Tag: Wuben

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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

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Wuben Gecko E61 Pen Light (Giveaway, Multifunction Pen, 130 Lumens)

Today I have something a little different: a multifunction penlight from Wuben. It has white, red, and blue LED’s, ink pen, glass breaker, and a stylist attachment. Stick around because I am going to be doing a giveaway of the E61, so make sure you watch the video to see how to enter. Thanks to Wuben for sending me the E61 to review and an extra so I could do a give away. 

 

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Giveaway Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJCGn5XjANt/

 

Pickup the Wuben Gecko E61 on Amazon at

Black: https://amzn.to/38q95LA

Blue: https://amzn.to/3mBG5pl

Or from Wuben Direct https://www.wubenlight.com/products/wuben-e61-gecko-multi-functional-tactical-pen-edc-flashlight

 

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging here is quite nice, you have a black sleeve around a blue bifold box, with a Wuben logo in the middle. The lid is magnetic on the sides to keep everything nicely together. Inside all the accessories are in small boxes, it’s a impressive package for a pen. 

The E61 Gecko includes quite a few accessories, You get the pen body itself, a manual, micro USB Charging cable (Short), 4 different tips (Stylus, glass breaker, ballpoint pin, and inkless point). 

 

Construction

The light is made from aluminum and is anodized in a black or blue finish. I have the blue here but will be giving away the black version. Instead of being round like most pens, this one is more rectangular. At the pen end it has an area milled that allows the head to be pulled out of a detent and then rotated into to swap from the ink pen to one of the other available tip options. 

In the middle of the pen there is a circle that is magnetic. It’s strong enough to hold the light up in horizontal and vertical positions, and is a good balance point to allow it to spin, so kind of a fidget toy too. This allows the pen to become a mini work light too with the light bar folded out. 

The clip here is machined out of a solid piece of aluminum and is attached via the pivot mechanism the light portion is made from. It has a small place that looks like a tritium tube would fit my my 1.5mm x  6mm are too big, so possibly something smaller would fit. The clip allows for deep carry and has good retention in jeans and other pants I tried. 

The light portion is on the top back of the pen and folds out from the top. It has 270 degrees of rotation, with detents at 90 and 180. It stays in place but there is a bit of what I would in the knife world call blade play which is unfortunate. The light is allowed to shine through the opposite side of the body too.

 

Size and Weight

I measured the size and weight of the pen, as it came to me in the box with the glass breaker tip installed at 51.3g. Overall length when closed was 142mm, length when open is 215mm. Diameter is roughly 14mm by 10.5mm. It’s a little slimmer diameter to a Sharpy marker.

 

Here are some comparison photos to some other EDC Pen’s I have.

 

As a Light

The light here has 5 LED’s on it’s light bar all behind a diffusing piece of plastic. Instead of using RGB LED they went with individual LED’s for each color, white, red, and blue, with 2 white LED’s for more output and more even light. 

Output levels are 3 lumens, 30 lumens, and 130 lumens according to Wuben. This is powered by an internal  120mAh lithium polymer battery. Runtime follows the voltage curve of the battery pretty well, indicating this isn’t likely a regulated driver. It also doesn’t have low voltage protection so keeping the battery on the fuller side would be better for health. ON high the light got about 2 hours of runtime before it hit 10% relative output. Heat isn’t an issue here. 

The user interface is pretty simple here, single click to turn on, and long press to cycle though the 3 white modes. The light starts on Low, Med, High, and does have memory. Single press turn off at any point. To get into the flashing red, blue, red/blue mode, double press when on or from off. Single press to turn off. Memory does remember the flashing modes too. 

 

The light is rechargeable via onboard microUSB. When charging the switch on the outside of the light will turn red, and then blue when charged. I measured charging speed of the internal 120mAh battery at a wopping 0.10A. Total charge time was 53 min and the curve was flat. 

 

As a Pen

The Wuben E61 Gecko is a light duty pen in my opinion. That’s mainly due to the small size of the cartridge 22.5mm in overall length. This doesn’t leave much room for ink about 9mm of visible ink in my cartridges. The good news is here that the cartridge is a pretty standard design ballpoint design, so you can find things that will fit in your average Bic pen, or hotel pen, but to use these you need to first write 90% of the pen so you can cut the empty tube and it will fit. In the hand it’s ok, it’s not the worlds most comfortable pen, but for short uses it does the job just fine. I like the diameter here better then say the Olight Open which I will review in the next few weeks. 

Don’t forget the other accessories on the opposite side of the pen too, you have a metal scribe tip, a ceramic ball for a glass breaker, and the stylist tip. These may end up being a little more practical depending on your use case and the ink pen may become a secondary for you.

 

Pro’s 

  • Non proprietary ink cartridge but it will require a bit of customization.
  • The light bar function here is more useful then your average pen light, especially with the side magnet making it an actual usable light.

 

Con’s

  • It would be nice to see USB-C here.
  • Very small ink cartridges.
  • Pivot points seem to use a proprietary head design.

 

Conclusion

I like that this isn’t a tactical first pen light, It’s pretty usable for everyday, although with the very small ink cartridges I wouldn’t want to do tons of writing with it or you will be swapping in new cartridges frequently. So like a lot of pen light designs it makes compromises on both the pen and the light side. The weight here is nicely balanced so that when using it, it doesn’t have a lot of weight at the back end which is good. 

As a light it has a fairly even beam in white mode and is fairly decently diffused. It’s L,M,H which is good, and double click to get into the colored strobe mode which is good. I just kind of question what you would practically use the red, blue, red/blue strobing modes for practically, maybe to get someone’s attention on the side of the highway? 

Let me know what you think of the Wuben Gecko E61 in the comments below, and don’t forget to visit my instagram @Liquidretro to enter the giveaway to get one for yourself. 

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Wuben T70 Review (4200 Lumens, USB-C, 26650, Choices)

Today on my review table, I have the Wuben T70 4200 lumen flashlight. The light is powered by an included 26650 battery and has USB-C for recharging. Wuben as a brand has been out for a little while but for me this is the first light from them I have had. Thanks to Banggood for sending this to me to look at.

Full Image Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/n9D0kce
YouTube Version of this Review:

Packaging
A lot of thought was put into the design and perfection of the packaging on the Wuben T70. The outside of the package is a black box with a picture of the light touting the 4200 lumens and a few of the key facts. On the back of the box are some stats, and a runtime chart. The box itself has a magnetic closure on the right hand side. Inside the box the light is nicely held in some laser cut foam, underneath is the paperwork. On the right hand side there is a cardboard box which contains all the accessories. The belt holster is nylon and decent quality, it’s got a plastic D loop, velcro belt loop, and a place for an extra battery on the side. IT also comes with a Wuben branded flat lanyard, and a Wuben branded USB-A to USB-C charging cable, and a pair of extra o’rings. Overall the packaging here is nicer than most other flashlight brands.






Construction
This light is made from Aluminum and anodized in a smooth black semi gloss finish. Starting at the tail cap, the light tail stands well due to the flat tail cap. It has some milled accents in it that serve as grip. Inside the tail spring is double, and beefy. Threads are square cut and smooth, and the oring is large. The lanyard hole is small for the lights diameter, no para cord is fitting through this one. I like that it has a very small battery symbol on the side laser engraved in to tell orientation. More lights should do this. The body tube is glued to the head section of the light. It has lengthwise grooves milled into it that are on the larger side about 4.25mm.





The head section of the light has quite a few milled in areas that act as heat syncs. Flats are milled in for the button and the charging port opposite. The button is surrounded by a silver ring. The button itself is silicone and has a clear W in it so the power indicator LED underneath shows through for battery status.

The charging port opposite is a silicone cover and seems to fit well, I had no air pressure issues with it or having it come loose accidentally. Underneath is a USB-C charging port. The top part of the head has more heat syncs and has 6 design areas milled in. The front strike bezel is raw aluminium with a few machining marks left behind.

Machining quality overall is very good for this price range of light. Edges are chamfered where you expect and a little sharper in others. Overall it creates a nice package, anodizing is good quality too.

Size/Weight/Comparison
Overall max length is 140mm, maximum diameter in the head is 42 mm, minimum diameter is 31mm in the body tube. Weight with the included battery is 256g and the light is IPX68 water rated which is very respectable for onboard charging, Dropping it in water won’t be an issue.

The Lumintop ODF30 is pretty similar in size to the Wuben T70 but without the onboard recharging. Diameter in the head is nearly identical, as is the body tube diameter. The Wuben T70 is about 22mm longer in overall length. I like the extra length of the T70 in my hand and I think it’s a little better balanced light too. See the video for

LED/Runtime/Heat
The Wuben T70 features a Cree XHP 70.2 in Neutral White. It’s a big emitter. The box lists that Wuben plans to offer the light in Warm, Neutral and cool white.

I found the beam to be pleasing for an XHP 70.2, and a good all around beam. The hot spot in the center is relatively large and the spill isn’t too dim. It’s a useful beam for general use. It has some Cree Rainbow being an XHP 70.2, the center is the most neutral white, it goes a bit yellow on the outside of the hotspot, and just slightly blue at the outside edges of the spill.,

The reflector is a nice aggressive orange peel and it has a fairly thick piece of double anti reflective coated glass. Heat is pretty well controlled after 30+ minutes of runtime the light is warm at 104F but not uncomfortable or dangerously hot. It’s large enough that shorter runtimes get a little warmer but nothing to worry about.

Runtime
Turbo Runtime on this light is good for about 3 minutes before the light steps down. This stepdown is significant to about 25% relative output, but remember this is still roughly 1000 lumens. It continues here for a solid 93 minutes before the light steps off sharply at LVP. Overall runtime was 95 minutes from turbo. My runtime test was done with the included 5000mAh Wuben battery.

UI
This light has 2 UI modes, and it’s fairly easy to switch between them. By just triple clicking when the light is on. It confirms you have changed modes by blinking

First is the standard defined mode UI for this light. It’s a Low at 40 lumens, medium at 400, high at 1300, and turbo at 4200. The light has memory so it resumes where you left it when you power it back on. It does have instant access to turbo by pressing and holding when the light is off. I could see this accidently coming on unintentionally but I didn’t have that problem, and losing the tail cap any is a good mechanical lockout. The light has strobe at 4200 lumens, and SOS at 100 lumens. To get to them just double click and single click t o switch between them.

Ramping UI
The ramping UI is also available on this light but it’s got some caveats. It starts on low, and ramps up slowly, blinking at the top, or bottom of the range to let you know where you are. However if you are anywhere in this range that isn’t at the top or bottom and want to go the opposite direction, you can’t you have to go to the end of the range before going backwards. For example if on low and wanting to make the light brighter you click the button and hold and let off when it’s at the desired brightness. Let’s say you have you want to make it less bright, so you press the button again and the brightness continues increasing until you hit turbo at 4200 lumens before you can start decreasing. To further complicate this the light has memory so it can start very bright if that’s the last mode you used.

To improve this it would be simple, like on Narsil firmware just reverse direction when the button is pressed and have it be a little faster.

Charging
The light features USB-C for recharging which is great, but it will only charge with a USB-A to USB-C cable. I tried charging with a USB-C to C cable with various power sources and nothing. This isn’t the first time I have seen this on a USB-C light. Total charge time using a 2A charger, with the included 5000mAh Wuben battery and the supplied USB-A to USB-C cable, was 3 hours 31 minutes.


Pro

  • Nice machining, anodizing, and overall construction.
  • Emitter Tint options including neutral and warm white as well as body color choices.
  • USB-C charging but isn’t USB-C to C compatible like many other lights
  • Includes a 5000mAh 26650 battery.

Con

  • Ramping UI has no reverse, so if the light is too bright you have to go all the way to the brightest to then start to decrease it. It would be more useable if had the ability to ramp down when the button is pressed, like the Emisar D4.
  • Manual needs some polish of a native English speaker.
  • Short Replacement warranty of 15 days. While the light is warrantied for longer for repair 15 days is very short. Registering the product increases this time.

Conclusion
The Wuben T70 is a pretty good light without any major flaws. I can think of a few ways in my opinion to improve the ramping UI, and make it USB-C PD compatible but that’s about it. It feels nice in the hand, and is pretty well balanced with the 26650 battery. I like that it comes in different body colors, and 3 emitter choices. If you are looking for a little larger general purpose light with USB-C recharging that throws pretty well the Wuben T70 would be a nice choice. I am looking forward to reviewing more lights from Wuben in the future to see what l this new brand can do.