Several companies wanted me to review their flat flashlights so I rounded them up together in this video. As a skeptic, I was ultimately wondering if any of these lights were able to offset the tradeoffs - significantly for me, there are no standard, easily-replaceable batteries here. In the end I was quit impressed by these lights, and I can undeerstand why people would prefer to carry them.
Lights in this comparison:
- Olight Arkfeld Ultra
- Jetbeam E26 Kunai (SFT40)
- Wurkkos HD01 (laser model, 6000K)
- Wurkkos HD01 UV (6000K)
- Nitecore EDC29
Graphs!
All lights:
Olight Arkfeld Ultra:
Jetbeam E26:
Wurkkos HD01:
Nitecore EDC29:
Turbo modes:
Performance for each of these was quite impressive, each light was able to sustain a good amount of light considering their small size. The Wurkkos lags behind the others in terms of runtimes, clearly less efficient, but is still acceptable in my opinion.
The story is very similar in terms of max output, with one exception:
- Arkfeld Ultra: 1,868 lumens 1.62 cd/l
- E26: 1,970 lumens 4.45 cd/l
- HD01: 1,736 lumens 3.3 cd/l
- EDC29: 14,040 lumens 8.63cd/l throw emitters, 4.11 cd/l flood+throw
Everything is in the same range, with the Arkfeld being notably floodier than the rest which are all similar.
The Nitecore is about the same in terms of sustained performance, but has an insane turbo output of over 14,000 lumens! I was blown away by this light’s max output - extremely impressive. Of course that can only be sustained for a few seconds at a time, but I still find that plenty useful.
In terms of beam quality… again, these are all basically the same. Low-CRI, cool white, green. The Olight was more blue than green like the others - I really wish they had used a neutral white emitter like the one in my older Arkfeld UV model.
Build and design is where this gets interesting… again they are effectively all the same, just differences in dimensions. The basic idea is that the flat, slim profile allows the light to be less obstrusive in the pocket, and I definitely find that to be the case.
All these lights are rechargeable with USB C, except for the Olight which uses their proprietary charging system. Wurkkos has placed a great port seal on their light as ever, while the Jetbeam’s port is waterproofed and completely exposed. I actually found this very convenient in use, but it will certainly get filled with gunk over time.
Carry profile might be good, but I didn’t particularly like the clips on any of these lights. I don’t have any constructive criticism here, I’m not really sure how these could be improved.
In terms of build quality, the Olight super nice, a really smooth rounded design made of their new proprietary ‘o-aluminum’ that has a super durable anodizing - I haven’t been able to scratch it yet. It’s also very compact, about the same size as the HD01, while the other two are larger, but again I didn’t really notice a difference in the pocket. The Nitecore is noticeable heavier however.
The Jetbeam and Arkfeld have basically the same interface, a rotating selector for the emitters and a center button for the modes. The Olight is again better built, smoother and more pleasant to use, while the Jetbeam has an extra lockout position which is quite nice. Also on the Jetbeam is a rear forward clicky which activates turbo when pressed. The Olight is 2C for strobe and 3C for Turbo, which is very annoying.
The HD01 has two buttons, one for the main light and another for the secondary emitter. This system works fine, but I was very annoyed that they switched the position of the buttons betwen the two different versions.
The Nitecore has two buttons on the rear, both of which are dual-stage. One controls modes with a half-press, and on/off with a full press. The other is momentary ‘Search’ with a half-press, and Turbo with a full-press. This system is excellent, very fast, easy, and intuitive to use, I love it. It also has an OLED screen which provides info about modes and runtimes. Finally, a sliding switch locks the light very effectively.
Overall, I was impressed by both the featuresets and performance of these lights. In particular, the Nitecore is a standout for its incredible output and great UI. It lacks the extra laser and UV emitters, but I don’t particularly need those.
If you do want an extra laser or UV light though, you can’t go wrong with the other options, they are all very solid.
However, good as these lights are, and while I can see why people really like carrying these types of lights, they just aren’t for me. The nonreplaceable nature of the battery is just a dealbreaker for me, and on top of that the lack of nicely colored emitters is unfortunate.
Well that’s all, thanks for watching/reading! There is a giveaway for several of the HD01 lights, the details of which are in the comments of the video.
links (non-affiliate):
Olight: https://www.olightstore.com/arkfeld-u…
Jetbeam (flashlighgo): https://flashlightgo.com/products/jet…
Wurkkos HD01 - Laser: Amazon.com…
Wurkkos HD01 - UV: http://amzla.com/skjz6zxn4c4k
Wurkkos HD01 Pro (Laser +: UV): https://wurkkos.com/products/wurkkos-…
Nitecore: https://nitecorestore.com/products/ni…