Wurkkos TS30S + monster LED SBT90.2 = $60 4750lm 1km SUPER-Thrower. Comparison w/ TS30S Pro & other lights incl. the :-) insane 13000 lm Nightwatch Valkyrie. (Summary & measurements on P. 1)

I swapped SFH55 in my TS30S. Very nice.

Thermal Calibration: First time using the Wurkkos was a disappointment. Turbo was bright but within seconds the light stepped down, and not only that, the step-down was to a very dim level. From past experience with Wurkkos TS21, I checked the light’s thermal sensor and lo and behold it was reading 36 C when the ambient temp was 21 C. The sensor was off by an unprecedented 15 degrees C. (Assuming linear relationship, this means that when the internal temp is 30 C, the flashlight thinks it is 45 C and shuts down.) I have other Anduril lights and usually found temp to be off by a few degrees, but never this much (what happened to QC?). At any rate correction was easy enough using the Anduril 1’s menu.

Max Thermal Limit: To further prevent premature step-down from Turbo level, I also increased the temp at which ATC (automatic temperature regulation) kicks in. Factory default is 45 C, so my first try was 60 C. At this level, Turbo stayed on longer than all other lights I have, but the Wurkkos became too hot to touch. Next try was 50 C limit, and behavior is now perfect. Step downs from Turbo is not too early, nor too late. About same time as IF22a for example (a few minutes). Light does not become too hot, and brightness and throw remains off-the-chart stunning for a “smallish” light :slight_smile: :+1: .

Pic of the large and beautiful smooth reflector:

2 Thanks

Once brightness gets to a certain super-high level for this particular host (or I guess any host for that matter), it appears the limitation is solely how fast you could drain the heat. Any more brightness would probably cause either
a. light becomes too hot or
b. step down becomes too fast and/or too dim.

What’s interesting to me about Anduril is that if manufacturer drops the ball and doesn’t use it properly, then Anduril is not necessarily a good UI. When users are not nutty hobbyists I could easily see the light being returned. OTOH I am thankful for Anduril because one I love its flexibility and choices, and two, as seen with the TS30S, I could tailor the light to behave exactly how I want it to. I am glad I could find an ideal max thermal limit of 50 C. It’s lighting up EVERYTHING lol - near field (from the bright spill) and far field (intense hotspot); some of the most fun with flashlight I’ve had.

BTW still very cheap on Wurkkos site Wurkkos TS30S USB C Rechargeable 21700 Flashlight Powerful SBT90.2 LED 6000lm Anduril Version . Join the party, you won’t regret this. :partying_face:

Its a really nice light. I’ve been wanting to put a clip on mine and yet I see you got one but is it sturdy enough?

Also that last link you posted has some nice reviews on their site, are you vic* I noticed the same clip?

Congratulations on getting your review on there.

I think all the Wurrkos are like this.

It’s a known thing for Anduril 1. Not only Wurkkos, All brands I’ve seen thru reading, including whatever I have, even Hank’s K1, all temp calibration out from factory are way off.

It’s also a known thing that at some point of time, those who know, 1st thing to do is calibrate the temp for Anduril 1 lights.

Beamshot shoot-outs. Sofirn IF22a with the famous SFT40 LED is in some way a technical marvel, a light with world class throw but is small & light, and costs next to nothing. It is the minimum mark I set when I got Wurkkos SBT90.2 . Really there is no point to buy Wurkkos if being bigger and heavier doesn’t bring more of “something”.

The 2 are completely different lights serving different purposes, so this is NOT a comparison to find which light is “better.” It’s more about what differences there are. And what the Wurkkos brings is a very intense hotspot and a much wider field of illumination; the increased intensity over the excellent IF22a actually surprised me. The TS30S is a light capable of flooding a huge area with GREAT brightness; from near to far EVERYTHING lights up. A remarkable achievement for a 60 buck “smallish” light.

My wife will be somewhat upset :innocent: if I go out to the trail in the middle of the night to take beamshots so these pictures of the slope around my neighborhood will have to do. All shots with Canon DSLR, RAW format, fixed WB, and fixed exposure. (I picked a middle exposure “good” for all lights, and Wurkkos is too bright for it and got over-exposed.) That white streak in the Wurkkos’s beam is likely a bug flying through.


The temp calibration out of the factory is imperfect on the chips themselves - I think it was TK that pointed this out some time back. So basically if we want it to be accurate on the flashlight then it needs to be manually set at the time of product manufacture. Some do this and some do not - it’s an extra and time consuming step on the manufacturing line so by not doing it we potentially save a little cost and/or hopefully don’t suffer cost cutting in some other area to make up for it. I’ve not had any that were THAT far off, but regardless it’s wise to always check the temp upon receipt of a new Anduril light, and adjust the temp ceiling if desired. Your error is so large that it makes me think someone accidentally added a click during the set procedure (if they are actually doing it). Normally they’re only off by 2-4 degrees in my experience and many are spot on or just one degree off (usually high).

This may change if we collectively move to a new chip, as it seems may be required in the future.

Good points thanks. Yes I have 5 other Sofirn and Wurkkos (and hence an expert with clicking for temp :slight_smile: ) & all were within just few degrees, not this much. I was afraid something was wrong with the sensor itself but so far the light behaves as it should. External surface temp using IR gun now about 45 C, similar to (non-Anduril) IF22a. During the initial out-of-the-box testing, the external temp of was in the low 30’s during a Turbo run-down.

@Loafglenn, thanks. The clip I use is the “Convoy Universal Clip Suitable for S2 S2 Plus M1 C8” —-> web link is here and yes it’s fairly sturdy and feels made for the light. It’s a touch small so I bend the arms out a little bit to reduce scratching on the light and it still holds on very tightly. Oh and no I’m not that reviewer on AliExpress.

The review is on the wurkkos website. And it’s the exact same clip as yours.

I want to add that clip to mine. What’s the light that it goes to so I can try and make and order for one. I wanted to place the convoys s2/c8 screw on clip on the tail but would need to drill another hole near the lanyard attachment so I reconsidered the customization on.

Same point as I pointed out. Aduril 2 works ok and if we want perfection, we just need to fine tune it…

White wall shots of the 4 lights - predicting well how each light illuminates. IMHO:
Spill: The 2 lights with TIR optic (Sofirn IF22a and Olight M2R) both have spill that is dimmer - hence near field & periphery illumination is not as bright. Sofirn IF22a has a very dim spill and as a result has a very narrow field of illumination as seen in the beamshot above. Wurkkos with its very bright spill lights up a wide area in front of it - everything :slight_smile: is lit with this light.

Hotspot intensity (reflecting throw/brightness of distant object in the middle of beam) goes in this order: Wurkkos > Sofirn IF22a > Nitecore > Olight Pro Warrior. Wurkkos TS30S and Sofirn IF22a clearly a class above the other 2 lights when it comes to throw.

@Loafglenn link for the clip I use for TS30S is HERE if that’s what you are looking for.

zeroair’s review also says

Would you recommend using a better cell than the included?
Or does it really make much of difference?

I am really enjoying your review style btw. Very nice work.

What kind of difference do you notice?
Brighter and wider spill with not quit as much reach?

Thank you for the nice comment. I have done A:B comparison of Wurkkos 5000 mAh battery versus Samsung 40T 4000 mAh battery using photography. The Samsung did result in higher brightness at least on Turbo start-up as seen in the 2 shots below. (Although it may not be visually clear, the RAW software does indicate which pic is brighter, just no absolute value.) This makes sense because the very high 15 amp current draw in Turbo mode should be easily met by Samsung’s approx. 25-35 Amp rating.

OTOH, a couple things to considered:
1. The higher brightness would benefit only in Turbo mode. If you use this light the way I do - leave it on for longer than 5 minutes at a time, this higher brightness would likely result in faster step-down to lower mode, where current draw is not as high and difference would expect to be much less. OTOH, if you use it mostly in occasional short on/off period and want max brightness, then yes IMHO you should use Samsung (only $5 at 18650BatteryStore.com).
2. The Wurkkos has higher capacity (5000 vs 4000 mAh of Samsung), a benefit in a current hungry LED like this one.


Thanks for your reply.

I should have mentioned as well, that one of the reasons I was asking is because Wurkkos.com actually has a good deal (for me at least) on some 21700 Molicel P42A’s.

Im trying to decide whether or not to grab one/two of those along with the light, Instead of the included cell. Or as well as the included cell lol.

Hi there,

I reckon that you have not purchased a dedicated luxmeter, but no problem. Do you have a phone with ambient light photo sensor? Quite a number have nowadays. Just DL any of those luxmeter apps and use it, it’d tell ya if your phone does not have one, then read the lux figures from a ceiling bounce, try to keep things between runs standard, for eg the temperature of the flashlight. (use a small stream of running water to cool it down faster between the runs). The cell should be ok if the runs are short like less than 5 seconds and you have a > 1 minute rest time after that for the sag to recover, no biggie. If you really want it to be 100% scientific and you have the time to spare, charge up the light again for a minute or 2, let the cell and light rest for 10 mins and start off from the same voltage accurate to 0.001 volts.

This is more convenient and “accurate” than just reading off the histogram or something, and you’d also have absolute figures before vs after mod and calculate things like percentages gain. In fact then you’d also be able to know how much are you sagging at 3 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 min etc, and things to know if that initial gain is worth it or not etc. Depends on how you use the light as well, as you’ve mentioned.

You might also try to do a spring bypass, the luxmeter with ceiling bounce is still a very good method to gauge these before/after mod thingys, no need for any lumen pipe or box just that those are more optimal.
Also, for your use, you are just after that percentage % gain increase number on the same light after mod, so ceiling bounce is more than sufficient.

Some lights benefit from this bypass, others don’t…i always do lux readout from a ceiling bounce before and after, really depends on a few factors.

I can see the Samsung 40T hotspot being brighter visually already…… do try to get a lightmeter reading as per my earlier post, it’d be telling.

1lumen did report 20A and 22A input between the Wurkkos 5000mAh and 40T, 5 amps more than zeroair, difficult to say which is more accurate. But ultimately getting a lux reading when comparing A vs B be it different cell or different mods is key and preferred, you see light output but you don’t detect electrical amps flowing in the light and that energy needs to be translated into output. Ceiling bounce with marked out spots for the meter and tailstanded light is better and easier, you can also do hotspot lux readings but that tend to vary a bit more than ceiling bounce depending on how you position the meter on the hotspot.

Thanks - I like the info of your detailed posts. You got it - I’m using the RAW program’s histogram to check relative brightness. I still like it because I am lazy to have to do one more measurement, but I just downloaded Light Meter and Lux Meter and will give your ceiling bounce method a try. This will have to do until the Opple Pro is available. I appreciate your careful method; yeah I waited 1 hour between battery tests, just had breakfast in between :slight_smile: .

Good catch on the 1lumen article’s battery discussion. Did he measure 20A from the 5000 mAh battery? I thought capacity comes at the expense of drain, and 5000 mAh 21700 batteries generally have 10-15 Amp max discharge?

Some battery “puzzle.” I have two Wurkkos 5000 mAh batteries:
The one that comes with my TS21 has 5000 mAh capacity and a triangular top plate like Sofirn 5000 mAh, rated at 10 A max discharge. Test/review of Sofirn 21700 5000mAh (Black)
The one that comes with TS30S also has 5000 mAh capacity, but a round top plate similar to Sofirn’s 4000 mAh battery. Test/review of Shockli 21700 4000mAh (Black) 2018

I guess they are re-wrapped Lishen or Shockli, but interesting that they might be different batteries?