Review - Wuben X1 Pro (2x 21700, 1x XHP50.3 HI, 4 x XHP50.3 HD)

LED Flashlights – General Info 21700 Flashlights
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Review Wuben X1 Pro white


The Wuben X1 Pro was released a few weeks ago. It is available in black and white at an MSRP of $119.99.

Transparency note: I received the X1 Pro as a pre-production sample from Wuben free of charge for this review. The only requirement was to publish a review. The manufacturer did not influence the review in any way.


Packaging

My sample was delivered in a simple gray-blue cardboard box. The retail version comes in a white-blue cardboard box with the key features and specifications of the lamp printed on it.

A simple instruction manual was included.

Note: the series version differs from the version shown here in a few respects, including the battery compartment lock, the rubber plug for the USB port, and the reflectors, which, according to Wuben, are supposed to deliver better performance (higher brightness) in the series version.


Design

As with the Wuben X4, the design is rather “industrial-futuristic,” with many corners and edges. These do not feel sharp and do not interfere with handling. The white lamp body consists of two parts: one for the battery compartment and one for the lamp head, on which a black part for the LED heat sink is located. There is an attachment for the switch and USB port. The bezel and battery cover on the underside are black, which provides a good contrast.

The built-in fan can be replaced. To do this, four screws (TX6/Hex 1.5) must be loosened. The question of spare parts availability in a few years’ time arises, as this is not a standard fan.

The OP reflectors are protected by AR coated front glass.

The angular design provides roll-away protection and tail stand without any problems.

The X4 has several controls. There is a button on the lamp head and a selector switch for the light mode on the side. This can be used to switch from floodlight to high beam.

The side switch clicks into place cleanly. I can easily hold the lamp with the button facing up and operate the slide switch with my thumb.


Battery and charging

Two protected button-top 21700 batteries are included. These measure 74.7 x 21.5 mm. The 21700 batteries are rated at 4800 mAh each. In the discharge test (1 A in the Vapcell S4+ v2.0), 4989 and 5104 mAh could be extracted from the battery, respectively.

According to the imprint on the battery cover, the two 21700 batteries are connected in series (2S), resulting in 7.4 V.

Due to the length of the supplied 21700 batteries, unprotected 21700 batteries cannot be used as they will not make contact due to their reduced length. If spare batteries are carried, they must be the same length as the original batteries supplied, which is why the use of protected cells is recommended.

The cover at the rear is opened by pressing the lever on the side. The silver switch on the lever locks the flap so that it cannot be opened accidentally during normal handling.

The 21700 is charged with 1.36 A and 27.7 W (PD).

During charging, the LED in the side switch lights up red; when fully charged, it lights up blue. Although the red-blue color scheme is suitable for people with color blindness, it is not very intuitive, especially for new users.

During charging, the two lowest light levels can be used. The rubber flap protecting the USB port does not seem very stable and is difficult to close again.

The lamp offers a power bank function. This charges smartphones or other flashlights without any problems, which worked perfectly in the test. However, there is no fast charging here; it only charges at a maximum of 3 A at 5 V.


UI

Operation is kept simple.

The slide switch can be used to set the light mode: flood, both, throw. The following operation applies equally to all light modes.

  • 1C from OFF: Mode memory, last used light level
  • 1H from OFF: Lowest light level
  • 1C from ON: OFF
  • 1H from ON: Cycle through light levels (Eco, Low, Mid, High)
  • 2C from ON: Turbo (can be turned off with 1C and exited with 1H or 2C)
  • 3C from OFF: Strobe
  • 4C from OFF: Lockout (can only be exited with 4C)
  • 5C or more from OFF: Fan on/off (runs for max. 5 min)

The lowest light level is too bright in completely dark environments and causes self-glare. This should be corrected in future lamps; 0.5-1 lumens would be much better here.


LEDs and spectrum

The main LEDs are 1x Cree XHP50.3 HI (Throw) and 4x Cree XHP50.3 HD. According to Wuben, these have a forward voltage of 6V.

The LEDs should be relatively easy to replace, as the bezel can be easily removed after loosening the four screws (TX 6/Hex 1.5).

Both light modes offer low color rendering. Both LEDs are cool white, with the duv slightly above the BBL at over 0.002, although the tint is just fine for outdoor usage.


Measurements

There is PWM on the two lowest levels, but this may only be visible in the lowest light level under certain circumstances.

Battery: supplied 21700 (2x Wuben ABD4800), charged in Vapcell S4+ (1500 mA)

Throw LED

Eco = 6 lm @ 81 lx
Low = 161 lm @ 1600 lx
Mid = 381 lm @ 3850 lx
High = 939 lm @ 9350 lx
Turbo (100%) = 2331 lm @ 23800 lx

Flood LED

Eco = 9 lm @ 19 lx
Low = 180 lm @ 330 lx
Mid = 437 lm @ 790 lx
High = 1520 lm @ 2720 lx
Turbo (100%) = 7614 lm @ 15060 lx

Both LEDs (Mix)

Eco = 17 lm @ 100 lx
Low = 204 lm @ 1930 lx
Mid = 818 lm @ 4710 lx
High = 2452 lm @ 12250 lx
Turbo (100 %) = 9000 lm @ 38200 lx

The specified 13000 lm for flood and high beam combined is not achieved, even immediately after switching on.

The fan switches on after about 15 seconds (after cold start and turbo with both LEDs) and is temperature-controlled, producing a clearly audible noise. There is only one speed. The airflow is weak. Either the fan generates little pressure or the airflow needs to be optimized internally. An adjustable fan speed depending on the temperature would have been good, also to extend battery life and, above all, to keep noise pollution to a minimum.


Beamshots

The beam is very balanced when all LEDs are used and is a good all-rounder.

The high beam mode offers more throw, but it is still far from being a pure thrower.

The floodlight mode is ideal for close range.

flood

mix

throw

flood

mix

throw


Conclusion

The Wuben X1 Pro is basically the larger version of the X4 already shown. It offers much more power, a significantly larger battery, and has a balanced beam.

The design is well proportioned and the switches are easy to operate despite the angular design. The UI is much more intuitive and simpler than was the case with the X4.

There is room for improvement in terms of the fan, the light levels/mode spacings, and the LED selection, although this is always a matter of taste.

Advantages:

  • Good overall quality
  • USB-C charging function with integrated power bank
  • Battery included, 21700 replaceable without any tools
  • Simple UI
  • Good beam

Neutral:

  • Barely visible PWM (low only)
  • Slight green tint

Disadvantages

  • Loud fan with only one operating level
  • Only protected 21700 can be used
  • No real moonlight, lowest level very bright
  • 13000 lm max light flux not reached
  • No selectable LED options, only cool white low CRI available

Thanks for reading!

6 Thanks
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Despite both types of LEDs technically being low CRI you can tell the difference in the reproduction of reds and yellows:

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7c003fd49756863529ab7664e3e4399Ă—466 86.5 KB

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I believe that you meant HD, not HI. Interestingly. the phosphor appear to have different colors, with the throw channel being warmer. In general HD and HI emitters of the same CCT must have different phosphor mixes, which might explain the observation of @phantom23. Either that, or the extreme tint shift of the HD variant further lowering CRI in the hotspot.

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Could just be the shadow/brightness, or camera since I only use smartphone for photos. Have no premium cam with tripod or something like that.
From naked eye there is no difference. Would make no sense either since there is no real difference even in the measurement.

@QReciprocity42 you would see different phosphor mix (where different phosphor types like SiAlON or similar are used to create different CCT) clearly in the spectrum. There is only standard YAG:Ce3+ phosphor used, maybe there is just a very small amount of other phosphors mixed in to compensate the CCT because of the dome. Pretty sure these differences are more theoretical.

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5

Sorry, I did not necessarily mean a different phosphor chemistry, but surely the phosphor used must be different because we know that dedoming lowers the CCT, so in order for a domeless emitter to achieve the same CCT, its phosphor mix must correspond to a domed phosphor mix of higher CCT and perhaps greener tint.

The spectra do look similar enough that it is reasonable to attribute the apparent difference in color rendering to angular tint shift, or uncontrolled factors during photography.

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this is what I wrote.

Even on images from a high-end 5000 $ cam with perfect white balance and exposure settings the differences are very likely not distinguishable at all since the brightness and the angle where the light came from is different.

Lately, it has been interesting to see how things are being discussed here that ultimately fall under measurement inaccuracy and therefore simply do not matter, no offense intended.
In this case, ± 2 CRI or ± 10 R9 is nothing (and definitely not visible with human eye or on standard smartphone images), and presumably every (uncalibrated) spectrometer in the under $5000 range is just as inaccurate, not to mention the specifications provided by LED manufacturers (which also have series variation). Just like luminous flux, ± 5% accuracy with an integrating sphere is an extremely good value (which can only achieved for certain wavelenghts or similar spectra), and that probably only works with multiple reference light sources and/or a very accurate sphere geometry.

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So many things done well like proper PD charging.

And then they go and make visible PWM and use LEDs with hideous tint with low CRI. Definitely not worth $100+

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And the loud fan. Which turns on only after few seconds on turbo… absolutely annoying. PWM controlled fans are not expensive, so I don’t get why it only has one single mode (on/off).

PWM on low modes is not really visible though. Could have done better nonetheless.

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This is very true. I think +/-2 CRI on the high end (say 97 vs 99) is very noticeable, based on naked-eye comparisons between 519A, SFT40, SunLike, a halogen lamp, and sunlight, but at the same time I can’t be confident that my LED sources achieve the CRI measured by reviewers, due to uncertainties about measurement accuracy. +/-10 R9 is trivial and given the proliferation of pink-tinted LEDs, can indicate too much red as well as too little.

I am slightly annoyed by debates on stuff like whether 519A or B35AM has higher CRI, with the supporting data being a single measurement by an Opple device, which is known to fail to distinguish a 519A from sunlight. So many things can go wrong even with measurements by professional equipment, even an integrating sphere can fail to sufficiently mix an emitter with bad angular tint shift. There’s also the issue of a careful measurement being not at all representative of the spectrum IRL due to choice of optic…

IMO the most reliable way to evaluate color rendering is to look for features/defects in the spectra, like red deficiency, blue spike, or cyan dip–these features are generally fairly robust to measurement errors. Even better would be to experience the emitter oneself!

2 Thanks
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Since some asked for this, here is a size comparison of the X1 Pro with some well-known light in similar size.

From left to right: Wuben X1 Pro / Convoy S2+ / Emisar D4V2 / Wuben X4 / Emisar D3AA

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Nice review! I didn’t see 20 volts charging on mine, just 12 volts. The outputs were slso down, and yes, the fan is single speed, but so are basically all fan cooled flashlights these days.

If you could swap the LEDs, which ones would you use? Remember, 6 volts.

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Don’t know for sure. In any case, they should have the same CCT, ideally with identical color rendering. It is important to use LEDs with and without domes in order to achieve a similar beam.

Maybe specially chosen XHP50.3 HD/HI, but this is always risky due to tint lottery (and wider color binnings).

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Yah sort of limited selection on the LED front due to 6 volt Vf limitation. You’d lose output, but the FFL5009R is practically the only option besides more xhp50.3 unless you live in China and can source 6 volt Nightwatch LEDs.

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I would deliberately not install an FFL5009R (or similar types). Simply because there are hardly any, if any, similar equivalents with domes. That’s why I’m considering working with Cree LEDs, because at least there are suitable equivalents availab

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