WowTac A2S Headlamp // Full Review

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
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This is the WowTac A2S Headlamp sent to me for review from Wowtac and NO other compensation other than keeping the light I am reviewing.
Light can be found at the Amazon site ……….http://www.amazon.com/dp/B071HW5XQH or on the main WowTac site ………… https://www.wowtac.com
10% off using this code from Nov26th (5am PST) thru Dec. 25th…… https://www.amazon.com/gp/mpc/A377G7VTDVHXFG

They also have a Facebook page I was asked to mention…….https://www.facebook.com/wowtacflashlights ( ALL links are NON Afilliated)
I was also asked if I could mention the Amazon Promo they have…….“LEAVE AN HONEST REVIEW FOR A5 ON AMAZON, qualified to get one FREE A1 flashlight or one 20% one-time coupon, suit for all our items, contact review@wowtac.com to get in.
You also get A 2 year maintenance warranty from Wowtac on their lights.

Now on to the review………

Wowtac has been around for a couple of years now and although they do not have tons of lights out there , the ones they have so far that I own ( i think all but the A5 so far), have all been of surprisingly good quality for a “budget light”. They do receive Technical support from ThruNite and I personally feel alot of the Thrunite quality shows in the wowtac products.

The A2S is a right angle headlamp , with headband . Extra O-rings USB charging cable , rechargeable 3400mAh cell and instruction booklet included. It all came very well packaged with the outer Amazon box , large bubble wrap and the smaller Wowtac box inside that. For the “budget” price and with included 3400mAh cell and charging cable , it seems to make a really good deal on this one.

The light itself looks and feels nice to me. The Knurling and anodizing is all well done and I did not find any bare spots , pin pricks or thin spots.
The Branding (etching) is also well done on the light.

The light alone and with the headband…

The included cell……….

The reflector / bezel , again remind me of looking at a Thrunite product and all are very well made on my sample (s). ( received 2 of them)
The end switch and ring are well done with really nice knurling there also.

All of the threads are well cut square threads on the light.

The XP-L V6 emitter is well centered in the reflector and the AR lens is crystal clear. What fins there are on the light are well done.

Size compared to the Olight H2R Nova and Thrunite TH 10 V2…………

I know with the XP-L emitters , they usually have the egg yolk or greenish cast to them , but I was surprised with the sample (s) I received (cool white) as to how it does not have near that greenish cast in it like I am used to seeing with most of the XP-L emitters. Maybe I just got lucky with these 2 lights? You will be able to see what I mean in the beamshots and outdoor live video if you watch that part. If not , there are some GIF’s with the beamshots further down in the review.

Also one thing I noticed with this light , is that even though they are using the USB rechargable cell , the Protected cells (such as the Panasonic NCR18650B that I tried) actually work well and maintain good contact. All of the previous wowtac lights I have , seemed to loose contact and flicker , or change modes when bumped decently using anything other than the Wowtac branded rechargeable cells. This light DOES in fact seem to work well with those longer protected cells however.

I did do a submersion test (water resistance) but I did not film that , as I tied the light off on a string and dropped it off the side of a pier down at the pond and had forgotten to take the camera with me (DUH). I tunred it on in firefly mode and dropped it over the edge at about 4 1/2 to 5 feet deep. The light was working fine when I retrieved it about 2 hours later. I found no indication of water getting inside the light anywhere. I do need to note I put a decent amount of silicone grease on the threads before I did the water test , as there was very little when I got the light.

For the drop test (impact resistance), I did it while I was out doing the live footage for the video , comparing the Thrunite TH30 and the Thrunite TH10 V2 headlamps. I dropped the A2S on to the concrete from about 5 feet high (1.5 meters) and the first drop it turned off , but I found it had landed on the switch button and came back on fine when I hit the switch. The second drop the light went off again , came back on for a second , then would not turn back on again. I came back to the house and found the CELL was the problem and NOT the light. I changed out the other A2S cell I had and the light worked fine again. I think the circuit inside the cell itself broke , as the light I dropped works with the other cell I checked it with. (as shown in the video footage).

Here are the beamshots……

3 feet Firefly and Low…

10 yards— Medium / High / Turbo…

Gate 50 yards— Med / High / Turbo

Garage 70 yards — Medium/ High/Turbo

Gate 75 yards— High / Turbo

Gate 100 yards —Turbo

Here are the Lumens / Amperage and Runtimes from my testing…

Overall for the price and what you get with the cell included , I think this is a great little light , even if it is not the most high powered light out there, it does serve well and has a pretty long runtime.

For those who may want to se the drop test and results and/or the live footage comparing the A2S with the Thrunite TH30 and Th10 V2…….those start at 10:35 and 17:15 of the video timeline.

Video followed by the listed specs……….

https://www.youtube.com/embed/S7W_wR7WTU0

High-performance CREE XP-L V6 LED with smooth reflector produces a defined small focused light pattern, making A2S has a useful spill and flood to optimize your field of vision.
• Features 5 lighting modes with extra hidden SOS: Firefly; Low mode; Mid mode; High mode; Turbo mode and SOS for long range vision & long-lasting use.
• Push button on/off switch sits on right side of headlamp, one-handed adjustment from 0.3 to 1050 lumens. Push button switch also retains memory of light output at any of the low, mid, high modes.
• Weighing only 3.8oz(without battery) with adjustable elastic headband, A2S made with aircraft grade aluminum with waterproof IPX-7, which can be used in all weather condition from all angles.
• Extra Bonus: A2S headlamp can be taken off as a handheld flashlight, with a length of 4.17 inches. 1x USB Rechargeable 18650 3400 mAh included and 30 days worry-free money back; 2 years limited warranty for headlamp; 1 year limited warranty for battery.

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Looks like a nice headlamp, cheap enough to gift and perfectly adequate as an EDC even for someone that is always busy with their hands. I can see it coming in handy as a car light…

Once you discover headlamps, you never get far from one! They’re just so great for a lot of chores.

Thanks for the write up, appreciate it!

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I have a whole box of them on my office floor. Great lights. great review

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Thanks guys………glad to do the review and yes these are some good lights for the price for sure.

5

Nice to see the drop tests

Does the top strap detach?

Thrunite (wowtac) seems to be pretty aggressive and perhaps not overly ethical in their marketing on amazon :wink:

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The top strap is made into the rest of the headband.

Wowtac and Thrunite both have started asking me for more aggressive testing , such as the drop test , water testing , freezing and whatever else I may feel like within reason on their lights.
I have the TN TH01 now that I am working on and it should be posted within the next 3 to 5 days. The Wowtac A4 V2 will follow that one and should be posted in the next 2 weeks or so……stay tuned

As far as the ethics and asking for reviews to be done…….they may have ways of going about it that we don’t exactly approve of , but they do always ask for the reviews to be honest. I have had Thrunite lights that did not quiet perform as listed , but they told me to publish my review anyway , no matter what my findings were.

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One more question

Does the lamp tilt easily up and down in the silicone holder?

When climbing with headlamps im always tilting it with one hand

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It does stay put in the holder well….as time goes by as with many I am sure it will start moving a little easier.

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Thanks

Ive never been overly fond of those silicone holders

For example the sofirn sp40 head would unscrew itself if u tried to tilt from there :stuck_out_tongue:

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I have both, and the Wowtac spins much more freely than the Sofirn.

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I don’t have the Sofirn , but I do have a couple each of Olights , WowTacs and Thrunites. This A2S is one of the hardest ones to move in the holder out of all of them , on this particular light.

It has been my experience though , the more they get used over time , the easier they seem to get to move in the holder on most of them.

Here is a short clip showing the A2S and the Olight H1R Nova. I know you cant really tell how much force or pressure I am using on the video , but maybe it will give at least an idea. It does take much more to move the Wowtac light than it does the Olight.

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Thanks for the vid

With these lights on an ultralight climbing helmet, if it takes too much force to tilt then you are pushing yr helmet all over the place trying to tilt it

The olight in the vid is what i would say is good, the wowtac i would not be using for climbing purposes unless it loosens up decently

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You Welcome…………
The Olight will actually move in the holder with normal walking. It takes a little while but it does move slowly and I have to readjust it once in awhile.

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Hmmm maybe thats a bit too loose then :stuck_out_tongue:

My personal favorite is a mechanical tilt like the ones the have in the fenix HL55, the petzl lamps and boruit D10/D25

Easy to adjust and it stays

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Yes I had one like that at one time (Olight H16)…….I was always afraid a good whack on something and it would break at the hinged area though?

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Ive used the hl55 for climbing the last 5 years and petzls before that, ben whacked against the rock quite a bit, still works

Of course anything can break

I did drop a petzl once 30m on rappel, the diffuser broke off and the case had a small crack, but the light still worked :stuck_out_tongue: