Xtar WK50 Review

firelord777

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 11, 2010
Messages
931
Location
USA
Are you looking for the perfect gift light that will literally open the eyes of someone to the world of flashlights? If yes, great! If not, well, maybe you can expect to find one of these in your mailboxes in you're the giftee:
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This my friends, is a WK50 from Xtar. It is a very small, simple and bright flashlight you can gift to anyone (maybe even yourself). There are 3 colors in total, gun-black, blue (the one ill be reviewing) and pink.
Here are the specs from Xtar:
XTAR 150Lumen - 4 mode Mini Flashlight WK50

ANSI Illumination levels: Extremely High Mid Moonlight
Luminance: 150Lm 80Lm 30Lm 3Lm
Duration: 1.2h 2h 6h 80h
Max Range : 75m
Max Intensity: 1420cd
Impact Resistance: 1.5m
Water Resistance: IPX8 ( underwater 0.5m)
Bulb: CREE XP-G R5 LED
Working Voltage: 0.9~1.8V
Battery: 1x AA(Alkaline, Ni-MH)
Switch: Tailcap switch
Size: Ø 20.5mm
Head diax Ø 17.5mmBody diax 92.5mmlength

Net Weight : 31g
Excluded battery
Hard-anodized anti-abrasive finish
Additional Functions: Memory function

Package contents: flashlight, lanyard, extra o-ring, manual, warranty card.

Here is what you'll get:
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And here are some close-ups of the flashlight itself:
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First Impressions:
When I took out the light, my first thought was that it was small. Actually, it is the smallest flashlight I have. It does get a bit hard to hold it in your hand, and while it does not have any anti-roll system in the body, the lanyard proved to be a very good anti-roll mechanism and also facilitated holding the flashlight a lot, so I recommend putting on the lanyard once you get it.
It is also extremely light, all you have to do is hold a AA battery in your hand and you more or less get an idea of the weight.
However, there is one small issue some may have, and it's that the stock tailcap is set to a very low sensitivity. Basically what that means is that it takes more finger-muscle power to turn the light on and off, surprisingly. It has the toughest tailcap out of all my lights, but luckily, we're all not out of luck.
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I devised a way to increase the sensitivity of the tailcap to set it to your own preferred sensitivity. It's rather simple, but hey, it works wonders (human ingenuity at its finest).
Although there is practically little to no risk of destroying you light, I should mention as a disclaimer that you should do this at your own risk. DO NOT TWIST THE SPRING.
So, you have your tailcap:
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Inside, you will find these two grooves on either end of the black plastic tailclicky:
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Take some tweezers, or whatever fits in the groove(s) and rotate counterclockwise:
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Now, keep rotating until the clicky unit falls out:
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So here's my magic recipe, rip a small piece of paper and roll it up. Be careful not to make it too big, or else you'll have to go back and make it smaller. I took mine from the manual LOL:
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So now, put the piece of rolled up paper inside the tailboot, like demonstrated below:
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Insert your clicky, and make sure to have the spring side faced up. DO NOT TOUCH THE SPRING OR TWIST IT IN ANY WAY – I'll explain later:
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And you should now have a sensitivity that you want, from the stock hardcore finger workout sensitivity, or the feather weight sensitivity.
Beamshots
I have here for you guys a few comparison beamshots between the Fenix LD12 and the WK50:
Xtar WK50 on the left and the Fenix LD12 on the right
Setup:
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Turbo:
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Reduced Exposure:
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High:
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Reduced Exposure:
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Low:
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Moonlight mode was too low, its perfect for reading at night or maps.
Remember when I said not to touch or twist the spring in the clicky? Well, unfortunately, I twisted the spring too much when I was taking the pictures for the tutorial on changing the sensitivity and it just snapped off. I spent several hours trying to fix it back, but to no avail. I managed to convert it into a twisty, but it is inconsistent and only works a few times now. Taking the beamshots was a miracle. I decided to make the best of it and take pictures of what is in the tailcap:
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I'm not sure if my warranty still applies.:laughing:
So there you have it, a nice little gift light that won't break the bank and is a reasonably good performer. If you're in the US, be sure to check out Mark at MD-lightsource.com, he always responds to any questions or concerns you may have. The light was generously provided by Mark for review.:twothumbs
If you have any questions or comments, feel absolutely free to post or PM me, I'll always be willing to help.
Regards,
Alain
 

firelord777

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Joined
Jul 11, 2010
Messages
931
Location
USA
Thanks Tobrien,

Xtar has informed me that they have inserted spacers in the tailcap, so the mod might not be necessary anymore:)

Cheers
 

firelord777

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 11, 2010
Messages
931
Location
USA
BTW,

I forgot to mention that the flashlight is waterproof, I'll see if I can take upload some pictures soon:)
 

paulsl

Enlightened
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
354
Location
NJ
I just got 2 for gifts and I'm returning them as they are very difficult to turn on and off. The dealer did not mention anything different when I called and he said to return them. Too bad but. Otherwise a nice light. I wish he would have known about the spacers. Oh well...

Thanks Tobrien,

Xtar has informed me that they have inserted spacers in the tailcap, so the mod might not be necessary anymore:)

Cheers
 

firelord777

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 11, 2010
Messages
931
Location
USA
I just got 2 for gifts and I'm returning them as they are very difficult to turn on and off. The dealer did not mention anything different when I called and he said to return them. Too bad but. Otherwise a nice light. I wish he would have known about the spacers. Oh well...

I'm sorry to hear that,

Xtar said that various customers have brought up this issue and current shipping models should have the spacers,

Cheers
 

RI Chevy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
3,600
Location
Ocean State
Looks like you could just put a McClicky switch right in there. Nice review with lots of good photos.
 
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