Wurkkos WK03 Flashlight Review

The Wurkkos WK03 flashlight is a low-cost 18650-based light that offers USB-C charging and a nice range of output! It makes a great gift!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Wurkkos WK03 flashlight product page.

Versions

There’s only one version of the Wurkkos WK03 flashlight, but it’s available with or without the 18650 seen in this review.

Price

The Wurkkos WK03 flashlight sells for the remarkable price of $14.99 or $16.99 with a cell. Buy the cell package!

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Short Review

I can’t even imagine how they make this light for such a low cost. It’s a nice one, too! The build quality is good, and charging works great. A complete package USB-C charging flashlight for under $17 seems crazy!

Long Review

The Big Table

Wurkkos WK03 Flashlight
Emitter:	Luminus SST-40
Price in USD at publication time:	$14.99
Cell:	1×18650
Turbo Runtime Graph
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	0.01
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	USB-C
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	With or without cell or tailcap: one mode (medium)
Claimed Lumens (lm)	1800
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	1366 (75.9% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	11.6
Claimed Throw (m)	217
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	531lux @ 5.357m = 15238cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	246.9 (113.8% of claim)^
Claimed CCT	–
Measured CCT Range (K)	6000-6600 Kelvin
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 WK03 flashlight
• Wurkkos 3000mAh 18650
• Charging cable (USB to USB-C)
• Lanyard
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Manual, etc.

Package and Manual

 

Build Quality and Disassembly

The build quality is great! This light punches WAY above $15.

In case you’re wondering, or maybe in case you’ve picked up on it already… Yes this Wurkkos WK03 and the Sofirn SC18 are nearly identical! Same specifications, same nearly everything, in fact. This Wurkkos has knurling though, while the Sofirn SC18 has ridges – which one you decide to purchase may come down to a preference between those two design features! (See photo comparison below.)

Size and Comps

Dimension: 101.5mm (length) × 24.7mm (head diameter)
Weight: 55g (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.

Also above is 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.

Here’s the Sofirn SC18 flashlight alongside a Wurkkos WK03. You might notice that they have similar designs! Performance is basically the same, too. Basically, the difference is that one has knurling (WK03) and one has ridges (SC18). I reviewed the SC18 already.

Retention and Carry

There’s a friction-fit pocket clip included for carrying the Wurkkos WK03 flashlight.

This is a pretty simple pocket clip, but it does attach securely and ships already attached.

Clip hug!

Next up for carry is the included lanyard. This lanyard attaches through a hole in the tailcap.

There’s just one hole, and this prevents clean tailstanding when the lanyard is in use.

No magnet or anything else is included.

Power and Runtime

The Wurkkos WK03 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” (which is to say that the positive terminal of the cell goes into the light).

Unlike on the Sofirn SC18, there’s no silk-screened logo to indicate the battery direction (this is fine for me.)

Here are a number of runtime tests.

Low voltage protection is observed in all tests.

Charging

The Wurkkos WK03 flashlight also has built-in charging, by way of a USB-C port on the head.

Charging works great and only takes around 2.25 hours to complete.

C-to-C charging even works great! Again, for $15….

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	1800	2.3h	1366	4.02
High	800	2.6h	681	1.61
Medium	350	6.3h	292	0.67
Low	100	23h	73	0.22
Moon	3	230h	2.8	12.4mA

Pulse Width Modulation

Every mode uses PWM. It’s fairly fast PWM and I can’t say I noticed it during use.

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

Control of the Wurkkos WK03 flashlight is performed through a single e-switch. This is a soft switch and has an indication function in the center.

The switch can indicate in green and red and flashing. When the Wurkkos WK03 flashlight is turned on, the switch will indicate the approximate battery level for around 5 seconds. Green means “good” and red means “poor” (or “low”). Flashing red means recharge immediately.

Here’s a user interface table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Hold	Moon
Off	Click	On (Mode Memory)
On	Hold	Mode advance (LMH)
Any	Double click	Turbo
Turbo or Strobe	Click	Previous state
Any	Click 3x	Strobe
Off	Click 4x	Lockout
Lockout	Click	Main emitter flashes 2x to indicate lockout
Lockout	Click 4x	Unlock (to mode memory)
Lockout	Hold	Momentary moonlight mode

LED and Beam

Wurkkos is using a Luminus SST-40 emitter in the WK03. This emitter is coupled with a TIR and offers a great beam profile.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

CCT for this Luminus SST-40 is fairly cool at around 6500K.  CRI is low too, at under 70.

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

• Very low cost!
• USB-C charging
• C to C charging works great
• Very nice beam profile
• Cell included for just $2 extra, still under $17
• Indicating switch

What I don’t like

• Very cool CCT
• Lockout goes to main modes (memory)
• No tailcap magnet

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Notes

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