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Hi! I’m just starting my flashlight collection and received my Wowtec A1S. Is it normal for the upper body (where the lens is) to get hot when the light is at the brightest setting? It’s rated at 1100 lumens - I’m trying to see if that is something common with the higher lumen flashlights. Thank you in advance.

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Welcome to the forum!

Yes, this is pretty normal for a high powered flashlight. Some lights can get so hot that they can start fires or melt the solder holding the electronics together. A lot of these have a timer to lower the output after a given number of seconds or even better a temp sensor that tells the light to adjust down before it gets too hot. I don’t know what the A1S has in terms of thermal protection, but I think it probably isn’t too dangerous compared to something like an Emisar.

Most lights aren’t designed to run at max output for a long time, and it is best to use the “high” or “turbo” modes in short bursts.

A scenario where this can be useful is while walking along at night:

You can probably get by with a few hundred lumens (say a medium or even low mode) for most of your walk, but then you spot something in the distance you need a better look at (animal in the distance, scary looking cave entrance, the fountain of youth, etc). You’d pop over to high or turbo to get a better look and then once you’ve established that the thing you saw or heard was not a danger, you return to the more manageable mode.

Some lights have shortcuts to the highest modes just for this.

If you want a lot of light all the time, you typically have to carry a larger light with bigger/more batteries and better heat sinking (more flashlight body, cooling fins, a fan even). The really small hotrod lights like an Emisar D4 and the FW3a get really bright for their size, but they get hot fast too. something like a BLF Q8 puts out a lot of light, and can sustain that brightness better without as much heat due to the larger size and better cooling.

Something to consider apart from just how many lumens is the level of “throw”. If you are trying to light things up close go for a floody beam profile (more diffuse light, good for area lighting). If you want to light things up far away, go for throw (goes the distance). If you match the light to the usage scenario, you’ll find you don’t need as many lumens to get the job done, and you can use your flashlight for longer before it gets too hot to handle.

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The A1S has a timed stepdown. It is not so powerful that it will get hot enough to be dangerous even without the stepdown, but yes, it’s normal for a light of this size and brightness to get quite warm.

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Good to know - thank you!