Well, I ended up getting a Wurkkos Wk05 on some kind of Amazon sale and some Eneloops. First impressions are good.
I really like the stiff (in a good way) forward clicky switch and the modes are more than suitable. Definitely like the CCT on the 519A 5000k better than the competitive options. If I do indeed get the advertised 14+ hrs of 70 lumens running the AA Eneloops, then I think this will be a winner for camping use. Thats plenty of light for a weekend trip.
I am still a bit confused on the risk of over discharge with NiMH eneleoops. To be safe, I am labelling my cells and charging/using them in the same pairs. I am not going to run the included 14500’s in series. Those will be used as backup cells for another light.
Like @gravelmonkey I find something pleasing about the 2xaa form factor. It may have to do with the nostalgia of minimags and my first good flashlight, the Fenix LD20 which was almost 15 years ago.
Alot of good suggestions seen here, glad to see you settled on a decent one.
I have a Wurkkos Wk05, I find it’s got a nice neutral 519a & it has a nice blended hotspot with that orange peel reflector. Id absolutely love this light if not for the fact that the mode switch is on the side & un-illuminated despite having a tail switch. I just don’t understand the purpose of having a tail switch if your just going too require the use of a side button for mode control. For me, it’s the usual muscle memory of a simple thumb tap… Boom, Eureka! Look it’s on…!! But… then it’s another 5 to 10 seconds of fumbling around trying to feel for the un-light mode button… It’s just way too overly complicated than it needs to be IMHO.
Maybe there’s some sort of manufacturing limitation that requires the use of an additional side button…I just don’t get it…
I will say one thing though, I love the fact that i can slap two of anything in there & be functional.
I’ve also thought of trying to dedome the 519 to see how much more throw id get, but I did that on my Reylight pineapple mini & immediately regretted how warm it got. The Reylight was 4k & the WK05 is 5k so im pretty sure they would end up pretty similar
Now the thing is barley brighter than just the ambient light in my in my neighborhood. (I have like two street lights too)
Anyhow good choice my friend. Now hurry up & scratch that itch & buy the other model you were considering!
I completely understand why you are frustrated by the UI of the Wurkkos Wk05, but I have to say that I personally quite enjoy it so far. I like really simple lights that can be used as single mode lights if desired. The fact that I can set it to the medium output with the side switch and then use it as a single mode light with the tail switch works pretty well for my intended use. I plan on using the medium mode the vast majority of the time, anyways.
The only downside I can think of is that the moonlight mode cannot be memorized. That’s probably the only change I would make.
I too enjoy a very simple UI. So much so, that Id be just fine with a basic High/Low option on every light I own. That or a basic ramping UI with memory.
Regarding the moonligh mode you mentioned-
I don’t think you can do that with turbo either… Hence my love hate relationship with this light…
I just can’t stand having to fumble around in order to reach max output when I need it.
A simple UI with like 3 levels of brightness plus strobe with 2 half clicks, battery voltage indicator with 3 half clicks, sos with 4, beacon with 5 would be very good.
The whole point of a AA (fully waterproof) flashlight is to have a reliable flashlight that runs on batteries you can find anywhere, is safe (no fire worries like with lithium cells) and is more efficient than a single AA flashlight.
So, yes, there is room for AA flashlights. They can be made quite compact, i want to believe, if the reflector is not very large and the tail switch is compact.
Because, the other solution would be 3xaaa flashlights. I wonder why we can find 3xaaa flashlights anywhere for just 1 euro but not the kind of flashlights we discuss here on BLF. Maybe this adaptor inside is considered a point of potential failure?
3xAAA is barely more energy than 1xAA, and results in fewer lumen-hours when using the inefficient drivers those cheap lights do. 1xAA forces the use of a boost driver, which is probably why the cheapest 1xAA lights tend to cost more than the cheapest 1x18650 lights.
Nearly every making lights nicer than the ultra-budget category goes for 1xAA because it results in a smaller flashlight and one cell is more convenient than three.
I liked the WK05 so much, I bought a second one. Always been a sucker for NW lights.
I have AA, ‘C’, ‘D’, CR123, 18650, and 26650 lights that range from 100 (max) to 3,200 (max) lumens. But in an emergency, duel fuel 1xAA and 2xAA with good outputs and good runtimes seem to be the sweet spot. Easy to carry and use, and a Costco 48 pack of AA cells could last a long time once you burn through the 14500s and Eneloops. (assuming you can’t recharge them).