Wurkkos WK30 "on the job" review

The Wurkkos WK30 has been reviewed before covering the various attributes of the flashlight, but I am approaching this review from the standpoint of using it as a tool to assist in infrastructure inspections that I perform. I work for a large public utility and inspect wastewater systems to ensure that all systems are working as designed, environmental/safety compliance, laboratory compliance and discharge compliance with all applicable federal/state/local regulations. Utility security regulations prevent me from using photographs taken “on the job”, however based on pre-existing reviews, I don’t think I need to re-visit beamshots and pics of that sort.

Main white emitter: The Samsung LH351D 5000K emitter is certainly as good as it has been described. For my purposes, coming from a SK68 Sipik with some sort of Cree 6500K emitter, the color rendering of the Samsung LH351D is a huge improvement in terms of allowing me to see colors as they actually are (not washed out). The not too warm-not too cold 5000K tint is perfect (for me at least) so good on Wurkkos for choosing that tint.The 4 power levels are proportionally spaced and provide sufficient illumination level options. The beam pattern is definitely far towards the floody end of the spectrum with a big hot spot and bigger spill. This is a plus for me as I typically ran my SK68 in full flood mode. So, overall, this flashlight, in the white emitter department is spot on and a big improvement for me.
While on the topic of the white emitter, let’s talk about the strobe function. This model flashlight has a white strobe (and a red one that I don’t use) that has 2 running levels (not adjustable)-fast then slow,fast, then slow repetitively. For my purposes, I occasionally have the need to observe rotating equipment and have used a stroboscope to view the rotating object as stationary when I match the rotational speed to the strobe speed. The WK30 has no ability to increase or decrease strobe speed so it can’t do this for me. As a side note, Anduril firmware light can do this but I don’t think Anduril could ever work in a 3 separate emitter flashlight due to firmware limits.

Red emitter: This functionality offered a pleasant surprise. I typically work in some poorly illuminated areas. In the past, I just viewed areas in front of me that were illuminated by my flashlight. Today, in a poorly lit area, I decided to give the red light a try. I was amazed at the improvement in my ability to see everything around me while areas that were illuminated were even more visible of course. I had heard of the red light’s ability to preserve night vision but honestly had zero experience prior to today as this is my first “real” light with a red emitter. All I can say is “wow”, what a big positive difference. Now I can see everything around me 360 degrees and not just what I’m shining the light on. The 3 red light intensity levels are evenly spaced and the highest level is actually too much I found, but it’s good to know it has spare power.

UV emitter: My light came with the newer 365nm wavelength emitter. I have a few inspection applications for this guy. Periodically, we perform dye studies to:
Examine water flow through specific unit processes
Look for cross connections
Look for leaks in infrastructure and subsurface waste disposal systems.
Quantify travel time through individual unit processes and the plant.

We use a variety of dyes for this purpose, some just for color to be seen by naked eye and others that fluoresce that we typically use with a fluorometer for quantifying purposes or just better precision. Though we’re not doing any dye studies now or anytime soon, I stopped by our laboratory to play around with some fluorescent and non-fluorescent dyes. The blue ones we had around definitely “popped” better than the red and green ones, but all the fluorescent dyes were color apparent under the UV when no color was present under ambient lighting. The result was impressive compared to the CFL type portable UV light we were using for field use. I tried taking a few pics (that I can’t share) but to be honest, the phone camera pics were underwhelming so no loss. The high setting in the UV was the most effective as one would expect. So overall, this is a big plus for improving my ability to track fluorescent dye flows in the field without a fluorometer.
A second UV application at my job is doing a cursory laboratory inspection including overall housekeeping. The high setting definitely made it easy to identify all areas that needed better cleaning-especially compared to our old cheesy UV light. Even the lab techs were grossed out but impressed with the WK30 UV capability to spot the bench top schmutz and wanted to know more about the light.

Summary: The WK30 hits nearly all the marks for what I need in an inspection flashlight with it’s beautiful white emitter, better than I had UV emitter and red emitter (that I never knew I needed) but do need. A minus is its inability to vary the strobe frequency, but that’s asking alot. AFAIK only Anduril has that, and as I mentioned, I don’t think Anduril would run on this light. I had a tall order to fill asking this light to do many things for me on the job, and it hits nearly all the marks. I will definitely be using it as my on the job light. Even if I didn’t use it at work, it’s definitely a good model for a flashlight hobbyist or military person as it covers the need for a good wavelength (365nm) UV light, powerful red led light and just happens to have a beautiful Samsung LH351D white emitter with 90+ CRI and a perfect (to me at least) 5000K tint all in 1 package with a long lasting 26650 battery. I just might just need a second one of these for the camping box.

Yep, it’s a hoot!

I got it thinking it’d just be a gimmick light, but I still haven’t gotten tired of it.

:person_with_crown: :person_with_crown:

You guys twisted my arm into getting my WK30 out and playing with it. Mine has just been a shelf queen. It’s time I put it to some real use. Thanks.

I got… I think 3 of ’em, all the older ones. Reviewed one and got another as a spare, got a third one intending it as a gift but after “fishing around” as far as ideas and got a funny look at suggesting a flashlight, kept that one for myself as well. :laughing:

They’re too handy to not have at least one.

I’ve been interested in the possible uses this light has, and this review (amazing writeup by the way) has cleared up a lot of questions with how this light is actually used or for what purpose it was designed for.

Looks like it was designed for pros, and enthusiasts like me. :smiley:

Thanks Dirty Water Guy! I enjoyed reading that!

thanks for the review :person_with_crown:

I’m using mine now. The red is 620nm which is good for health. I installed a filter for the UV to get rid of white light. I changed the LH351D to 6500k with a minusgreen. It’s now a neutral 5700k. I took the 5000k for another flashlight.

How so?

My first red laser therapy machine was Bewell device made in Germany. That’s about $1000 USD. You can watch the videos from YouTube about this device. Past years it’s been replaced by cheaper red LED. It’s call “red light therapy”. You can use it for hair loss, muscle pains, acne

Is this the same wavelength?

There’s a range of wavelengths if you Bing “red light therapy”. I don’t memorize stuff like this.

How disappointing :stuck_out_tongue: