“REVIEW”: Astrolux EC03 – 3 x SST40 – USB-C – 21700 – +5000 lumens – Anduril [PIC HEAVY]


Hi BLF!

This is my review of the Astrolux EC03, green version!
The flashlight was won in a GAW organized by freeme, to whom I thank, sponsored by Astrolux/Banggood and 1thedeals.com !

I’ve done the vídeo review a while ago, but only now I was able to do the written review ,mostly because I wanted to take some outdoor beamshots to show what this light is capable of!

The EC03 can be bough on Banggood, here (non-affiliated): Astrolux EC03

So, take a look at it below!


GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS
Body Colour: Green ( also available in black and brown )
Material: Aluminium + Stainless Steel bezel
Emitters: 3 x SST40 5000K ( also available in 6500K, and 3 x XHP50.2 6500K )
Reflector: Triple Smooth Reflector
Lens: Glass, Non-AR Coated
Battery: 1 x 21700 / 1 x 18650 (with adapter tube)
Charging: USB-C
Switch: Electronic Side Switch
Max runtime: NA
Max beam distance: +300m
Max output: 1200 lumens
Candela: NA
Waterproofness: Equivalent to IPX8
Impact resistance: 1m
Low Voltage Warning: Yes
Reverse Polarity Protection: Yes


PACKAGE: Flashlight and Accessories

The Astrolux EC03 was kindly sent by Banggood after communication with freeme to choose the prize. It arrived within around a month, in the mid January.

Inside the box – carboard, Astrolux branded, with sticker on the side informing about the type of LEDs - I found: Astrolux EC03 flashlight, 1 battery tube adapter, a USB to USB-C charging cable, a lanyard, 2 spare o-rings and the User Manual.


THE FLASHLIGHT

This is my first Astrolux flashlight, so I didn’t know what to expect when I got it. I must say, I was impressed.

The EC03 model is a relatively ergonomic and compact model in terms of length, although with a large head to hold its three LEDs.

I’ll try to detail it some more:

  • a good overall design that provides a good grip and activation with the thumb or even index fingers

- nice smooth anodizing in green, without any imperfections or marks

- stainless steel bezel with some grooves/protuberances that can be seen as for “attack” or to…let the Light pass through the grooves while the head is against a surface

- cooling fins on the head, that are not very deep, but that are needed to provide some cooling as this light may get HOT

- the front side has the rubber switch button that protrudes enough to find it through the touch, and the back side has the USB-C charging port protection, that provided a good grip contrast

- the switch can be lighted in green, working as LED indicator, both with the flashlight ON and/or OFF

- glass lens above the triple smooth reflector, being the lens NON AR coated, which is good to avoid greenish tint shifts

- 3 perfectly aligned Luminus SST40 5000K Leds, under a “flawless” reflector

- “large” pineapple knurling on the battery tube that doesn’t affect the grip negatively

- it can be disassembled in 3 major parts: head, battery tube and tailcap

- driver has a big brass button to make contact with both flat or button top batteries

- battery tube is non-reversible, with different types of threading on both sides, all machined well, and it has 2 sealing o-rings, one in each side

- tailcap has 2 lanyard holes outside and inside it has double springs, a thinner one below/inside thicker one; the PCB can be removed/replaced

As I mentioned before, although being a compact flashlight in length, it is a bit heavy towards the front of it.
Using a 21700 battery, which is recommended, will put some more heavy on it, but I didn’t find it uncomfortable to carry or to use… But you’ll need large pockets indeed to carry it!

As for the ergonomics and usability, this is a great light to be used with a side switch! It fits really well in the hand both to provide thumb or index activation, in “walk” or in an “attack” mode too (this one not portrayed in the photos)!

THE ACCESSORIES

Let’s start by the lanyard and the o-rings. Not much to say about these.
I can only tell that this flashlight deserves a better lanyard, and I will pick some paracord and do it some day :wink:

The USB to USB-C charging cable has around 1m. It can be easily plugged in on the charging port of the EC03.

I can advance that:

  • when charging the switch button will be RED

- when the charge is completed, the charge will be GREEN

- you can use the charging cable in the head of the flashlight without the battery and tube/tailcap

- if you use it this way on a low level, the switch will be GREEN

- if you use it this way in a higher/ramped level, the switch will be RED

NOTE: I do not recommend “charging” the flashlight and use it without the battery inside, as I don’t know if it can do any harm to the circuits!

The battery tube adapter is made of thick plastic. It is done to fit an 18650 battery, to prevent it from rattling inside the flashlight.
In the photos below I was using a Sony VTC6 18650 and a Vapcell T50 21700 as examples.

NOTES:

- High drain cells are (> 20A) are recommended

  • Shorter unprotected flat top 18650 may not fit/work (the Sanyo GA and the Sony VTC6 I tried didn’t work)

The User Manual brings almost all the information needed to operate this flashlight which has the Anduril firmware implemented.
I will not enter in details, but will post some photos (meh…) of the user manual here. Some versions of it are available online in case you want to read/take some doubt.


In this sequence I will already write that Anduril provides the possibility to use:
a) Smooth ramping, in which by pressing & holding one can ramp up from 1 to X000 lumens
b) Stepped ramping, in which one can define between 2 and N levels and go up and down through those modes
c) Access to Turbo
d) Access to Blinky modes
e) Lock-out
f) Temperature configuration and others
g) Muggle mode
h) Momentary Mode

In the case of the Astrolux EC03 I will only emphasize the possibility to activate the side switch as LED indicator

- From OFF, when locked: click 3 times to alternate between the different states: no light > dim light > strong light > blinking light

- From OFF when unlocked: click 7 times to alternate between the different states: no light > dim light > strong light > blinking light

Currently I have mine configured, when locked or unlocked, to be on “dim light” led! Is good enough to find it in the dark if needed, without having too much parasitic drain.


FLASHLIGHT COMPARISON

Just to give you a notion of the size of this EC03 flashlight when compared with others:

Vs Fireflies ROT66 GEN II

Vs On The Road i5 and Olight Warrior Mini

Vs Convoy S2+ and Wuben TO50R


BEAMSHOTS

And now, just let it shine!
This is where this flashlight conquered me the most! If on the one side I actually like the beam at close distance, without major shifts or artifacts (except o the lowest modes, eventually), on the brightest it goes far and put a LOT of light!

Of course, you don’t have the temperature limit configured, it will probably get too hot, but still, it is not impossible to be held in the hand.

There is no visible PWM on the light. The beam seems a 3 leaf shape when put close to a surface. There is some shift at that distance and low level as mentioned before.

Now some outdoor beamshots!



Compared with my other “beast” flashlight, the Amutorch AM30 with XHP70.2 and deep SMO reflector (on the right)!


For these beamshots I opted to have 4 modes, with the lowest and the highest levels configured, + Turbo, in a total of 5 “shots”.

More than 150m!

And now my improvised “diffuser” made from a bulb! It is helpful given that this light allows to have very low modes, and also candle mode, and that it takes a 21700 5000mAh battery, which can last…a while :smiley:


OVERALL APPRECIATION

I was definitely impressed with this Astrolux EC03 flashlight, both for the form factor and the output it can produce.

And honestly, even not saying it is flawless or that it cannot be improved in some aspects, I wouldn’t have any major recommendation about it!

I guess being the first Astrolux, the first SST40 and the first triple reflector light I have, is something new, so I don’t have others to compare it with.

The performance seems to be good, as is the ergonomics. A bit less weight in the front would be nicer though :smiley:

I’ll also leave my video review below, which I did when the flashlight arrived:


GLAM PHOTOS

And last but not least, some “glam” photos :wink:


Thanks for looking! :+1:

Nice! I really like mine in sst40 also. I’m convinced that Sofirn built this one for Astrolux/Banggood. Never got around to thoroughly testing it though. Did you do tests on lumens and throw? I may do that later and post results here.

Agreed on OEM: Diamond knurling (a la “Thorfire”), Wurkkos/Sofirn button and retaining ring design, similar appearance and overall design to Wurkkos TS30.

I agree, this light needs to be in our inventory.

It’s a very nice all around light. No, you don’t get 6000 or something lumens out 9f it, but it’s plenty bright and I like the tint and extra throw quite a lot more than the 50.2 version, which is still only available in 6500-7000k.

Thank you Sirstinky :wink:
I don’t know about the factory/company who made it but, yes, this an the EC01 have the same knurling pattern as some Thorfire flashlights. Maybe they share services or something.

About lumen and throw/candela measurements, I can’t do that, not with accuracy at least.
I can tell that, comparing it with the Amutorch AM30 (+4000 lumens), it is probaly brighter (even if it doesn’t reach the 6700 lumens of the XHP50.2), but not as throwier as the AM30 (which goes 400m at least). I would say that the max range is somewhere between 150m and 300m.
On that night there was some moist in the air which blocked some longer range visibility.

If you do some measurements, feel free to post them here :wink: And thank you!!!

I would say you wouldn’t be disappointed :wink: It was a really nice surprise, I can tell!
As Sirstinky said, it is a good all around light, dim enough for close ranges, bright enough for longer ones (even if not a thrower).

About the tint of the SST40, i can tell that it is not unpleasant at all! I guess if it was a SST20 in 5000K it would be green AF!

I forgot to make a tint comparison, but I will do some beamshots later and will post them here to compare how it looks like :wink:

As promised above, here is a tint comparison between the Astrolux EC03 SST40 5000K (always on the left) and some other flashlights with different LEDs.

Vs Convoy S2+ XML2 U2-1A 65000K (OP reflector)

Vs Olight M2R Warrior XHP35 HD ~5500K (OP reflector)

Vs Fireflies ROT66 Gen II 12x Luminus SST20 5000K (TIR optic)

Vs Wuben TO50R 4x Samsung LH351D 5000K (TIR optic)

Vs Convoy S6 3x Luxeon V 4000K (TIR optic)

Vs Convoy S2+ 3xLuxeon V2 3000K (TIR optic)

What do we get from here?
1 - EC03 has some but less tint shift than the ROT66 and the M2R Warrior, and the shift is more on the “yellowish” side, than on the “greenish”
2 - even having 3 leds, it has a defined hotspot, also a defined corona and then a defined layer which of spill
3 - although not being as pleasant as the LH351Ds on the TO50R, it is a pleasant Neutral White beam (evenif without High CRI)
4 - I don’t know about the 6500K version, but this is surely pleasant to be used indoor and outdoors!

:+1:

One thing I just noticed and that proves that I didn’t read the User Manual as I should: when the flashlight is ON, the switch led is ON too, but it’s brightness will correspond to the level of brightness you are in.

Ex: if you start ramping from the bottom, it will be dim; but above a certain level, the switch led will be stronger. I don’t know how I missed it :person_facepalming:

It seems that this is not changeable for the ON situation, only for OFF, as mentioned in the review.

Here are some output figures I collected for the EC03 5000k SST40x3.

I used a Samsung 30T 21700 charged on the built-in charging (around 4.18 volts). The lumen measurements were done in my 30 cm integrating sphere with professional lux meter calibrated using a Makkua light. I used Andruil’s default 7 stepped modes. I also calibrated the ambient temperature and thermal limit before the test.

1: 5.52 lumens
2: 32.4 lumens
3: 89.7 lumens
4: 224.25 lumens
5: 668.6 lumens
6: 1449 lumens
7: 2752.5 lumens
Turbo (at turn-on): 5,037 lumens

That’s pretty good! The modes are well-spaced also. I measured the current at the tail cap using a 30T and my clamp meter with a short piece of 12 gauge wire. Turbo was 21.7 amps at 0 seconds, so each emitter is being driven at roughly 7 amps which I think is the best balance of output and heat production. BTW, the EC03 manages heat well. The large head soaks up heat well and cools off quickly as well.

For throw measurements I tested the light indoors at 5 meters. I used the UNI-T UT383S lux meter and tested turbo at 0 seconds and 30 seconds for all you ANSI people.

85,025 cd, 583.18 meters at turn on
80,400 cd, 567.09 meters @ 30 sec.

Looking good! This is the first time I’ve done any formal testing of the EC03, so I’m pretty impressed with it. I beat Banggood’s figure for throw (but not lumens). Overall, this is a great pocketable light!

Thanks for your data Sirstinsky!
I posted this elsewhere as approximate current measurements on a 4.07V Vapcell T50 battery:

1 – 0.02A
2 – 0.11A
3 – 0.31A
4 – 1.82A
5 – 5.71A
6 – 11.51A
7 – 19.85A
Turbo – 20.01A

I really like this light! Will take it with me for the weekend at my parents, at the village and have some fun with it :beer:

Oh, and I just charged a cell in the flashlight and the green light appeared at 4.19V :wink:

Awesome. :+1: the battery charges to 4.18 to 4.19 volts and does a bonafide 2 amps to boot. The USB tester I used shows slightly under, but that’s due to the buck regulator on the charging circuit. A great light from Astrolux/Sofirn!

Roughly how long does it take to charge the cell using the inbuilt charger?

Hum, I know I checked that once but didn’t register it :zipper_mouth_face:
My 21700 cells are not “empty” currently so I cannot test it, but as soon as I can do that, I will write here :+1: