Wurkkos TS30S

The LED is a Luminus SBT90.2 LED in a smooth aluminum reflector. The reflector rests on a black plastic insulating gasket which has a good tight fit around the LED. The tolerances were excellent. Even after disassembling and assembling the head and reflector, the beam did not show any sign of bad focusing or out of focus. It still performed as before and showed a very nice hotspot without any strange artifact.

The SBT90.2 is a bit cold, but boy is it fun on Turbo 😉

 Of course, it is perfectly well suitable for the job on any lower setting, but probably most people will buy this because it just gives a ton of light. In order to distinguish items over a long distance, there are much better alternatives to use.

The light comes with a standard bezel, with small crenelations. It also comes with an additional or exchangeable tactical strike bezel. I found the bezel to be tight, trying to remove the bezel resulted in opening the head. After clamping the head with enough force to remove the bezel, exchanging the bezels was very easy.

The stainless steel (SS) tactical bezel feels quite hefty, and boy is it large. Personally, I wouldn’t use it, but this one is certainly able to cause some damage. I think I’ll just mod the additional bezel and cut off the strike crenelation parts and make it a nice and smooth bezel (call me old-fashioned).

• Length: 153 mm
• Head diameter: 55mm

Weight: 

• Without cells:  230 grams
• With cells:  301  grams

Flashlight size comparison

To show its dimensions, I placed it next to other popular flashlights.

From left to right: Emisar D4, Wurkkos TS30, Amutorch XT45 (Also with SBT90.2), Convoy C8, Wurkkos TS30S and BLF Q8

Note, I think it’s interesting to see many similarities between the Q8 and TS30S ;–)

The driver is using a Anduril UI. This is currently one of the most advanced firmwares for flashlights at the moment.

This is the image of the UI, but forget about the bottom part, because this particular light has no AUX LEDs.

From OFF:

• Single-click: ON
• Double click: High (Top of ramp, to get to Turbo, you need to do another double click)
• 3 clicks: Access the blinky/utility modes.

Enter Special/Fun modes from OFF:

• 2 clicks + hold: Strobe modes
• 4 clicks: Lock Out mode
• 5 clicks: Momentary on
• 6 clicks: Muggle mode

From ON:

• Single-click: Off
• Double click: Turbo
• 3 clicks: change ramping mode.. Instead of a smooth increase, it has 6 little steps between Lowest and Max.
• 4 clicks: change to ramping configuration mode
• Press and hold: brightness ramps up.. release and press and hold again to ramp down.

INTERESTING, SPECIAL AND FUN MODES:

Please read the manual carefully to know how to access or customize these modes. Also see the firmware picture, above.

• Blinky Utility mode:
• Battery check
• Sunset Mode
• Beacon mode
• Temperature check

Strobe / Mood modes:

When in the strobes mode, double-click to rotate between them – all modes except party strobe are brightness, changed the same way as a normal ramp. In party strobe mode, ramping up and down will increase and decrease the frequency of the strobe, for incredible effects.

• Candle
• Bike flasher
• Party strobe
• Tactical Strobe
• Lightning mode
• Lockout mode (can’t use the light)
  • Lockout mode is available by clicking four times from off – while in lockout mode, click-and-hold will light up at bottom of the ramp, and a double-click-and-hold will light up somewhat brighter. This is to give you a way to quickly use the light if necessary, but if it activates in your pocket, it will only be at very low modes, and only for as long as the button is pressed. No more holes in pants!
• Momentary mode (signaling/ morse coding)
• Muggle mode: (safer for children)
• Configuration mode
• Ramp config mode

PWM

•   It does not incorporate any PWM !

The Wurkkos TS30S comes with an 5000 mAh unprotected flat-top 21700 cell. This cell looks very similar to the Shocklii cells and is likely just rewrapped. I didn’t feel the urge to remove the wrapper, since I wasn’t sure whether the original wrap is still underneath it, and would end up with a bare cell.

The light itself incorporates USB-C charging and is rated for charging speeds up to 2A. During my test I measured the USB charging speed at about 1.7A, Technically it should be able to charge with speeds up to 2A, probably the lower speed is limited by the remaining capacity inside the cell.

Yes, it does perform pretty good! It throws very well and gives a fantastic beam!

Even the measured candela output exceeds the advertised throw numbers. However the advertised Lumen numbers might be a bit too positive, more info can be found in the Lumen part of the performance section.

Amp measurement  

For current measurements, I used an UNI-T clamp-on current meter, type UT-210E, with a short (approx 15cm) 14 AWG wire to bypass the current on the tailcap.

Since it is difficult to measure a certain setting into Narsil/Anduril lights, I just did a maximum ramp/ceiling current measurement and a Turbo measurement.

Ceiling/top ramp:

• 7,9 A with the supplied Wurkkos cell
• 7,9 A with a Samsung 40T

Turbo: 

• 20A with the supplied Wurkkos cell
• 22A with a Samsung 40T

Parasitic drain:

• I was not able to measure parasitic drain.

Runtime graph

Runtime is measured using the ceiling bounce app inside a closed environment, so no external influences will impact the reading. The numbers next to the graph are calculated upon the perceptual output. These numbers are measured as stated in the next paragraph using an integrated sphere. What can be seen is that the output is pretty good, especially considering the fact that it houses the power-hungry Luminus SBT90.2 light.

Turbo is maintained for 30 seconds, after 30 seconds the light does a small stepdown to 90%. This can be maintained for about 3.5 minutes. After that, it will decrement within 2 minutes to about 30% of its maximum output.

The 30% will be maintained for about one hour total, and the graph even shows it will increase its output a bit after a while. 

Lumen measurements (for each mode)

Lumens are measured into my newly acquired 50 cm EPS integrating sphere, which is continuously calibrated against a (Well respected BLF member) Maukka calibration light.

I have to say the sphere numbers were a bit disappointing since they read significantly lower than my Lumen tube, I even started doubting my readings, so I bought another Luxmeter which BLF member Djozz has tested to be surprisingly accurate. 

I have done some thorough testing and found out the same results as Djozz did. The UT tends to have a positive deviation on higher Lux readings. To show the difference, I have written down the results for both luxmeters and setups.

Please note that the integrating sphere numbers seem to be quite low, but these are REAL lumens, it might very well be more.

• Since it is difficult to measure a certain setting into Narsil/Anduril lights, I just did a maximum ramp/ceiling current measurement and a Turbo measurement.

It seems the advertised 6000 Lm mark is a bit over-optimistic. However, the throw is very good and exceeds the advertised throw numbers.

Throw numbers: 

Throw is measured at exactly 5m using the TASI-8133 Luxmeter, where the light is mounted on a tripod and pointed towards the light meter. Note that this method will not take into account the measurement of any spill, since the measurement is only done in the center of the hotspot.

Turbo at 5 meters gives :

The distance to the trees is approx 250m according to Google maps. The beamshots show several lights in Turbo mode to give an impression of what the lights can achieve. The closest competitor is the Amutorch XT45 which also uses the Luminus SBT90.2. 

What clearly can be seen is that those 2 are actually quite close, and the beam and tint is very similar.

Logical of course, since the SBT90.2 is not available in as many tints as some other LED manufacturers/competitors offer.

The wide beam with enough spill makes it a very versatile light!