Astrolux EC01 Flashlight Review

The Astrolux EC01 is a new 21700 flashlight falling into my “wall o’ light” category with a massive output of 3500 claimed lumens. Read on!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Astrolux EC01 Flashlight product page.  That’s an affiliate link – just clicking through helps me get review items.  Buying is even better!  Thank you!

Versions

There’s only one version.

Price

The EC01 goes for $37.95 right now.  It’s been lower; I’m going to try to get a new coupon!

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Short Review

The output is real.  Charging is fine.  I love 21700, of course.  Unfortunately, it’s 6500K, but maybe there’ll be a warm version in the near future.

Long Review

The Big Table

Astrolux EC01 Flashlight
Emitter:	Cree XHP50B (3V, 6000K-6500K)
Price in USD at publication time:	$37.95 at BangGood
Cell:	1×21700
Turbo (Double click from on) Runtime	High (Top of ramp) Runtime
LVP?	Switch to Low
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (A):	0.00009
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?	Yes, 4 modes. With cell and charging, all modes.
Claimed Lumens (lm)	3500
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	3352 (95.8% of claim)^
Claimed Throw (m)	298
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	1005lux @ 5.056m = 25691cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	320.6 (107.6% of claim)^
All my Astrolux reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.

What’s Included

• Astrolux EC01 Flashlight
• Adapter sleeve from 21700 to 18650
• Lanyard
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Manual

Package and Manual

Standard Astrolux package here.  Foam inside.

The manual is also a standard for Astrolux Anduril UI lights.

Build Quality and Disassembly

No complaints here.  I like the pineapple body – I always like pineapple bodies.

The bezel is a bit of a mismatch with the body, but I think it’s a stainless bezel; it’s purposeful.

The threads are anodized, square-cut, and beefy.  They are very smooth and allow locking the light out with just a twist to loosen the tail.

Both ends have springs.

The fins on the head are a bit sharp – that’s one area that could improve on this light.

The tailcap has a little ridge around the edge to allow for the lanyard.

Size and Comps

Weight: Approximately 119 g without cells
Size: 37 mm Ø head x 120 mm length.

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+.  Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple.  A very nice 18650 light.

And here’s the light beside my custom engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light.  I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.

Retention and Carry

There’s no pocket clip.  There’s no pouch.  The only real way to retain the light is with the included lanyard, which connects through two holes in the tailcap.

Power and Runtime

The EC01 is powered by a single 21700 cell.  With springs on both ends, any type 21700 will work.  An adapter is also included for running an 18650.

Here’s a runtime on Turbo.  This is the “double click from on” turbo – maximum output for Anduril.

And here’s another runtime – this is the maximum output when clicking through the default stepped modes (which I think is the same as the top output on the ramped output, before the double click to turbo).

In both cases once the light settles off the highest output, the light sort of hunts around for the level.

No LVP on bench power.  No switch warning.  In practice the light switches to such a low output that you’ll notice and charge the cell.

Charging

The EC01 also has built-in charging, facilitated by USB-C.

Charging starts a bit low (0.9A) but quickly rises to  >1.3A, then gradually rises to almost 1.8A before starting the CV descent.  This is fairly good charging.

Modes and Currents

Anduril doesn’t really play nicely with this table, so it’s intentionally blank save the last two columns.  Just a few data points, is all.

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
			3352	[FET]
			1953	3.40
			1256	1.78
			615	0.80
			249	0.50
			108	0.19
			40	0.07
			10	0.01

Pulse Width Modulation

Two different scales for PWM are below.  I’m not sure what to make of some of these, except to say that PWM seems to be present on every mode.  Turbo lacks PWM as you’d expect.

Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.

Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.

User Interface and Operation

A side e-switch is utilized here.  It has green emitters, but they seem a bit underutilized in the UI overall.

The button isn’t too proud and is relatively easy to differentiate between the switch and the charge port cover.

Here’s a shot of the green switch lights.

The UI here is ToyKeeper’s Anduril, which at this point is very well covered.  I’ve reviewed other lights with it, too.  Here’s ToyKeeper’s UI graphic:

Despite this UI not being all that suited for a table, here’s a UI table anyway!

State	Action	Result
Off	Hold	On (Low)
Off	Click	On (Mode Memory)
Off	Click 2x	Highest Hybrid Mode
Off	Click 3x	Blinkie Mode Group
Off	Click 4x	Lockout
Off	Click 5x	Momentary
Off	Click 6x	Muggle
Off	Click, Click, Hold	Strobe Group (Mode Memory Strobe)
Strobe Group	Click 2x	Strobe Cycle (Candle > Bike Flasher > Party Strobe > Tactical Strobe > Lightning Storm)
Blinkie Mode Group	Click 2x	Blinke Cycle (Sunset > Beacon > TempCheck > BattCheck)
On	Click 3x	Switch between Stepped and Smooth Ramp
On	Click 4x	Ramp Configuration
TempCheck	Click 4x	Thermal Configuration
Beacon	Click 4x	Beacon Configuration
Lockout	Click 4x	Off
Strobe Group	Click	Off
(Basically) On	Click	Off
Candle	Click 3x	30 minute timer to off
Strobe Group	Hold	Heighten selected mode (Make faster or brighter)
Strobe Group	Click, Hold	Lessen selected mode (Make slower or dimmer)
On	Click 2x	FET Turbo
Ramp Configuration	[Wait for Single flash] Click N time for level N.	Selection of the “Low” you like best by clicking 1, 2, 3, etc. where 1, 2, 3, etc are different levels of low.
Ramp Configuration	[Wait for Second flash] Click N time for 1+Turbo-N.	Selection of the “Ceiling” you like best by clicking 1, 2, 3, etc. where 1, 2, 3, etc are different Ceiling levels.
Ramp Configuration	[Wait for Third flash] Click for how many steps you want in Stepped mode.	Sets Number of Steps.
Thermal Configuration	[Wait for First flash] Click for N times for N degrees C.	Displays Current Temperature.
Thermal Configuration	[Wait for Second flash] Click for N times for 30C + N.	Sets Temperature Limit.
Beacon Configuration	[Wait for First flash] Click for N times N seconds per flash	Sets Beacon Speed.

That’s a long table, and I’m pretty sure still doesn’t cover everything.

LED and Beam

The emitter is a 6500K Cree XHP50B (aka 50.2).  There’s a moderate depth, orange peel reflector.  This makes a good bit of hotspot, and a good bit of spill.

These beamshots are always with the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Random Comparisons and Competitive Options

Here’s a link to a relevantly filtered page on parametrek.com.  I use that site a lot!

There’s not a lot else in this category, in particular because it offers USB-C charging.

Conclusion

What I like

• Very high output
• Anduril is a nice UI
• I like 21700 lights, and it works great in this format (ie not pocket format)

What I don’t like

• 6500K is just … not my preference
• Only way to carry is the lanyard (belt clip? nylon pouch?)

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Notes

• This light was provided by BangGood for review. I was not paid to write this review.
• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org.  Please visit there for the best experience!
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