Wurkkos FC12 Flashlight Review

Here’s the Wurkkos FC12 an 18650 cell tactical flashlight that offers a ramping option and has a dual-switch interface. Read on for testing!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Wurkkos FC12 tactical flashlight product page.

Versions

There’s just one version of the Wurkkos FC12 tactical flashlight but it’s available in four colors.  Black, purple, metal gray, and champagne (seen here) are available.

Price

The Wurkkos FC12 tactical flashlight is selling now for $28.99.

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Short Review

Finally a break from solid black flashlights!  These four colors are great – mine’s the champagne option, but purple is quite stunning as well.  Without even considering performance for just a second, we can say that at $28.99, this is a great value flashlight!  When considering performance, we can say that this value is exceptional.

Long Review

The Big Table

Wurkkos FC12 Tactical Flashlight
Emitter:	Luminus SFT40
Price in USD at publication time:	$28.99
Cell:	1×18650
Turbo Runtime Graph	High Runtime Graph
LVP?	Switch to low
Switch Type:	Both
Quiescent Current (mA):	–
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	USB-C
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	2000
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1552 (77.6% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	21.4
Claimed Throw (m)	345
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	1181lux @ 5.31m = 33300cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	365.0 (105.8% of claim)^
Claimed CCT	–
Measured CCT Range (K)	5200-6700 Kelvin
Item provided for review by:	Wurkkos
All my Wurkkos reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  I am an amateur flashlight reviewer.  I don’t have $10,000 or even $1,000 worth of testing equipment.  I test output and such in PVC tubes!!  Please consider claims within 10% of what I measure to be perfectly reasonable (accurate, even).

What’s Included

• Wurkkos FC12 tactical flashlight
• Wurkkos 3000mAh 18650
• Charging cable (USB to USB-C)
• Lanyard
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Manual etc

Package and Manual

Build Quality and Disassembly

Drink in that champagne color!  What a great option.  I don’t normally really care all that much about flashlight color, but these three non-black options are really interesting.  In fact, Wurkkos has many color options on other flashlights, too.  Good for Wurkkos!

When I was thinking about the user interface of the Wurkkos FC12 tactical flashlight, I kept thinking “there’s some other Wurkkos just like this” (and there may be.)  But what I was thinking of is the Sofirn SC31T, which I reviewed not long ago.  That’s a dual switch tactical flashlight very much like this Wurkkos.  And there’s nothing wrong with that – the SC31T was a solid value flashlight!  The FC12 brings to the table many of the same features (and is currently a couple of dollars cheaper.)

These threads are quite smooth, too.  They’re square cut, anodized, and lubed.  Long, too.  There’s really no (or “not enough”) knurling on the tailcap here.  With built-in charging, maybe the idea is that you really won’t have to swap the cell often anyway.

The head shares the same threads.  In fact, the cell tube is reversible because of this.

However the light doesn’t work with the cell tube reversed.  That doesn’t matter too much, but it does mean you can’t reverse the pocket clip by reversing the cell tube.  (The configuration in the image below does not work.)

A tactical flashlight should have springs on both head and tail, and the FC12 does!  They’re nice beefy springs, too.

 

Size and Comps

Dimension: 136.5mm (length) x 24mm (head diameter)
Weight: 85 ±1 gram (without battery)

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.

Retention and Carry

A pocket clip comes already attached.

I don’t always love these two-way pocket clips, but I can say for sure that I like this better than the very cheap version of clip that’s on some other lights (like the Sofirn SC31T).

It’s a friction fit pocket clip.

A lanyard is also included and attaches to the tailcap.  This is a tactical tailcap, with access from two sides.

Because of the two holes in the tailcap, tailstanding is still possible when the lanyard is attached.  A lanyard is included.

Power and Runtime

The Wurkkos FC12 tactical flashlight operates on a single lithium-ion cell.  I have a package that had a cell included.  It’s a 3000mAh button top and is a completely standard cell.

The cell goes into the light in the usual way – positive terminal toward the head.  There’s a little silk-screened logo on the tailcap to help with orientation, too.

Here are a few runtime tests.  The output does fall a bit short of the claim.  However, throw is right on target!

Charging

The Wurkkos FC12 also has built-in charging, by way of a USB-C port in the head.  The charge port cover is thick and fits in very firmly, and is quite nice.

An appropriate cable is included.  USB to USB-C.

The e-switch on the head has indicating features – below it’s seen indicating red for low voltage.  Notably, the switch will indicate for 5 seconds after the light is turned on, as follows:

Green: remaining battery power is good
Red: remaining battery power is poor (less than 30%)
Red Flashing: recharge or swap cell immediately.

While a USB (A) to USB-C cable is included, I found that C to C works as well.  Below are graphs for both.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	2000	2.5h	1552	7.20
High	800	3.5h	667	1.76
Medium	300	7.5h	275	0.72
Low	80	21h	27	0.26
Eco	10	230h	5.4	0.04
Moon	1	400h	0.2	~

Pulse Width Modulation

There’s PWM on every mode except the lowest mode (left most, below).  The PWM is fast, though, so “good enough.”

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, with 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

The Wurkkos FC12 tactical flashlight uses two switches.  First, and most important, is the mechanical tail switch.

The switch is not proud, but accessible from two sides, even if you’re wearing gloves.

This mechanical switch controls only on/off.

Next is the e-switch on the head, which controls the modes.  The switch isn’t proud and is more or less flat.

The action is low, and not incredibly quiet.

It’s also an indicating switch!

Here’s a UI table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click Tail Switch	On (Mode Memory, excluding Moon)
On	Click Tail Switch	Off
On	Click Side Switch	In Stepped Group: Mode advance (Eco, Low, Med, High) In Ramping Group: No Action
On	Hold Side Switch	In Stepped Group: No Action In Ramping Group: Ramp up (or down, if having immediately ramped up)
Off	Tap Tail Switch	Momentary (Mode Memory)
On (Except Strobe)	Click Side Switch 4x quickly	Iterate between stepped and ramping groups.
On (Either Group)	Double Click	Turbo
Turbo	Click	Return to the previous output level
On (Either Group)	Triple Click	Strobe
Strobe	Double Click	Strobe advance (Strobe> SOS> Beacon)
Off (Either Group)	Hold Side Switch, Click Tail Switch	Moonlight

Why you’d want to double click from Turbo to get to Moonlight, I have no idea.

Group 2 (Ramping) is very similar to the above Group 1, except holding the switch will cause the light to ramp up.  Loosening then holding the switch again within 1.5s will cause the ramp to switch directions.  So it’s possible to ramp up or down.  Double click still gets Turbo.

LED and Beam

In my review copy of the Wurkkos FC12 tactical flashlight is a Luminus SFT-40 emitter.  As far as I can see, Wurkkos does not specify the emitter CCT.  This emitter is surrounded by a smooth and quite deep reflector.

The bezel is smooth with no teeth or spikes, so no light escapes when headstanding.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

In testing, I observe this Luminus SFT-40 emitter as 5200K-6700K.  The harder the emitter is driven, the higher the CCT goes.  The CRI is “fairly low” at around (or under) 70.

Beamshots

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 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

• Great deal at under $30
• Interesting body color options
• Good beam profile
• Impressive throw
• Low is accessible from off in either group!
• Ramping option if you want it…
• But the stepped group is very smart too
• USB-C charging works great
• Dual Switch for good tactical usage

What I don’t like

• 6500K (but not that cool in reality)
• Ramp speeds are a little awkward

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Notes

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