output than the 219b, still high CRI, and has a nice rosy tint which I prefer myself. It’s the most popular LED at the moment due to it’s great characteristics.
On my Opple Light Master Pro I measured the light on High with a liion and got 3896k, at 97Ra (CRI). DUV was slightly orange, with no green in the beam which I like. On High there is PWM but it’s very fast. The beam profile with the 519a LED is a larger hotspot, this is partly due to a slightly revised reflector I think too. It’s a nice beam pattern for a non TIR EDC light in my opinion.
Outputs
While the light will a AAA alkaline or NiMH battery all my testing was done with the 10440 Liion it ships with. For me this is the only way I run any of my Reylight lights, performance is quite a bit more, but you do trade runtime. In general
With a 10440 battery, I got the following outputs in the default mode.
- High – 280 Lumens
- Medium – 65 Lumens
- Low – 16 Lumens
- Moon – 1-2 lumens I would guess, my lumen tube isn’t very accurate this low.
With a AAA Alkaline or NiMH I got the following
- High – 85 Lumens
- Medium – 45 Lumens
Heat and Runtimes
I had a little trouble with my runtime data here, I will insert graphs of what things look like and let them speak for themselves. No issues to report. I will say that on High when running a NiMH is short depending on the resistance of your battery. The 10440 is really the way to go here.
UI
The UI here is basic and pretty easy to use. The light does have a reverse clicky switch which means you must press the button all the way in to turn on. Once on you can half press to change the modes. By default, the light does not have memory mode but that can be turned on. The light is programmable into 4 preset modes that vary the output of the low, medium and high outputs. The 4th mode adds a strobe option too.
Reylight has some directions on their website, and I will try to link to some of them that I made when I gave some mini’s as gifts. This is an area for improvement, Reylight should include some directions inside the package. Make sure to charge that included 10440 battery before use too. Side note you will need to supply your own charger, my recommendations are the Vapcell S4 Plus and Xtar VC4 Plus (VC4SL) both of which I have done reviews on in the past.
Final Thoughts
I have 8 different Reylight Mini lights it’s no secret I am a fan of them. The titanium Seigaiha version from UrbanEDC is visually really nice I think. I find the Seigaiha pattern appealing, and I like the history behind it as well. As someone who works in technology, it looks like the wifi symbol too which is fun.
Functionally the new pattern is nice as well, you get a surprising amount of grip from it in the hand. While it does grip the pocket well, in my jeans, the new pattern does seem to almost grip too much, I would expect it to wear the inside of the pocket material more so than my other Reylight Mini Pineapples I have.
This isn’t the light that you are going to take camping or expect to put in heavy-duty during a natural disaster, but it functions really well as a small EDC light that you carry in a pocket to have with you for small daily duties. Finding the lock on a door, not tripping over something inside or outside the house at close range, finding the dog in the back yard briefly, extra light to find a lost item in your car or under the couch etc. I find myself carrying a mini quite often because I really like the slim size.
Remember these come with the Nichia 519a LED too, so it’s more output than older Pineapple Mini’s you might have, but still retaining a high CRI and pleasant tint. It’s a great way to try what’s arguably the LED of the year that enthusiasts are loving almost universally.
Buy the Reylight Pinapple Mini Seigaiha Edition at https://bit.ly/UrbanEDCLR
If UrbanEDC is sold out I am told they will be restocking in a couple of weeks so make sure to check back!
Vosteed – Nightshade LT Review (Titanium Shark Bomb Prybar Preview)
Today I am taking a look at a new folding knife from Vosteed, the Nightshade LT. I bought the Limited edition Nightshade earlier this year because it was a unique shape in my collection and have really been enjoying it, as a fantastic all-around blade. That version is sold out for now, but don’t fret because the Nightshade LT is available and is a very similar knife. Vosteed reached out and asked if I would be interested in taking a look at it and I said, of course, I would be. They have offered me a coupon to save $5 or a package deal to save $20 with their titanium prybar, both good deals below.
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Get the Nightshade LT from Vosteed direct at https://www.vosteed.com/products/nightshade-lt and use code “LR5” to save $5 off the Nightshade or use code “LR20” to save $20 off the Nightshade and Prybar combo.
Link for just the Shark Bomb Titanium Prybar at https://www.vosteed.com/products/shark-bomb-prybar
Get the Gray Nightshade LT on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3TvWEEY
Get the Black Nightshade LT on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3ebx4Fd
Packaging
The packaging here like the other Vosteed products I have is top-notch. You have the cardboard sleeve over the steel case, it reminds me kind of the Altoids boxes but the lid just pulls straight off. Unfortunately, I can blame the USPS for the damage here, mine got squished pretty good. Thankfully the nylon zipper pouch inside the tin with the knife inside was unharmed. Inside you also get a nice card giving knife specs, and a card urging you to join the Vosteed community on Facebook.
Specs
There are two versions of the Nightshade LT available. There is the black G10 model with the gray center pivot, and a satin blade finish, and the Gray G10 model with the white pivot color and a stonewashed blade which is what I have. The knives are made in a Kizer facility but by Vosteed employees. It’s a Vosteed design.
Overall length is 7.48”, blade length is 3.26” which should be legal in a lot of places, and the blade width is 1.21” so it’s a little wide in the pocket, I measured blade thickness on the rounded crown at 0.1135” and at the tip 0.025”. Handle thickness is 0.531”. The weight came in at 4.16oz and it does have pockets milled in the liners to reduce weight. It’s a liner lock with a flipper too. The body and clip screws are T6, and the pivot is T8.
The Blade
The blade here is made from 154CM, and on my gray model here it’s a light stonewashed finish. I like 154CM steel, it has good edge retention for the price range, is easy to sharpen, and is made in the USA. The blade shape most closely resembles a traditional Shilin style knife. The Shilin is a traditional all purpose knife blade shape from the Chinese & Taiwanese regions and has a long history of carry by all different professions and demographics. It has a little Kukri in it too with the downward sloping angle too.
This blade shape is pretty unique in my collection, the closest I probably have is some of the leaf-shaped Spyderco’s like the Manix or Sage 2, both are different though. The grind here is full flat grind which is always my favorite, here though it has a crowned spine which isn’t super common in my more modern collection, it makes it comfortable in the hand. Centering here was spot on, and lockup was good.
The blade performance is my favorite feature of the Nightshade. It really can take on a ton of different tasks and excel at that. I did a little food prep with it over my time with it, and it did well here. I tend to do very little food prep with my pocket knives at home because I have kitchen knives, and as a side note, I reviewed the Vosteed Morgan which is from the same designer over at Vosteed. Food prep isn’t all what it is good at, I am in the process of doing some reorganizing at home which involved breaking down a lot of cardboard boxes. This is a lot of draw-cut motions to cut through both cardboard, tape, and an occasional zip tie or plastic strapping. It did that without issue and stayed pretty sharp still. The only thing I have done is to stop this with some Gunny Juice diamond emulsion on leather.
Feel in the hand
The G10 Scales on the Nightshade are simple and rounded, edges are well chamfered so there are no sharp points. The G10 gives some texture but it’s not aggressive, nor is it smooth. One of the more interesting design features of the scales is the different color materials around the pivot of the knife.
To me the scales are comfortable, I can fit for fingers on the body, and my thumb on the jimping up top on the spine. If I am gripping as hard as I possibly can, the clip creates a little bit of a hot spot for me but it’s not a problem with normal grip strength. I like that the lock bar has a little grip milled into it too.
Action
The Nightshade is designed as a flipper but that’s not the only way to deploy it. It runs on ceramic bearings and it closes just as nicely as it opens. The flipper has deep jimping on it. The detent is good but a little stronger than I expected. I had no issues using a light switch motion and it makes a satisfying swack when opening too. The flipper tab it’s too pocky and actually allows the knife to sit on its back very nice and square. On my knife, I am able to press on the side of the blade a little to open it too. I think Vosteed could easily make a thumb stud version or a version with a thumb stud and both would work very well too.
The closure is drop shut smooth. This is how it came from the factory, I haven’t disassembled it, to clean or get the factory oil out, I did put a drop of Gunny Glide on it though. It’s drop shut closed, I think that’s due to the bearings and the size of the blade. It just adds to the fidget factor of the knife here for me.
Retentions
Retention on the Nightshade LT is accomplished via a deep carry simple stainless steel clip that only mounts on the right-hand side of the knife. For me, I had no issues either with the knife coming loose or the clip snagging on anything. There is also a lanyard hold if that’s your style.
The only pitfall that I have with the knife is really that this isn’t a lefty-friendly knife. Not a big deal for me personally, I transitioned to right-side carry years ago, but I know this will bother some people.
Prybar
A few quick words on the Vosteed Sharkbomb prybar too. It’s made of titanium, has a heavy stonewash, and has a fish-style backbone laser engraved on both sides. The front features the prybar, and a nail puller, the eye is a hex bit driver, however, my standard-sized bits didn’t quite fit, and smaller ones do though. It has a bottle opener for the mouth, and a deep carry pocket clip on both sides. I like the design and it was an impulse purchase for me. I do actually use a prybar at work sometimes to help depress the lever on an ethernet cable in tight areas. It also came in nice high-quality packaging.
Final Thoughts
I have quite a few pocket knives, and many are drop points, sheep foot, and other designs. Most have some negatives, like the grind might be too thick and not great at slicing or opening mail, others have a delicate tip, or might not carry in the pocket as well due to a compromised factory clip (Spyderco’s standard clip). The Nightshade for me doesn’t have any of those, it’s a slicing machine and the tip has enough steel where I don’t have to worry about it being too delicate.
For me, the biggest downfall is probably its width in the pocket. It’s not thin and takes up some real estate, but even with thin shorts on the knife isn’t what I would call too big for me personally. I’m not sure I would call it a lightweight in its name since it’s over 4oz, but it does have a pretty large piece of steel for the blade too.
Between my two Nighshades, it’s honestly been in my pocket several times a week, for weeks and weeks. It’s a great pocket knife, it’s fun to flip and play with, and it does very well as a knife. MSRP is $69 with free shipping in the USA, and I think it’s pretty a good value, especially with the coupon codes I have down in the description. That will knock $5 off for the knife only or there is also a code to save $20 off the Titanium Bomb Prybar and the Nightshade LT combo which makes it a pretty good deal to grab both.
Get the Nightshade LT from Vosteed direct at https://www.vosteed.com/products/nightshade-lt and use code “LR5” to save $5 off the Nightshade or use code “LR20” to save $20 off the Nightshade and Prybar combo.
Link for just the Shark Bomb Titanium Prybar at https://www.vosteed.com/products/shark-bomb-prybar
Get the Gray Nightshade LT on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3TvWEEY
Get the Black Nightshade LT on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3ebx4Fd
Fenix E18R V2.0 Review (1200 Lumens, 16340, USB-C)
Fenix has a new small higher performance EDC with the updated FenixE18R V2.0. This is running a Luminis SST40 and a 1634 battery. Its biggest competitor would be the Olight Baton 3, and I will be using that as a comparison throughout the review. Thanks to Fenix for sending this to me to look at and review, all opinions are my own.
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Get the Fenix E18R V2.0 at Fenix-store.com and save 20% for first-time orders.
Packaging & Accessories
The packaging here is a nice fully decorated retail-style box. The outside has some of your typical stats on the back. Inside the light is in a plastic tray, but what I really like here is that the accessories underneath are held in place with an extra piece of plastic. While this is minor it really helps to put everything back into the box with ease. If you save boxes and everything that comes with a light like I do this a useful bit of packaging. Accessories include the light itself, preinstalled pocket clip, lanyard, 700mAh Fenix branded battery, USB-A to C charging cable (short), layard, extra orings, port cover, warranty, and manual,
Design & Construction
The E18R V2 is made from 6061 aluminum, and hard anodized in black in a smooth semi-gloss anodizing. The tail is mostly flat, and strong magnetic. It tail stands without an issue despite it only having 2 outer wings. The tailcap as very shallow straight knurls on it for minimal grip.
The body has very fine circular grooves milled into it. They provide a minimal amount of grip but on a light this small I feel like the clip help gives your fingers something to lock on to. The threads on the tail are anodized and inside there is a spring only on the rear of the light. The head is glued onto the body tube, and the clip only attaches in one position but isn’t captured in terms of rotation.
The head has a slightly raised area around the electronic switch. The switch has a metal button cover with LED in the center to give the battery and lockout status. The accent colors here are a rosy copper color that I think is attractive. The USB charging port is opposite the button, and the port cover here is very secure as it has an additional hook to hold it in place. The lens is plastic TIR with a flat top, with no additional cover to protect it. The light has basically no bezel, what bezel it does have is flat.
Lastly, the markings on this light should be mentioned, they are laser engraved, and nicely aligned. I like that they hid the CE mark, and it contains the typical hot warning near the head. What I hadn’t seen before but think is a decent idea is very small directions under the switch to remind you how to lock and unlock the light.
Retention
The primary retention method with the light is the dual direction pocket clip. It’s designed primarily as a lens up carry clip which isnt’ my personal favorite method. When carrying this way it leaves about ½” of light sticking out. The same can be said If you flip it over. The clip is also one of the 3 ways to do lockout on this light if you slide it over so it physically covers the switch.
You also have the two lanyard attachment points on the rear of the light. In hand it’s pretty small, the body design doesn’t aid much in grip but the clip does when installed giving you a place to lock into.
Size & Weight
I measured the length at 66.64mm, and the diameter at the head at 21.1mm. I measured the weight with the clip and battery installed at 1.9oz. The light is IP68 water rated and impact resistant to 1 meter. In comparison to the Olight Baton 3, the E18R V2 is just slightly longer.
LED & Beam
The Fenix E18R V2.0 is using the Luminis SST 40 LED in cool white. On my Opple meter, I measured it at 5278K with a 62 CRI. So a fairly neutral tint but a pretty low CRI. There is PWM but it’s extremely fast, I don’t think anyone will notice it.
The beam profile is pretty typical of a TIR-style optic. A reasonably large hot center with minimal spill and no artifacts. Good for short-range EDC tasks and throws further than you think in the higher output modes when needed.
Outputs & Mode Spacing
For my output measurements I tested on my Texas Ace calibrated PVC lumen tube, it’s not professional measuring equipment but usually a pretty good approximation. Outputs here were very close to Fenix’s claim, the only place I saw a difference was turbo and that was only by 30 lumens or so short.
Mode spacing here not taking into account Turbo is 4 modes from 1 to 350 lumens. They are well spaced inside this, and I appreciate they included a true 1 lumen moon mode here. Turbo on the other hand is kind of off the charts at 1200 lumens.
Heat & Runtime
For my heat and runtime shots, I used the Li-ion battery the light came with. Turbo stepped down after 1:45 down to the 600-lumen range. The heat peaked around the 6:00 mark at 46C. The light ends up being very stable at about 11 minutes of runtime around the 400-lumen mark and runs out till 42 minutes before seeing a large stepdown and running in moonlight mode out till an hour.
I also did a runtime test comparing Turbo, High, and Medium modes that you can see in this graph.
UI
The UI is a little different from many other flashlights, so it might take a few minutes to understand if you’re coming from Olight, Thrunite, Nitecore, Sofirn, and others. To turn it on you have to long press. To increase in modes once on long press and the light will cycle from moonlight mode up through turbo. The light does have memory for all modes except strobe and turbo. If you shut it off in Turbo it will come on again in High next time. There is no shortcut to turbo, you have to incrementally get there. You can access moonlight mode by long pressing from off. If you hold the button too long when turning off the light will also go to strobe. Double pressing is a shortcut to strobe. To turn off you long press again. To lockout, the light double tap when off, same to unlock. You can also unscrew the tail cap slightly or cover the switch with the pocket clip.
Personally, this isn’t my favorite UI, and I would prefer there to be direct access to turbo with a double tap, and strobe is a triple tap. I find myself instead putting the light into strobe when I want turbo. Long pressing to turn off isn’t my personal favorite either.
Recharging
The light has onboard USB-C charging opposite the e-swtich on the light. I had no issues charging via USB-C to C or PD. I ran all tests with the included Fenix 700mAh branded battery. I tested the capacity of this battery at 685mAh on my Vapcell S4 Plus charger which I reviewed previously.
Charging from LVP of the battery at 2.973V to full when charging stopped at 4.163V took 1:21:00. Charging speed was right at 1C for most of the charging, and the charging curve looked pretty typical.
The light is capable of running a few different battery types. The manual notes that it can run a standard button top 16340, but may not be able to achieve peak performance. Same with a CR123a which is nonrechargeable. LiFePO4 16340’s are strongly not recommended due to the lower voltage the charging circuit isn’t designed to handle these.
One thing to note is that the battery level indicator is specified to only work with the Fenix branded ARB-L16-700P battery the light comes with.
Final Thoughts
There is a lot to like about the Fenix E18R V2.0. I like the design of the light physically I think it looks pretty good with the bronze-colored accents. There isn’t a ton of grip on the body tube but for me, the clip makes up for that. The tint here doesn’t seem to have any noticeable undesirable green tint. While I tend to like more neutral or warm emitters I understand why they went with cool white here to maximize the number of lumens and because it seems that’s what the segment of the market this light is aimed to prefer and it’s not super blue.
I like that battery here isn’t proprietary, and that it can run on CR123a’s in a pinch but with reduced performance. Another plus is that it uses USB-C for charging instead of a proprietary system.
A few things I wasn’t a fan of either, like UI here with no direct access to turbo, and where strobe is only a double pressor extra long press when turning off. I am not as much of a fan of lens up carry with 1/6th of the light sticking up out of my pocket and the switch being right at the pocket hem of your pants or shorts.
Overall a pretty solid light. If you like Olight but want to try another brand that’s similar but different I think this would be a good place to go. The UI will be a change for sure, but it’s a well-built light with a good beam thanks to the TIR lens and above-average build quality.
Get the Fenix E18R V2.0 at Fenix-store.com and save 20% for first-time orders.
Wuben X-0 Knight Review (EDC, LH351D, Kickstarter Preorder)
Wuben has a new EDC light they are currently offering via Kickstarter. It’s the X-0 Knight and it’s a twist on the right-angle light we typically think of in headlights but this time around more focused for EDC. It’s a modern design and a big chunky boi. Thanks to Wuben for sending this to me, if you are interested I will have a link to the Kickstarter preorder in the description below. The Kickstarter will be running through July 16th 2022.
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Check out the Wuben X-0 Knight on Kickstarter at https://bit.ly/39vySXB
Packaging & Accessories
This is a preproduction sample and really only came with a charging cable and spare orings. The clip and battery are preinstalled. The packaging and accessories will be different in the production version.
Construction & Design
The Wuben Knight is a twist on the right angle we more commonly see on headlamps. It has sharper, hard angles to it that to me are modern. They have 4 color options, the Black and white versions are made from aluminum with the black being normal hard anodized and the white being what they call Micro Arc Oxidations which is what I have. I thought this was a Cerakote finish at first and it has a silver tint to it. The other dark gray and Green are both made from titanium. The green is my favorite because it has a circuit board pattern anodized into it.
The top has an operating and battery status indicator as well as a metal cover that acts as the USB-C port cover and the switch pad. It’s an interesting design, and while it doesn’t offer much water protection for the port, the port itself is waterproof. I will note, that because of this design using lockout is a must as this large switch is easy to press when carried. The hinged lid for lack of a better word is magnetically attracted. There are 2 sprung brass-colored magnets that it rests on. There was definitely some engineering that went into this. I will talk about the pocket clip in the retentions section and the lens in the LED section.
The body also features 4 milled slots and 2 on top, for 6mm x 1mm tritium slots if that’s your thing. At the bottom is the round magnetic cap. This is a strong magnet and has no trouble holding the light up. It does unscrew but they have chosen to make it a little difficult. I ended up using an adjustable jewelry wrench to get it open. Once unscrewed you can replace the 18350 battery inside.
Retention
The W0 Knight is designed to be an EDC light and comes with a milled aluminum pocket clip preinstalled. It was quite close to the body and retention was good, however, I bent it pretty easily pulling it out of my pocket one day. It’s just slight and something I could probably fix if I removed the Torx screws and rebent it. It’s a reasonably deep clip but still kind of a chunky carry in the pocket due to the diameter here. The tail is magnetic here as well. There are milling marks in the clip, not sure if those will be tumbled out in production or not.
Using lockout is an absolute must if you’re going to EDC this in the pocket. When carried the lens is facing your pants, and it’s very easy to turn on with the large loose paddle over the switch. This will burn holes in people’s shorts and pants if you’re not careful. You can lock and unlock with 4 quick clicks.
Size & Weight
I measured the length at 57mm, width at 33mm (From clip to lens), and depth at 24mm. I measured the weight at 2.94oz with clip and battery. The light is IP68 water rated. Important here to say that it’s the port itself is water-rated due to the construction. Here are a few comparisons with lights that I have that are most similar.
LED & Beam
The Wuben X-0 Knight has 2 LED options, an Osram P9 LED, and a Samsung LH351D which I believe I have. I tested the light with my Opple meter saw 4950k tint with a CRI of 96. It’s a pleasant neutral white and the TIR optic is good for EDC tasks because you get that hot spot for a bit of throw, but also get a significant amount of flood while in a compact package. Mode Spacing here is reasonable from the moon at 1 lumen, to high at 250. However, Turbo is a huge jump up to 900 lumens. To the eye, it’s not as big as it seems but it’s still big. There was no PWM detected.
Output Measurements
Heat & Runtime
Turbo on the LH351D was good for right about 50 seconds before it reached it’s normal output around a measured 200 lumens. This lasted out to 2:15:00 which isn’t too bad for a 1100mAh battery. I did another runtime test comparing Turbo, to High, and Medium. Runtimes are expected with less bright modes being more efficient. The heat peaked around 35C which is just above body temperature so comfortable to hold in the hand.
UI
Default UI is pretty similar to many other flashlights. From off a quick press turns the light on in the last mode used, and then long-pressing causes the light to cycle in from moon to low to med to high. Double press to go to turbo. Direct to low can be accessed by long pressing when off. To get to strobe just double click when the light is off or on turbo.
There is also a programable mode where you can slightly adjust the outputs of each mode, however, the manual only told about this and not actually how to do this. I presume they will fix this before the Kickstarters ship.
Locking is critical in this light and is easy to use, click four times quickly from off to lock and again do this to unlock.
Recharging
Recharging is done via the USB-C port on the top. It’s a semi-exposed port but has been waterproofed although debris could be a problem. The total charging time of the 1100mAh 18350 battery was 1:33:00 with a total charging rate right at 1A.
I will note here again that the battery is removable but tools are required to do so. I used a watch wrench but I think a pair of snap ring pliers would work but your chance of scratching would be much higher. It would be nice if Wuben included a simple tool here to help, or changed the milling in the bottom of the light so that you could use a coin.
Final Thoughts
The Wuben X-0 Knight is advertised primarily as an EDC light. While most people think of right-angle lights more as headlamps they work pretty well as EDC too. For me this is probably a little bulkier than I want to carry with shorts on due to its diameter at least with shorts on.
That said I think this is a unique design. I like the exterior look myself, and I like it’s being offered from the beginning with different colors and materials. It’s great they are offering it a neutral white and what appears to be a high CRI LED. I will again remind you if you pocket carry this please use lockout (4 fast clicks) or you have a strong risk of melted pockets)
I do think it would be great to see a small headstrap included so you could use it as a headlamp if you wanted. I do think some type of wrench should be included to help open the tail cap to change the battery out, otherwise, you really need a tool here to help you.
One small note here is this is being offered as a Kickstarter preorder. Call me old-fashioned but I still think of Kickstarter as a way for small companies to get funding to turn around and make their first product. Wuben is a midsized flashlight manufacturer, well established for many years now. They don’t exactly fit the mold for a startup company, but they are not alone in using Kickstarter as a marketing platform. It seems to be the standard these days. The project has exceeded it’s funding goal so the risk of not getting your light should be minimal.
So some interesting design choices on this one make the exterior kind of unique but the inside seems to be a pretty solid EDC offering if the diameter isn’t an issue for you. Let me know what you think of it in the comments below.
Check out the Wuben X-0 Knight on Kickstarter at https://bit.ly/39vySXB
Wuben G2 Review (500 Lumen, P9 LED, Flat Keychain Light)
Wuben has a new flat keychain style light out with the G2. It’s a little different with the LED being on the flat side, with a wide large reflector, USB-C rechargeable, and can crank out up to 500 lumens in turbo.
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Packaging & Accessories
The packaging is a nice clear box, with the product labels being stickers on the top and bottom. Inside the box includes the light, USB-A to C charging cable, a gray plastic clip, and manual.
Construction & Design
The G2 is flat light, with the reflector on the flat side. Its body is made from aluminum and is available in 3 colors currently, black, Blue, and Green which I have here. The ends are both plastics. At the bottom end there is a plastic keychain ring that twists on and off, it can be a little tricky to put back on. Under this is a magnet that is strong enough to hold the light vertically on a painted metal surface without an issue.
In the middle is the P9 LED and TIR optic. On the sides there is the connection point for the pocket clip which I will talk about more in a minute.
At the top is the USB-C charging port. It has a silicone flap covering it. It’s not a very tight fit. The light doesn’t have a dust or water rating as a result. This is an area for improvement in future versions. Next to the charging port is the switch. It sits nearly flush and I had no issues with accidentally activating it.
Retention & Size
Size here is 2.3” x 1” x 0.36” thick without the clip. Weight is 1 ounce without clip. There is no water or dust rating officially for the light. With that flap I think it would probably struggle to meet the standard specs.
Retention options include a plastic clip that clips on the rear of the light in some indentions. This isn’t necessarily a light or clip designed for front pants pocket EDC but more to strap on to a bag, hat, etc. The clip is stiff. It also has a split ring attachment that twists off to reveal a magnet underneath too.
UI
The UI on the G2 requires a Long press to turn on when the light is off. This really mitigates accidental activations in my experience. The light has a memory mode to the last previously used setting. To adjust between the 4 modes when turned on, just press the button. The double press goes to turbo.
LED & Beam
The LED being used here is an OSRAM P9 LED. My Opple meter measured 6050k at 68 CRI as well as some PWM on high. The beam is mostly flood with a small hot center thanks to the TRI style optic. A good beam profile for up-close work for a light this size.
Outputs, runtimes, temps
Official outputs on Turbo were 500 lumens, and I measured 437 lumens initially, with a fast decline in under a minute to around 190. High is rated at 200 lumens, I measured 190. Medium is rated at 65 lumens I measured 61 at 30 seconds. Max heat I saw on the body of the light was 36C near the end of the runtime. Total runtime starting in Turbo was 40 minutes as well as in High mode. Medium lasted out to 2 hours of runtime which is longer than quoted.
Recharging
Internally the light contains a 280mAh lithium polymer battery. When I tested the capacity I got slightly more than this at about 314mAh. The total charge time here via USB-C was 1 hour. The light is USB-C PD compatible but you don’t get any benefits of the charging speed here with such a small battery. There is a small LED near the button that goes red when charging, and blue when charged.
Final Thoughts
At less than $20 with my discount coupon, the G2 is a decent keychain light. I like the small thin nature, it’s smaller and thinner than most car key fobs and produces a good amount of light for its size. It’s smaller than some of the Nitecore lights I have like the TIP which is similar but larger than some of the Royvon lights.
I don’t like that the silicone port covering the USB-C port is more of a flap. It’s not really a seal, and the light carries no water rating as a result. I did pour some water on it in the sink and it was ok, but it definitely won’t survive a full submersion. Hopefully, they can come up with a better cover in the future.
It has a really broad floody beam but with a super small center hots spot, thanks to its TIR optic. It works for the close-range tasks it’s designed for pretty well. The cool white LED isn’t my favorite but it works. Overall a decent keychain light for the money.
Pickup the Wuben G2 at https://www.wubenlight.com/products/wuben-g2-mini-flashlight
Use code “LRG220” to save 20%
Fenix GL19R Review (1200 Lumens, 18350, Tactical WML)
Fenix introduced a new line this year with the high-performance weapon-mounted tactical lights. Today we are looking at the brand new GL19R a midsize pistol mount light, with a TIR style reflector, onboard USB-C charging that runs off of a standard 18350 battery. With the name GL19R, I had to put this one on my Glock 19, it just seems it was meant to be. Thanks to Fenix for sending this preproduction sample to me to look at and review.
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See more about the Fenix GL19R at https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-gl19r-rechargeable-tactical-light-1200-lumens/
Packaging and Accessories
Since this is a pre-production model I don’t have any samples of the retail box or the final accessories. It did come with a 1100mAh Fenix branded but standard flat top 18350 battery, USB-A to C charging cable, as well as two different rail attachment points to fit both Glock and 1913 sized rails. A quick note on the manual, I thought it was kind of interesting they included some basic gun safety instructions that were actually good such as “never point a firearm at something you are not willing to destroy”.
Construction & Design
The light is made from aluminum and hard anodized in a flat black color. The overall design is similar to what I have seen from other weapon lights, nothing very revolutionary. The front untwists to give access to the battery. It has springs on bother sides, which is good. The front bezel has small crenulations and stands proud of the large TIR Optic. The optic is topped with glass which is great for cleaning and scratch resistance.
I will cover the mount in the section below. The user interface buttons are plastic, with a little texturing. They are hinged at the bottom and the actual button to press is at the top. I like this, as I rest my finger above the trigger on the frame of the handgun.
Labeling on my light is a little strange, there are sections on the head and one on the body that is shiny and it looks almost like they put a sticker or paint to cover up something, then did laser engraving again. I expect this is unique to the preproduction unit I have as they make slight label changes. I do like that the engraving here is grayer than bright white and the required CE and No Recycling markings are made on the underside where they won’t be seen when mounted.
Size and Weight
I measured the length at 70mm (not including the buttons) width at 30mm and height at 31mm including the top of the mount. The outside diameter of the head is 25mm. Weight with the battery came in at 3.50 ounces with the battery or 99.2g. The light is impact resistant to 1M and IP68 water-related.
Mounting Options
As mentioned before the light is designed to be mounted on the rail of a firearm. It came fitted with the aluminum insert for Glock, but a 1913 piece was included. It’s secured with a small Torx screw. The light uses a quick-release system on the right side of the light, with an adjustment screw on the left side. It’s a little different from the system that Olight uses and doesn’t have as much range of motion. Once properly adjusted it does fit snugly but it’s not as easy to switch between firearms without adjustment. Probably not an issue for most people. The lock is pretty easy to actuate, while it does it flush I would prefer a bit more force needed to unlock it, just for extra security.
As far as holsters, being such a new product I couldn’t find any with a search online and Fenix didn’t have any partners signed up at the product launch, so you will have to turn to the custom holster market if you want a holster for your firearm and this light. That is one of the problems with new companies getting into the market for the first time.
LED & Beam
The GL19R is running a Luminus SFT40 LED. No official tint is given by Fenix here, but my Opple meter measured it at 5570k, and 62 CRI. The beam mostly spots as you would expect in this application, the TIR reflector helps increase the size of that hotspot and minimize the spill. On Turbo there is almost no PWM according to my Opple meter but there is a decent amount on High as visible from the meter.
I have a calibrated Lumen Tube now from Texas Ace and this was the first light I put on it for lumen output and later runtimes. Official outputs put Turbo at 1200 lumens, I tested it at 1197 Lumens at 30 seconds, and on High, it’s rated for 350 lumens, I tested it at 339 lumens, so all very close to as advertised.
Heat & Runtime
In Turbo mode, you can count on that full output for the first 30 seconds, before you see any declines, the decline happens slowly out to 3 minutes, where the light is making about 500 lumens. It holds this for about 50 minutes before a significant stepdown and shutting off right at 1 hour. During this time the hottest I saw was at 43C at the 55-minute mark. The light does have thermal protections at 60C according to the manual but I never saw that high of temp when I tested at room temperature.
I compared Turbo to High outputs and while High produces quite a bit fewer lumens about 340 lumens, the shape of the curve is a very linear decline out to 2 hours of runtime. In high mode, my meter did measure a decent amount of PWM too.
There is a low voltage warning on the light with the battery indicator on the left side, it flashes red, but it also reduces the light’s output to only 50 lumens so it’s hard to miss. Fenix does recommend charging the light every 4 months if not used for peak performance.
UI
UI here is a little different but logical. From off you can press the light to turn it on or off into the mode used last and this will turn it on constantly. If you long-press from off the light will go to momentary if held for more than 1 second. To select your different output mode when press one of the buttons and hold, and then click the other to toggle between High and Turbo and vice versa. Kind of difficult to do while mounted in a tactical situation especially if you follow Fenix’s recommendation that the light only is activated with the non-trigger finger and to use a two-handed grip. To get to the strobe with the light on press and hold either switch for half a second to enter or exit the strobe. This is momentary strobe only, not ideal for a tactical situation with ½ second being kind of a long time to activate. It’s worth noting the light does have a way to lock it if you wish and that memory mode works as long as the battery is installed, when the battery is removed the light goes back to default mode.
Recharging
Recharging is accomplished via a USB-C port on the left-hand side of the light. The port is covered with a silicone port cover that fits well. The light is compatible with PD chargers however it does not charge in the PD mode. One thing to note is that the light will not work while charging.
Using the onboard charging here from LVP at 3.074V, the light reported it was full in 1:44:00 and the cell tested at 4.160V. Max charge rate here was 0.72a during the constant current charge phase, with a small spike before it started to decline. Roughly a 1C charge curve here, good for overall battery longevity.
LED Indicator on the side servers as both a charging status indicator (Red when charging, green when charged) and as a battery check. Check the manual for what the different colors and blinks mean.
Conclusion
The Fenix GL19R is a solid offering from a company experienced with tactical lights but new to pistol-mounted lights. The build quality here seems to be good, and the mounting system works pretty well. The rear buttons are certainly better than some brands but it’s hard to beat Shurefire’s toggles in my opinion. I would say it’s as good if not better than the system Olight is using on their similarly sized models. I really like that they are using a standard battery size here, so nothing is proprietary and it will easy to get replacement 18350’s in the future.
I think the UI here while it works could probably be optimized, the UI here means you have to go into a situation knowing what you want to use, for me that would be high mode, and then bump up to Turbo if I needed it. To do that while easy in theory I find is a little hard to actually reach. I would prefer a quick double or triple tap for turbo, and something similar with strobe.
Other than the UI side of things I think this is a solid offering. Hopefully, Fenix is able to partner with some holster manufacturers soon and we see some support for that soon.
Let me know what you think of the Fenix GL19R in the comments below!