Wuben X1Pro Flashlight Review

The Wuben X1Pro Flashlight features five Cree XHP50.3 emitters (4 HD, 1 HI) and removable, standard 21700 cells (2). Read on for testing!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a referral link to the Wuben X1Pro flashlight Kickstarter page.

Versions

At least two versions can be seen on the Kickstarter page. There’s this black body version and a white (probably MAO) version. I believe performance (emitters, etc) between the two is identical.

Price

An introductory Kickstarter price of $119 is available now. The price will go up as the Kickstarter progresses.

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What’s Included

• Wuben X1Pro flashlight
• Wuben 21700 (2, standard)
• Bike mount (and accessories)

Package and Manual

Build Quality and Disassembly

The Wuben X1Pro flashlight is another in the line of rectangular lights from Wuben. This one is similar, of course, to the X1 (not pro), which I reviewed years ago.

The build quality is good.

The cells are in series, so you need to carefully orient them according to these little icons in the tailcap.

There are also icons on the other end, inside the light.

In particular, the latch that holds the cell door seems robust and secure. I expect it will last! The latch may be locked as well, which I appreciate.

Size and Comps

59.6mm x 29.5mm x 138mm and 383g with cells.

This light can tailstand and headstand. It’s very rectangular, obviously.

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. The version below is a custom laser-engraved Convoy S2+ host by GadgetConnections.com. I did a full post on an engraved orange host right here! Or go straight to GadgetConnections.com to buy your Convoy S2+ now!

Also in the photo above, my Standard Reference Material (SRM) flashlight is the Hanko Machine Works Trident, an 18350 light. While I have not reviewed or tested the Gunner Grip version seen here, I have tested a Hanko Machine Works Trident Total Tesseract in brass. I love the Trident, and it’s a striking contrast to the inexpensive Convoy S2+, another great SRM.

Retention and Carry

The Wuben X1Pro flashlight has a lanyard loop on the hinge side of the tail end. A lanyard was not included in my package.

Also available is a bike mount. You’ll need this piece to screw to the Wuben X1Pro flashlight (screws are included with the accessory).

And this piece goes on a handlebar.

That’s it for carry – there’s no pouch or case, and the tailcap does not have magnets.

Power and Runtime

The Wuben X1Pro flashlight runs two 21700 cells. They are included and standard. They’re also run in series!

If you forget to look at the icons on the tailcap, the spring orientation should give you a clue to how to input the cells. If only one end has a spring, it is almost always for contacting the negative terminal of a cell. And that’s the case with this Wuben X1Pro flashlight, too.

Below are a number of runtime tests. I tested the highest modes and a couple of “high” modes. The light didn’t seem to hit the claimed 13000 lumens, nor did it hit Turbo numbers for spot or flood. On the lower modes (such as High), output is very stable and around 1000 lumens. Regardless of the stepdown on Turbo and all that, 1000 lumens for this duration is not bad at all.

The temperature lines in these charts are included as general context, not precise measurements. The values represent the range (min to max) during testing, but should not be taken as exact readings. Temperature sensors are attached however feasible and not always on the bezel or hottest spot (assuming that can even be clearly defined). Even with ideal placement, too many variables affect temperature to definitively state a specific max value.

All the tested modes did seem to exhibit low voltage protection.

Charging

The Wuben X1Pro flashlight has on-board charging. There’s a USB-C port on the head.

Printing near the head indicates this light has PD charging, so if you have a high-quality PD power source, you can charge at high voltages.

And that’s just what I observed. With a PD power source, the Wuben X1Pro flashlight charges at 20V and completes in around 2.5 hours. That’s pretty remarkable! On a 5V source, charging takes much longer, at just over 5 hours (still not bad, honestly!).

I did note twice that cells can be overcharged. I mentioned this to Wuben; we’ll see what their engineers say. I also don’t love that, even when cells aren’t overcharged, the charge isn’t always exactly the same. I want series cells to have a terminal charge point of exactly the same voltage (though I’m not sure how much of that has to do with flashlight electronics and cell chemistry).

Powerbank

The product page says the Wuben X1Pro flashlight has a powerbank feature, but I could not get mine to work with any cable or any of my equipment.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps @8.4V
Turbo – Both	13000 – 5000 – 3000	1m + 1m + 1.7h	8226 (0s) 6461 (30s)	14.50
High – Both	3000	1.8h	2373 (0s) 2353 (30s)	2.41
Med – Both	1000	5.5h	802	0.70
Low – Both	400	14h	322	0.26
Eco – Both	20	220h	16	[low]
Turbo – Flood	9500 – 3000 -1800	1m + 1m + 2.8h	7298 (0s) 5149 (30s)	10.11
High – Flood	1800	3.1h	1531	1.30
Med – Flood	500	11h	435	0.33
Low – Flood	200	28h	178	0.12
Eco – Flood	10	365h	9	[low]
Turbo – Spot	3500 – 2000 – 1200	1m + 1m + 3.7h	2573 (0s) 2053 (30s)	3.75
High – Spot	1200	4h	981 (0s) 972 (30s)	1.06
Med – Spot	500	11h	412	0.70
Low – Spot	200	28h	171	0.26
Eco – Spot	10	455h	9	[low]

Pulse Width Modulation

The order here is just as the switch presents the modes. Spot is the first row, both is the second row, and flood is the third row. Nearly all modes exhibit some type of modulation, but it’s fast enough that it’s unlikely to be bothersome.

Click here to 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

There are two ways to interact with the Wuben X1Pro flashlight. First is the selector switch. As seen below, the leftmost option (selected) is spot. In the middle is both, and on the right is flood.

Once you select the mode you want, the output levels are changed with this indicating e-switch near the charge port.

Frankly, I had a hard time finding the switch without looking. There’s an indicating feature in the center of the switch. I do like the switch, though, since it has a hard cover and low action.

Here’s a user interface table! You don’t have to select the mode before you turn on the light – the selector works after the light is on, too. In that case, the level is remembered as you move from flood to spot to both, etc. (That’s the preferred way!)

State	Action	Result
Off	Click	On (Memory, excluding turbo)
Off	Hold	Eco
On (excluding strobe)	Click	Off
On	Hold	Mode advance
Any	Double click	Turbo
Turbo	Double click	Previous level (except off)
Any	Triple click	Strobe
Strobe	Triple click	Strobe advance (SOS > Strobe)
Strobe	Click	Previous state

LED and Beam

The Wuben X1Pro flashlight uses five Cree XHP50.3 emitters. The four flood emitters are of the HD variety (domed) and the spot emitter is a HI (high intensity – no dome). They each have a reflector.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

Regardless of mode or level, the CCT is high and the CRI is low.

CCT (Correlated Color Temperature) refers to the measurement of the color appearance of light, expressed in Kelvins (K), which indicates whether the light is warm (yellowish) or cool (bluish). A lower CCT (below 3000K) is considered warm light, while a higher CCT (above 5000K) gives cooler, bluish light.

CRI (Color Rendering Index) is a measure of how accurately a light source renders colors in comparison to natural sunlight. Scored on a scale from 0 to 100, higher CRI values indicate that colors appear more true to life and vibrant, similar to how they would look under the sun.

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. These photos are taken around 18 inches from the door.

I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Summary and Conclusion

The Wuben X1Pro flashlight is a big flashlight with big numbers. It doesn’t seem to hit the claimed numbers, but they’re still big numbers. I even like some of the big numbers – like 4 hours at 1000 lumens! I appreciate that this version has removable and standard 21700 cells, but charging could be better (ideally terminating at 4.18-4.20V). The user interface is simple and friendly, and the selector switch makes things even simpler. For the introductory price, the Wuben X1Pro flashlight is reasonable to consider if you don’t already have an X1.

The Big Table

Wuben X1Pro Flashlight
Emitter:	Cree XHP50.3 (4) and Cree XHP50.3 HI (Both)
Price in USD at publication time:	$119.00
Cell:	2×21700
Runtime Graphs
LVP?	Yes
Switch Type:	E-switch
Quiescent Current (mA):	?
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Charge Port Type:	USB-C
Charge Graph
Power off Charge Port	with cells: two modes only without cells: no modes”
Claimed Lumens (lm)	Both: 13000 Spot: 3500 Flood: 9500
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	Both: 8226 (63.3% of claim)^ Spot: 2573 (73.5% of claim)^ Flood: 7298 (76.8% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	Both: 7.6 Spot: 12.6 Flood: 3
Claimed Throw (m)	Both: 377 Spot: – Flood: –
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	Both: 1120lux @ 5.766m = 37236cd Spot: 696lux @ 5.784m = 23284cd Flood: 553lux @ 4.747m = 12461cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	Both: 385.9 (102.4% of claim)^ Spot: 305.2 Flood: 223.3
Claimed CCT	Both: – Spot: – Flood: –
Measured CCT Range (K)	Both: 6200-7200 Kelvin Spot: 6600-7000 Kelvin Flood: 6300-7000 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 I like

• Great build quality
• Uses standard 21700 cells
• The user interface is easy to grasp
• Selector switch also doesn’t complicate anything within the user interface (it’s friendly, too)
• Hours and hours at 1000 lumens!

What I don’t like

• Overcharging cells
• The power bank in my sample didn’t work
• Low CRI
• High CCT
• Output didn’t hit the specification

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Notes

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