Wurkkos FC13s Flashlight Review

The Wurkkos FC13s (“s” for “simple”) is an 18650 flashlight using a Cree XHP50B emitter for high output. It offers USB-C charging and an indicating switch, too!

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Official Specs and Features

I don’t see the Wurkkos FC13s flashlight listed on the Wurkkos website yet. I did find it on Amazon, though, and here’s an Amazon referral link.

Versions

As far as I know, there’s only one version of the Wurkkos FC13s flashlight.

Price

On Amazon, the Wurkkos FC13s flashlight is selling for $39.99. There’s even a 30% coupon, which should take the FC13s to around $24!

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Short Review

The Wurkkos FC13s flashlight has a neat switch backlight, so for the novelty alone, this light is probably worth the price. This “s” version is “simple” and I appreciate that since I don’t always want Anduril! USB-C charging works great and overall it’s just a nice low-cost option. It has the usual Wurkkos build quality too, so that’s good – great even, at $24 or so.

Long Review

The Big Table

Wurkkos FC13s Flashlight
Emitter:	Cree XHP50B
Price in USD at publication time:	$24.00 on Amazon.com
Cell:	1×18650
Runtime Graphs
LVP?	Yes with warning
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	USB-C
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	“with cell: all modes without cell or body etc: no modes”
Claimed Lumens (lm)	3500
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	2909 (83.1% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	3.21
Claimed Throw (m)	173
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	509lux @ 4.962m = 12532cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	223.9 (129.4% of claim)^
Claimed CCT	5000-5300
Measured CCT Range (K)	4600-5100 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 FC13s flashlight
• Wurkkos 3000mAh 18650
• Charging cable (USB to USB-C)
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Lanyard
• Manual

Package and Manual

Build Quality and Disassembly

The build quality here is great. Really not much more to say about it than that – The whole product is a high-quality package.

The tailcap has a spring. On the head end are the same threads – in fact, the cell tube is reversible.

Threads, as you can see below, are square cut, anodized, and lubed. Only a button is here on the head; no spring.

Size and Comps

Dimension: 113.7mm (length) x 29mm (head diameter)
Weight: 77 grams (without 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. I also reviewed that specific edition, the “Oveready BOSS FT Collector Vintage Brass” 35. I love it!

Retention and Carry

Included (and installed) is a two-way deep carry friction fit pocket clip. The clip is not reversible and can only go on the tail, but again, it’s a two-way clip. Bezel down the light sticks up a bit over the pocket. Bezel up, there’s around 2″ out of the pocket. (To wit, there’s no good reason to bother with a two-way clip here, since so much will stick out of the pocket in a bezel-up carry.)

Because of the clip setup, the light could reasonably be used on the bill of a cap (“hat light”) but overall the light is probably too heavy to do this very well. But it would work.

Because of the clip setup, the light could reasonably be used on the bill of a cap (“hat light”) but overall the light is probably too heavy to do this very well. But it would work.

Also included is a standard lanyard, which attaches through a hole in the tailcap. The lanyard can also attach through a hole in the pocket clip.

There is no magnet in the tailcap and no nylon pouch included.

Power and Runtime

A single lithium-ion cell powers the Wurkkos FC13s flashlight. The proper size is 18650, and one can be included with your purchase if you opt for that package. The cell is a button top 3000mAh 18650 and is not special or proprietary, or customized in any way (except the nice Wurkkos wrapper).

The cell goes into the light in the “normal” way – the positive end toward the head.

Below are a few runtime graphs. The claim of 3500 lumens is almost certainly for the a higher CCT emitter version. I’m recording at 30 seconds, which is well after the stepdown. The initial output is around 3100 lumens, which is practically incredible from a single emitter. Of course, we have the typical stepdowns, and don’t forget – this light just isn’t big enough to hold 3800 or 3500 or whatever lumens for long. There simply isn’t enough mass! That’s no slight to the light, it’s simply thermodynamics. Later in the runtimes (all of the ones shown here at least) there’s a bit of dribbling up and down probably to manage temperature.

Low voltage protection is observed at least in some of the runs. The light didn’t always shut off, but the switch indicated in every case that the voltage was low. If the switch setting in Anduril is set to “Voltage,” the indicates as follows:

>4.4V: white-ish (red+blue+green)
4.1-4.4V: blue
3.7-39.V: cyan (green + blue)
3.5-3.7V: green
3.3-3.5V: yellow (red+ green)
2.9-3.3V: red
<2.9V: off

Charging

Another feature of the Wurkkos FC13s flashlight is built-in charging. There’s a USB-C port in the head, which has a press-in cover. This cover is quite thick, and when installed properly, very secure. It has a thick edge and must be pushed deliberately into the opening.

An appropriate charge cable is included. It’s USB to USB-C.

When charging, the switch flashes orange and turns steady orange when charging is complete.

Here’s a graph of C to C charging. Charging looks quite good!

Here’s a charge graph with the USB to USB-C setup. It’s fairly normal, and charges at around 2A. The cell should handle that easily.

Powerbank

I didn’t have any luck with the FC13s powerbank feature, but that could simply be a combination of my testing equipment and the requirements of this powerbank. If the powerbank feature worked fine on your FC13s, let me know in the comments!

These two graphs below are for the FC13, but I’ll get graphs for the FC13s up soon. Performance should be about the same, though! Here are a couple of graphs of that light’s powerbank.

When discharging through the powerbank feature, the switch is orange. The switch will turn blue when the battery is low.

Modes and Currents

 

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo	3500	2.5h	3130 (0s) 2909 (30s)	13.00
High	1500	3.3h	1351	2.59
Mid	500	4.3h	513	1.09
Low	100	22h	135	0.35
Eco	10	125h	13	0.03
Moon	1	20d	0.42	[low]

Pulse Width Modulation

There is PWM on all modes except Moon and Turbo. On all but the lowest output level, it’s not PWM that I can call “noticeable.” It’s plenty fast 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 switch seen on the is an indicating e-switch. It is a soft and low switch with a translucent center and edges that show colors – RGB!

Unlike the FC13, the FC13s does not use Anduril. I think the idea was to give users a non-Anduril version of a very capable light, and Wurkkos accomplished that! However the light does still offer ramping, so you still have plenty of options.

Here’s a user interface table according to the manual! In practice, I was unable to access Group 2, the ramping modes. (That’s perfectly great for me since I don’t want ramping, particularly since this light has 6 output levels. But the manual should be addressed, probably.)

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	On (Mode memory)
Off	Hold	Moon
Any	Double Click	Turbo
On	Hold	Group 1: Mode advance (Eco>Low>Mid>High) Group 2: Ramp up (or change ramp direction if held within 1.5s of being held and released)
On	Click	Off
Turbo	Click	Return to previous level
Turbo	Double Click	Group 1: Group 2: Iterate between Moon and Turbo
Any	Click 3x	Strobe
Strobe group	Double Click	Strobe advance (Strobe>SOS>Beacon)
On	Click 4x	Switch between Group 1 and Group 2
Off	Click 4x	Lockout
Lockout	Click 4x	Unlock to on state (Mode Memory)
Lockout	Click	Two blinks to indicate lockout

LED and Beam

Wurkkos seems to call this emitter interchangeably “Cree XHP50B” and Cree XHP50.2. I’m not sure if those are the same, but in any case, the emitter pictured below is what I received.

The bezel is flush and does not really let light escape when headstanding.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

CCT stays in the range of what Wurkkos claims – around (or below) 5000K. That’s great. The CRI is low, though, at around 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

• Great value
• Cell included for $3!
• 5000K emitter option (and they’re a little warmer than that, too!)
• Indicating e-switch is a novel variety
• USB-C charging works well

What I don’t like

• Green tint out of this Cree emitter
• Could not access the ramping modes mentioned in the manual

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Notes

• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
• For flashlight-related patches, stickers, and gear, head over to PhotonPhreaks.com!
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