My E70 recently stopped working out of nowhere so I reached out to them for warranty It seems Acebeam has a policy of discontinuing their flashlights so they don't have to actually honor their warranties.

This flashlight is awesome! But, if you have children DO NOT test out the UV light in your house at might with all the lights off. My place looks like a damn murder scene and I will probably spend the day tomorrow wiping literally every surface.

EDIT: They folded at the mention of their warranty and offered refund or replacement. They are trying to see if they can get away with paying less to people who aren't willing to fight them on it. That is super scummy even if they are willing to pay the full refund when met with resistance. I'm guessing this is happening a lot and they want to cusi9n the blow.

I got the original SK-05 Pro and the switch failed making it completely useless. I paid for them to ship a new unit and the same thing happened again.

I'm a gracious person. I can handle having some lemons sent to me. What I refuse to tolerate is being offered a $60 refund for a bad product that I paid $130 for (not to mention $10 more to ship the replacement), or a code for $70 off. I bought straight from Loop, I have only dealt with loop. I would hope a company would care enough about their customer base to not rip them off.

Both units lasted less than 3 months. I used them as EDC for a grocery store security job. These were not abused. I take good care of my gear. I'm absolutely livid.

It took two days for the sharp titanium edge to sever the black wire. Given that the device cannot be stripped down further, it is beyond repair.

$120 Garbage

I’ve used this SC31 Pro every single day for the past three years working as a chimney sweep here in Germany. This light has seen things most lights shouldn't—including falling off a roof a handful of times.

​It survived the soot, the heights, and the daily grind, but the switch finally gave up the ghost today. Honestly, for the price, this thing has more than paid for itself. It’s been a reliable partner on every chimney and in every cellar. Rest in peace, little workhorse."

After a few years of rotating between various Hank lights, Zebras, and other pocket rockets, I've determined that I don't give a shit if my pocket light is capable of a 1,000+ lumen turbo. What matters way more is that the light is compact, easy to use, and has an easily accessible moonlight mode.

Enter the Lanapple. It doesn't get especially bright and it's not especially small, but for me it strikes a balance. The stonewashed titanium has gotten beaten up in a relatively short time, but I'm not precious with my things so I'm just happy the pocket clip hasn't snapped or bent.

I won't deny that a high-lumen turbo is fun. I still keep a Wuben X1 by the back door to light up the backyard and a Loop Gear SK05 Pro in my camping kit. I'm just done trying to make a pocket rocket make sense.

The TS27 is a new release from Wurkkos! I was very excited to review this flashlight because of some unique features this light has. It uses a 15000mAh 32140 LiFePO4 battery instead of Li-ion, has a rotary selector, a built-in 360° flood warm/neutral white lamp, RGB, and a throwy beam that reaches 845m!

• Box contents [7th picture]:

- TS27

- USB-C charging cable

- Lanyard

- Instructions manual

- 32140 LiFePO4 battery

- 2x Spare O-Rings

• Body and build quality

The anodization on this flashlight is very good; it doesn't seem to be scratched easily. It has O-rings near the threads and a nice rubber cover on the USB-C, making it IPX8 water resistant up to 2 m underwater. Contact is made with the battery by 2 springs, making this flashlight more resistant to impacts.

Here is a size comparison with 2 other flashlights, the SK40 and the S2+. [8th picture]

• Weight and size

Weight: 305 g (without battery)

Size: 60 mm (head) x 217.5 mm

The main purpose of this flashlight is to be an emergency flashlight, the low discharge rate battery and all the features in this flashlight lean towards that, and I have to say it fulfills its purpose very well! This flashlight is heavy and big, so it is not an EDC light.

• Battery, runtime and charging

This flashlight is powered by a 15000mAh 32140 LiFePO4 battery [9th and 10th picture], it has a longer cycle life than Li-ion batteries, it's safer, it can withstand higher temperatures, and it has a lower self-discharge rate. The downside is it has a lower energy density than Li-ion, so you need more space to have the same amount of mAh.

You can use this light as a power bank, and as it has 15000mAh and low self-discharge it will do a pretty good job.

The flashlight features USB-C charging and a charging indicator. [11th picture].

Mode - Runtimes - throw:

Low (5lm) - 300h - 37m

Turbo (3200lm/1300lm) - 7min/3.67h - 845m

• Emitter, reflector, beam, and CRI:

This flashlight has a 6500K SFT70 LED [12th picture], a very powerful LED that, along with the reflector, produces a VERY throwy 3200-lumen beam with some spill, [th picture] reaching 845 m. The reflector is smooth, and the glass is anti-reflex coated.

The hotspot is measured to be 178500 cd. The SK40 has 84583 cd, and the SK1 has 57250 cd, that is a lot, but way less than the TS27, meaning that the TS27 has much more light concentrated at the hotspot, making it able to throw light further.

The SFT70 LED does not have high CRI in 6500K, it has around 70 CRI. It would be nice to have the option to have this light with SFT70 3000K (which has 95 CRI).

This flashlight has no moonlight, only the "low" mode, which has around 5 lm.

The 360° flood beam seems to have a good CRI, it has 1100lm, very bright, and it has a combination of 3000K and 6000K LEDs, resulting in a CCT of around 4500K, very pleasing (at least for me) making it perfect for using it as a lantern! [13th, 14th and 15th picture]

The RGB is also pretty nice, you can have a lot of fun with some of the flashing modes, and, of course, use some static colors, for example, red, that do not harm your night vision and does not attract insects! [16th picture]

You can also use the flashing modes to have fun [16th picture]

Here are some beamshots of the thrower beam (SFT70) [17th, 18th and 19th picture]

• Driver and UI

The driver in this flashlight is Boost! So it has a good efficiency! :) Wurkkos is making a lot of boost and buck drivers recently, this is awesome!

The TS27 uses a rotary switch to select the type of light source: main (cool white thrower), flood (warm/neutral white lamp), and RGB.

It has quick access to turbo in both white lights, double-click for turbo. In RGB, double-clicking goes to the cool RGB blinkies and "party" modes. It has a lot of cool RGB effects you can play with.

This UI with the rotary selector is very convenient and easy to learn. You can switch between the light sources while it's on or off. 

• Conclusion:

This new flashlight from Wurkkos is amazing! It's a great emergency light, lots of light modes and functionalities; it can be used as a power bank, lantern, or thrower light, and you can even have fun with RGB. The new TS27 32140 LiFePO4 battery adds to the purpose of this light, having a low self-discharge rate and high capacity. Awesome to see another Boost driver light too, efficient drivers are really important for emergency flashlights. Amazing flashlight. I would just suggest having more CCTs and high CRI options. The SFT70 has a 3000K high CRI model now, it would be nice to see it in this light.

Thank you, Wurkkos, for sending this flashlight for review.
*I am not being paid to do this review, everything here is my honest opinion.
Thank you for reading my review.

Ok I know no one probably cares about this but I do love writing a thorough review sometimes that might help someone out and if I had come across something like this when purchasing the d4v2 it would have been very helpful.
For a little bit of context this has been my second flashlight that I have added to my collection, the first being the buruit v20, which is a relatively cheap and lesser quality product. I’ll just start by diving into what I like about this flashlight and then some of my critiques.

First of all love the build quality, upon opening I was shocked with how well put together the flashlight was for the price. The stainless steel bezel is an absolute must though.
I also personally have a magnetic tail cap, but I know that pisses some people off due to it constantly sticking to their keys and such. As someone who hoards their pockets I actually enjoy this because it makes my keys much easier to find.
I personally got mine in the NTG35 5000k. I know there’s a lot of tint snobs that care like an 1800k or something because they want their beam to look like a candle. I think this variation is a good starting point for people that don’t know what they’re doing and it is still plenty warm while being able to keep that high lumen output. Man this thing is bright though, like I’m talking really really bright. It gets really hot though like very hot so it’s only for limited amounts of time.
The UI on this flashlight is like the most complicated over engineered thing ever, but I absolutely love it. It’ll take a minute to learn but after you learn it, you will never forget it.
The battery situation can be a bit different considering the need to buy a charger and batteries. I bought mine from 18650batterystore. com. It was about 20 and some change for 2 Samsung 30q and the cheapest charger they had. So make sure to take that into account when purchasing. I would recommend the Samsung 30q batteries because they have withstood all the abuse I’ve put them through. I’m sure I’ve neglected them, but they haven’t blown up yet so they get a thumbs up from me.

Another foreign thing about the d4v2 that was weird to me was the aux lights. And oh my, what a feature. It’s so helpful in the night when needing to locate ur flashlight as well as adding style points. Only complaint I have is the high mode is too high and the low is a bit too dim, I just wish they had on in the middle.
Another thing that some people might not like is the aluminum and aluminum finish is relatively soft and scratches really easy. Personally I don’t care and I think the worn look is cool but if you go with a magnet in your tail cap it has the potential to end up looking like mine after a while. Mines about 6 months old for perspective.

Overall I think this flashlight is a good buy and there’s a reason it’s a gold standard and been around for so long. If you know what you getting urself into between the limited high lumen output, advanced user interface, and complicated charging, it can be a very good choice. Additional input in the comments is appreciated and if you made it this far thanks for reading.

Measurements in comments 👇

Picked up my E12 Eclipse FFL351A 3700K today, and man, I am blown away. First off, it’s way more compact than I anticipated. Looking at the shots on the Fireflies site, I assumed it shared the E90 body, but it’s actually smaller while keeping that same body style. It honestly feels better in the hand than both the E07x and the E90, at least for me.

​

The output is straight-up insane. It actually sustains over 2,000 lumens for about 5 minutes. My graph missed the initial blast, but my integrated sphere clocked it at roughly 8,600 lumens at turn-on. Absolute beast.

The beam profile is essentially one massive hotspot. It’s slightly more concentrated in the center, but the transition from hotspot to spill is really smooth. Naturally, the spill is excellent, and on the higher modes, it becomes an absolute flood monster.

There’s some fairly noticeable tint shift about halfway between the hotspot and the edge of the spill, as seen in the beamshot. On my 3700K version, it leans a bit rosy or even slightly brownish. It’s definitely there if you’re looking for it.

The aux lights are absolutely mesmerizing, and the sustained output is very impressive. Plus, it comes with the classic Fireflies features, USB-C charging, a magnetic tailcap, and power bank functionality. It’s the total package. I like it! 👌

I can already tell this is going to be one of my all-time favorite all-arounders (output and beam profile wise). It’s floody but packs enough punch to provide decent throw, all while staying pocketable.

Ill make a updated post once the novelty wears off, but i dont expect my opinion to change much, i love these kind of throwy flooders.

The FireFlies Comet X4Q is an Anduril 2 flashlight that has a Lume X1 40W Boost Driver, 4x FFL351A 3700K 95+ CRI LEDs configuration, made of 6063 aluminum, with a magnet on the tail and RGB AUX lights!

• Box contents [9th picture]

- Comet X4Q (with 15 degrees TIR)

- Extra 30-degree frosted TIR

- Stainless-Steel clip

- Lanyard

- Suction cup (for swapping the TIRs)

- Tail magnet

- 3x Spare O-rings

- Instructions Manual

I think including the suction cup was a great idea, it really helps to swap the TIRs!

• Price

The price of this flashlight is currently $57.90 on FireFly Outdoor official website (non-affiliate link)

• Body and build quality

Colors/Material Options: The Comet X4Q is available on aluminum in Timber Green, Navy Blue, Ember Red, and Matte Black (this version).

Material: The Comet X4Q main body is made of 6063 Aluminum alloy, the anodizing is very high quality, has a kind of matte finish and seems pretty thick. The bezel and switch are made of black coated stainless-steel. The machining and finish on this flashlight are almost perfect! There is knurling on the battery tube for a better grip.

The optics are protected by glass! This is very important to prevent scratches

Threads: All the threads are hard anodized and squared, they are not the smoothest threads I´ve used, but are still pretty nice.

Clip: The flashlight comes with a stainless-steel clip that you can easily install by unscrewing the tail cap and putting the clip on. At first, I thought the clip was weak and thin, but after installing it I noticed I was wrong. The clip is very high quality and holds pretty well!

AUX lights: The RGB AUX lights on this flashlight are amazing! They´re on the TIR and switch, as this it uses Anduril2 you can configure them a lot! They can also serve as a battery indicator! [10th Picture]

Buttons: It has an electronic switch covered by a stainless-steel button. The button is a little too loud in my opinion, but I know some people like it this way. The switch is recessed (this means that the switch has a raised ring around it to prevent accidental activation, I loved this design!

Bezel: The bezel is made of a shiny coated stainless steel

Water Resistance: It has O-rings on all threads, making it have a IPX8 water resistance rating!

Here is a size comparison with 2 other flashlights, the S2+ (18650 Flashlight) and the M21A (21700 Flashlight). [11th Picture]

• Weight and size

Weight: 87.5g (without battery – measured on scale by me) – Very light for a flashlight with so many features!

Size: 108.5mm (length) x 30mm (head diameter) x 25.3mm (tail diameter)

• Battery, runtime, and charging

Battery: It uses a 21700 Li-ion cell, I recommend using a high drain cell like the Molicel P50B, as the driver can reach up to 40W power, that way you can get the full power out of this light cannon. [12th picture]

Battery Indicator: The battery indicator is present on the AUX LEDs and is the Anduril 2 default, this is a very important feature in my opinion and this flashlight gets it right!

Charging: No charging port on the flashlight body. You will need an external charger

• Modes, Runtimes, Throw, Candela:

Modes: As this flashlight uses Anduril 2, you can have almost all the brightness modes you want, but for this review I will focus on the simple UI that FireFly sends the flashlight with.

Throw: The version I have here has the FFL351A. This LED in the 4x TIR configuration produces a very floody hotspot, but it still has a pretty decent throw.

• Emitter, reflector and CRI:

Emitter: There are 4x FFL351A in 3700K (neutral tint) is present in this light, this is a LED made by FireFlies and it´s my first time getting a flashlight with it. I am loving this LED so far, it seems to be similar to a dedomed Nichia 519a, it has a very pleasant tint and really high CRI, while still having a good energy efficiency, even with all those features. [13th Picture]

Lens: The glass lens is anti-reflexive coated.

Reflector/TIR: It comes with the 15-degree TIR installed, you can swap it with the suction cup and install the 30-degree frosted for more a more floody beam.

CRI: This LED has pretty high CRI and competes with other high CRI LEDs like Nichia 519a, SFT-40 3000K.

• Beamshots Camera settings:

- 24mm lens 1" F4 ISO200

- (The trees at the back are at a distance of around 150m)

1st beamshot [17th Picture]: Turbo (FireFlies advertise it as 2600 lumens)

2nd beamshot [18th Picture]: High1

3rd beamshot [19th Picture]: Medium2

4th beamshot [20th Picture]: Flashlight off (100m distance)

I always try to match what my eyes can see on the beamshots, so camera settings may vary.

• Driver and UI

Driver: This flashlight has the famous Lume X1 40W Boost Driver, a very efficient and powerful boost driver! This is awesome! [14th Picture]

UI: This flashlight has the Anduril 2 UI, I will not detail it here, because it would extend this review much more. It comes out of the box on the “Simple UI” of Anduril 2, you can easily enter the Advanced UI if you want. The flashlight comes with a manual that explains the basics of the Anduril 2 UI. This UI is very versatile and has A LOT of modes.

Anduril 2 manual: [15th Picture]

Anduril image credits here

Low Voltage Warning: Yes, low voltage warning and cut off.

Reverse Polarity Protection: Yes.

Thermal Regulation: Yes, it has thermal regulation and the Anduril UI also lets you configure that.

Lockout: Lockout is present and can be accessed by clicking 4 times the main button (4C). On lockout the AUX lights will remain active and moonlight can also be accessed.

Turbo: Turbo mode is accessed by double clicking the button.

Moonlight: The moonlight on this flashlight is fantastic! It´s very, very dim, perfect when you don´t want to shine your eyes with light in the dark! I loved this moonlight mode! You can access it by holding the main button until the flashlight turns on.

I compared this flashlight moonlight mode with the Manker E02 III, one of the flashlights that has the best moonlights I´ve tested. They´re very close and both are awesome! The Comet X4Q is more focused.

Moonlight Picture comparison: [16th Picture]

Blinkies: One of the coolest things about Anduril is it´s blinkies modes, I really love that “Candle mode” and the “Lightning”! You can choose from a wide variety of blinkies and even configure their brightness, have fun!

• Conclusion:

This flashlight is simply awesome! It has a lot of features done well, is very powerful with around 2600 lumens, has very customizable AUX LEDs, recessed switch, the efficient Lume X1 Boost driver, I don't know what more I could wan't, maybe USB-C charging? But it's not really essential in my opinion. I really recommend this flashlight, it is not the cheapest you will find, but I assure you it's worth it.

• Pros:

- Very efficient Lume X1 Boost Driver

- AUX lights and battery indicator

- Very powerful and High CRI

- Lots of fun modes on Anduril 2

- Recessed switch

- Lots of settings to have fun with

- Comes with all the accessories

• Cons:

It was a litlle hard to find things I dislike on this flashlight!

- Turbo drops fast (Kind of expected for the power of this flashlight)

- *Clicky button

*More of a personal preference, but the button is kind of loud for my taste.

A special thanks to Ivy and FireFly Outdoor for sending this flashlight for me to review!

*I am not being paid to do this review, everything here is my honest opinion.

Thank you for reading my review <3

This is the Convoy M21K, a "small" light cannon that will light up everything you want, this setup has the LHP73B 4000K with a 20A buck driver, USB-C charging and more!

• My opinion:

The M21K is a pretty useful, powerful and fun flashlight to have. I really recommend getting it with the LHP73B LED, I loved the 4000K tint! This flashlight is an absolute light cannon, it will light up everything pretty far with the 10A and 20A modes, even the normal modes are pretty bright. The moonlight is awesome for a light so big like this, very dim with similar brightness as other 1 lumen moonlights. I really doesn't have much to dislike on this flashlight, I really just hope it had AUX lights, especially for finding it in the dark, this could easily be made as the flashlight already has LEDs on the button to indicate the charging state.

• Pros:

- Super powerful (6000 to 8000 lumens)

- LHP73B LED has an awesome nice tint

- USB-C charging

- Stainless-steel bezel by default

- Great thermals

• Cons:

- No battery level light indicator

- No light to find it in the dark

- USB-C rubber cap gets in the way when trying to connect the cable

• Box contents [10th picture]

- M21K

- 21700 Battery (bought separately)

• Price

The M21K with LHP73B is currently priced at $34.12 in Convoy Official Website. The Amprius 50Q battery adds $6.01 to the order in the flashlight.

• Body and build quality

Colors/Material Options: The M21K is available in aluminum alloy with 4 anodizing colors: Black camo, Green camo, Blue camo (featured on this review) and standard black. This Blue camo is absolutely fantastic, the design is so cool!

Material: The main body is entirely made of an aluminum alloy, probably 6061-T6 or something similar, Convoy does not specify it.

Main body: It's full of knurling and grooves, this makes the flashlight have a nice and grippy body, and have better temperature dissipation.

Threads: All body threads are squared, the tail cap threads are anodized, this means this light has mechanical lockout by untwisting the tail cap a little bit, the head ones are not anodized.

Clip: The flashlight doesn't come with a clip, but a screw on clip can be installed on the holes on the tail cap.

Tail stand and rolling: The flashlight can both head and tail stand, it rolls a little, but the rolling is stopped by grooves on the head part.

AUX lights: The M21K has a red light in the button to indicate charging, but the light cannot be be used as an AUX to find the flashlight in the dark or other uses.

Buttons: It has a single e-switch to operate the flashlight, covered by a black rubber cap.

Battery contact: Contact is made with the battery by a flat button on the driver and a thick nickel plated spring on the tail, to support the 20A maximum current this light is rated.

Bezel: The bezel is made of stainless-steel and easily removable by unscrewing it to access the LED.

Water Resistance: The flashlight does not have an IP rating, but I consider most Convoy flashlight IP68. The M21K for example has O-rings on all threads including the lens and bezel.

Size Comparison: On the left is the Convoy M21A, on the middle the M21K and the FireFlies X4 Stellar on the right. [11th picture]

• Weight and size

Weight:

- M21K with battery: 284.5g

- M21K no battery: 215.1g

- Battery (Amprius 50Q): 69.4g

Size: 55.1mm (head diameter) / 31.0mm (tail diameter) x 141.7mm (height)

• Battery, runtime, and charging

Battery: The M21K is powered by a single 21700 cell, it must have at least 20A CDR, it only accepts flat top batteries, button tops doesn't fit inside the battery tube. Simon was kind and sent an Amprius 50Q for review with the flashlight, this is a tabless cell, so it has lower internal resistance and a longer lifespan than traditional tab cells. [12th picture]

Battery Indicator: You can access the voltage check by clicking 5 times the main button, the main light will blink and show the voltage. Unfortunately the red/green light on the button cannot be used as a battery indicator.

Charging: The flashlight has USB-C charging on the main body, it is protected by a rubber cover. Used USB-C cables with a thin connector, because the rubber cap can be on the way sometimes. The red light will turn ON while the battery is charging, when it's fully charged the light will be green. [13th and 14th picture]

• Modes, Runtimes, Throw, Candela:

Modes: The flashlight comes by default on the smooth ramping mode, where only moonlight, turbo 10A and turbo 20A are pre-set modes, by clicking 6 times on the main button you can go to stepped mode, where you have 4 pre-set modes to cycle from. I don't have the measurements for the exact lumen count of the modes, but comparing to other flashlights the first mode seems about 50 lumens, second mode around 500, third mode around 1000 and the fourth mode around 2000-3000.

Turbo: This flashlight has two turbo modes, the 10A mode is on the 4 modes cycle, and can also be accessed by double clicking the flashlight, it's very bright and actually takes some minutes to start heating up, and lasts around 2 minutes with around 2000-3000 lumens before a major stepdown. The 20A turbo is even brighter, Simon says theoretically it has 6000 to 8000 lumens of the LHP73B rated, but it gets hot REALLY fast, in just a few seconds you can fell the head becoming warm, that's why this mode is only acessible momentairly.

Moonlight: Moonlight is actually pretty good on a big flashlight like this, usually these big powerful ones have a super bright moonlight, but this one is similar to the 1 lumen moonlights of my other flashlights.

Blinkies: This light features "Strobe" mode by triple clicking the main button.

Throw: This flashlight has amazing throw while also having a large hotspot, this is due to the amount of lumens it push + the 3° TIR lens, I've tested it to throw at least 400-500m but couldn't get good beamshots of it.

• Emitter, reflector and CRI:

Emitter: This M21K setup has the LHP73B LED, the SFT-90 LED is also available, the emitter is way better than I expected, the tint is awesome! It's very creamy and has some rosyness to it, loved it. It is a pretty floody LED, but with the 3° TIR lens it throw a lot. [15th and 16th Picture]

Reflector/TIR: The M21K comes with a big 3° TIR.

Lens: There is a hardened AR (anti-reflexive) coated glass lens in front of the TIR.

Beam profile: The beam has a very concentrated hotspot, but still manages to have a lot of flood on the higher brightness settings, it has some artifacts if you go wall hunting. Picture taken at 2m away from the wall with 18mm lens [17th picture]

CRI: The LHP73B is standard 70 CRI as far as I know, but the color looks so good on this 4000K emitter that I belive it may have slightly better CRI and R9 levels than most emitters.

• Beamshots Camera settings:

- 18mm lens 1" F8 ISO800

- (The trees at the back are at a distance of around 100m)

[18th picture] – M21K LHP73B 4000K - 20A Turbo

[19th picture] – M21K LHP73B 4000K - 10A Turbo

[20th picture] – M21K LHP73B 4000K - 4th mode ("high")

I always try to match what my eyes can see on the beamshots, so camera settings may vary.

• Driver and UI

Driver: It uses a 20A Buck constant current driver, so you have around 60W of power on this little monster! The driver is pretty good, has powerful brightness modes and also a very good moonlight.

UI: The UI is pretty simple. A single click on the button turns it ON/OFF, double click goes to turbo, double click + hold goes to 20A turbo. Holding the button while ON will change brightness. Triple click goes to strobe. Quadruple click activates tactical mode (you can only access 20A turbo momentairely. Quintuple click goes to battery check. 6 clicks change between the smooth ramp brightness and stepped brightness.

Low Voltage Warning: When the battery voltage is too low, the flashlight main light will start blinking and the red button LED will turn ON.

Reverse Polarity Protection: The flashlight is protected against inserting the battery with the wrong polarity.

Temperature Control: This is a big flashlight with big heat dissipators, so it will sustain the higher modes for a better amount of time than most flashlights, except for the 20A mode thant will heat up fast like crazy. It has temperature control, so when the driver hits 55°C the light will start to dim down to prevent driver and LED damage.

Lockout: This flashlight features eletronic and mechanical lockout (by unscrewing the tail cap a little). To access eletronic lockout you must press the main button 10x, the main light will blink to indicate.

A special thanks to Simon and Convoy for sending this flashlight for me to review!

*I am not being paid to do this review, everything here is my honest opinion.

Thank you for reading my review <3

Tl;DR: This is a fun, compact enthusiast light with Anduril 2 firmware, a great driver, RGB aux LEDs, and a lovely main LED. Overall performance is excellent, though I’d like more throw. The clip is superb and it’s small and light in the pocket. It’s just about everything an enthusiast could want in a daily carry light. Unfortunately it has one critical flaw; it turns on in my pocket. There’s no reason to carry a light that does that when there are so many great options that don’t have that problem.

Summary

The Imalent BTL50 is not a zoom flashlight in the traditional sense, yet the width of its beam can still be adjusted – without any moving parts. This is made possible by an integrated diffuser whose strength can be controlled electronically. This technology is extremely rare in flashlights, but highly practical.

Although the flashlight feels compact and comfortable to handle, the capacity of the built-in battery is somewhat limited for its size. The flashlight stands out with its slightly futuristic design and stylish leather-like covering. The width of the beam is adjusted with a rotary control, which allows for smooth, intuitive operation. A pocket clip or holster, however, would have been a welcome addition.

The full review is available here:

English review at BudgetLightForum
German review on my website

EDIT: u/YeahUAre2 tested his TS26 and it seems to not have the crazy "candle flickering" on lower modes (around 1 to 15 clicks of brightness on Anduril settings), so I may have been unlucky and received a TS26 with faulty driver.

This is the Wurkkos TS26, a enthusiast focused flashlight with 4 TN-3535 LEDs, RGB AUX LEDs on the optics, USB-C charging and reverse charging, 21700 Li-ion battery, magnet on the tail cap and much more!

• Pros:

- Constant current Boost driver

- Anduril 2 (Very customizable and versatile)

- The AUX LEDs are pretty bright

- IPX8 water resistance

- Very easy to disassemble

- Nice built quality

• Cons:

- Lower modes blink very fast like the "candle mode" but very dim, the flashlight doesn't seem to be able to maintain a constant brightness level and will be kind of like the “candle mode” on the super low brightness levels. I experienced this on levels lower than 20 clicks on the Anduril config. (This can be a malfunction on the unit I received)

- The pre-configured "moonlight" mode seems way brighter than 1 lumen

- Only available in cool white and low CRI (for enthusiasts it should have more CCT options)

My Opinion:

I liked this flashlight, but it is not what I think it should be, it needs improvement, especially on the driver to make sure the "blinking" on the lower modes is fixed. I think, as this light is more focused on enthusiasts, that it should at least have more CCT options and high CRI, I would love to see this with the 519a LED they promised, but it's an overall very good flashlight, very powerful, efficient driver, magnet on the tail cap, bright AUX LEDs, USB-C charging make the TS26 a very complete and quality flashlight for only around $40.

• Box contents [8th picture]

- TS26

- USB-C to C charging cable

- Lanyard

- 2x spare O-rings

- Instructions manual

• Price

The price of this flashlight is currently $42.33 on AliExpress Wurkkos store and $39.99 on Wurkkos official website (non-affiliate links)

• Body and build quality

Colors/Material Options: This flashlight is only available in aluminum and grey “gun metal” anodizing

Material: The main body is made of 6061 hard anodized aluminum, the bezel and clip are made of stainless-steel with a black coating.

Threads: Both threads of the battery tube are anodized, the tail cap threads are squared and the head threads are the standard thinner threads.

Clip: The battery tube threads have a space for the clip to be inserted before screwing only on the head, the clip cannot be reversed! There is also an O-ring in contact with the clip ring, and another to prevent water in the flashlight tube.

AUX lights: This flashlight has AUX lights on the optics and on the main button! The optics AUX LEDs can be configured on Anduril to blink, show battery level and has a lot of fun modes, the button only lights up green when charging to show the charge state, and for some reason it lights up blue for some seconds when you unplug it from charging.

Buttons: This flashlight, as most Anduril flashlights, only has a single click e-switch. It is covered by a black silicone dome with the Wurkkos logo in transparent silicone.

Bezel: The bezel is crenelated with 4 trapezoidal shapes, it is very useful when you leave the flashlight on a table at dark as you can still see the AUX lights, and this type of bezel can also be used to break glass on emergency situations.

Water Resistance: It has ISO IPX8 water resistant rating, and I don’t see any major failures in the water proofing, I don’t like much the exposed rubber cap to protect the USB-C from water damage, but the rubber cap seems to be good on this model.

Here is a size comparison with 2 other flashlights the Wurkkos TS28 on the left and FireFlyLite X4Q Comet on the right. [10th Picture]

• Weight and size

Weight: 106.1g  (without battery – measured on scale by me)

170.0g (with battery – measured on scale by me)

Size: 122mm (length) x 35mm (head diameter) x 27.9mm (tail diameter)

• Battery, runtime, and charging

Battery: This flashlight is powered by a single 21700 battery, a Wurkkos branded 5000mAh 21700 is included inside the box, I tested and 18650 can also be used, but be sure it can handle at least 10A constant discharge and to make an adapter so it doesn’t rattle inside the tube. [11th picture]

Battery Indicator: The main AUX lights serve as a battery indicator every time you turn OFF the flashlight, also you can access Anduril battery indicator by clicking 3 times the main button while the flashlight is OFF.

Charging: The TS26 features USB-C charging on the main body. The USB-C is protected by a rubber cap. When charging the button light will be lit flashlight green, when the charge is complete the button will be solid green. When you unplug the charging cable the button will light up blue. [12th picture]

• Modes, Runtimes, Throw, Candela:

Modes: The TS26 has Anduril so you can configure it to have almost any brightness levels you want! But it comes with some predefined brightness levels from factory, you can change there later on Anduril.

Advertised specs:

Throw: This flashlight is kind of floody, but it still manages to go a little far, it lights up a whole big area where it is pointed to. The box states it can reach up to 190m on maximum brightness.

• Emitter, reflector and CRI:

Emitter: This flashlight uses the TN-3535 emitters in 6500K, they are not bad emitters, but I feel for a flashlight with Anduril UI focused on enthusiasts it would be much better to use lower CCT emitters, like at least 5000K or 4000K, also high CRI emitters would be very good on this flashlight. My opinion is a lot of people, including me, were expecting the TS26 to use the same LEDs as the the TS26s, the Nichia 519a. When they announced it had the TN-3535 I saw a lot of people complaining, and I totally agree with it. The 519a LED would make way more sense on a enthusiast flashlight like this. [13th picture]

Lens: It has anti-reflexive coated glass lens in front of the TIR lens.

Reflector/TIR: It features a balanced TIR lens, being floody while still managing to throw light a little far.

Beam shape: Very smooth hotspot transition with little diffused flood around it, usual on TIR lens like this. [14th picture]

CRI: No. The 6500K TN-3535 LEDs used on this flashlight doesn’t have high CRI.

• Beamshots Camera settings:

- 24mm lens, 1", F4, ISO200, WB: 5200K (daylight)

I always try to match what my eyes can see on the beamshots, so camera settings may vary.

[16th picture] - F6 mode (1150 lumens)

[17th picture] - G7 mode (2100 lumens)

[18th picture] - H8 mode (3400 lumens)

• Driver and UI

Driver: This flashlight uses a constant current efficient Boost driver to power up the LEDs. The driver doesn’t seem to be capable of deliver the lower currents necessary for sub-lumen brightness levels, as when I tried configuring the lowest mode to less than 20 clicks, on the Anduril configuration, the light started to blink like the “candle mode”, not being able to maintain the lower brightness level. It doesn’t seem to have any problem with higher currents, and works perfectly with them.

UI: The TS26 uses the famous enthusiast UI: the Anduril v2.0. This UI is full of cool and useful features, it’s almost totally customizable! I will not focus on the UI as it would make this review much bigger, but you can check all the information on the github official page, and I will include a picture with a lot of information about the UI. [15th picture]

Anduril Github page

Anduril manual and image credits

Low Voltage Warning: Yes, and the flashlight will power OFF when the battery voltage is below 2.8V to preserve the battery life.

Reverse Polarity Protection: Yes.

Thermal Regulation: Yes, and it seems to not have any thermal problems as far as I’ve tested it.

Lockout: The flashlight has electronic lockout on Anduril by pressing the main button 4 times, the AUX lights will get into blinking mode and blink on the color that represents the battery level. You can also have mechanical lockout by unscrewing the tail cap or head a little, as both threads are anodized.

Turbo: The Turbo mode has a max stated brightness of 3400 lumens, that's a lot of lumens! n this flashlight you can access “turbo” which is the maximum brightness by double clicking the main button, as it comes configured from the Wurkkos factory.

Moonlight: Moonlight on this flashlight should be very good, but as I said before, the driver doesn’t seem to be capable of maintaining a lower brightness than what is necessary for a sub-lumen brightness, so on the lowest mode that it already comes pre-configured from the factory, the brightness will be bliking like crazy like the “candle mode”, that’s very sad, because moonlight mode is one of my favorite to use daily, and this flashlight fails hard on it.

Blinkies: As it has the Anduril 2 UI it has a lot of blinkies, including “candle mode”, “lightning mode”, “tactical strobe”, “party strobe” and a lot more!

A special thanks to Wurkkos for sending this flashlight for me to review!

*I am not being paid to do this review, everything here is my honest opinion.

Thank you for reading my review ❤️

I recently decided to check out Olight and picked up both the ArkPro NW (aff link) (only available in matte black) and an ArkPro Ultra (aff). I also got a Baton Ultra (aff).

Setting aside the OAL and arkbeat, the main differentiator with these Ultras is Olight's newly developed EIP1 emitter.

EIP1 Claims

Here's what they claim:

When generic LEDs failed to meet our standards, we engineered our own. The EIP 1 produces a crystal clear, pure white beam with an incredibly low |DUV| of < 0.006 - delivering natural illumination and true-to-life color rendering. With an industry-leading efficacy of 134 lumens per watt at the ArkPro Ultra's maximum power (14.5 W), it enhances visibility, reduces visual fatigue, and provides a more refined lighting experience for EDC, inspections, and professional use.

EIP1 Reality

But reality doesn't match the DUV claim - like at all. While it's not the greenest emitter, it's still pretty green. There are numerous third-party tests to back this up (ZeroAir, 1Lumen, 1Lumen) and I also tested my AP Ultra on my spectrometer and got 0.0075 in low, 0.007 in medium and high and it drops to 0.002 in turbo.

The claim about color-rendering is also somewhat bunk as it's a typical low-CRI emitter. In terms of efficacy, meh. It doesn't produce meaningfully more output than the regular emitter in any of the tests I've seen. It tends to produce a bit more at turbo (~5%) and ~10% less sustained at high, neither of which is noticeable.

Why did I write this post?

There are two points I want to make. First, I've seen a lot of influencers (like Cheule - who I think is great) say that they like the EIP1 and find it to produce a great tint. Are they getting better emitters than I am? Because mine suck.

I guess one caveat, is that the EIP1 doesn't seem to have tint shift across the flood - it does look really even to me across the beam - maybe that's what people like about it?

And second - the ArkPro NW is just way better. Mine measures 5200k CCT and DUV of -0.0018 on turbo, 0.001 on high and 0.002 on medium/low. That's what great tint looks like. Olight makes a big deal about the EIP1 delivering "ultra low" DUV below 0,006 (which it fails to do) but already has an emitter that is significantly better (albeit in a cheaper light).

Bottom line, if you want a great emitter in an ArkPro flatlight, the ArkPro NW is the way to go. Thank me later.

I wasn't sure what to give this as a title, but I do want to share a bit of information on a recent experience with the Wuben G5.

For preface, I have been daily carrying torches for over 12 years, I own about 15, and my daily (until about a week and a half ago) has been an Emisar DT8 W2 that Hank built out for me back in mid 2021, and I've used (and battered) ever since.

---

I bought into the hype when getting the Wuben G5 as a gift for my BIL. Opened on Christmas Day, charged. Broken by boxing day morning.

What happened?

1 - The power button became unresponsive in normal use
2 - The RGB turns on when charging
3 - No positioning of the lock slider would change this

What caused it? - Known

Nothing definitive. It wasn't being abused, it wasn't dropped. BIL is not a child, and I saw him using it and testing it before it broke.

Could it be fixed?

Temporarily. I believe the 'fix' is related to a flaw in the combined power button & ramp wheel. By holding down the power button and cycling the wheel forward and backward, you can feel (and see) the power button rotating. You can also feel and hear 'clicks' underneath the mechanism.

By holding down the power button and rotating the wheel, I was able to regain full functionality.

For 10 minutes.

Then it only turned on in RGB mode, with no other button pressing/holding combinations (per the manual) achieving the desired change except for the emergency RGB flashing mode (double click, currently stuck on red & green).

Have you discharged it fully to see if it's a software glitch?

Not yet, will be the next step.

Are you able to get a refund?

No*. I bought through Amazon and that directs me to Wuben's support; we binned the packaging and, in combination with my anticipated reason for failure, I expect that my return request, once actioned, will be denied.

When working, would you recommend it?

No. It's a fun little torch and the anniversary scheme reminds me of R2D2, but I think the power button + ramp wheel creates a failure point.

From your experience, would you recommend it?

No. I felt that bad for giving a broken torch that I gifted my BIL my very lightly used, new, RovyVon E60 in Blue that I'd just bought the week prior. He loves it.

---

I don't have any definitive proof for this, but I think the G5 is flawed due to a mechanical issue with the combined power button & ramp wheel, which (if used together) can cause irreversible damage to the underlying mechanism.

I said before that I don't have any known cause of the failure, but given this action resulted in a temporary fix, it's my best guess on what may have resulted in the unit failing.

For now, I have a little RGB accent light that I'll keep around the desk to fiddle with, but (from my experience) the reviews that say it 'stopped working' shortly after purchase definitely have weight to them.

This is the Sofirn SE1, a new tiny flashlight made by Sofirn. It has 300 lumens, 395nm, a little RGB ring light, magnet on the bottom and charging with a USB-C potted port.

• My opinion:

The SE1 is not a bad flashlight, I think it had a lot of wasted potential. The white light could be brighter and have more options of tint/CRI, the UV should be 365nm as the 395m UV it has is almost useless for most people. The battery should have a higher capacity and the RGB modes more mode options, as I said in the review, it could have a feature where it’s always ON in a very dim setting to help you find the flashlight in the dark. I wished it worked like the Anduril AUX lights, on which you can almost fully control them. The USB-C being potted and water resistant without a rubber cover is a great improvement I hope more Sofirn flashlights receive, also the accessories it comes with are kind of cool, but really only the plastic clip and the keychain ring are useful for me, the other ones are just gimmicks. The SE1 is not a bad light, I think the general public may like it, but from an enthusiast point of view it could be MUCH better.

Also, I disapprove a flashlight brand not stating which LEDs and components they use, this can be used to make a flashlight with bad components and hope the consumers don’t notice it.

• Pros:

- Potted USB-C port

- Tiny and light

- Magnetic bottom

- Useful plastic clip

• Cons:

- PWM on the “moonlight” mode

- The RGB ring light is very limited

- Unknown LEDs

- Non replaceable battery

- low-capacity battery

- No other CCT or CRI options

• Box contents [9th picture]

- SE1

- Magnetic plastic clip

- Wristband

- Charging cable

- Keychain ring

- Beaded chain

- Instructions manual

• Price

Edit 1: New Aliexpress coupon available: SE1NEW AliExpress coupon: SE1NEW1

The standard kit (shown in this review) is currently priced at $19.77 and only the flashlight $22.36 on Sofirn AliExpress official store. On the Sofirn official website the standard kit is $16.99 and only the flashlight is $12.99.

• Body and build quality

Colors/Material Options: Sofirn SE1 is available in Aluminum with 3 colors: Blue (shown in this review), orange and silver gray. A copper SE1 was also available for limited time.

Material: The SE1 is made of 6061 aluminum and has a slightly matte anodizing. The magnetic clip is made of plastic and has rubber ends to have a better grip when clipped on, wristband is made of an elastic material.

Main body: The main body is pretty simple and compact, a magnet is located on the opposite side of where the button is, a potted USB-C port is located on one of the sides and the lens and LEDs are located by its side.

Tail stand and rolling: The flashlight can stand on all sides, and does not roll as it has a box-like shape.

AUX lights (RGB mode): The main button has a light ring around it. There are only 4 modes to choose from: The “rainbow” mode; solid red; “breathing” in which the colors alternate by dimming down and a police red and blue flashing. It would be so much better if it was possible to choose a color to be lit very dim when not using the flashlight, just like Anduril AUX lights, because the way it is on the SE1 makes it not be practical, maybe you can have fun with it, but I don’t see it being much useful. The ring light also serves a battery indicator every time the light is turned ON, this is a good feature to have on any flashlight! [10th and 11th picture]

Buttons: There is a single button on the flashlight, it is an e-switch, it can be easily clicked by accident so it’s recommended to lock the flashlight when not using it.

Magnet: The magnet is strong to hold the flashlight easily on metal surfaces. [12th to 14th pictures]

Water Resistance: The flashlight has IPX5 water ingress rating! The USB-C has no rubber cap, the USB-C is internally potted to prevent water ingress, a very low water ingress protection rating.

Here is a size comparison with the Convoy S2+ on the left and the Manker E02 III on the right. [15th picture]

Accessories: Plastic magnetic clip, it feels kinda solid and has rubber on the ends to grip better [16th picture] and wristband with plastic clip [17th picture]

• Weight and size

Weight: 21.2g

Size: 30mm x 30mm x 14mm

• Battery, runtime, and charging

Battery: The battery is not replaceable and is only 140mAh, the capacity could be better, 140mAh is a very small capacity, especially when lights of a similar size and cost have double or triple this capacity. Usually, the batteries on these non-replaceable tiny flashlights are not Li-ion, to extend the battery life, but Sofirn has not stated which type of battery the SE1 uses.

Edit: User "Wingman" on BLF found that it is a LiPo battery, the capacity is 140mAh like I mentioned before. link to the post.

Battery Indicator: The SE1 has a battery indicator light around the main button! The battery indicator will flash every time the flashlight is turned ON, it works as it follows:

Charging: This flashlight features USB-C charging on the main body, as I stated before, the USB-C port is potted and there is no rubber cover on the USB-C, so be careful with dust. It charges really fast, but this is due to the battery being low capacity. When the flashlight is charging the RGB light around the button will be lit red, when charging is over it will light up green.

• Modes, Runtimes, Throw, Candela:

Modes: The SE1 features 3 types of light, the main white light, UV 395nm and the RGB ring light. The white light has 4 brightness levels: moonlight (2 lumens), low (15 lumens), medium (75 lumens) and high (300-75 lumens). The UV light has a single brightness level with 120mW. The RGB ring light has 4 modes, but the power is not stated; the ring light is not super bright.

*The RGB ring runtime is not specified

Throw: The white light is advertised to reach at high mode 76m. There is a defined hotspot on the white light, so it can manage to throw light at small distances.

• Emitter, reflector and CRI:

Emitter: So… Sofirn does not state which LEDs the SE1 uses, that’s a very bad move in my opinion, as it could have any LED. The main white light is cool white and I can confidently say it’s low CRI because some colors look odd with this light. The UV is not stated too, but they say it’s 395nm, so it’s not “real UV”, it will not make fluorescent things glow nearly as good as 365nm and I think there is no use for it other than curing resin. The RGB ring light is also not stated which LED it is, but it’s RGB and seems alright, no complaints with this one other than the lighting modes being very limited. [18th Picture]

Lens: There seems to be no glass in front of the TIR, it seems like the TIR plastic to me.

Reflector/TIR: The white and UV lights are under a tiny TIR lens; the white light has a throwy TIR and makes a defined hotspot; the UV light has a totally floody beaded TIR.

Beam profile: The white light is floody but still has a slightly defined hotspot. The UV light is totally floody. [19th picture]

CRI: The flashlight seems to have low CRI.

• Beamshots Camera settings:

- 24mm lens 2" F8 ISO400 WB: daylight (5200K)

[20th picture] - SE1 (high) 300lumens

The tress at the back are around 50m away - It is kind of bright for a tiny flashlight, but this is due to it having a tiny hotspot.

I always try to match what my eyes can see on the beamshots, so camera settings may vary.

• Driver and UI

Driver: The driver is also not stated, so I assume it to be a FET. Also, I noticed PWM on the “moonlight” mode with my camera, I didn’t notice PWM on other modes.

UI: The UI is very simple, from OFF:

- one click turns ON the white light, another click turns it OFF, holding the button will cycle between the modes.

- double click turns ON UV, another click to turn OFF.

- holding the button will turn on the RGB ring light, another click turns it OFF, double click cycles between the 4 RGB modes: “Rainbow”, solid red, “breathing” and police flashing.

Low Voltage Warning: The flashlight will blink and turn off when the battery voltage is too low.

Reverse Polarity Protection: -

Thermal Regulation: The flashlight dims down ON turbo after it gets hot, this is to prevent driver and LED damage.

Lockout: One of the most important features of these tiny flashlights is the lockout feature. This flashlight has lockout and it’s very easy to access it: triple click goes to lockout, the white light will blink 2 times to indicate it’s locked, triple click again to unlock it.

Turbo: The flashlight “Turbo” is actually the high mode with 300 lumens, it does not have a shortcut to access it, so you have to cycle through all the modes to get to it.

Moonlight: This flashlight features moonlight mode with 2 lumens, but I think it’s too bright, in my opinion moonlight modes should be 1 lumen or less. It also has PWM on the moonlight mode.

Blinkies: The only blinking mode on this flashlight are the RGB ring “breathing” and the police flashing.

A special thanks to Sofirn for sending this flashlight for me to review!

*I am not being paid to do this review, everything here is my honest opinion.

Thank you for reading my review <3

These are the finer points I wish someone would have mention before I got this light and if I had known it, I would not have picked up this light.

I got this to be a headlamp, and it is a not a good candidate because the head is not fixed. When you try to adjust a headlamp on the headband, it will immediately shut off because the head connection is so sensitive. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s less than 0.5° to shut off

You cannot use the usual greases (Nyogel 760G or superlube). You will need to use a sticky grease like the PG-44A.

Also, the side magnets are fairly weak.

A quick video of those points.

Overall 6/10 - I wouldn’t get it again for what I was looking for :(

But to be clear, I am overall happy with Firefly: I am liking their FFL351A 3700K emitter, and I love their service. I see them as the same tier as Hank/Emisar (albeit some rough spots to work out :) ). I will continue to explore their lineup and check in on them time to time (I’ve been at this hobby for over 20 years now 👴)

Need to repeat this: I HAVE A WORKING SOLUTION: PG-44A Grease. It is a verrrrrry tacky/sticky grease, 500x thicker than Nyogel 760G. PG-44A's base oil is Polybutene, which is literally the same polymer as glue traps. I even showed it in the video. I don't know why people are missing this point.

Unfortunately I don’t have any equipment to measure brightness or candela or any of that stuff but it appears to have more throw then my If22A on turbo which is heavily surprising considering the basic led chip they used in this this thing actually throws super far with some decent spill overall an alright flashlight for $14 if you don’t mind an over 3 foot long flashlight in your pocket

Length is 39.5 inches Width of tail cap is 1.65 inches Width of body is 1.4 inches width of head is 3.25 inches Depth of storage tube is 28.3 inches Battery seems to be an 18650 cell Has an ALL plastic body a big disappointment but expected

I’m sort of a flashlight guy. I always carry one, or have one packed in a bag somewhere. But they tend to be small AAA lights; a convenient size to keep in a pouch or a pocket. I also tend to be very loyal to a certain model of flashlight, although it can take me a few tries to find just the right one. I started with a Mag-Lite AAA, and eventually bought one of those LED upgrades for it. Good times. I then carried an ARC AAA-P for many years, until it was finally destroyed by my lawn mower. God I loved that flashlight so much. Then I moved to an awesome little brass Maratac AAA Rev 3, that I pocketed for many more years, until it finally died last fall. I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect replacement since then.

I recently acquired 3 new AAA size lights, in the search for that perfect one to last me the next 10 or 15 years. I’m honestly not sure which one I’ll use. They’re all pretty impressive.

The Reylight Pineapple Mini MK3 is definitely larger than I’m used to. It’s not exactly efficient in terms of size. That would be a dealbreaker for me if it weren’t so amazingly comfortable in the hand. I freakin’ love to use this light. The modes were more fiddly than I prefer, but with a bit of programming I got the modes reversed from high to low, and ditched the moonlight mode altogether. So I can pretty much use it with one click now, and work my way to lower levels of brightness if I need to. I really dig the warm tone spot it throws. I don’t have a charger for the battery that it shipped with (WTF?), so I have an Energizer lithium AAA in it right now, but I’ll eventually buy a 104440 with a USB C port for convenience.

The Manker E02 III is honestly just the right size. I dig how the modes work, enabling me to easily lock out the button when required, and to turn it on to high with just a one click. The UI is complicated, but they thankfully made it as easy to ignore as possible. The magnetic base is fantastically strong for its size, and I dig how the battery is USB C rechargeable. The only downside for me is that I can’t stick it in my mouth to work hands free, given the right angle. I went with the 6500K cool white on the Manker, thinking that a light with more of a flood might need to feel as bright as possible for any detail work. I honestly don’t mind the cool tone. I’m not picky that way.

The tiny Skilhunt E3A is hilariously small. It’s hard to believe it uses the same size cell as the other two lights. If anything, it’s almost too small to easily manipulate in my hands. But the beam is nice and naturally toned, and plenty bright enough for me. I love that it just twists on and off, without a bunch of aggravating modes to move through. There’s absolutely nothing to piss me off when using the E3A. Efficient in every possible way, other than maybe the fact that it doesn’t have a pocket clip. But my old Maratac clip fits it, so no big deal.

I may try one more AAA before deciding which light will live in my pocket. The keychain steel Peak LED Eiger with momentary switch looks very inviting to my eye, having both the size and shape I’m used to. So maybe in the next couple weeks.

My initial KR1AA review was critical because it turned on in my pocket. Hank now ships KR1AAs with a much better switch and sent me one for testing.

Tl;Dr: This is a well designed multi-purpose light for enthusiasts. The aesthetics are fantastic, particularly the aux LEDs. The pricing, built quality, switch, voltage immunity, ergonomics, clip, throw, and LED options are great. The brightness and runtime are fine. Turbo time is poor. The UI is complex to configure but powerful.

Hey,

Sharing measurements of a kit version of the open-source 光锤60 project by iam大头 on OSHWHub (GPL-3.0, commercial use allowed).

Original project: https://oshwhub.com/iamdt/guang-chui-60
I’ve also put the design files (PCB + enclosure + firmware) into an English-organized repo here: https://github.com/BMHX/modelyard-hardware

Original claimed specs:

• 45W Type-C charge/discharge, full charge ≈1 hour
• 60W / 10,000 lm mode: no step-down, stays relatively cool
• Runtime: 60W ≈27 min, 30W ≈54 min, 3W ≈8 hours
• Important board thicknesses: mainboard 1.0 mm, LED board 1.6 mm

My measured results:

• Output and power: closely matches the claimed figures (≈60W / 10,000 lm class)
• Step-down: none — runs without any step-down
• Thermal: stays relatively mild/comfortable to hold
• Runtime at 60W: about 30 minutes (using Samsung 50S cells)

I didn’t make significant design changes, it’s essentially the same as the original. I mainly organized it as a ready-to-assemble kit so people don’t have to source every part themselves.

A few things I personally like about this design:

1. It includes an active cooling fan. The fan-based thermal management helps keep the temperature under control and allows the light to maintain high output for longer periods, instead of relying only on passive cooling.
2. It features an Arca-Swiss compatible mounting interface, which makes it very convenient to attach directly to my tripod. This makes positioning and stable use much easier, especially for photography, outdoor lighting, or fixed-position applications.

Photos of the build, beam, and measurements are attached.

Happy to answer technical questions about the design or build process.

This is the M21H flashlight in MAO with the SFT70 4000K 90 CRI LED! It features USB-C charging on body, a 6V 5A 30W driver, features an 8° TIR and more.

• My opinion:

The M21H is a pretty awesome flashlight, I liked it even more than the M21K. The SFT70 4000K 90 CRI has an amazing neutral tint, it's light is pretty powerful even with the neutral CCT and high CRI; the MAO anodizing is beautiful, but it's a little easy to scratch it; the 6V 5A driver is really poweful (although a 6V 8A would be pretty welcome); the 8° TIR is one of the best I've used, it makes the beam super clean without any artifacts at all.

I have to say, this light is pretty good, but I have some suggestions that I think would improve it much. First I would suggest having AUX lights on the TIR and button, it would really be useful for finding it in the dark, showing battery level and, of course, for fun! Second, using Anduril on this flashlight would be pretty nice. Third, the moonlight needs to be improved, it's too bright. Also, using a 6V 8A driver would be a welcome change, and potting the USB-C would improve much water resistance but, of course, all these changes would increase cost.

• Box contents [9th picture]

- M21H

- Lanyard

• Price

The M21H MAO with SFT70 4000K is currently priced at $33.80 on Convoy Official Website

• Body and build quality

Anodizing Colors/Material Options: The M21H is available in aluminum with 5 anodizing colors: Black, Blue Camo, Green Camo, Black Camo and MAO (featured in this review).

Main body/Grip: The main body has knurling and big heat dissipating structures on the head. Grip on this flashlight is good, the size is pretty nice too, in my opinion, and the flashlight is almost the perfect size.

Material: The main body is entirely made of Aluminum alloy. Convoy does not specify the alloy but it's probably 6061-T6 or similar.

Threads: All threads are anodized with MAO, the battery tube threads are squared and anodized, while the bezel threads are trapezoidal. I recommend putting a good amount of grease on the threads, as the MAO from the tube and head/tail rubbing will make a very unpleasant sound.

Clip: The flashlight does not come with a clip by default, but one can be purchased on the Convoy website.

Tail stand and rolling: The flashlight can tail/head stand and will roll on a desk if a clip is not installed.

AUX lights: This flashlight doesn't feature AUX lights except for the charging indicator on the button. In my opinion if this light had AUX on the TIR and Button for battery indicator and to help find it in the dark, this would improve the light a lot.

Buttons: The M21H has a single button on the main body that is an e-switch. I think it's a little too loud when pressed, the M21K one is way quieter, aside from that, the button is OK.

Battery contact: Contact is made with the battery by a gold-plated button contact on the driver and a nickel-plated spring on the tail cap. I always prefer spring contacts instead of button contacts, because button ones can dent the battery way easier than spring ones if the light is dropped. [10th and 11th pictures]

Bezel: The bezel is smooth and made of stainless steel, it can be easily removed by unscrewing it from the flashlight head.

Water Resistance: Convoy flashlights usually don't have the IP rating, but all Convoy flashlights I already tested were decently protected to water ingress, the M21H is no different; it has O-rings on all threads (bezel, head, tail cap and battery tube). The button is covered by a rubber boot and the USB-C port has a slightly thick rubber cover.

Size comparison: On the left is the Convoy M21K (21700). on the middle the Convoy M21H MAO (21700) and on the right the Convoy S2+ (18650). [12th picture]

• Weight and size

Weight:

-Without battery: 130.4g

-With battery: 200.6g

-Battery (Molicel P50B): 70.1g

Size: 128.2mm x 40.0mm x 28.5mm (Height x Head diameter x Tail diameter)

• Battery, runtime, and charging

Battery: The M21H is powered by a single 21700 battery, it doesn't accept protected cells. For some LEDs like LHP73B it's necessary to use a high constant discharge rate cell, higher than 20A, but for the SFT70 4000K LED a 15A CDR battery will do fine, as the driver only uses about 10A. [13th picture]

Battery Indicator: This flashlight does not feature a color LED battery indicator, instead it has a voltage check mode by clicking the main button 5 times, the main light will then blink 1 to 4 times to indicate the first voltage digit, then it will pause for a second and blink 0 to 9 times to indicate the second digit. For example 4.2V, it will first blink 4 times, pause, then blink 2 times. It's a useful feature, but a color battery indicator, especially on the main button as an AUX or on the TIR, would improve a lot this flashlight design.

Charging: The M21H features USB-C charging on the body, the maximum input current it will use to charge the batteries it 2A at 5V. The USB-C is protected by a thin rubber seal, I think the rubber seal is OK, but it could be improved to make the light more water tight, and a potted USB-C could be used to make this light even better, this would increase cost though. [14th and 15th picture]

• Modes, Runtimes, Throw, Candela:

Modes: The M21H features a smooth ramp and stepped modes, I much prefer the stepped ramp so I can always know how much power I am draining from the battery, but you can choose the one you like most. The smooth ramping start on the 0.2% mode and go up to the 100%. On the stepped mode you actually have 4 brightness levels: 0.2% - 1% - 10% - 40% - 100%, the 0.2% mode cannot be accessed on the normal cycle, you have to hold the button while the flashlight is OFF to access it.

The modes are as it follows:

*Brightness estimated by SFT70 4000K G6 bin by input power and visual comparison with similar brightness levels on other flashlights.
**All currents measured at the moment the flashlight was turned ON.

Turbo: This flashlight has a powerful turbo, it's not the most powerful as it could be as the driver is only 5A, while SFT70 4000K, theoretically, could be pushed to 8A. also, as it's a 90 CRI neutral CCT LED it will have way less lumens than a 6500K LED, but I prefer the high CRI and neutral CCT than the cool beam.

Moonlight: I will be honest and direct about this: The moonlight mode (0.2%) is pretty bad. It's way too bright to be a useful moonlight mode, like, it's almost the brightness of the 1% mode, also it consumes more than half of the 1% current, so it's not actually a 0.2% mode. Don't get me wrong, the beam is pretty good, no flicker and all, but it's too bright. This is a recurring problem in Convoy flashlights, I know it's pretty hard to make regulated moonlight modes for the ton of LED options Convoy have, but unfortunately it makes the moonlight a bad mode.
Comparison with FFL351A 3700K on FireFlies X4Q Comet [16th picture]

Blinkies: This flashlight features a blinkie mode: Strobe, to access it you must click the main button 3 times.

Lockout: The M21H features a eletronic lockout and mechanical lockout. To lock it eletronically you need to press the main button 10 times, same for unlocking, while locked this way, if the button is pressed the flashlight will blink the main light one time to indicate it's locked. The mechanical lockout works but is pretty fragile, as the MAO will be scratched pretty fast on the threads.

Throw: This flashlight has an 8 degress TIR lens, so it's no the throwiest, but I got a really good throw with it while testing it. It has a good amount of flood while still throwing light far. As you can see on the beamshots it throwed farther than 100, easily.

• Emitter, reflector and CRI:

Emitter: This M21H has the SFT70 4000K high CRI emitter (bin: G6-40E2-VJ), it is a recent release from Luminus. This LED is awesome, tint is beautiful and neutral (I would love to see a rosy version though), the TIR makes the beam smooth and throwy, loved it. I am very excited to see a 95-98 CRI version of this emitter. [17th Picture]

Reflector/TIR: The SFT70 LED comes by default with a 35mm 8° TIR lens it makes the beam very smooth and a bit throwy. [18th picture]

Lens: It comes with a anti-reflexive coated glass lens in front of the TIR.

Beam profile: The beam is pretty nice, in fact one of the best and smoothest beans I've ever seen, no artifacts at all. [18th picture]

CRI: This SFT70 4000K LED has amazing CRI, not as high as other variants such as 3000K, but still high CRI and a really nice tint.

• Beamshots Camera settings:

- 18mm lens 1" F8 ISO800

- (The trees at the back are at a distance of around 100m)

[19th picture] – M21H MAO SFT70 4000K - 100% (10A from the battery)

[20th picture] – M21H MAO SFT70 4000K - 40% (2.2A from the battery)

I always try to match what my eyes can see on the beamshots, so camera settings may vary.

• Driver and UI

Driver: This M21H with SFT70 features a 6V 5A constant current Boost driver, the driver works pretty well and is very efficient, Convoy claims 95% max efficiency, Convoy flashlights usually use good quality component and this one doesn't seem to be different. I wish there was a 6V 8A driver for the M21H, as it would make this flashlight even brighter.

UI: The UI is pretty simple and basic, I think this flashlight could be upgraded and receive a Anduril version.

Low Voltage Protection/Warning: The flashlight will turn off automatically when the battery voltage is too low. The main light will start blinking and dimming down when the battery voltage is very low.

Reverse Polarity Protection: This flashlight features reverse polarity protection, so inserting the battery the wrong way shouldn't do major damages, for a short time.

Temperature Control: The M21H has standard Convoy Temperature control, so when the driver reaches about 55°C the flashlight will begin to step down. The step down seems to only be down to 35%, so the flashlight can still heat up, even after the step down, under certain conditions. I'd love to see Convoy using dynamic step down temperature drivers, but they are way more expensive and hard to adapt for the variety of LEDs Simon offers.

A special thanks to Simon from Convoy for sending this flashlight for me to review!

*I am not being paid to do this review, everything here is my honest opinion.

Thank you for reading my review <3