[review] Wurkkos WK30 white/red/UV light

Amazing little frankenlight!

I have to confess, when I first saw this light listed, it sounded like a gimmick, but after seeing the spex that it used a LH351D white emitter, and LG UV emitter, as well as a red XP-E LED, I was curious. I already have a collection of UV lights, some with an LG emitter, so my curiosity was piqued. What a pleasant surprise!

I didn’t read closely enough that it took a 26650 cell, and was impressed when I saw one was included. It’s a generic wrapped cell with the Wurkkos name on it, rated 5000mAH. I gave it a run-through on my Opus ’3100, and it clocked in at 5380mAH. My Zanflare charger would be about 10% optimistic, but this was my Opus! Nice! It should give some very respectable runtime vs 18650s (at least twice as much, I’d say).

Everything came in the Wurkkos style orange box, with lanyard, spare O-rings, and charging cable, as well as the manual which I confess I didn’t even look at. :laughing: Control is pretty intuitive, albeit with a little guessing, and some of the surprises I discovered just wowed me.

The light itself is pretty flawless, great semigloss ano with no dings or voids. There’s no knurling, but it has the same stepped-hourglass shape on the battery-tube like the WK20 (SD02 clone) diving lights. It actually feels and fits nicely in the hand and doesn’t “bite” anywhere. It’s also incredibly lightweight. Thinwall tube but no “give” when squeezed, featherweight without the cell. The WK20 was a solid hunk of metal that you could use as a cudgel, but the WK30 is on the opposite end of the spectrum, incredibly lightweight.

It also has built-in charging which I haven’t had to use yet, having charged the cell after analysing it. The rubber plug over the charging port (usb micro) is pretty secure.

The rubber switch-boot itself has a nice texture/feel to it, like a cat’s tongue. :stuck_out_tongue: It’s very easy to find by feel. A retaining ring around the switch is a nice deep blue, giving just a touch of colorful contrast, and is in fact the only splash of color on the light. Subtle and understated… nice!

Now, the business end of the light… Triple emitters that I confess I first thought were TIR lenses, but are in fact shallow reflectors. The white LED is a beautiful (and I mean beautiful) Samsung LH351D emitter. Truly beautiful creamy white goodness. No hideous artifacts like the typische XP-G3, with its urine-yellow corona around the hotspot. The ’351 has high CRI (color rendition index; colors look more natural) and perfect color/tint. Almost perfectly neutral, no hint of green or yellow or magenta. 4 levels from low through high are nicely and evenly spaced. Low is low, not quite moonlight, but not overly bright. Each subsequent step is an even jump to its brightest level. I wouldn’t call it turbo because it seems pretty sustainable. I don’t have the instrumentation to see if it “steps down” over time or as the light heats up.

Red is a great 620nm deep red. Don’t want to ruin your night-vision? This is the emitter to use. 3 levels of low/medium/high are here. Flick it to high, and you’ll feel like a chicken on a rotisserie under a deep red heat-lamp. :open_mouth: It’s bright.

Last is the UV emitter, the LG. 2 levels, low/high, rule this LED. There’s a bit of purple “bleed” especially on high, but that’s to be expected unless you’re using a ZWB2 filter in front of it. Things that fluoresce under UV will glow like they’re on fire with the high setting.

Amazingly, the UI is pretty easy to work to get to these settings intuitively. A simple click turns on the white LED to its last-used setting (memory), and longpress turns it off. Also amazingly, press’n’hold from off does in fact start on its lowest setting, to avoid being blinded if your last setting was “turbo”. :expressionless: Short clicks toggle through the next-highest settings until it cycles back down to low. Doubleclick when on gets you to the blinkies: strobe, SOS, and a rather nice Nitecore-style beacon (bright flash every few seconds). These modes cycle with each click until you turn off the light.

A doubleclick from off gets you to red. Similarly, more clicks cycle through low/medium/high. A doubleclick gets you to the blinkies. First is a 50% duty-cycle blink like a car’s 4-ways. Second is a “police strobe” of some rapidfire red blinks then white blinks. I’ve never seen that before in a flashlight! :smiley:

A tripleclick from off gets you to UV, just low/high with subsequent clicks. No blinkies, ’though that might be interesting at raves.

I cannot say enough nice things about the ’351. It may not be as efficient as Angry Blue or Hateful Purple so-called “white” LEDs that are on cheap (read: garbage) lights, but what it might slightly lack in terms of quantity, it more than makes up for with excellent quality. The color/tint is perfect, just a beautiful creamy white. Not a trace of any hideous miscolored corona around the hotspot. No tint-shift from center to edges of the beam. Not even any tint-shift between hotspot and spill! Just an absolutely perfect beam. This was the perfect choice of LED for this light.

And about the beams, being that the reflectors are small in diameter and relatively shallow, the hotspot is quite large, and the light is way more floody than most lights are (even my Wuben TO46). No, it won’t throw that far, but is absolutely perfect for close to moderate ranges. Across the room I get about a 6’ wide hotspot. Being that except for lights that I want as throwers, I tend to put diffusion film on lots of lights anyway to blur the beam and make the light floodier and more useful, as well as “fix” a crappy beam. Film is absolutely unnecessary on the WK30.

Given the extreme light weight of the light itself (even less if you use an 18650 cell with the supplied “adapter tube”), and its impressively small size (it only protrudes maybe a half-inch from my fist), I’d even consider using it as an EDC (everyday-carry) light, or at least a bag-light. Compared to the WK30, my Cometa (also a 26650 light) feels like a moose, about twice as heavy!

So, while I was expecting something of a gimmicky Frankenlight that I’d get more as a curiosity, I was bowled over instead. This is one incredibly handy light, and one that just impressed me. I’ve gotten a string of incredibly nice lights lately, and this is the latest.

Get it, get it, get it, if only to experience the creamy white goodness of the LH351 LED. You won’t want to settle for any other LEDs after that. Great choice for the WK30! :smiley:

Definitely a winner!

Amazon: Amazon.com

Pix forthcoming, just wanted to get this up here asap…

Just purchased one. Unique light and an excellent review.

Many thanks for the heads up.

Wurkkos German review: Wurkkos WK30, Lampe mit 3 unterschiedlichen LEDs | Taschenlampen Forum

Nice review :+1:

This looks similar to a light Sofirn teased a while back. Are they affiliated?

If I knew about the Police strobe setting, would have ordered it yesterday, now the 20% off coupon is gone :frowning:

It’s on my wishlist. Thanks for the review!

I was having issues logging into Amazon, so I haven’t submitted the review there yet (in about 5min I’ll try again).

It’s actually a fun little light! I’ve been playing with it at night just for kix.

After seeing and laughing at those headlamps with like 6 white LEDs and another 10 red LEDs, that you’d look like one of those little hairy spiders that jump at you, I was almost turned off by the WK30, but I’m glad I bit. Really glad. As soon as I saw it and started playing with it, I ordered another one. Can’t be without one, y’know. :slight_smile:

And frankly, I’m pretty amazed at the size. I’ll have to dig out my DV-S9 again, but I’d swear it’s significantly bigger than the WK30. The ’30 practically is enclosed in my fist except for, as I mentioned, about a half-inch total out the ends. It’s compact, too.

And with charging, yet. Thought for sure that’d add something to its volume, but man…

I’m seriously happy with it.

Thanks!

I wouldn’t be surprised. 77 Outdoor is officially connected to Sofirn, and this is 365 Outdoor, so…

Being that the WK20/WK20S was/is essentially an SD02 diving light, and the WK30 is like exactly what was pictured on the “teased” light (see my “Surprise!” post there), I’d guess yes. :laughing:

Hmmm… Someone mentioned Coupon… off to look for another.

Yep … your opinion and review goes a long way with me. I am looking forward to this one and if this one comes up on Amazon again with a coupon I will surely snag a few for gifts. Truly a unique utility light with all the trimmings.

Thanks again … :wink:

Great review Lightbringer! Don’t know why they took the discount code away so soon?

And yes, that police strobe setting is bizarre, never seen one quite like that!

Thanks for review lightbringer, I just ordered one. I’m a sucker for multiemitter lights with different leds.

Thanks for “bringing” this light to my attention.

Very interesting. I usually don’t buy lights that I can’t EDC, but this might be a good house light - especially considering that we have 11 cats and 3 dogs in the house.

Wellp, I noticed everyone’s disappointment at the disappearing coupon, so emailed Mark at Wurkkos to ask if it might be reinstated. Or maybe even one-time codes to BLFers who ask.

I also pointed him to both threads on the ’30, in case he’d want to join in.

Thanks, and no worries.

I’ve found that things that are “too nice” that I intend to gift out (like those go,comma flippers), I often just keep for myself anyway. :innocent:

I gotta say, this recent spate of lights (SD02/WK20/WK20S, SD05, WK30) have knocked it out of the park. I literally haven’t been this jazzed about a light since I got my first Q8.

I’ve been flashlighted out for a while, but these dragged me back. :laughing:

Dunno, but I asked about it. Maybe if coupons won’t go to the genpop on Amazon, then maybe one-time-use codes for BLFers who ask. Mark (and Sue, and Tracy) have all been great and supportive, so I’m hopeful.

And that strobe, actually both the blinkies on red, are actually useful. :open_mouth:

I can’t believe I actually said that, but it’s true.

:laughing:

No worries.

No worries. I was looking for a fat (not necessarily tall) holster for it. If I find one, it might actually be EDCable. :smiley:

And the UV light can spot pet-urine. :laughing:

Ooh, I noticed something interesting. The tailcap has a ridge and recessed center piece, so would nicely fit a disc magnet if you wanted one.

I had PM’d MacLee earlier about the disappearance of the coupon code. Perhaps with the both of us bugging him he’ll bring it back :wink:

Hi, we will make a code for BLFs, sorry the coupon is expired