Looking for a 21700 flashlight to replace my 18650-only Wurkkos FC13

LED Flashlights – General Info 21700 Flashlights
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I need a pocketable/EDC 21700 light to replace my Wurkkos FC13 (which is almost perfect but feeds on 18650 batteries).

It needs to have:

  • Anduril >= version 2 UI (“no Anduril, no deal” – I’m definitely done with non-Anduril lights);
  • A reasonably modern MCU like the AT1616 or AVR32DD20;
  • Easily accessible flashing pads, and USB charging and powerbank aka reverse-charging functionality.
  • Having good throw while maintaining a usable flood (like the OP reflector in the FC13 has) is appreciated but not strictly necessary.

What I’ve checked/found so far:

  • @Wurkkos has apparently given up on launching new Anduril lights, haven’t seen anything new from them running Anduril for quite some time (@Wurkkos_Terry, any news on this regard, or anything I might have missed?)
  • I checked FFL lights but only the X4 Stellar has powerbank (which they call OTG) and its implementation is reportedly very problematic.
  • @Hank_Wang apparently doesn’t have USB (to say nothing of powerbank/reverse charging) in any of his lights except the K9.3, and even it AFAICS do not work as a powerbank;
  • The @Convoy S21E would be a great host, but no Anduril from factory (waiting anxiously for @ebastler’s wondrous S21Evo driver which, albeit not Anduril, seems to have most/all the functionality I want, and being opensource can always be hacked into that.
  • The Lumintop D3 is the closest I found, but it lacks at least the easily accessible flashing pads.

Any suggestions/recommendations/pointers?

TIA!

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I actually ended up liking the fflies X4, it’s been serving as a reliable daily :+1:

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According to this post

new Anduril flashlight with an updated driver might be currently in production.
If this is true I hope we’ll see new Anduril lights from Wurkkos as well.

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Thanks for the heads-up. I had seen that post, but it’s quite old, no? almost 5 months already…

But I’m with you on this, I do hope we will see new Anduril lights, and specially a new 21700 light, from either @Wurkkos (most of my flashlights are from them) or @Sofirn (I have a Q8 plus from them and it’s a very nice light).

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The S21E can have an Anduril 1.0 driver if you select the correct LED
SST40, SFT40, 519A and 3V XHP50.3 HI

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Thanks. I was aware of the Anduril 1.0 option, but AFAIK it has an ancient Anduril version, prehistoric ATTiny85 MCU, and no flashing pads :frowning: Or has any of that changed?

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but its powerbank functionality still sucks rocks, right? :confused: I really need that functionality on my EDC kit…

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Not sure if tehy made any improvements, mine’s less than ideal but paired with the right cable (type C OTG dongle plus a USB-A to type C cable for me) it works every time and i carry this exact cable combo in my EDC pouch anyway. The light is not perfect, all points i’ve raised in my oevrview still stand but heck it’s still the best all-rounder light i have.

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Thanks for the detailed update, @m03da! Really appreciated. :+1:

As the X4 seems to be the only game in town for what I want, I’m now seriously considering it.

Can you please tell me the exact version and firmware date it blinks when you do a 15C from off?

Also, have you ever updated its firmware since you bought it? If so, where did you get the HEX?

TIA!

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Noctigon K1 is usb too!!

image
image1100×733 47.3 KB

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But for direct charging only, no powerbank functionality, right?

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Hey, it’s 0461[strobe]0[strobe]3131003 and i vaguely recall this odd format being discussed here at some point, apparently having to do with fireflies using a modified version of Andúril. I’ve yet to flash it since i don’t have the flashing kit for it anyway…

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Yeah no powerbank

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Thanks for the confirmation, @puglife2.

@Hank_Wang you should seriously consider adding USB charging with reverse-charging functionality to your lights. This would make them much more useable in a lightweight EDC setting as it would make carrying a separate powerbank unnecessary.

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Thanks for the prompt response! So, it’s model 0461.

Indeed it must be a modified version because that specific model (0461) isn’t listed anywhere in the latest version of Anduril’s MODELS file: anduril/MODELS at trunk · ToyKeeper/anduril · GitHub

I searched further and located a PR from @loneoceans implementing that model, including the code needed for turning on the OTG/powerbank functionality in momentary mode: Added support for loneoceans Lume1 Lume X1 designs and some Anduril updates by loneoceans · Pull Request #37 · ToyKeeper/anduril · GitHub – which @Toykeeper didn’t merge and for some reason preferred to cherry-pick instead – and her cherry-picking apparently did not include the 0461 model nor the code needed for the OTG/powerbank functionality… :frowning:

@ToyKeeper: any specific reason for leaving the 0461-related code out, specially since it’s enabled by a specific #define USE_OTG_IN_MOMENTARY and bracketed by #ifdef controls, ie would be totally absent unless that #define is specifically enabled?

I need to know that because I’m planning on purchasing the X4 and OTG/powerbank functionally is vital for my use case – and to avoid the horrible behavior @m03da reported earlier (having to fully remove the head to get out of momentary mode, which needs to be activated in order to activate OTG/powerbank), I would need to modify the code.

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You really should consider getting one. I mean, it’s just EUR 14 from @thefreeman (cheaper than basically any decent flashlight), and if you had one, you could even flash your X4 with the modded firmware I’m going to produce to avoid having to unscrew the head to get out of momentary mode… :wink:

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