HKJ
Flashaholic
[size=+3]Xtar Wk26[/size]
Xtar has made flashlights, batteries and chargers for some time. In this review I am looking at a small light, that uses a LiIon battery.
The light is turned on/off and brightness changed by a tail switch. The light is made of aluminum with anodized finish.
The light comes in a a small box with a foam insert.
Included in the package is the light, a LiIon battery, a lanyard, a manual and a warranty card.
The light uses a smooth reflector with a XP-E led.
A look at the head from the backside shows that there is a metal plate on the plus connection, but also show 4 small solder pads. Bridging any of these pads will disable one mode from the user interface, the only mode that cannot be disabled is high. How to do this is well explained in the manual. On the last picture I have disabled SOS and strobe mode, i.e. the light has low-medium-high now.
The battery tube has triangular threads without any anodizing, i.e. no lockout function.
Both head, body and tailcap has some groves for grip.
The tailcap has a recessed switch and the usual spring. The switch can be depressed partially to activate the light and change mode, i.e. it is a forward switch.
The light has up to five modes, that can be selected by turning it on/off. It will remember the last selected mode.
Here is all the part the light can be disassembled in without tools.
This light has an interesting idea with the possibility to enable/disable modes, making is possible to adapt to personal preferences. I also like that is uses a forward switch, what I am missing in the light is support for regular AA batteries.
[size=+3]Technical specification and measurements[/size]
The light is rated for use with one 14500 LiIon battery.
Measured size and weight:
Length: 102 mm
Diameter: 16.5 mm to 22.5 mm
Weight: 63 gram with TrustFire 14500 900mAh
The light uses a Cree XP-E R3 led.
In the above table I have collected all modes. The current is measured at 3.7 volt. All the estimated runtimes are assuming a 750mAh LiIon battery, the measured runtime is with the supplied TrustFire battery that is marked 900mAh. The estimated lumen from the specified maximum of 250 lumens.
The first voltage sweep is done in high mode. The light uses a linear current regulator, i.e. the current draw does not change with voltage.
Also note that the current draw has fallen to around 0 at 2.6 volt, this does give some protection for LiIon batteries.
Reducing the brightness to medium with 40% pwm reduces the power consumption to about 40% of high.
At low there is not much regulation, it is just low brightness.
The light runs for about 50 minutes on high and 2 hours on medium with good stabilization and a nice fade when battery is empty.
The strobe is 10 Hz and has a 50% duty cycle. It runs at full brightness.
SOS is not really a SOS, it only sends SO, the last S is missing.
The light uses pwm at 500 Hz to control brightness, here is medium.
Pwm at low.
[size=+3]Comparison to other Flashlights[/size]
Xtar Wk21, Xtar Wk25B, Xtar Wk26:
Sunwayman V10R Ti, Fenix LD15, Fenix E15:
For the full comparison to other lights with graphs and beamshots see here
[size=+3]Notes[/size]
The light was supplied by Xtar for review.
Xtar has made flashlights, batteries and chargers for some time. In this review I am looking at a small light, that uses a LiIon battery.
The light is turned on/off and brightness changed by a tail switch. The light is made of aluminum with anodized finish.
The light comes in a a small box with a foam insert.
Included in the package is the light, a LiIon battery, a lanyard, a manual and a warranty card.
The light uses a smooth reflector with a XP-E led.
A look at the head from the backside shows that there is a metal plate on the plus connection, but also show 4 small solder pads. Bridging any of these pads will disable one mode from the user interface, the only mode that cannot be disabled is high. How to do this is well explained in the manual. On the last picture I have disabled SOS and strobe mode, i.e. the light has low-medium-high now.
The battery tube has triangular threads without any anodizing, i.e. no lockout function.
Both head, body and tailcap has some groves for grip.
The tailcap has a recessed switch and the usual spring. The switch can be depressed partially to activate the light and change mode, i.e. it is a forward switch.
The light has up to five modes, that can be selected by turning it on/off. It will remember the last selected mode.
Here is all the part the light can be disassembled in without tools.
This light has an interesting idea with the possibility to enable/disable modes, making is possible to adapt to personal preferences. I also like that is uses a forward switch, what I am missing in the light is support for regular AA batteries.
[size=+3]Technical specification and measurements[/size]
The light is rated for use with one 14500 LiIon battery.
Measured size and weight:
Length: 102 mm
Diameter: 16.5 mm to 22.5 mm
Weight: 63 gram with TrustFire 14500 900mAh
The light uses a Cree XP-E R3 led.
In the above table I have collected all modes. The current is measured at 3.7 volt. All the estimated runtimes are assuming a 750mAh LiIon battery, the measured runtime is with the supplied TrustFire battery that is marked 900mAh. The estimated lumen from the specified maximum of 250 lumens.
The first voltage sweep is done in high mode. The light uses a linear current regulator, i.e. the current draw does not change with voltage.
Also note that the current draw has fallen to around 0 at 2.6 volt, this does give some protection for LiIon batteries.
Reducing the brightness to medium with 40% pwm reduces the power consumption to about 40% of high.
At low there is not much regulation, it is just low brightness.
The light runs for about 50 minutes on high and 2 hours on medium with good stabilization and a nice fade when battery is empty.
The strobe is 10 Hz and has a 50% duty cycle. It runs at full brightness.
SOS is not really a SOS, it only sends SO, the last S is missing.
The light uses pwm at 500 Hz to control brightness, here is medium.
Pwm at low.
[size=+3]Comparison to other Flashlights[/size]
Xtar Wk21, Xtar Wk25B, Xtar Wk26:
Sunwayman V10R Ti, Fenix LD15, Fenix E15:
For the full comparison to other lights with graphs and beamshots see here
[size=+3]Notes[/size]
The light was supplied by Xtar for review.
