[Review] Wuben E05 (XP-L, 14500/AA) ~ Getting 1100+ Lumens out of an 14500!

bilakos10 · 2018-10-24T19:45:42.000Z

The flashlight was sent to me by Wuben for review.

It seems that the E05 isn't yet listed to the manufacturer's website.
I do believe that the flashlight that I was sent is a production unit, so the E05 should be hitting the market quite soon.

Wuben has gone a long way into the design of their packaging.
The E05 comes in a professional looking box with minimal graphics.

The package includes quite a few of accessories:
MicroUSB charging cable, wrist lanyard, 2 x o-rings, a carrying pouch, a diffuser cap and a manual.

The E05 comes with matte black anodization and is e-switch operated.

The body has some grooves for added grip, while the tail is knurled.
The white strip under the head is actually a GITD ring that I have found to be very useful.

The e-switch is guarded by a metal ring.
It's tactile and easy to locate just by feel.
The integrated Red/Blue Led is used as a battery indicator once the flashlight is turned on.

Being advertised as an EDC flashlight, the E05 of course comes with a dettachable pocket clip.

As an added bonus, the clip is dual, which means that the flashlight can be normal or reverse mounted without needing
to change the position of the pocket clip.

The tailcap threads are anodized (and square cut), which allow the user to mechanically lock out the light, while
the spring seems to be made out of thick bronze.
At least in my unit the head seems to be glued to body.

The tail of the flashlight includes a strong little magnet which can be removed if desired.
The magnet can easily support the weight of the light.

The head houses a Cree XP-L CW emitter and a smooth reflector.
There is also a polished aluminum bezel to protect the AR coated lens.

The inclusion of a silicone diffuser is actually quite nice and handy.

The diffuser is pliable and fits nicely over the head, while it provides a nice unidirectional spread of the light.

As with most lights by Wuben, the E05 arrived with a cell included.
The battery has a rated capacity of 750mAh and incorporates built-in charging.

While charging, the little indicator LED stays Red, while Green signifies a fully charged cell.

The E05 is very compact and pocket friendly.
From left to right: Fenix E05, Klarus Mi7 Ti, Wuben E05, Wuben TO10R, Rofis R2, Skilhunt M200, Wuben TO46R

And a vertical shot with the order reversed.

User Interface

Here's all the actions supported by the included firmware

Turn ON: Single click
Turn OFF: Long click (2 sec)
Mode cycle: Single click ( Low -> Mid -> High-> Turbo -> Low )
Turbo: Long click while OFF (1 sec), Triple click while ON
Strobe: Double click from anywhere
SOS: Double click while in strobe
Lock / Unlock: Triple click while OFF

As I have already mentioned, the integrated LED into the e-switch is used a battery indicator for the first 5 seconds after turning on the flashlight.
Constant Blue: > 90%, Pulsing Blue: 90% - 40%, Red: 40% - 15%, Pulsing Red: < 15%

Overall the UI is very simple and intuitive.
The two things that I would like to have seen implement is a direct access to Low and a shorter (1 sec) long click for OFF (or even better a single click for OFF).

Performance

I have taken my measurements using the included Wuben branded 14500 cell - which seems to performing great.
Here's the available modes along with measured current and output.

And here's turbo compared to my other flashlights.

It's quite impressive to see an 14500 pushing 1144 Lumens at turn on, and to be honest I wasn't expecting to get such result!
I also measured the parasitic / standby drain, which turned out to be 107μΑ which corresponds to 292 days for a complete battery drain.

Bottom line: I am really font of this flashlight. It has successfully entered my daily rotation thanks to its compactness and impressive output!

djozz · 2018-10-24T20:31:22.000Z

Thanks for the review!

This is a nice compact light but it took some comparing to see the size. It would help if in the line-up of comparison flashlights also a AA battery was shown.
The long press for off only works for me if it still fast, just longer than short click. Manker has done it right, any longer is annoying.

bilakos10 · 2018-10-25T06:01:09.000Z

djozz:

Thanks for the review!

This is a nice compact light but it took some comparing to see the size. It would help if in the line-up of comparison flashlights also a AA battery was shown.
The long press for off only works for me if it still fast, just longer than short click. Manker has done it right, any longer is annoying.

You are correct djozz, the dimensions of the flashlight aren’t easily persivable just by looking at the photos.
Also, thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely be implementing it in my future reviews!

As for the long press, I do prefer a single click for ON/OFF but just like you, if the long press is not that long, then it’s doesn’t bother me at all!

Nicolicous · 2018-10-25T06:20:15.000Z

Nice review

Hope the price is affordable.

I never own Wuben light before.

bilakos10 · 2018-10-28T16:19:32.000Z

Nicolicous:

Nice review

Hope the price is affordable.

I never own Wuben light before.

Thanks for your kind words.
I will ask Wuben’s representative to see if they know the potential price and report back to here.

Update: I saw a post over TLF that indicated that the pre-order is set at $39.95.
I guess time will tell!

264 · 2018-11-29T05:25:01.000Z

I ordered a Wuben E05 via Amazon.us for half price. Running it on Turbo is amazing. So very bright. UI is nice. Well built flashlight. The beam has a halo and some artifacts. This does not matter to me at all in this case. Nice review Bilakos10.

Zulumoose · 2018-11-29T13:05:58.000Z

Sounds impressive, and a very nice compact size, but there is a huge gap between high and turbo, which immediately suggests the obvious question, how long does it remain on turbo before step-down? I’m guessing it cannot be much more than 1 minute with those dimensions, maybe as little as 30 seconds?

MascaratumB · 2018-11-29T13:13:42.000Z

Zulumoose:

Sounds impressive, and a very nice compact size, but there is a huge gap between high and turbo, which immediately suggests the obvious question, how long does it remain on turbo before step-down? I’m guessing it cannot be much more than 1 minute with those dimensions, maybe as little as 30 seconds?

Check these

[Review] Wuben E05 - Impressive eSwitch 14500 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights

Wuben E05 I was kindly offered this light for review by Wuben. And umm… I’m blown away. This light is a BEAST. Edit: it is now listed on Amazon. The list price (as of Nov 5, 2018) is $39.95. Given the brightness, excellent construction, and everything that comes in the box, I feel like that’s a pretty fair price. Packaging: the E05 arrived in a nicely presentable box with a bunch of goodies: 750 mAh 14500 with built-in micro-USB charging, a micro-USB cable, fabric pouch, silicone diffuser, la…

[Review] Wuben E05 - Impressive eSwitch 14500 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights

Factory Specifications table has been updated. Which leads me to… Ponderings & Pure Speculation: the spec and measured runtimes on 14500 seem to match up too well. My measurements were spot-on to the minute with the specs. How on earth could my High runtime test end just before 181 minutes (like 180.5 minutes), with a factory spec of 3 hours (180 minutes)… that’s too perfect! And battery voltage still being at 3.19V afterward? Likewise during the Turbo test… it cut out at 63 minutes, ending wit…

“REVIEW”: Wuben E05 V1.0 – AA/14500 battery – XPL2 LED - 900 lumens [PIC HEAVY] [***MODDED WITH Luxeon V]*** 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights

I just tested my wuben E05 from amazon in my maukka lights calibrated Lumen Tube and got 900 lumens at turn on from the wuben 14500 and the same number from a efest 14500 out the front. It does do 900 lumens out the front for at least for a second, I got 802 lumens at the 30 second mark. Nice to see a manufacture that list honest lumen numbers. Very nice well built light in my opinion. Come up with a slightly better UI and you got a winner.