As per the title. Had to go out in the middle of the night for an emergency, and took advantage of the opportunity to bring along these 4 flashlights, for some afterwards testing of the subjective kind (sorry, no beamshots nor any objective measurements):
Wurkkos FC13 (with the SFT40 6000-6500K LED): easily the winner of the “if I had to choose only one flashlight” in this group:
- Better flood and better throw (incredible as it sounds, it’s like the FC13 optics simultaneously produces two beams: one wider and more short-ranged for flooding, and a separate one with a narrow angle and long range for throwing). The result was the FC13 beating all the other 3 flashlights, with noticeably more throw (ie, I could see clearer at larger distances) and flood (ie, I could clearly see objects closer to me, and in a larger area “around” without turning the flashlight from its pointing-straight-forward orientation).
- The UI (Anduril2) is a delight and by far the best to use, much much easier to adjust levels, change modes, etc than all other 3.
- Powerbank functionality works reasonably well, eg for emergency recharge of a smartphone in the field; just don’t let the phone discharge too much.
- Best brightness range: moonlight is very low as it should, and turbo is very bright, and Anduril soft-ramping and memory modes makes it easy to set exactly the brightness you need at any given moment.
- Comes with a two-way clip (my preferred kind, for attachment flexibility)
- I could see a few disadvantages when compared to the other lights, all of them minor and/or mitigable:
- side-switch being non-obvious to find in the dark and with gloves: readily mitigated by turning on the switch aux LEDs to low, this instantly made it the flashlight with the easier to find switch;
- only one spring (in the tail), not ideal as the battery audibly rattles when the light is shaken – albeit with the standard 18650 tube and battery it can be ignored as the light doesn’t blink nor turn off. With the optional 18350 tube, it’s another matter entirely: the Wurkkos 18350 1100mAh battery fails to make contact, I had to pull the spring with a plier to distend it a little (and then it came loose and demanded a lot of effort to put back in place), and even so it blinks when shaken vigorously. I do not recommend this light with the 18350 tube.
- No magnet in the tail: easily mitigated by getting the optional magnetic tailcap from Wurkkos, I have it and it works perfectly.
- hands-free operation: it’s not a headlamp so straight from factory, it loses in this regard to the two headlamps in this group; but I have remedied this using the top loop of this 3rd-party headband; with it the FC13 works well for hands-free, not as easy to adjust the angle as the HS5R but definitely easier than the HD15R (for both, see below), the light can be inserted in that headband without removing the clip, which is definitely a plus.
- absence of a red LED could be mitigated by an appropriate filter (for throw) or diffuser (for flood), I don’t have a red filter for it yet like I do for my TS10 due to its somewhat oddball 27mm diameter (no filters from eg Nitecore would fit, as they jump from 25mm – too small – to 32mm – way too large to pad the difference like I did with the 23mm for my TS10’s 21mm). On the other hand, for flood situations, I have the optional orange diffuser from Wurkkos, and it works reasonably well even if it’s not actually red.
CyanSky HS5R: would be a winner or at least a definite second place if not for the UI and headband bracket:
- Good optics with very reasonable flood and throw; it uses an interesting Fresnel-like lens that provides a good balance of the two, and beam-wise was the second best in this comparison. The secondary red LED only has a single brightness level, but works reasonably well once you succeed in selecting it (see below).
- Compact size: it’s easily the more compact of all 4, despite coming from factory with the longest cell (despite it being a 18650, the included BL1834U battery actually beats the Sofirn 5000mAh 21700 battery that came with the SC28 by a fraction of a milimeter, due to its button top and built-in USB port)
- Easily the best headband: wide, confortable and sits firmly in the head despite not having a top loop (which also makes it more compact and easier to store in a pocket), only minus is its really bad bracket (see below).
- Good mechanics: twin springs (one in the head and one in the tail) holds the battery securely with no rattling (easily pass the “maracas test” – yes, it’s just like you can imagine) and provides good robustness against falls and impacts.
- Now for its disadvantages:
- USB port is for charging only, no powerbank functionality;
- Horrible, detestable UI: by far the worst of them all. Come on, press-and-hold to turn on and then press-and-hold again for turning off?! What were they thinking? This is terrible for enthusiasts and even worse for beginners. It’s the one reason I don’t recommend this light to anyone. Light intensity is chosen by single-clicking the light once it’s on (single-clicking it when off just lights up the switch LED for a very rough voltage check – just two colors, red and green), and setting the red led was a chore (have to turn the light on and then double-click and go through all the white and red blinkies before getting to the steady-red LED – this alone makes it unusable for astronomy/stargazing as the white modes you have to go through will certainly ruin your nightvision before you get to the red, unless you have it preset before heading out for the night – as at least the red mode is memorized).
- Really bad headband bracket: it uses a horrible metal-wire bracket contraption that makes it very difficult (and actually scratched the light’s anodizing) to both insert and remove the light from the headband – forget about doing in the field as it will surely not go well.
Wurkkos HD15R: mostly unremarkable, not the best nor the worst in any category, which could be seen as a sign of mediocrity but actually makes it a good all-around light:
- Optics are not great (worst of all 3 for throw, and loses to all except the SC28 for flood), but good enough for short and medium range illumination. Red LED has only
twothree brightness levels, having a fourth level as low as possible would certainly help… - top-loop headband is not as comfortable nor compact as the one on the HS5R, and turning the light in the headband to adjust its angle actually turns off the light(!) due to the plastic/rubber loops in the bracket holding the light too tight and making you unscrew the head/tailcap (depending on the direction you’re turning it). On the other hand its bracket is not as horrible as the one in the HS5R (no scratching, and much easier to take the light in and out, albeit not as easy as it could be – eg my aforementioned 3rd-party headband from Amazon – and not recommended to try it on the field).
- Not as compact as the HS5R, but more than the FC13 and SC28;
- Tailcap with a magnet from factory makes it a bit better than the FC13, ditto twin springs in head and tailcap;
- USB port works as good as the one in the FC13 for powerbank functionality in my limited testing so far.
- Good two-way clip (my preferred kind, for attachment flexibility), but the clip must be removed to place it in the headband;
- Comes with a 18350 tube (haven’t tested);
- UI is not nearly as good as the Anduril in the FC13, but takes 2nd place as it’s a lot more obvious to use than the HS5R (single click to turn both on and off) and SC28 (no crazy and difficult-to-perform “half clicks” to set modes and brightness).
Sofirn SC28: my first and only “tactical” light, ditto “forward clicky” and 21700 (see here for my mini-review):
- Beam-wise it was second-best for throw, tied up with the HS5R; flood OTOH was not great, the worst of all 4. Not a light I would recommend for close-up work;
- No magnet in the tail is a definite disadvantage for changing a tire in the dark, illuminating under a car’s hood while working in the engine, etc.
- Largest flashlight in this group, but not much larger than the second one (the FC13) despite using a 21700 battery;
- 21700 battery could give it a definite advantage in runtime, presuming the driver is as efficient as the others (haven’t tested).
- Twin springs (one in the head and another in the tailcap), holds the battery well (no rattling) and provides more robustness against shocks/impacts and better battery length compatibility;
- Haven’t tested, but i’m pretty sure it would work well for hands-free operation with the same 3rd-party headband I mentioned above for the FC13; OTOH not being so great for flooding would make it not great also for use as a headlamp.
No USB port (…)It has a USB-C port (thanks @sigshooter for setting me straight) but like the HS5R, is for charging only (no powerbank functionality).- The worst part of the light is the UI, and the reason I place it in 4th place: not as bad as the one in the HS5R (at least a single click turns it on and another one turns it off), but IME the half-click thing (which is used to change the brightness level and the “group”) is both difficult to perform and anti-intuitive. A better UI would be an incredible benefit IMO.
If you came this far, thanks for reading, and looking forward to your comments, corrections, tips and observations.
That’s what I get for posting at 5AM and before having my morning coffee. 
