A very odd flashlight. On the one hand, there is a chic gift wrapping and lightning-fast delivery, on the other hand, there is no smell of the declared brightness here.
In general, this is my second wuben, last summer I somehow squeezed a review of 10180 fitulina of their production. And when the opportunity arose to test something else, I immediately grabbed the most expensive copy of the umkamoll on sale. Here it is worth clarifying — the price tag of a flashlight is quite acceptable. I would even say that it is rather low in relation to its gift and overall impressions. But, of course, the discount indicated on the page has nothing to do with the average market price of the flashlight. It is certainly higher than the one offered by the umkamall, for example, the manufacturer’s warehouse on Ali is trying to rip off as much as 86 bucks, but not 10 kopecks. Standard Chinese marketing, nothing surprising.
As for the brand, it’s kind of like an old brand, but nothing stands out. Completely average.
Specification:
To the above, I will add only the missing mentions of type-c built-in charging and XHP70 LED.
Delivery
I usually skip this part, but the delivery here is really lightning fast. As far as I found out, the owner of Umkamoll is some kind of logistics office that also keeps a warehouse in the Russian Federation. So the delivery took only three days, brought by courier. I was extremely surprised by the speed of delivery (and, for a change, it was a pleasant surprise). Because of this, we should expect that even taking into account the few days left before NG, there is a real chance to have time to get this flashlight, if you order it, for example, on the 25th-26th. Well, whether it makes sense to do this or not, decide for yourself based on the results of the review.
Packaging and appearance.
Judging by what I dug up, there are two versions of the packaging, a cardboard box also appears on the manufacturer’s website (though it also looks good). I got a much cooler package, which is definitely one of the best I have seen from the standpoint of a gift. And I saw lantern packs, well, right here, pretty much.
The buyer turns out to be a lightweight (silumin + plastic), but adult-looking suitcase, inside of which the entire set lies in foam rubber. Namely: flashlight, 26650 battery, power supply charger with American and European sockets to choose from, lanyard, case, type-C charging cable, instructions. In general, a standard set, everything you need is here.
The flashlight itself was much longer than I expected. Since I have already dealt with powerful searchlights a couple of times, where the XHP70 and a smooth reflector were responsible for the light, this atypical combination pleased me.
Well, here are other famous items for comparison. Wuben T102 is not monstrous in size. In principle, if you shorten it by 3 centimeters, then you get the usual 26650 long-range type of the same utorch ut02. Another comparable option is L2 with a short tube for one acc. In short, the flashlight is no longer a pocket, but not yet a burden on the hand.
There are only a couple of sides with eyelets for a lanyard in the tailcap, so the stand with a candle is uncertain. But the thread for the tripod pleased, this is a simple and infrequent solution. True, it would be worth adding a plug to the kit so that all sorts of rubbish does not get into this thread.
Double spring, thick, also good. There is also a spring on the side of the head, also quite thick.
The medium-sized rectangular thread is normally lubricated.
The knurling on the carcass is unusual, with longitudinal grooves (in one of which the correct orientation of the battery inside the carcass is printed). In general, I like the knurling, it is unusual and looks harmonious.
The grip is good, tenacious. There is nothing to complain about, the flashlight lies normally in the hand. Balance is normal.
As usual, the button and the charging connector are spaced on opposite sides. I was pleasantly surprised to see type-C here, which is also rare in flashlights of famous brands, from the status of which the wuben is very far away. The plug is not very thick, but fits snugly into the nest.
The rectangular button walks with a shallow, distinct click and is highlighted in red and purple (indication of the discharge and charging process). To the touch, finding the button is not a problem, since it is located on the ground off part of the circle, and it sticks out pretty well. Tactilely, it is quite contrasting with respect to the body around, if I put it cleverly.
There are a lot of cooling fins here, and they are good in number and depth.
The bezel is toothy, and these teeth are suitable even with some tactical component of using a flashlight. Unfortunately, the bezel is sealed, it was not possible to remove it.
As I wrote above, the duet of a deep smooth reflector and XHP70 LED is responsible for the light. This combination is unusual in that a textured reflector is usually attached to such a large LED, which best reveals its ability to shine brightly and widely. Well, more on that below.
So, in terms of appearance — everything is very good. The packaging is chic, from the standpoint of a gift, a few other flashlights will compete with it. Appearance is also good. Not super-super design, but quite good.
Control.
And this is where the sadness begins. Well, not that sadness, if quite frankly, but a strange dissonance. Type-C for me is a fairly well-functioning marker, which determines how much the manufacturer keeps up with the times, and usually a fairly flexible control is also a companion of this connector.
Right there, we have a hello from that time when people grabbed dx squalor on indicator LEDs, and 1000lum was the lot of those who were ready to fork a few hundred bucks.
there is a mode memory.
OFF-ON on hold.
Enumeration of modes — by pressing.
Well, okay, shutting down something, it is quite reasonable with such a capable enumeration of modes. But also inclusion? Of course, you can consider this as some kind of insurance against accidental switching on (you never know, a button in your pocket will be pressed somewhere for a second), but it seems to me rather simple “grandfathers did this, and we will do this”.
strobe on 2x pressing from any state, another 2x pressing starts SOS.
I have nothing against it, rather a set of even, I prefer to go through the modes by pressing, and turning off by holding does not jar me at all.
But the primitiveness is otherwise unforgivable:
1) on hold
2) instant access only to the gate. But what prevented you from making instant access to extreme modes? the same hold to run the minimum, for example.
3) a meager set of modes. although this is not a claim to management
in short, if I can put 5 for the first part, then the second does not gain more than 3. For an undemanding user, it will do, but a sophisticated person will spit.
Flashlight at work
There is no shim flickering, already good. There was a suspicion after the management «pleased» me that there would be some pitfalls in the future, but no, it worked out.
Light distribution in a bright but fuzzy hotspot and some side fill.
the charging current is good, there are zero complaints.
And now the softness begins. They promise us quite ordinary and feasible for this LED 3500 lumens.
AND technically they are. Well, the first 1-2 seconds. And then, crap, and get relatives almost a third lower.
At first I sinned on the battery, but the Litokalov bank and VTC5a showed the same result. Here I bring this piece of the chart for clarity, since the steps in it reflect just the declared levels. I positioned the flashlight relative to the light meter so that I didn’t have to recalculate, the numbers in the column on the left fit exactly the declared ones, maximum clarity. It can be seen that all other levels are quite consistent with the declared. Except turbo.
I don’t see any reason for such a monstrous stepdown. Only once, with nitecore, mh23, did I encounter something similar. Realistically, it’s not clear at all. Drivers for such currents are in bulk, nothing supernatural, especially since it is not required here, the carcass will completely digest this power if the question concerns stepdown. But, «May we may.»
Oh, yes … I completely forgot to say that this luxury of 2500 lumens will be available to you for a whole minute and a half, then you will be content with half an hour of work at 50% of the declared brightness and another hour at about 43%.
So it’s still about one and a half thousand lumens, which is quite good (by the standards of 2015-2016). But, damn it, this is generally not close to what was stated. At all.
Well, as for the world. As I wrote above, the XHP70 combined with a smooth reflector can produce amazing light. If the reflector is large, and the brightness is turned up to 6 thousand. Although with a large reflector, lower brightness gives a strong penetration power, uncharacteristic for this LED
T102 at its maximum 2500 lumens is consistent at a distance of about 150-200 meters. You can really get some good lighting here. Beyond that, it doesn’t make much sense. On the one hand, this is unimpressive, on the other hand, due to the drop in brightness, you have an hour and a half of guaranteed and stabilized work within this distance, which is also quite a lot. And High with its low brightness will give quite good light at a distance of 100 meters with a good duration.
here is also a video version of the review, where you can take a closer look at the flashlight.
in general, new reviews appear on my channel quite often, in January there will be an example of a monstrous search flashlight BLF GT70, so subscribe, don’t miss it.
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
A flashlight is quite suitable as a gift for an undemanding user who does not need to nail somewhere far away. And here the exceptional gift, a good complete set and an attractive appearance will decide. Again, simple management will not scare away. For 50-55 bucks (this price tag seems to be so much in dollars now) it’s not enough to find something equally lantern-gift. Brighter or farther — yes. But not a gift.
Actually, taking into account the minuses indicated at the end of the review, this price is quite fair. 86 bucks that they ask for in the store is an insane and inadequate price for functionality.
Putting everything else in a table, we get:
+ appearance
+ Seems to be good quality
+ excellent gift packaging and packaging
+ type-c charging with good current
+ button illumination
+ after stepdown brightness is stabilized
+ price tag
+ tripod thread.
— diving up to 50% stepdown
— simple management
— a poor set of modes. there is no firefly, there is no separately taken out the same 50% (although if the brightness falls to this level, then the meaning of the town is to fence.
Again, for an undemanding user, it will do just fine, a couple of years ago, for my money, this could have been a highly salable flashlight. A sophisticated user will remain dissatisfied, as well as brightness-range is not enough for some more serious needs.
Here, I remembered, if there is a thread for a tripod, then perhaps it can be used as a light for fishing. mid-high will be quite enough to highlight the float, and the duration of work here will already be quite good.
Where to buy and how to save
You can buy it here for around $50
You can save on purchases with coupons and promotional codes from the discount channel in telegram, see the link to it below in the “about the author” block