Awesome all-in-one flashlight: Wurkkos WK30

As I dive deeper into my newfound hobby, I came across UV and red lights.

UV lights are used for many purposes, from verifying authenticity of money to finding scorpions and stains in the dark, but do you know why red flashlights are used? Me neither 😜

Luckily we can look it up on something called the Internet (or a "series of tubes" as some like to call it).

Turns out, red flashlights are generally used in hunting or any application where you don't want to disturb or blind your subject at night. Want to see that deer ahead without disturbing it? Turn on a red light. Wanna see more stuff at night without blinding other people around you? Turn on red light.

Here's a much better explanation of why red light is superior in the dark. 

Ok, so now you want a red flashlight. 😁

Instead of buying 3 separate flashlights to get regular, UV, and red light, why not get one that can do all 3? Better yet, why not get one that excels at all 3 functions? Well you're in luck. Checkout the Wurkkos WK30.

Review

Here is the WK30 with its beautiful red beam courtesy of the 670nm Cree XPEBRD-L1-R20 emitter. There are 3 power levels for red and this is medium. Highest is too bright. I think it's currently one of the most powerful red flashlight emitters on the market.

This is a 3-LED combo light but it maintains a  very compact form factor.

As you can see, it comes with a nice (and phat) 5000 mAh 26650 battery. 

Here it is compared to my FC11 (compact EDC light). You can clearly see the 3 LED optic. This is the regular white light. The emitter (LED) is Samsung's popular LH351D 5000k, 1200 lumens, 90CRI. It's so popular, some manufacturers (including Wurkkos) ran out of stock.

Typically the FC11 comes with LH351D 5000k emitter but I got the new batch which came with 6000k (cool white). I do like that tint though. Here you can see both side by side. Also, this shot is with both turned down to the lowest level. They get MUCH brighter than this.

UV light (2 levels) lighting up the box. This is an  LG 365nm emitter. The orange on the box doesn't glow but the white parts do. The extra light from FC11 doesn't do anything to help the UV glow. It actually detracts from it, but I like this shot so you get to enjoy it too. 😁

Also, the human eye can't see most of the UV light spectrum so you perceive this beam as "weak" when it isn't. At max level, this UV beam heats up the flashlight just as fast as 1200 lumens on the white light, so the UV light output is comparable.

Here is a hundred-dollar bill under regular room light vs with UV light. It would be much brighter had I turned off the room's light.

Here's a shot lit up only by this light's UV beam

Operations

This light has a simple but very effective User Interface (UI):

• 1 click from off = White light.
• 2 clicks from off = Red light.
• 3 clicks from off = UV light.
• Once in each light mode, click once to change power level.
• Double click in any of the 3 light modes for strobe and other modes.
• Hold to turn off

Pros and cons

There are a tons of pros for this light and I covered many of them above so I won't focus on them. Rather, I'll talk about a few cons (mind you, most of these are nitpicks):

1. The light's tube is a bit thinner than I'd like. I prefer a solid, thick aluminum wall on my flashlights but that's just me. This light comes with a fat 26650* battery for super high capacity (5000 mAh, almost twice the battery capacity of an iPhone). The thicker battery forces the battery tube to be a bit thin. However, it's a good trade off to keep the light as small as it is. I'm still bothered though, so I'll include this as a con. Here's a comparison of tube thickness between WK30 vs Emisar D4SV2: 
   
   
   
2. No magnet in the tail cap, which makes it feel a bit cheap. A magnet would add much needed heft to the tail cap and would be a nice improvement. However this is usually not a standard feature on most flashlights. I guess I'm spoiled by the FC11 and my Emisar D4SV2 (had to pay extra for the magnet).
3. No knurling on the body makes the light less grippy. I would like a bit more grip.
4. Micro USB charging. While this is decent, I would prefer USB-C as it is the current standard.

*Note: Lithium Ion batteries are named based on their width and length. 26650 here means 26mm wide and 65mm long. The most popular Li-ion battery sizes are 18650 and 21700. 21700 is the new king as it is only slightly larger than 18650 but has almost twice the capacity. 

This light accepts 21700 and comes with an adapter to support 18650 as well.

Summary:

Let's see...

• High powered white light with nice tint and high CRI ✅
• High powered red light ✅
• Useful UV light ✅
• Powerful, long lasting rechargeable battery ✅
• Compact body with built-in charging port ✅
• Easy to use UI ✅
• Good price ($40 including battery) ✅

I received this flashlight in the mail today but I can't stop playing with it. I think it's going to be one of my favorites. That said, I may try to swap out the battery tube.