Review WowTac A2 Headlamp (formerly Atactical)

Thank you.

Great review robo819!!! … Thorough & informative.
Thanks for sharing. :slight_smile:

Thanks Teacher ……. as always glad to do the reviews

Your welcome robo819…… :+1:

I believe that everyone that buys this light is going to be surprised by the good quality for the price.

Thanks for a great review, robo819.

Thanks jack……glad to do the review.

I agree about the quality. I think this light will match many in its class costing double the amount easily.

H03 cost 32$ .It has boost driver, clips, magnet, lanyard,twice more lumeen, smaller, lighter.
So I think 20$ is right price for this light.

I just bought the A2S version of this light for biking and camping duty and I have to say it really does well for both.
The light has a great balance of throw and flood that makes it up to the task for both activities.

In biking mode it does quite well in high mode for lighting up the road ahead (~450 lumens) and if it lasts anywhere close to 4.5 hours claimed it will easily go a week of work commute evening rides before requiring a charge. In a pinch, the turbo mode provides amazing lighting as well.

For camping/around the house the hotspot coronoa isn’t too bad in the lower settings and the output levels are pretty well spaced out to be used for up close duty. I found the headband holster to be passable for comfort - I don’t feel it too much when its on, but once I take it off I do notice a nice temporary indent on my forehead!

Some other notes:

  • The warm white isn’t too warm, and stikes a nice balance compared to some other warm lights I’ve used.
  • The battery compartment and contact springs are definitely tuned to accomdate the larger protected 18650 usb rechargeable battery it came with. If you use an unprotected 18650 that is smaller the light will shut off due to not enough pressure on the contacts.
  • The standard smooth reflector is much nicer in practice than an upclose beamshot will indicate. Upclose it has a somewhat squarish beam hotspot, but in practice this is not noticeable and I find it to be very useful.

For $29.99 with a 3400mah protected USB rechargeable 18650, this light has crazy value and checked off all the requirements for a light that I need for biking/around the house/camping. Will have to see overtime how reliable it is as it will be my go to light.

Does the A2 tail stand?

As you can see in the OP (picture showing the video) the tailcap is flat. If you take the light out of the holder it will tail stand fine , but it is also a 90 degree head as it is a headlamp.

Thank you!

Don’t mean to ask a question you probably answered. But I’m heavily invested in sony vtc6 batteries for vaping which are flat top. Do you think those would be problematic “fit wise” in this light?

I’ve just spent a couple hours researching this light and I want it to work with the batteries I already carry everyday.

Thanks

The A2 will not work with any of the flat tops. It even goes off and / or blinks with the unprotected High Drain cells if given a decent bump. Anything shorter than a Panasonic Protected is just not gonna work in this one I am afraid.

FWIW, I’ve been using flat top Samsung 30Qs with no issue in the A2S. Those are also my vape batteries. In fact, I purchased this light to replace a spare battery holder for my vape (not much bigger and way more useful). I should also mention that I have never installed the included (longer) battery in the A2S. I forgot that it came with one until reading this. That could be the reason I’m not having issues with shorter batteries. If it’s just a matter of pressing the springs down too much with the longer battery, though, that seems easily fixed.

The 30 Q is one cell I don’t have , so I don’t know if they are slightly longer maybe than most flat tops?
Have you tried bumping the light at one end or the other or shaking your head side to side with them?
If they work good then by all means use them but…………

I just tried the LG HE4 , LG HG2 and the Efest purple (all flat tops) in my A2S again , just to be sure…… and with all of those a bump on one end or the other of the light , or even a good shake of my head and the light blinks or goes off completely.

They all let the light come on and stay on , as long as there is not any big bump or shake to the light though.

EDIT: Also just rechecked with the LG HE 4 Button Top and the Efest Purple Button Top………Takes a little harder bump , but still the light blinks and / or goes off with those.

Wow, the battery really rattles when I shake it. Stayed on, though. If I slam the tailcap into the palm of my hand pretty hard, as if I were clapping for something that I genuinely enjoyed, the light goes off. For a quick and sloppy experiment, I stuck an additional spring on top of the existing one and was unable to duplicate the problem. No more rattle either. Given this, I think I’m going to swap out the spring with something a little more robust. I haven’t encountered any problems with this light in actual use, but this seems like a good preventative measure. I can’t believe that I hadn’t already noticed how much the battery rattled.

I don’t have any vtc6 batteries, but my 30Qs do appear to be about a millimeter longer than some older Sony batteries that I have. Half a millimeter longer than my eFest.

Edit: I tried the same as above with the shorter Sony battery and the light became more sensitive to bumps and shakes. However, problem was still solved with additional spring. A 4mm spacer between spring and battery achieves the same effect.

Thanks alot for the detailed feedback!
Right now I’m stuck between the Wowtek A2s neutral light and the Zebralight h600w Mkiii…I’ve gotten lost in the black hole of decision.

This review cost me 20 bucks :smiley:

Now gonna take a look at the TH-10

If you had to grab just one ???

I am amazed with this light for 20 bucks. I got the switch cap to unscrew and I stopped, I will wait a bit before trying to open it anymore, tho the bezel does lookk like it might screw in.

In moon mode 0.00 Amps was measured. Is there any way to measure the parasitic drain in microAmps?