Review: XTAR WK25 AA flashlight Q4 3 mode

XTAR WK25

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★


Summary:

Battery: single AA
Switch: tailcap - reverse clicky
Modes: 3, Hi - Lo - Strobe
LED Type: Cree Q4
Lens: Glass
Tailstands: No
Price Payed: given for review by szwholesale
From: www.szwholesale.com
Date Ordered: sent somewhere in april 2011

Pros:

  • Small form factor
  • Excellent build quality
  • Excellent finish
  • Bright compared to UF C3 AA
  • Nice tint
  • Comes with a box with spare orings (both) and a cute neverbefore seen blue tailcap switch silicone cover

Cons:

  • The dreaded strobe mode for those who do not like it
  • Mode memory could be tought differently to not need 5 seconds to activate

Features / Value: ★★★★

XTAR Wk25 it's a elegant non intrusive flashlight made to last. Powers by AA batteries both Nimh or alkalines. Features the quite common 3 mode hi-lo-strobe with built in memory which activates and stores the last mode used if the light is turned off for at least 5 seconds. Comes with spare orings and a !blue! tailcap switch cover all in a nice gift worthy box. Features a Q4 XR-E series emitter. Unsur whats the price on this one i cannot comment on value. Should be sub 30usd or else it's value starts to fade.

Design / Build Quality: ★★★★★

The design is quite simple yet elegant and pleasing to the eye. No crenelated, tactical, striking bezels to speak of which is nice and truly a nonsense on small AA flashlights. Nicely machined and with even anodizing with no imperfections. Just by handling it you know you do not have the usual 15$ worth of AA flashlight in hand. Threads... the head one is good, the tailcap one is pure smoothness. It is so nice that ia screwed and unscrewed it quite many times just for the fun of it. Lens are made of glass and it seems from good one as it is very clear. Looking at the details closel it puts a good impression and probably will last for years. The head contacts in the flashlight are made in an unusual way and will probably not annoy it's user with flickering and would require little to no maintenance at all. Battery does not rattle by using a eneloop. A+

Battery Life: ★★★★

Nothing really fancy here. Tested with a fully charged eneloop AA nimh battery:

High:2290mA

Lo: 610mA

Strobe: you decide (meter showed around 1000mA)

That would make a high mode last a bit less than 1h and the low would be around the 4h+ mark (current draw will decrease over time).

One nice thing is, that this flashlight likes substantially discharged AA batteries which my media center remote likes to reject. And even for a good time! It will eat dry all your AA's that most other equipment refuse to work with!

Light Output: ★★★★

Rated at 104 lumen my eye'o-meter says: Plausible. I compared it to the next similar thing i have at home and that would be the ultrafire SS C3. Guess who is brighter? The XTAR hands down... and with better tint to add insult to injury to the otherwise good SS C3.

The beamshots are quite likeable. Even more so if you take in consideration it has a SMO reflector.

Ceilingshot in bathroom wall 100% dark. 2,4m from floor. Cheap Nikon pocket camera.

A comparison shot! Same bathroom but with a "similar" candidate claiming to be Q5.

Left Ultrafire C3 SS with freshly charged eneloop AA battery

Right XTAR WK25 with freshly charged eneloop AA battery

The Wk25 with "inferior" emitter is a clear winner here. Frankly i tought my UF C3 was good competition for the WK25 but falls quite short with overall brightness and tint.

Summary: ★★★★

Well i like this tiny little black flashlight. The FoyTM was unimpressed but i started to like it soon after handling it more and more. I like it that much that it will replace my SS C3 as my EDC. The only grief is the strobe which could rather be a nice low low mode instead but life aint perfect... The memory mode could be better tought to suit better my taste. These are the only cons the rest is top notch. It comes with a nice box and is ready to gift stock (you might add a battery along). This WK25 should be on a short list when buying a reliable AA only flashligh that will probably last a long time and if you want to impress someone with a gift that can be seen a mile (around 1,8Km for EU) away it was not worth 2 hamburgers and a coke.

My photography leaves alot to be desired i know. For 1000000000x nicer pictures please go to the Foy Wk25 review and drool there. ;)

I would like to thank szwholesale.com for the opportunity to test (and keep testing :D) this flashlight. Thanks. My pocket is now also happy because this WK25 replaced a 5x more heavier pocket flashlight.

Good job.

Interesting yours was provided by szwholesale. Mine came from XTAR. Looks like they sent these out to a lot of people.

Foy

szwholesale = Hongkong XTAR CO., Ltd.(= Shenzhen LED Flashlight).

BTW, shouldn't "price payed" be "price"? It's quite irrelvant what the reviewer may or may not have paid.

Price may vary. The not paid should be there i think just to remind the reader it was sent for review purpose. Does not mean the review is crooked but it is a confirmation that someone thinks its worth to send for review. :)

I like it! This is what an ultrafire C3 should have been, but they failed miserably (the C3 SS is another beast not to confuse, even though it does fall short but it is unfair to compare them anyway)!

Nice review, thanks! Frontpage'd and Sticky'd.

I agree that it's an attractive design, and very high quality. It was going for around $20 on sale. It is perfectly bright enough for my needs.

I really dislike the fact that it can't tailstand, and the "low" mode is far too bright.

Hi Budgeteer,

Are you sure it has a real glass lens? mine got plastic lens in it and no O-ring around the lens actualy, how can it claimed as waterproof? or I've just got some fake one in here.

handy, could you please let me know where did you buy the WK25 from? I will ask XTAR to have a check.

I did not do a scientific test but surely does not feel plastic at all. Would bet it is glass. I like to think i'm able to tell the difference. :)

I got those WK25 from a friend in Hong Kong, and I'm very sure she gave me original products of XTAR

Yup, sure it does'nt feel plastic at all, but it make me curious when knocking on that lens and I scratch it with a needle...hooooo it do scratch easily which is glass would not.

Opened the pill, and it shows no O-ring around lens

I love WK25 design so much, nice tint, great packaging, good form factor, I hope there will be improvement for WK25.

Thank you for your great review Budgeteer you make me found this good flashlights anyway.

Youre welcome.

Thats awhat reviews are for. :)

I like it too! Would prefer though the new model instead as it is able to have modes customized!

I'll check later the lens and the oring thing but i'm sure it will be present. I actually did not open the flashlight head.

The only light XTAR has that features a plastic "lens" is the D02 diving flashlight. Others have coated glass lenses.

Plastic coating on a glass lens?