[review] Wurkkos WK30 white/red/UV light

And that ’351… :heart_eyes:

Received my second WK30 last week and just in time because they are now out of stock on Amazon US. The only difference between the two is the orientation of the tri-led in relationship to the switch and searching images on the web I have seen both configurations.

The first light has the white led oriented opposite the switch and the second light has the white led oriented near the switch, so one advantage is I can easily tell the two lights apart, but even though there is no functional difference, aesthetically I prefer the first light with the white led oriented opposite the switch because to me it just looks "better balanced" overall from different viewpoints when not being used.

Also read some of the motor vehicle laws for my state and they are very strict regarding vehicle lighting. To be safe and avoid violations, do not shine lights out of your vehicle or ever use a strobe or colored light while on a public road even if you really want to use that freaky Red/White strobe to get though traffic.

I purchased a WK30 today on eBay. Brand new for $25.30 shipped. I have a feeling it will have 395nm UV.

Can’t wait to get it! Looks like fun.

Oh , we have never Authorize for any ebay store, would you mind send me the link for a checking ?

PM sent. Thank you. I appreciate you looking out for us (members on BLF).

Thank you to Wurkkos for looking into my eBay purchase!

It appears that it was just an individual selling a brand new torch they had. I see this quite a bit with pocket knives. As long as the seller has a 100% score, and they accept returns, I feel comfortable buying when the price is right.

I am interested in opinions others may have. These are my findings as a casual observer.

The WK30 in now back in stock on Amazon US. I just received a new WK30 from Amazon which should now have the newer 365 nm UV LED. I also have the older WK30 with the 395 nm UV LED.

There is not much of a difference between the two UV wavelengths in my judgement (assuming my new WK30 does indeed have the newer 365 nm UV LED and my older one is 395 nm UV).

I can consistently tell the difference between the two but only from the hotspot's characteristics. The hotspot on the older WK30 with the 395 nm UV is slightly more defined at the edge of its circumference and is also just slightly brighter overall with a tint containing more visible white light, but the difference is barely perceptible.

In actual use there is even less of a difference. I compared the two visually in total darkness by inspecting US currency, my drivers license and passport, a collection of minerals and petrified objects, various gemstones on jewelry, various rooms and objects inside my house and naturally occurring objects outside of my house.

For me, everything that showed up with the newer 365 nm UV was also visible with the older 395 nm UV and could be noticed just as easily and clearly with the older 395 nm UV. The only difference I could perceive was that the WK30 with the 365 nm UV was visually just slightly dimmer on objects that did not fluoresce which was probably due to it being 30 nm farther away from the visible light spectrum.

However my observations are based on assuming the new WK30 from Amazon did have a 365 nm UV LED and that the older one did have a 395 nm UV LED but I do not have access to any scientific techniques that would independently verify these assumptions are correct and there are not any identifying markings on the WK30 which would indicate the wavelength of the UV LED being used.

Below is an image showing the type of difference I was expecting to see (but did not see) between the two UV wavelengths from this link (however I do not have any Canadian currency):

http://www.diyphysics.com/2012/04/12/telling-apart-365-nm-from-395-nm-ultraviolet-leds-and-flashlights/

Or could it be that you got the 395nm version?

Received the WK30 today. Battery is charging now, can’t wait to start playing around with it in a few hours.

Description states 395nm.

It appears that the newest WK30 lights being delivered from Amazon US (and probably worldwide from other authorized suppliers) will have the newer 365 nm UV LEDs.

The thread linked below compares the newer 365 and older 395 nm UV LEDs and has pictures which can be zoomed into which visually show the differences between the 365 and 395 nm UV LED used in the WK30 (the white colored LED in these pictures is the UV LED):

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/62478

You do not need to take anything apart to compare your UV LED, just looking at the UV LED through the lens with about 10x magnification should show the pattern on the LED which should be different enough based on the pictures to distinguish between the 365 nm and 395 nm UV LEDs.

The older 395 nm UV LED looks sort of like a pin cushion with 41 pin prick holes (five rows of five holes alternating with four rows of four holes).

The newer 365 nm UV looks sort of like this ASCII representation |V| except the sides slope out like this \ / and the V is shorter like this v but wide enough to connect the top ends of the two sides and the bottom of the v does not touch the bottom line. All the lines are connected at their corners but there are two small gaps, one gap is at the point on the bottom of the V and the other gap is in the middle of the bottom line.

The first WK30 I bought has the 395nm. I just received a second one, and it’s 365nm. Very nice, and big improvement with the 365nm variant.

Don’t know how many of the 395nm models are still floating around on the market, but I would contact the seller you want to buy from, and make sure you get a 365nm WK30.

It is a fun torch to have.

Has anyone got an issue that sometimes when I go for a turbo, the light wouldn’t hit the level it normally does. It’s like the brightness jumps up a little from the mid mode, quite equals to when the brightness steps down after 3 minutes of turbo. I have to unscrew and screw back the tailcap so the light can hit a full brightness. But it will happen again at random. I thought it might be due to the low voltage of the battery but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Sounds like dirt/grease somewhere on the contacts. Unscrewing/rescrewing would then “clean” it at least temporarily.

Thank you, Lightbringer. I will try and see how it is.

Lightbringer,
you seem to be a Wurkkos fan. Do you happen to own the Wurkkos Radio Bluetooth Speaker?

I saw some Amazon Questions and reviews saying AM is not “useful”. I wonder what that’s about.

Unno. I got one, and reviewed it, too. I don’t listen to radio (on my old car, I even unscrewed the whip antenna and put a plastic sleeve on the stump to protect the threads just in case), but I did check am/fm/sw and everything worked.

Then again, I’m in NYC and there are no doubt radio stations right close by, so it’s not like I’m out in the sticks somewhere.

Thank you for checking,

The white LED did light up objects quite close to their natural colors.

white led

Does anyone know what type of driver is used for the UV channel? Is it linear, or buck/boost? I’m interested in seeing if the UV can be swapped to an IR LED.

Dunno offhand, never saw pix of the driver, either.

Anyone crack it open yet? :laughing: