Skilhunt EK1 Keychain Flashlight Review

Skilhunt has released the EK1, a keychain flashlight that offers two modes and USB-C charging. It comes in high CRI 5000K as well as 6500k.

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Skilhunt EK1 keychain flashlight product page. (That’s a ShareASale link.)

Versions

Two emitters are available: Luminus SST-20 (seen here) and Nichia 219F-V2, which is high CRI and 5000K. Four body colors are available: Carbon Black, Royal Blue, Olive Green, and Vibrant Orange (seen here).

Price

The Skilhunt EK1 keychain flashlight goes for $18.90 and can be purchased through my ShareASale link.

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Short Review

The Skilhunt EK1 is a nice little keychain flashlight. The twisty operation works fine, USB-C charging works fine, and most importantly it’s available in orange! So it’s a clear winner. Even the price is completely acceptable.

Long Review

The Big Table

Skilhunt EK1 Keychain Flashlight
Emitter:	Luminus SST-20 (6500K)
Price in USD at publication time:	$18.90
Cell:	Internal (10220, 130mAh)
Runtime Graphs
LVP?	?
Switch Type:	Twisty
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	USB-C
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	180
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	185 (102.8% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	6.9
Claimed Throw (m)	66
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	166lux @ 2.826m = 1326cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	72.8 (110.3% of claim)^
Claimed CCT	6500
Measured CCT Range (K)	5300-5600 Kelvin
Item provided for review by:	Skilhunt
All my Skilhunt 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

• Skilhunt EK1 keychain flashlight
• Charging cable (USB to USB-C)
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Split rings (2)
• Manual

Package and Manual

Build Quality and Disassembly

I didn’t disassemble the Skilhunt EK1 keychain flashlight at all. The head is captured and doesn’t unscrew from the body.

Size and Comps

Length 50.5 mm
Head diameter 14.6 mm, Body: 13.6mm
Weight: 14.8 g / 0.52 oz (Included battery)

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

Retention and Carry

The only means to carry the Skilhunt EK1 keychain flashlight is loose or with either (or both?) of these split rings. Two sizes are included, so you have options!

Power and Runtime

A built-in 130mAh “10220” lithium-ion battery is included in the EK1. Below you can find runtimes for both of the two modes.

Charging

Built into the EK1 is USB-C charging. The port is accessed by unscrewing the head from the body.

A short USB to USB-C cable is included.

While the Skilhunt EK1 keychain flashlight is charging, this little charge indicator (seen below) is lit in red, and when charging is complete, this indicator switches to blue.

Charging takes around 1.25 hours with USB and USB-C both. It’s nice to note that USB-C does work!

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens
High	180	25m	185
Low	10	450m	10

Pulse Width Modulation

Neither mode uses PWM.

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

The EK1 is a twisty keychain flashlight.  There are markings on the side to help a user know what to do, but of course, it’s very simple.

I will say that after all my uses of the EK1, the threads are not as smooth as I’d like for them to be. This is probably because I tried to unscrew the head, and potentially galled the threads a bit – so that’s on me. But that should be a lesson to you – don’t over-loosen the head.

Here’s a UI table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Tighten head	Low
Low	Tighten head	High
High	Loosen head	Low
Low	Loosen head	Off

LED and Beam

Skilhunt uses a Luminus SST-20 in the higher-output version if the EK1. There’s also a high-CRI version, which has lower output.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

The claim of 6500K is not really met here, but that’s generally a good thing. I’m reading this at around 5400K, well below 6500K. However, 6500K is usually considered cool white (or even “very” cool white) so… I don’t think that would be ideal in a keychain flashlight anyway. So 5300-5500K is very good. CRI is very low though, at around 66. 

Beamshots

These beamshots are always with 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

• It’s orange!
• USB-C charging works
• Very simple user interface
• CCT is really more neutral than the rated 6500K

What I don’t like

• Very low CRI
• CCT is rated at 6500K but is much warmer

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Notes

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