Tag: Wurkkos Review

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Wurkkos TS12 Review (Budget Pocket Thrower!)

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

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

 

Packaging & Accessories

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

 

Construction & Design

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

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

 

UI

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

 

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

 

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

 

Retention

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

 

Size & Weight

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

 

LED & Beam

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

 

Outputs

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

 

Heat & Runtime

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

 

Recharging

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

 

Conclusion

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

 

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

 

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Wurkkos HD20 Review (LH325D, 5000k, USB-C PD, 21700, Headlamp)

Last year I did a review on the Wurkkos FC11, and that light has gone on to become one of the most often recommended lights over on /r/flashlight for good reason. Well today Wurkkos has the new HD20 headlamp. It has 2 emitters including high CRI with neutral white, a 21700 battery for long runtime and USB-C charging that supports PD, all for an affordable price. Thanks to Wurkkos for sending this to me to review. 

 

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Pickup the new Wurkkos HD20 on Amazon at https://amzn.to/38IennG 

Discount: Use the code 3F8GNFJO for 20% off also there is a 5% coupon on the page, for a combined 25% off the list price!

 

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging is a plain and simple orange box with just Wurkkos name on it, I suspect this is one they use with other models too as it’s just slightly too small for this light and there are no descriptors on it. Accessories include the light itself, a 4800mAh 21700 button top battery, elastic head strap, 18650 battery adapter, pocket clip, bag of extras including wrist strap, and 2 spare orings, USB-A to USB-C cable, and a manual.

Construction

The Wurkkos HD20 is made from aluminum, and anodized in a semigloss black. I found no issues with the machining on the light. The tail cap is flat and has a strong magnet that allows the light to safely attach on to any surface I have tried it on. There is a lanyard attachment point on the tail cap as well as some straight knurling. The spring inside is short but stiff.

Threads on the body section are square cut and dry. The body tube itself has ripples for grip and reminds me of a larger version of the Prometheus Beta series. There is a place for the clip to attach at both ends and this also where the straps for the head mount live. 

The head itself is quite long and has a good amount going on, the side has a few areas milled out for design, weight reduction and heat dissipation, including a large milled area in the back that’s a bit unique, as is the knurling on the back side of the head. This does give a bit of grip to turn when  mounted up. The USB-C port is covered by a large silicon cover that does fit the contour of the light well. On top is an Eswitch with translucent silicone cover and LED’s under to give an power level reading. It has a blue ring similar to Olight around the switch. This button does sit proud so it can’t headstand.

 

At the front you have the two emitters, The top being the spot, and the bottom being the flood. Both have aluminum bezels around them that look to be screwed in. The top has a TIR optic with glass over top and a flat front. The bottom uses a diffused lens. The light is IPX-68 rated

 

Size and Weight

Maximum length of this light is 122.5mm, maximum diameter at the head is 30mm, minimum diameter on the body is 26.7mm. Weight with the light, battery, and head strap is 202g. For comparison the Acebeam H30 (Also a 21700 light is) 190g. So it’s in the ballpark but a bit heavy.

 

Here are a few comparison pictures with the Acebeam H30.

 

Retention

The strap is made from a silicone material, it’s the loop type that holds the light in place and allows it to rotate up and down. Attached to this is a basic 3 way elastic band. It’s a less expensive headband which is ok for the price here but functional. I found it only moderately comfortable, the entire setup isn’t’ lightweight, so you need it reasonably tight to keep it in place. I found a bit more comfort if I tightened the top strap to let it carry a majority of the weight. 

A pocket clip is an option on this light, but not one I think will be used very often. It can mount on the top of bottom of the battery tube, head down would be the only way I would attempt to carry it due to how much of the head sticks out if mounted the other way. You could use this to mount to a hat with the 2 way clip but I don’t think this will be used much due to the weight and the fact that it’s a right angle light. To me the pocket clip is pretty much useless but nice that it’s included I guess.

LED & Beam

This light uses 2 LED, for 2 different purposes. First you have the Floody beam of the Samsung LH351D in 5000k at 90CRI. This is the bottom emitter on the light and is rated at 700 lumens. The beam it creates is a smooth even flood, it’s everything its described as. Looking inside it looks like it has a TIR style optic with a diffused lens.

The other LED in use here is the Cree XPL HD for the spot emitter. It’s also in 5000k but only at 70 CRI. It’s the larger emitter on top of the light and has a TIR style optic that creates a spot style beam. The spot is reasonably large, with very little spill. Maximum output here is 1300 lumens.

When used together you get a blend of both worlds. The tints here for me matched well enough I couldn’t tell which emitter is which in just tint. The beam shape isn’t perfectly round which isn’t unexpected. If being used as a headlamp it’s a wider than it is tall.

There is PWM in all modes on this light other then moon and Turbo. Below is a sample of what my oscilloscope showed for both emitters on all modes, and then a sample of what each single emitter showed on medium. I don’t notice it with my eye.

 

 

Exact outputs vary with each emitter, the LH351D topping out with 700 lumens, and the XPL HD at 1300. Combined they make 2000 lumens. Here is the runtime chart showing the different outputs for each mode and emitter. 

 

Heat and Runtime

I ran both emitters with the included 4800mAh battery on maximum brightness, and turbo output held peak output for 2 minutes before stepping down to 20% relative output where it cooled down and then began an oscillation with it’s aggressive active thermal controls of regulating the light between 18% relative output and 40%. This goes on for nearly 3 hours, before the last 30 minutes the spike is larger 15% to 70%. The last hour is a linear decrease to zero. Total runtime was right at 4 hours. Max heat was 42.5C at 2:50.

I then did runtimes with each emitter independently. Both were very linear non regulated input for the most part. The flood emitter which is less bright over all (700 lumens) lasted 10:10:00. The spot emitter lasted an impressive 14:31:00. 

 

UI

The basics of this light work like you think, click to turn on, long press to cycle through it’s 3 normal modes. Double press to go to turbo. When off, long pressing turns on moonlight mode. The blinking modes require you first to go to turbo then double click again, double clicking each time to cycle then between strobe, sos, and beacon. A single click exits any of these. A triple click allows you to check battery status via the switch on top. 4 fast clicks enters and exits lockout. 

 

Switching between the LED’s is describe in the manual as when the light is on just hold + click + hold. It sounds easy but in practice I have struggled with getting it right the first, second, or third time when I want to switch, it’s frustrating to say the least. 

 

There has been some talk of minor firmware bugs with memory on BLF threads with this light, to me they have not been obvious enough to spot without reading about them first. It’s not uncommon for a manufacturer to update the firmware without telling anyone on the next production run. The FC11 got a revised firmware very quietly. 

 

Recharging

The light has onboard USB-C charging on the back, and the most exciting part is it’s compatible with USB-C to C and USB-C PD. This is the first headlamp I have tested that’s this way, and it’s fantastic. It only took till late in 2020! 

My recharging test was with the included 4800mAh 21700 battery, This is a standard battery I charged from LVP at 2.737v to Full at 4.123V in 3:21:29 which isn’t too bad for this large of cell. The light charged at 2.1A for the first 1:30:00. 

The light can also be used as a powerbank on some phones. I didn’t log any data when trying this but I can tell you that my Samsung Note 8 charges fine with this light and a C to C cable, but my ipad doesn’t recognize it as a power source. 

 

Pro’s

  • Great value, budget friendly, but good quality, full kit.
  • Neutral white with both emitters and high CRI with the flood, Now only if they would go high CRI with the entire light.
  • Supports USB-C to C charging with PD! First headlamp I have tested to do this. 
  • It also acts as a powerbank for some phones.
  • Strong magnet that has no problem holding up the weight here

 

Con’s

  • Pretty heavy, not small
  • Nice that they included a pocket clip but for me it’s pretty much useless here.
  • Switching between LED’s seems to fail at least 50% of the time, this could be me or just a UI that should be better.
  • The head strap could be higher quality.

 

Conclusion

I think Wurkkos has another hit on their hands with the HD20 if weight or size isn’t a big factor in your decision to buy a headlamp. This ticks a lot of my boxes for a headlamp, the biggest being a neutral white light with a pleasing tint, and at least one high CRI option. The long runtimes here are nice too, but you pay the penalty in size and weight from the 21700 and large head.

The biggest areas I see for improvement is a higher quality head strap that’s a little more comfortable. This isn’t a small headlamp so you notice the weight after a while. After I adjusted the straps to take more weight over my head it got a little better. 

 

It’s so nice to see true USB-C support here, it charges via USB-C to C and USB-C PD. You don’t see a speed increase with PD but that’s ok. Not many flashlights at all price levels support this, and as a result it can even be used as a powerbank if needed. 

 

At the time of filming this is right around the $40 price mark, thats a lot of value and I can recommend the Wurkkos HD20. Right now this is my pick for the best large headlamp to buy for Q4 2020. Wurkkos has offered a 20% discount on this light if you buy it on amazon with the code that’s in the description so make sure you check that out to save a few more dollars. 

 

Pickup the new Wurkkos HD20 on Amazon at https://amzn.to/38IennG 

Discount: Use the code 3F8GNFJO for 20% off also there is a 5% coupon on the page, for a combined 25% off the list price!

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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.

 

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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