Wuben G2 Keychain Flashlight Review

Wuben has released the G2, a keychain flashlight offering USB-C charging as well as a host of other neat features. Read on for some testing!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Wuben G2 keychain flashlight product page.

Versions

There’s just one “version” but it’s available in three body colors: black, blue, and green.  Wuben was kind enough to send all three for this review, so all the colors can be seen here.

Price

The listed price for the Wuben G2 keychain flashlight is $22.99, but I think the street price is under $20. Here’s a coupon code for 20% off, too!

zeroair20

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Short Review

I’m surprised by how solid this little Wuben G2 keychain flashlight feels in hand.  That makes it feel “not cheap,” despite actually being low cost. The downside of this solid nature is that the battery is not replaceable. It’s charged via USB-C though, which is good. The output is respectable too, and I quite like the beam profile. All in all, if you need a keychain light and are ok with the CRI and CCT this light offers, it’s a good choice for $20.

Long Review

The Big Table

Wuben G2 keychain flashlight
Emitter:	Osram P9
Price in USD at publication time:	$22.99 Here’s a 20% off coupon, too: zeroair20
Cell:	Internal
Turbo Runtime Graph	High Runtime Graph
LVP?
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	USB-C
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	Lowest three modes only
Claimed Lumens (lm)	500
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	321 (64.2% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	4.4
Claimed Throw (m)	47
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	107lux @ 3.464m = 1284cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	71.7 (152.6% of claim)^
Claimed CCT	–
Measured CCT Range (K)	6000-6700 Kelvin
Item provided for review by:	Wuben
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 G2 keychain flashlight
• Charging cable (USB to USB-C)
• Pocket clip
• Manual

Package and Manual

Build Quality and Disassembly

As I already said, this little light feels quite solid. The three colors that Wuben offers here are nice and bright and sort of festive.

The three bodies are the same though – no emitter (or otherwise) differences between them.

Since the light does have a magnet in the tail end (at right, below), these lights stack and stay together fairly nicely. That’s just anecdotal fun; you obviously would not use them this way, or really ever carry them this way. I just like stacks.

Size and Comps

Officially 58.5mm x 27mm, and weight of only 28g.

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 few options are included for carrying the Wuben G2 keychain flashlight. First is this split ring. You can see below how the split ring is repelled by the magnet (which is on the split ring end). As such, the split ring always sticks out (as seen at right.) No problem there of course, just an interesting note.

Next up is the pocket clip. This is a fully plastic affair, which doesn’t fully hug the G2. It clips into this groove seen on the body in the notch on the sides. So it really squeezes the body more than hugging the body.

This split ring is on a plastic attachment that can twist off, too. Below you can see how the clip looks from the front. It doesn’t get in the way of output.

Removing that attachment does shorten the light by 5mm or so.

And there’s the magnet, which I mentioned above, too. The magnet holds the light fairly well but doesn’t provide a super strong attachment.

Power and Runtime

As stated, the G2 has a built-in battery. Wuben states it as a 280mAh battery, and it is charged via USB-C.

Here are a few runtimes. Having used all three lights a good bit, I tested different modes with different bodies – I was confident that the performance was the same among them. So any runtime is representative of all the G2s. During use, the indicator seen above indicates the charge level for 5 seconds as follows:

Blue: ≥90%
Blue blinking: 90% to ≥40%
Red: 40% to ≥15%
Red blinking: 15% to ≥ 0%

Charging

USB-C is used for charging the Wuben G2 keychain flashlight. This charging port is on one end and is beside the e-switch. These two feel quite similar but being so close together it’s not really a problem to mistake one for the other. Switching to the other (if you miss the switch the first time) doesn’t really change how you’re holding the light. So no real problem there.

The charge port cover doesn’t seat quite as firmly as I’d like. It fits well, but more or less just lays over the charging port.

While charging, the charge indicator is red. When charging is complete, this indicator turns blue.

C to C charging does not work.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	500/200	30m	485 Initial 321 at 30 seconds	–
High	200	35m	204	–
Medium	65	1.5h	65	–
Low	15	6h	12	–
Moon	1	70h	1	–

Pulse Width Modulation

Every mode uses PWM.  That’s not great at all, but the PWM is fairly fast and I wouldn’t say it’s noticeable.

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 single e-switch controls all the operation of the Wuben G2 keychain flashlight.

This switch has very low action but is still clicky.

Here’s a user interface table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	No Action
Off	Hold	On (Mode Memory)
On	Click	Off
On	Hold	Mode Advance (Moon, Low, Medium, High only)
Any	Double Click	Turbo

The manual hints at them but doesn’t cover any blinky modes. There is also no shortcut to Moon from off.

LED and Beam

Wuben uses an Osram P9 in the G2. That emitter is coupled with one of those very flat TIR optics often used by Fenix (and Wuben).

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

The CCT ranges from around 6000K to around 6700K, which is cool to very cool. The CRI is low too, at around 70 or so. This is no surprise coming from the Osram P9.

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

• Light is tiny!
• Good output
• Standard TIR optic, so despite being small it’s still quite flashlight-like
• USB-C charging

What I don’t like

• Battery isn’t replaceable
• Cool white
• Low CRI

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Notes

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