Wurkkos TS21 - Non-expert review

This is my non-expert review of Wurkkos TS21. You will not find a lot of technical details like the expert members usually add, but I have tried to cover what I feel when using this light.

Build Quality is amazing as expected from Wurkkos/Sofirn family. I have had multiple lights by them, I personally think the Wurkkos brand is higher quality and looks better built. The package is very compact with all the standard accessories and a very well written user manual. It contains the light, lanyard, oring, clip, charging cable and literature. Don’t forget to remove the insulation paper before using.

Picture of the package with contents (click for full size image) -

The light comes apart in 3 pieces and the tube is reversible. Anodizing is high quality and the square threads are well built.

Head with the button contact -

Tail cap with magnet and quality spring -

Reversible tube, that ribbed knurling looks awesome-

The light has a slightly crenulated bezel, enough to notice if its running when kept head down position.

Magnet in the tail is very strong and holds the light well at all angles.

I have an FW3A XPL HI which is similar profile and I found this very comparable to it. Its impressive that even with the bigger battery and inbuilt charging, the size difference is not very substantial in length.

Here is the picture showing size comparison -

Here is the picture of the optic, again compared with the FW3A. I wish it used the standard carlco optics, the stock optics are good but carlco looks so much better.

The tint I got was 4000K and its really good, they have other tints available as well. I compared the tint with my XPL-HI FW3A and Nichia 219 and it is very smooth. You can check the pictures, from left to right - Massdrop Copper Tool with Nichia 219, Wurkkos TS21 4000K and FW3A with XPL-HI 3A.

Overall conclusion is I love this light and I dont mind having it in my EDC rotation. The size is a tad bit bigger than I prefer but with the fall/winter jacket season coming up, I might just start using it. The onboard charging was pretty good and my cheap DMM showed it charged till 4.18v which is pretty good. The overall package is pretty impressive and I think it will make a great gift for someone. The included manual will help even a layman to understand the Anduril advanced and fun features with the light offers.

You don’t have a problem with how fast it ramps down? This is my biggest issue with this otherwise nice light.

No did not feel so, but maybe because its Anduril UI which I am used to already? You can also use the stepped ramp instead of smooth ramp if you prefer.

I meant how quickly it ramps down from thermal protection.

I just ordered the FC11 a couple days ago, the next day I saw the TS21. Might return the FC11 and order this one instead. Just looking for an inexpensive truck light that won’t bother me if it gets messed up.

FC12 impressed me a lot more than the TS21.

Is that the dual button light? Don’t care for those and was looking for something with a magnetic tail.

Yes, dual button.

Oh my bad, I did not realize you meant the thermal protection. Yes, it does go down pretty fast. Well most of the lights with so much power and smaller body do that. I don’t have a use case where I need to use the turbo for longer time, so not a problem for me.

To get the most out of it, don’t forget the thermal calibration option in anduril settings.

Dumb question but ….because of thermal regulation turbo would last only seconds on a summer evening ?

Quoting the review from 1lumen.com :

’’‘’After the initial drop from 3300 lumens, it’s basically a 200-lumen flashlight, comparable to an AA flashlight. You really need to bump that Max Temp, to something about 55 or 60 degrees.’’’’

this doesn’t sound good at all. I haven’t used Andruil before but am I right that it would take something like 70 clicks in precise order to change the thermal setting ?

I set my ambient temp @ 18 clicks ~ 64.4°F
Then set thermal protection ceiling (30 clicks, 86°F from factory) + 40 clicks
(30) + 40 = 70 clicks ~ 158°F

Factory ceiling setting is 60 clicks ~ 140°F

Setting ambient temp just a bit low, and the ceiling 10 clicks higher, can fool the ATR into letting turbo run a bit longer.

Thanks timbo….

I haven’t decided on the light quite yet. I’m trying to figure out the midlevel runtime vs some other lights. (Sofirn SP35 says 400lm for 7 hours for example).
It is enjoyable shopping though.

Can you explain? There is no button on the tailcap.

He's talking about the Wurkkos FC12.

No this doesn’t sound good at all.

I don’t have this light, but such a drop sounds like from a 8-emitter single 18650 light, not a 3-emitter 21700 light. It’s either the OOF step down temp is wayy too aggressive, or the internal heat dissipation is poorly designed, or both.

Tweaking the step down temp will help, at the cost of surface temperature, of course. For example after I tweaked the step down temp on Emisar DT8 from OOF 45C to 68C, it’s capable of not stepping down at 5/7 (~1500 lumens) for 10 minutes straight, in uncooled 24C indoor testing. However you may use this to enhance performance only if the internal heat dissipation is properly executed in the first place. Other wise it won’t help all that much.