Wurkkos WK01 Flashlight Review

The Wurkkos WK01 is a flashlight using a single AAA cell. There’s a mechanical (forward) clicky, and the emitter is a Luminus SST-20. Read on!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Wurkkos WK01 flashlight product page.

Versions

There are three body color versions.  There’s black, red, and brown (seen here).  Each of those is available with just the Luminus SST-20 emitter, but 6000K and 4000K (seen here) can be had.

Price

There’s a sale price for any of these lights at the moment.  They’re going for $12.71 on wurkkos.com!  But it gets even better.  The Wurkkos WK01 flashlight is available on amazon.com for $9.99!  This is a referral link.

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Short Review

I happen to have a soft spot for AAA-sized flashlights.  You probably know my “reference light” is a BLF-348 – an AAA-sized light.  This Wurkkos WK01 flashlight is just fantastic, in the same vein.  The Luminus SST-20 is wonderfully fantastic (4000K and high CRI, despite not being touted as high CRI).  I am very pleased with the Wurkkos WK01 flashlight!!

Long Review

The Big Table

Wurkkos WK01 Flashlight
Emitter:	Luminus SST-20 (4000K)
Price in USD at publication time:	$12.71 at wurkkos.com $9.99 on amazon.com!
Cell:	1xAAA
High Runtime Graph	Medium Runtime Graph
LVP?	Not really, but seems to shut off around 0.8V
Switch Type:	Mechanical
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	150
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	100 (66.7% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	7.3
Claimed Throw (m)	40
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	63lux @ 2.926m = 539cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	46.4 (116% of claim)^
Item provided for review by:	Wurkkos
All my Wurkkos 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

• Wurkkos WK01 Flashlight
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Manual

Package and Manual

Build Quality and Disassembly

Brown may or may not be your thing, but the brown on the Wurkkos WK01 flashlight is very well done.  It has a nice sheen, and a nice depth of color, too.

Long-time flashlight folk may recognize the “teardrops” seen below.  They’re standard flashlight fare, and are nice accents on this light, too.

Only the head is removable on the Wurkkos WK01 flashlight.

There is no knurling on the head or grip of any kind which is a bit of a bummer, but it’s not difficult to remove.  It might be a good design feature to move those teardrops forward onto the head so that they could aid in grip and head removal.

Inside, you can see the contacts.

Just a button on the head (probably aluminum) and there’s a positive mark stamped on that button too.  This indicates cell orientation.

The tail end has a spring.

I was unable to remove the tailcap.

Size and Comps

Length: 84mm
Diameter: 14mm

If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo).  If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll show that here, too (usually the fourth photo).

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.

I mentioned the BLF-348.  Well, here it is for size comparison.  The BLF-348 is notably longer, but then it’s always been known as a long light.  These are both clicky lights.

Compared to twisty AAA flashlights, the WK01 looks positively long.

Here’s the Wurkkos WK01 flashlight in a BWM motorcycle…

Retention and Carry

The only included means of carrying the Wurkkos WK01 flashlight is this friction fit pocket clip.

The clip is adequate, and despite not being a “deep” clip, due to the length of the flashlight, it rides just fine.

Power and Runtime

Power for the WK01 is provided by a single AAA cell.  Support is for 1.5V cells only; 10440 lithium-ion cells are not allowed.

The cell goes into the light in the usual orientation, with the positive terminal toward the head.  Remember, there’s a mark on the button of the head with a reminder of this orientation.

Here are a couple of runtime graphs.  Nothing is extremely surprising here; the light dims as the voltage from the AAA cell drops.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
High	150	50m	100	0.82
Medium	30	4h	30	0.13
Low	1	45h	1	~

Pulse Width Modulation

There isn’t any sign of PWM on any of the modes.

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

There’s a single clicky switch on the Wurkkos WK01 flashlight.  It’s a standard forward clicky.  Remember, forward clicky switches allow momentary output, but don’t allow mode changes when the light is on.

This switch is very proud and has a grippy rubber cover.

The action is fairly deep, too, and the click is very positive twice; upon depression and return.

Here’s a user interface table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	On (Low)
Off	Repeated Tap	Mode advance (LMH) (Fully click when the desired mode is reached)
On	Click	Off
On	Tap	No action

LED and Beam

Wurkkos opted for a Luminus SST-20 emitter in the WK01.  My specific copy has the 4000K option, and that’s also what I’d recommend.

This flashlight also has an appropriately sized reflector that is smooth.  The lens appears to be AR coated.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

The CRI/CCT report here looks just fantastic.  High CRI (maybe 95-96 on average), and a CCT of around 3800 make this a great pocket light.

Beamshots

These beamshots always have 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 keep the test flashlight on the left and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

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

Conclusion

What I like

• High CRI (95-96 per testing)
• Very good CCT (3800K per testing)
• Simple user interface
• Mechanical clicky in a reasonable size AAA body
• Low cost
• No Strobe
• Starts in Low

What I don’t like

• No knurling on the head
• No 10440 support

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Notes

• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
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