"Review" - Wuben D1 - 1100 Lumens - 18650 powerbank battery

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
11

Yes, by fainting I mean that “breathing” button :wink:
It can be enabled/disabled, of course, but it acts that way.

I prefer the blue instead of green (as the E12R has), but I agree that a red indicator light would be better.
Well, but for that you can try the GT Nano, whose light is red and so dim that it is almost unnoticeable :smiley:

12

Good review MrB :+1: thanks. I like your reviews because they are thorough - some reviews just do the same thing over and over with very little useful info, you on the other hand delve into things much deeper. I don’t care for videos just shining it down a path etc with no commentary or photo’s.

13

Thanks for your words G0OSE :wink:

My drive in the reviews is to show what the flashlight does while being used for the purposes it was built, and also to show how it behaves, knowing that different people have different tastes and needs!
I can’t go deeper in some technical aspects such as lumens or candela measurements, so I try to compare how it looks like along with others and also how it performs in my “eye-measurement” :wink:

I’m glad it is helpful and that the hours invested are appreciated :blush:
Thanks again :beer: :+1:

14

I asked Cindy from Wuben about 2 things: when will the light be available, and what is the price range!
I paste below her reply :wink:

When the link is available, I’ll post it here and udpate OP too!
:+1: :beer:

15

Great review ! :+1:

I think I like everything about this light except the 6500K part.

Do you know if they plan to release other tints or even better, an high CRI version ?

Also, have you tried to access the led ? How easy is it ?

16

Thanks for your words derfyled :wink:

Hum, I am not sure if it is a 6500K, I would say between 5000 and 6000K instead.
But tonight I can compare it with a cooler tint so that we can see that.

I wasn’t able to reach the LED. Yesterday I tried again but I don’t have the appropriate tools on hand to do it, so I may try it later.
I am not sure if the bezel is press fit or if it is glued because I wasn’t able to take it out. But I when I am able to do it, I’ll post it here :wink:

As far as I know, and looking to Wuben’s line of work, I wouldn’t count much on a High CRI version. If one can reach the led, it can be replaced by a 3535 footprint led, though!
TMaxxJJ did it on the Wuben H3 headlamp, here: ➿ FAST GROUP BUY ➿ WUBEN H3 Headlight 7-Modes OSRAM P8 Rotatable 2*AAA - #65 by TMaxxJJ

:wink:

17

As promised I made some comparison beamshots between the Wuben D1 and some other flashlights in the range of 5000K to 6500K.
Here are the “results”:

From Left to Right, Vs:
Convoy S2+ XML2 U2-1A 65000K
Jaxman E3 Nichia 219C 5700K
Olight Warrior Mini SST40 ???K
Wuben D1 Osram P9 Cree XP-L HI 6500K (where th big toothpick is :smiley: )
Wuben TO50R 4x Samsung LH351D 5000K
Wuben TO46R 3x XP-G3 5000K
FW3A 3x XP-L HI 3D 5000K
Convoy S6 3x Luxeon V 4000K
Convoy S2+ 3x Luxeon V2 3000K

It is definitely a bit cooler than some 5000K leds, but it is not as cool as the 6500K ones! It person, while taking this photo, it seemed “pure” white against the surface I was using!
The photo may be a bit tricky in some aspects but I guess they show more or less where the Wuben D1 is in terms of tint :wink:

Hope it helps :+1:

18

Where did you pick up the Luxeon V2 for your Convoy S2+ 3x Luxeon V2 3000K? The tint looks quite nice. :slight_smile:

19

It is, indeed, a pleasant tint and it was a “grail” mod I wanted to do for a while (detailed here: What did you mod today? - #9723 by MascaratumB) .

I picked it at https://led4power.com/ last year. Some weeks ago I bought another, and it arrived today :wink:

Specific link: led4power

20

Thank you MascaratumB for this great comparison shot. Indeed, it does not seem to be 6500K but closer to 5000K. Still too cool for me but I’m a tint snob…

Something I really, really, really like about this light (and might have to buy it just because of this feature) is the lighted switch. I love being able to reach my flashlight on my night table or tent pocket in pitch dark. I hope Wuben will put this feature on all their new lights.

21

You’re welcome and I’m glad it helped perceiving where it “locates” itself in the spectrum :wink:
About the lighted switch, I get what you say, it is easier to locate the flashlight in the dark in a much better way! They also have it in other lights (E12R comes to mind, and others eventually).
As Lightbringer mentioned, I too preferred a different colour on the led indicator (red) but the fact is that it works as it is :wink:

22

The lighted switch is in my opinion the only thing missing on the T050R to make it perfect. I don’t know if you like it as much as I do but what a fantastic wall of light, pur high CRI joy…

23

Yup, probably one of the best lights I have too :wink:
That is a “beast” of a light! I am afraid of using it more giving it is almost a “premium” light, but whenever needed, it comes out of the “light-box” :wink:
And yes, an indicator LED could be good on it! Using a 21700, any parasitic drain would still make no harm on it!

BTW, I am not sure if Wuben uses the led indicator on the C3 and the C5 as well!

24

After checking Unheard’s thread reviewing the D1 I changed the information about the LED : it is a Cree XP-L HI 6500K instead of an Osram P8 or P9 as I initially suspected.

Thanks Unheard for the correct information :beer:

25

Very interested in this light, but would require me to swap in an 2700K 80+ CRI to be happy with it. Does disassembly seem feasible to do this?

26

So far I wasn’t able to remove the bezel and I am afraid that when I do that I will damage the host a little bit. Maybe I don’t have the proper tools for it or the skills, but it is really stuck :weary:
If or when I can do that I will post it here referring to the method to retrieve it!

27

Tried and failed, too. I fear it needs heat, but optics and electronic components are close to the bezel. I think I’ll live with it. It’s ok outside. Actually I’m happy about every single candle I can squeeze out of it.

28

Thanks for telling your experience Unheard :wink:
Yeah, I suspect some heat would be needed, despite I also think that it can be some pressure downside up! But for that I’d probably need to remove the driver and that may not turn good :weary:

29

I did it :person_with_crown:
I disassembled the head! :smiling_imp:

So, it is not glued, but pressed. I used the tools in the photo below.
The work-knife is quite tough so I used the “baton” method around bezel, starting on one side and making the diameter tryin to push the knife edge in. After a while, it started opening a gap and then I used the knife to press the bezel towards the top. And it poped-up! :wink:

Structure:

  • bezel,
  • white o-ring,
  • optic/reflector (single piece as far as I can tell),
  • black thick o-ring,
  • copper DTP MCPCB star with around 1.2-1.5mm thickness and
  • gray thermal paste below.
  • EDIT: there is also a screw in the shelf to prevent the MCPCB from rotating

As Unheard has mentioned and confirmed before, this has a XP-L HI emitter.
As far as I can tell, a 3535 led seems to fit below, but careful if you want to try a XP-L HD, that has a larger dome.

Some notes:

  1. the optic/reflector has a slightly flat area on the side that allows to “disengage” it from the bezel, and I used pointy tweezers in that area to pull it out
  2. the bezel is somewhat “ridged” (not sure if the expression is correct) and those ridges leave a mark in the head structure, meaning that it was pressed into the head. Or the head already those grooves and the bezel fits into them… I guess the first theory is more suitable in this case.

Note that the bezel and the head have some marks because I used pliers and other tools before, unsuccessfully :frowning:

Any questions, let me know :wink:
And good luck in case you folks try to disassemble it! :+1: :beer:

30

Well done :+1:

If ano scratches are visible, a sharpie/edding hopefully helps. Do you have an idea what LED you’ll reflow?