This light was provided to me by Wuben at no cost to me.
The Packaging:
When I first received this light, I really liked the packaging. The box was secure. But, not difficult to open.
This box unfolds, and the light is inside in a plastic tray.
The Light
The Wuben X4 is a very good looking light! It is powered by a 3350mah 18650 battery that is stored in a secure, but easy to open door on the tail. There are two main sources of light, one at the head and one on the side.
Front view with cob white and single RGB colored light.
Side view with slider switch and button. Rotary dial is also clearly visible. The slider is to select the mode: Locked, side light, front light, moonlight. When set to moonlight, the USB-C charging port is now visible.
Rear side with clip
Side with battery door clasp and locking mechanism
The tail has a switch. Press and hold for instant turbo. Double click for tactical strobe. There is also a magnet.
Front view with 4 LED’s
(Sorry! I couldn’t get my phone camera to dim this down)
The things I like most about the X4:
- Comfortable in hand
- Replaceable battery in easy to find 18650 size.
- The hinged door to access the battery
- The clip is near perfect. Flimsy enough that it slides over a pocket very easily. Yet, still has enough tension to hold it firmly in place.
- The wheel feels a little gimmicky. But, I like the wheel. It’s very easy to dial in the brightness you desire. Or set the RGB to one of the 7 available colors.
- It’s bright! I don’t have a way to test lumens. However, it’s advetised with 1500 lumens. And I believe it to be close to that claim.
- It is very well constructed! The body is aluminum and it feels solid. The battery door fits together very tightly. Yet, swings right open. The anodizing on the aluminum is great! I purposely dropped in from approximately 1 meter and there is no sign of damage.
- The side COB light isn’t very bright. However, it’s enough to dimly light a room.
- The slide switch. It’s very easy to select which mode you want. And it has a nice click and haptic feedback to let you know that it’s now in one of the modes. And hiding the USB-C port behind is kind of ingenious!
- The tail switch is extremely handy. And it has a nice click to it.
The things I disliked most about the X4:
- Even though there are 4 LED’s for different types of light, flood and throw combined (and then I’m not sure why the 2 extra LED’s are there. I guess to provide just more lumens?). You cannot select one or the other. You get all 4 LED’s, no matter what, even on Moonlight.
- The LED’s have horrible CRI. Using an Opple 4, it was rated at 64CRI on the front lights and 77CRI on the side COB light. The only light I have that’s lower than 64 is a red 617nm W1 light. Not to mention that at low settings, the LED’s are very green! They get slightly better on turbo and when using at a distance. But, up close… not so much.
- The tail switch sticks out just slightly from the bottom (see picture below) and makes it a little wobbly if you’re trying to tail stand the light. It will stand. It’s just not the most stable. Also, the tail switch only functions if the slide switch is in any of the settings, except locked, and the light is currently turned off. Once the light is turned on from the side button, the tail switch no longer functions.
Beamshots:
Hedge at the end of the pool is approximately 20 meters
Shrub is approximately 15 meters
Wurrkos HD01 Pro on left. Wuben X4 on right (locked at 5200k)
Personal opinion:
The Wuben X is definitely worth the money. It’s a very well constructed light, with a lot of nice features. There are far worse lights available for more money. The CRI may be a turrn off for some people.
I took the bezel off to see how easy it would be to swap LED’s. It turns out, not so easy. They aren’t a standard sized LED. I did not remove them to measure what size they are or see what the pads look like under the LEDs… yet fingers crossed some E21A’s will fit!!!. However, I will and I will update this post when I do. They are rectangle in shape. Looking at the traces on the MCPCB, it looks like they are running in series. So, is this a boost driver? Wuben should advertise that, if it is. And, it appears that some flux may have gotten on the emitter on the right. This is after I tried cleaning with 99% alcohol. The burn mark will not come off. So, how long before that LED completely burns out?
If I had one thing I feel Wuben should work on improving with the X4, it’s the LED’s. Get some better LED’s!!! Both on the front and on the side, and this would go from a light I would recommend to most people, to a light I would recommend to everybody.
