Wuben TO50R HC Flashlight Review

The Wuben TO50R HC Flashlight started on BLF as “The Flashlight.”  It claimed 2500 lumens, has high CRI, on-board charging, and other things!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Wuben TO50R HC Flashlight product page.

Versions

I am reviewing the very first edition of this light, but I think Wuben has released revision 2 by now.  It’s just a few small changes, I believe.  So the content here is by and large still relevant.

Price

My copy of this light was purchased (by me) at the group buy price on budgetlightforum.  The price now is much higher – I’m seeing $165.00 at BangGood (affiliate link).  Amazon has them for just a bit more. Wubenlight has it, too! Here’s a 20% off coupon, too:
zeroair20

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Short Review

This light is great.  Mine will mainly see use when I need something I can use as a powerbank, and the 4800mAh included cell will be great for that.  Otherwise, and as a flashlight, it’s still very good.  High CRI, massive output, and just general good quality make this a nice light to have.

Long Review

The Big Table

Wuben TO50R
Emitter:	Samsung LH351D (High CRI)
Price in USD at publication time:	$165.00 at BangGood Amazon even has them, too. Here’s a 20% off coupon, too: zeroair20
Cell:	1×21700
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (A):
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?	No. With cell, one mode
Claimed Lumens (lm)	2800
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	2857 (102% of claim)^
Claimed Throw (m)	146
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	636lux @ 3.709m = 8749cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	187.1 (128.2% of claim)^
All my Wuben 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

• Wuben TO50R HC Flashlight
• Wuben 4800mAh 21700 (not pictured here)
• Charge cable (USB to micro-USB, with USB out too)
• Nylon pouch
• Lanyard
• Cell adapter (21700 to 18650)
• Spare o-rings (2)

Package and Manual

Nice box here.  Also nice long clear manual, too.

 

Build Quality and Disassembly

The TO50R (and yes, it’s a mix of ‘o’ and ‘0’ in the name – capitalized letter first, then the number) sports one of my least favorite flashlight design features.  That’s spirals.  It hasn’t been a favorite all the way back since some Zanflare light had it ages ago.  But there’s no functional problem here with it.  The light holds just fine, and any knurling would be essentially decorative anyway.

But you might notice that the light is fairly large.  It’s a 21700 tube light with built-in charging, so yes, it’s going to have some size to it.

But it has heft and feels like a good quality light.

The cell tube is directional.  The thick square-cut overly lubed anodized threads are the tail end, and the unanodized finer threads go toward the head.  A directional body is fine in this case, since the pocket clip is reversible.

The tail cap has a big beefy spring, while the head has a brass button.

The plastic ring shown here in the head is not a form of reverse polarity protection – it doesn’t inhibit any type of cell to be used.

All in all, this is a very nicely built light.  Very well considered.

Size and Comps

Officially the light is 124.5mm x 31mm and weighs 130g (without battery).  202g with battery.

Not a small light.

But amazingly around the same size as a Convoy S2+ – at least in length.  A bit thicker of course.

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

I personally carry this light in my back pocket or bag, but a nylon pouch is included.  The pouch is nice and stretchy and has a separated sleeve for a cell, a feature I haven’t seen before.

For a cell or for the 18650 adapter, of course.

Next up is the pocket clip.  This is a very springy clip, and has a big mouth for easy connection with a pocket.  It also allows quite a deep carry, with a very tall shoulder.  There’s a lip right where the clip connects to the body, too, which aims to prevent the light from snagging on a pocket – it works pretty well.

As you can see, the clip allows for almost completely submerged carry.  There’s also a lanyard connection on the tailcap.

The tailcap even has a magnet, and yes that magnet is strong enough to hold this light in any orientation.  It’s a very strong magnet.  I didn’t explore it, but the tailcap has a retaining ring, so if you wished to remove the magnet, you probably could.

Power and Runtime

Wuben provides with the package the appropriate cell for this light.  It’s a 21700 light, and Wuben’s cell is a 4800mAh button top.  The big capacity comes in handy when considering that this light can also be used as a powerbank!

Also included by Wuben is a plastic adapter that will hold 18650 cells in the center of the tube.  With a spring on the tailcap, contact can be made without any metals in the adapter.

Here’s a runtime on the Turbo.  The light impressively hits the target of 2800 lumens at 30 seconds, staying over 2700 for around 1.25 minutes.  This is impressive, and one couldn’t reasonably expect much more, since there’s not a bunch of mass on this light to deal with the heat produced.  The light does exhibit LVP.  The sawtooth might not be the best practice for a light, but a user using this light would likely be modulating the output manually anyway (if being handheld at least) because of the heat, so it doesn’t bother me.

Here’s a runtime on High, which is very stable at around 1300 lumens (!!!) for impressively over an hour!!  LVP was exhibited here too.

When the light is activated, the indicating switch will display an approximation of the cell voltage.  This indication turns off after 5s.

Blue steady: 100%-91% power
Blue flashy: 90%-41% power
Red steady: 40%-16% power
Red flashy: <15% power

Charging

The TO50R also has on-board charging, by means of a micro-USB port in the head.  The port is opposite the switch, and because of this I really had to look at the light to get my thumb on the switch.  The charge port cover does sit very flush on the body, while the switch doesn’t, so with a bit of use you’d get used to this very quickly I think.

A cable is also included.  This cable is special because it has a full-sized USB port, too.  That full-sized port can be used for USB-out from the light.  A nice feature.

Charging of the large capacity 21700 cell happens at a respectable current of 1.5-1.9A and takes just over 3 hours.  Not much more you could ask than that (ie you wouldn’t really want to charge a cell faster.)

Powerbank

Here’s USB output from the provided cell and provided cable.  I was able to pull around 3.4A at a maximum but that was with significant voltage sag.  But the claim of 2A output is very accurate, with a voltage of around 4.8V.  Once the output shut off at 2A, I lowered my drain to 1A and pulled more energy from the cell.  The light does get warm when 2A is being drawn out this port.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	2800/1000	1m/107m	2857	>7.0
High	1250	3h	1406	2.77
Med	250	8h		0.48
Low	50	27h		0.13
Micro	10	91h		0.06
Moon	1	191h		0.04

Pulse Width Modulation

No PWM was observed.  The sawtooth seen on the lowest mode (leftmost below) is not PWM and isn’t visible by my eye anyway.

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor.  Also, here’s the light with the worst PWM I could find.  I’m adding multiple timescales, so it’ll be easier to compare to the test light.  Unfortunately, the PWM on this light is so bad that it doesn’t even work with my normal scale, which is 50 microseconds (50us). 10ms.  5ms.  2ms.  1ms.  0.5ms.  0.2ms.  In a display faster than 0.2ms or so, the on/off cycle is more than one screen, so it’d just (very incorrectly) look like a flat line.  I wrote more about this Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight and explained a little about PWM too.

User Interface and Operation

There are two switches on the TO50R.  Both e-switches and both on the head.  They’re together, basically one button cover but two e-switches.  The power switch has indicating function and a translucent power icon.  These switches are quite clicky, with low action.  The other “top” switch has a “W,” presumably for “Wuben” (but not in their logo font).

The switches are good, and just a little proud.  It’s possible to differentiate them by feel from the charge port cover, but it did take me some time to get used to doing so.

The UI is quite advanced.  Many modes, a few ways to get to many of the modes, etc.  The graphic below will be most helpful.

(I think that image is part of the official literature but still, to give credit to the author, I found that image here.)

Here’s a UI table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click Power (P)	On (Mode Memory)
Off	Hold P (~1s)	Lowest Mode
Off	Use Mode button (W)	Momentary Turbo
On	Click P	Off
Off	Hold P (~2s)	Special Modes (blinky group)
Special Modes	Click W	Special advance (Strobe > Beacon 1s > Beacon 10s > SOS)
On	Click W	Mode advance (Low > Med 1 > Med 2 > High) (Moon and Turbo are not in the cycle)
On	Long press P	Turbo
Turbo	Long press P	Return to previous mode
On	Long press W	Momentary Turbo
Off	Very long press P (~8s)	Lockout
Lockout	Very long press P (~5s)	Unlock

I think that covers the UI, but there’s a real chance I left something off.

LED and Beam

This Wuben is a quad Samsung LH351d emitter light.  These emitters are high CRI and behind a clear optic.

I love the beam profile, and I also really like the high CRI-ness of these emitters.

These beamshots are always with the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.

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!

Conclusion

What I like

• Compete package kit
• 2800 lumens on Turbo
• High maintains >1000 lumens for over an hour!
• Powerbank option
• High capacity 21700
• Includes adapter for 18650
• Versatile UI (easy to get to Moonlight, and Turbo is always accessible)

What I don’t like

• The retail price of $165 is quite high
• The clip could possibly be better, though it really works great

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Notes

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