Wuben X2

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Wuben X-2 specifications

Brand/model	Wuben X2
Flashlight category	EDC / all-around
LED	3*Osram P9 / 3*Samsung LH351D
Max. output	2,500 Lumens
Max. beam distance	N/A
Max. beam intensity	N/A
Battery config.	Battery pack with 2,000mAh (2*14500)
Onboard charging	USB-C
Modes	4
Blinkies	Strobe, SOS
Waterproof	IP68
Review date	November 2022

Wuben started this specific model on a Kickstarter campaign to gain the necessary funds. We already reviewed the prototype X-0 and Gabriel reviewed the Wuben X-1, so it’s time to test out this new sibling.

Wuben has been around for quite some time, but they haven’t been very active in the flashlight communities. Therefore, they aren’t talked too much about, until pretty recently.

And that’s because of the Wuben A1 Nick reviewed a while ago. A very big, heavy, and powerful flashlight, with 4 high power SBT90.2 LEDs.. Hard to beat!

Anyway, I’m digressing. Here we have the X-2, a small, portable flashlight with battery pack and triple LED.

Package quality.

Hmmm… I really have no idea how this will be shipped. I received mine (yes, I received 2) in a black carton Wuben box. The interesting thing that I have never seen before, is that the box appears to be made specifically for review samples. Have a look at the images below.

And this is what I received:

• The flashlights: Wuben X-2
• Lanyard

Before your first use

For safety reasons, Wuben ships their lights locked. So, before using your Wuben X1, you have to deactivate the electronic lockout mode, by doing 4 fast clicks. Do these clicks as fast as possible. Once the flashlight is unlocked you can start using it.

Beware: we recommend locking the flashlight when carrying it. You activate the electronic lockout mode with 4 fast clicks when the light is turned off. (It won’t work when the light is turned on)

The shape of all Wuben-X models are a bit unique, and just like the X-0, this one has a rectangular-shaped body. All the edges are slightly chamfered, but that doesn’t take away that the flashlight can still feel a bit ‘pointy’.

With a flat flashlight like this, I’m not 100% sure what is the most comfortable way to hold it. There are other flat flashlights out there where you would put your thumb on the narrow part of the flashlight. Kind of like the way you would hold a Fenix TK35.

But the X-2 has the switch on the wider side of the body. It’s located near the front of the flashlight underneath a piece of metal. This piece can be on the top and is covered by a metal piece that work like a lever. It sits on top of the switch, so you can press that lever to manipulate the switch.

But you can also open the lever to give you access to the switch (and therefore the battery LED indicator) and the USB-port. The indicator LED can also be seen with the lever pressed down, but it’s right on the edge.

Carrying this is definitely a little different, and you will need to get used to it. If you want to use or carry it for a couple of hours, you can use the included lanyard. But you can also clip it to your belt (or pants) with the strong pocket clip that was already attached.

Tip for Wuben: please also make 2 attachment holes for the clip toward the front of the flashlight. That way, the user can decide whether they want to carry it pointed downward or upward.

You don’t need to worry that it might roll of a slanted surface, and you can also make it tailstand.

Another tip: how about making a special diffuser? That way people could use it like a candle. This could be helpful during camping, or inside a tent.

Even though they are not included, you can add several glow tubes to the Wuben X-2. There are many (large) slots on different parts of the flashlight.

One thing that I have to give Wuben credit for is the build quality. It looks and feels really good and robust.

The anodization looks fantastic, especially with the white version of this light. And I totally dig that white color, because 99% of the flashlights are black.

Besides these black and white coatings, it seems that Wuben will also include a copper version, as well as a couple of titanium ones. So far, I see they showed the following titanium versions: Sandblasted Gray, Blue Geometric, Green Circuit, and Ink Splash. Prety cool!

It lacks any kind of traditional knurling, and that’s totally fair for this kind of flashlight. I don’t think you will easily drop it because of the shape, but the top part does feel a bit slippery.

Everything on this light is screwed down (not glued), so you get maximum waterproof. You don’t need to worry about cross-threading. You can unscrew the rear end, but you can’t remove the battery pack. They seem to be connected to the driver (with wires) I suppose. I tried to pull them out, but felt some resistance, and didn’t want to break anything.

Warranty:

30 days money back guarantee: Within 30 days from the date of purchase, if the product has quality problems, customers can request full refund.

30 days replacement: Within 30 days from the date of purchase, if the product has quality problems, customers can request free replacement.

1 year warranty: Within 1 year from the date of purchase, if the product has quality problems, WUBEN will offer free repair.

Battery warranty: WUBEN offers a 1-year warranty for the rechargeable batteries but other included accessories are not covered by the warranty.

5 Years product warranty: Within 5 years from the date of purchase, if the product(for battery-removable flashlights, accessories excluded) has quality problems, WUBEN will offer free repair for WUBEN registered customers(Support-Product registration).

Lifetime maintenance: From the date of purchase, if the product has problem after 1 year, WUBEN will offer paid repair for WUBEN registered customers.

At this point in time, Wuben offers the X-2 with 2 types of LEDs. 1 is Osram P9, and the other is Samsung LH351D.

There are 3 LEDs that are positioned inline, centered inside a triple-orange-peel reflector.

The lens has a purple A-R coating.

But even with the LOP reflector, you can still see artifacts in the beam at close distance. Even at larger distances (10+ meters) you can notice them when moving the beam. They aren’t that dramatic, but I’m just sharing this to give you a better understanding.

To measure the color temperature of the beam, and CRI values, I used the Opple Light Master III.

Here’s what I got. ps. they are just averages..

Black anno, Osram P9:

• CCT: 5744K
• CRI Ra: 66.5

White anno, Samsung LH351D

• CCT: 4787K
• CRI Ra: 95.0

The Osram P9 is quite a bit cooler, and has lower CRI. The Samsung has a more neutral beam, and higher CRI.

I also measured Flicker, and there was a PWM but very high. This is not noticeable by eye. Even in the low mode.

Dimensions: 

Wuben X2 dimensions	Millimeters	Inches
Length	84 mm	3.3 in
Body thickness	20 mm	0.8 in
Body diameter	35 mm	1.4 in

Dimensions are rounded to the nearest millimeter, and to the nearest tenth of an Inch.

Weight: 

Wuben X2 weight	Weight in grams	Weight in Oz.
With battery	123 g	4.35 oz

Weight is rounded to the nearest gram, and to the nearest tenth of an Oz.

EDC Flashlight comparison

Size compared to the X0 as well as some other well-known flashlights for size comparison

Group 1, Wuben flashlights, from left to right: Wuben X2, Wuben X0, Wuben X2, 21700 battery for size comparison

Group 2, EDC flashlights, from left to right: Convoy S2+, Wuben X2, Wuben X2, 18650 battery, Lumintop Tool AA 2.0, Nitecore TUP.

The Wuben X0 has a pretty good and standard UI. Nothing fancy, but straight to the point with some useful shortcuts. But when you are new to flashlight, you may want to watch the following video:

Available main modes:

• Low, Medium, High, Turbo

Available special modes (blinkies):

• Strobe,SOS

From OFF:

• Single-click: to last used mode, (mode memory)
• Double click: Turbo
• Triple-click: Strobe (and single click will make it turn off again)
• Press and hold: Low
• 4 clicks: lockout

From ON:

• Single-click: off
• Double click: Turbo, and repeat to return to previously used mode
• Triple-click: Strobe, another triple click for SOS (a single click returns to previously used mode)
• Press and hold: run through the menu from low to high (no Turbo)

Shortcuts:

• To Turbo: double click from on/off
• To Low: long-press from off
• To Strobe: triple-click from on/off

Mode memory:

• Yes, but strobe and turbo are not memorized. Don’t need, because they can be activated with the shortcuts.

Blinky modes menu:

• There are 2, strobe and SOS. Blinkies can be activated with 3 clicks.. and another 3 clicks to switch between them. While in blinky mode, a single click will return to the last used mode, and a double click will go to Turbo.

Low battery warning:

• The battery level indicator will show the status.

Lock-out mode:

• You can activate and deactivate the lockout mode by 4 clicks from off

PWM:

• Not visible!

Programmable modes:

According to the Kickstarter page, the outputs in Low, Medium and High are programmable. Meaning, you can set your desired output. This is very cool, except.. I don’t know how it needs to be done. I didn’t receive a manual. Edit: after finishing the review I noticed how to do it..

1. Go to the output you want to program
2. Do 2 clicks, but keep pressing with the second click… so don’t let the switch go.

How to do the Factory Reset

At first I had no idea why there was a factory reset until I realized that the outputs were programmable. Anyway, this is how you do the Factory reset:

1. Enter the lockout mode by doing 4 clicks when the flashlight is off
2. Once the lockout mode is activated, do the following 3 types of clicks in a sequence with only a 0.5 sec rest in between them. 1 clicks… short wait… 2 clicks… short wait… 3 clicks…
3. When this is done correctly, the light will turn on in Low.

Firmware / UI Conclusion:

The UI is probably perfect for this light. Easy to understand shortcuts to Low, Turbo and Strobe. And memory for last used mode. This is quite basic, but a very useful UI that has proven to be very effective. The programmable mode is also pretty cool!

When I started the review I didn’t know what batteries were used inside. All I knew is that they weren’t supposed to be removed. After I finished all the testing, I opened up the rear end, to have a look inside. Unlike the X0, the X2 doesn’t have removable batteries. They are 14500’s according to Wuben, but they are wrapped together, and connected with wires to the driver. I couldn’t take them out.

They are also protected by a silicone/rubber o-ring.

Charging is done internally through the USB-C port. It can be charged with USB-A to USB-C cable, as well as USB-C to USB-C.

The charge current is about 1Amp, and charging took me 2.5 hours.

During charging, the indicator LED is red, and turns blue when finished. For people who are colorblind, blue is better than green. So this is a smart idea from Wuben.

Lumen measurements:

The output measurements in this review are based on my homemade integrating spheres, each equipped with an Extech SDL400 Lux Meter. For consistency and accuracy, a calibration light (Convoy S2+ with 249lm and a Convoy S2+ with 261lm) is measured prior to each set of lumen measurements.
For high-output lights, one of the lux meters uses an ND camera filter to prevent the lux meter to max out. This is either the Kenko PRO1D ND16 up till about 80,000 lumens or Gobe ND32 for anything above.

The measurements were taken manually at turn on and 30 seconds. The 10 minute numbers are taken from the runtime graph.

These are the number for the Black version, with Osram LED.

Mode	Specified	Measured at turn on	30 sec	10 minutes
Low	5 lm	13 lm	13 lm	–
Med	100 lm	99 lm	99 lm	99 lm
High	400 lm	397 lm	396 lm	393 lm
Turbo	2500 lm	2501 lm	2474 lm	787 lm

I have a feeling that I accidentally changed the output in Low before I started all the testing? Not sure though.

Here are the measurements in Lumens at turn on, 30 seconds and 10 minutes.

Mode	Specified	At turn on	30 sec	10 minutes
Low	5 lm	5 lm	5 lm	–
Med	100 lm	81 lm	81 lm	81 lm
High	400 lm	322 lm	321 lm	316 lm
Turbo	1800 lm	1931 lm	1850 lm	615 lm

Wuben X2 battery life and runtime graphs

The runtime tests were done in the 50cm home made integrating sphere, combined with the Extech SDL400 data logging Lux Meter.

Black X-2 with Osram P9 LEDs

Mode	Specified	Measured runtime (ANSI FL1)	Time till shut off
Low	80h	–	–
Med	10h	11h 00min	11h 00min
High	2h 30min	2h 47min	2h 47min
Turbo	1h	1h 14min	1h 14min

White X-2 with Samsung LH351D LEDs

Mode	Specified	Measured runtime (ANSI FL1)	Time till shut off
Low	80h	–	–
Med	10h	11h 29min	11h 29min
High	2h 30min	2h 53min	2h 53min
Turbo	1h	1h 17min	1h 17min

ANSI FL1 standards: The runtime is measured until the light drops to 10% of its initial output (30 seconds after turning it on). This does not mean that the flashlight is not usable anymore. The last column shows how long the light actually works till it shuts off. If there is a + symbol, it means that the test was stopped at that particular point, but the light was actually still running. This happens on certain occasions, with certain drivers, firmware, or batteries.

Wuben X-2 peak beam intensity and beam distance measurements

Measurements were taken indoors at 5 meters with a Hagner E4-X Lux Meter, after 30 seconds.

Black X-2 with Osram P9

Mode	Specs	Measured candelas	Meters	Yards
Low	–	–	–	–
Med	–	250 cd	32 m	35 m
High	–	1,000 cd	63 m	69 m
Turbo	5,300 lm	6,150 cd	157 m	172 m

White X-2 with Samsung LH351D

Mode	Specs	Measured candelas	Meters	Yards
Low	–	–	–	–
Med	–	275 cd	33 m	36 yd
High	–	1,075 cd	66 m	72 yd
Turbo	4,100 lm	6,125 cd	157 m	171 yd

Low was too low to measure at 5 meters.. it just showed 1 lux.

Meters and yards are rounded to the closest full number.

Extra info: Peak beam distance according to ANSI FL1 standards: The calculated value of distance in meters at which the flashlight produces a light intensity of 0.25 lux. (0.25 lux is about the brightness of a full moon shining on an object).

For the following beamshots, I used a Canon EOS 5D Mk2 with a 50mm lens. Manual settings: ISO1600, 1/4sec, F4, 5000K

The shed is about 65 meters / 71 yards away, and the reflective fence about 200 meters.

Compared to the following flashlights:

• Wuben X2
• Acebeam E70 mini
• Olight Warrior X3
• Fenix C7
• Olight Seeker 3 Pro

Disclaimer: This flashlight was sent to me for review at no cost by Wuben. I have not been paid to review, nor have I been holding back on problems or defects.