Are Wuben flashlights worth the High Prices?

Compared to Convoys and Sofirms, they seem very expensive.

What about them justifies the price, besides their cost of advertising?

Depends on model. I am really impressed with my E05, as it was quite rare for 14500 flashlight to achieve 900lm+ stock back in 2018.

I wouldn’t trust Wuben internal charging. Originally the C3 dangerously overcharged, and the two I got recently from Amazon both undercharged to 3.8V. Doesn’t inspire confidence in the electronics.

I just ordered some Wuben diving lights. From my understanding they come out of the same factory/company that makes Sofirn so they should be a more refined Sofirn or glorified Sofirn. Which in theory should be a good thing. I’d like to see some warmer tints available though. For me I’m waiting till mine arrive to cast judgement. But Sofirn is a great company to do business with, they stand by their products.

When on sale with 20 to 30% discount off normal price I think they are really good value quality light. At least E05 and TO46R.

Also we are spoiled with Convoy price to quality ratio. Sofirn too, many brands charge MUCH more than Wuben for pretty average lights. Edit is it Wuben or Wurrkos paired with Sofirn?

I think Wurkkos is Sofirn

I am not 100% sure, but I would say they have no relation at all!
Wuben has been around since 1981, while Sofirn is still a “baby”!

Wuben and PeetPen are related though!

As for the OP question, I have several Wuben lights and my main complaints are:

- LED tints offered (normally CW)

  • UI in different lights, which is not my favourite

Their boost drivers in light such as the T70 and the TO50R are something gorgeous, and most of the lights have good efficiency.

Their annodizing and machinig has been flawless in my experience!

Concerning moddability, their drivers are not that easily moddable. As for the LEDs, most of them are easily accessible.

Also, they seem to provide good CS. My TO50R had a problem in charging and I sent it to their factory in Chine. The light was fixxed and will arrive within the next days.

I have been very happy with the wunen I have. Excellent quality.

they are made pretty well, i have reviewed 2 of them

i would not call them advanced in any way, especially UI sophistication

I have just one Wuben model, the Wuben E19UV. It’s a nice 2xAAA UV penlight.

The black one is currently on sale for $20 on Amazon.

I have the purple one and I’m very pleased with it. I also had a good experience communicating with customer service regarding a shipping issue.

Wubens like the TO46R high-CRI 4000K are f’n amazing. Wish I would’ve gotten another one, Just In Case.

The E05 is a kick-ass little light, but the UI just pisses me off. Click on and press’n’hold to turn off. Or for turbo, press’n’hold to turn on, and click off. Wtf?!? It’s like Micro$oft designed the UI.

There was something about the E01 that bugged me, but I can’t remember what. I just don’t use any of the few I got. May’ve gifted 1-2, don’t even remember.

I did get a bunch of the E-series keychain/necklace lights when GB was blowing them out. Those were well worth it. Simple 2-stage twisties, beautiful designs.

But I never ever bought any full-price, only when on a steep sale, discontinued, and/or maybe 1-2 secondhand.

Then again, I don’t treat my lights like the Samsonite gorilla treats luggage, so I never had any reliability problems, but that’s not saying much. Gotta ask someone who abuses lights on a daily basis to see if they can handle it.

My main experience is with the E05, have a few. Love the boost drive, hate the UI and emitter choice and good fit and finish. LEDs are easy to swap. So far nothing about their line has made me buy more.

Really a fan of Convoy, the Emisar and FW lines.

I have just got my first Wuben from the BLF’s group buy of the E6. The so-called “small light cannon” is good and powerful. And it comes with a nice 920 mAh 14500 battery. But I would say it is still slightly more expensive than a comparable Sofirn or Astrolux.

The issue with the E01 is the double click for SOS is way too easy to activate while switching modes. Also the crappy ringy beam from that tiny SMO reflector.

No, that would result in a flashlight with its entire surface area covered in oversized buttons, including one labelled “On” to turn it off. It would also flash advertisements in Morse code each time you turn it on, such as “This flashlight will work better and safer with Wuben batteries!”.

Lately, there was something strange going on at Amazon.de. They sold many of their models with discounts of 70-90%. Yes, I am not kidding. Most discounted lights were offered for less than EUR 10,-. Unfortunately, I missed the T046R discount (approx. EUR 12,- for the light).

Most Wuben lights are like a tank, extremely sturdy and heavy for their size. Their anodizing can match with Acebeam and is superior. I agree, their UI and their limitation to coldwhite emitters is a downside but apart from that I cannot complain at all. I cannot image that Wuben and Sofirn are affiliated in any way.

I agree with SB‘s words, lol. But I could also imagine that…

  • you need to connect your Wuben flashlight to the internet™ once every 30 days as otherwise it will stop working (because they™ think they need to protect you from evil things out there)
  • at least 15 new bugs…uhm…sorry features will be installed with every update (which is mandatory of course)
  • your Wuben flashlight always works in a telemetrics-mode, sending back your „user experience“ to their™ servers. Professional users (firemen, policemen, <you-name-it>) can disable that feature for a monthly rate of $ 19.99. Users who bought Microsoft Office 365 are eligible to a discounted rate of only $ 15.99/month.
  • their flashlight controllers would detect any third party firmware flashed onto the chip, resulting in an immediate „bricked-mode“ a.k.a. BSOD (blue screen of death).

Oh, what did I start… :person_facepalming: :laughing:

I noticed any time an “update” needs installing, M$ deliberately breaks things to “encourage” you to update. Ie, things just go to $#!+ until you try rebooting, and whaddya know, the only option is “update and shut down” or “update and restart”.

Not quite subtle.

And I mean actually breaks things. Can’t connect to websites, speeds slow down to a crawl, can’t connect to your vpn anymore, etc.

Given the choice between a M$ flashlight and a book of matches, I think I’d take the matches.

Of course! This was an obvious one. :smiley:

And this is what comes when you order a Linux flashlight (ask me how I know) :wink: