Contents

• Pricing & Availability
• What comes in the box?
• Design & Construction
• Size & Measurements
• User Interface
• Emitter & Beam
• Mode Chart
• Runtime
• Driver & Regulation
• Switch
• Carry & Ergonomics
• Batteries & Charging
• Competition
• Conclusion

Pricing & Availability

Wuben sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here is the official product page where you can see current pricing. That’s an affiliate link, but I’ve chosen not to earn any commission from sales. MRSP is a staggering $988, but it seems to go on sale in the ~$700 range every few months so you shouldn’t pay MSRP. At the time of writing, it’s just under $750. Code “tgreviews25” will get you 25% off Wuben products that aren’t otherwise on sale until February 29th, 2024.

What comes in the box?

This is the nicest flashlight box I’ve ever seen, by far. It’s a plastic protective case with latches and a handle, similar to a pelican case. It’s got cutouts for every accessory inside and the light is beautifully presented. Inside the case is:

• The light itself
• Remote (attached to the light)
• User manual
• Charger (with adapters for US, EU, AU, and UK)
• Shoulder strap
• Spare O-Rings and screws

Design & Construction

Overall the build quality is excellent. The machining and finishing is flawless. It feels so solid and dense in the hand. My only complaint is a small, rattly, plastic button on the tailcap. The button doesn’t appear to do anything critical so you could just put a piece of electrical tape over it to fix the rattle. It’s not a huge problem and isn’t hard to fix, but a $988 product shouldn’t rattle. Thankfully, that ugly yellow warning label is just a sticker so you can peel it off if you wish.

I wondered what the weird protrusion on the side of the head was. According to the user manual, it’s the antenna for the remote control.

Size & Measurements

MiX-7 | H300 | X1 Falcon | LT1 | Wuben A1 | Terminator M2 | Warrior X 4 | Warrior 3S

Normally I include a large table of measurements, but most of the things I typically measure don’t apply to this light or are inaccessible. If you can think of anything I should measure that’s not shown below, please let me know in the comments and I’ll add it if I can.

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Bezel Diameter	151.1
Total Length	315-320
Body Tube Diameter	65.0
Tailcap Diameter (max)	71.0
Handle Length	131.4

Weight: 2.86kg (6.3lbs)
Total case weight (with light and all accessories inside): 5.39kg (11.9lbs)

User Interface

This is a weird UI that feels like a first draft. I wish it had a typical single-button UI like most of Wuben’s other models (X1, X2, etc). It’s way better than having to use the single button on the opposite side from the handle on a Lumintop GT9 series light though.

The actions are # of presses followed by a hold (H) or a release (C). So, “1C” is one click and release. “2H” is two clicks but you hold down the last one.

State	Button	Action	Result
Off	Power	1C	On (mode memory)
Off	Power	2C	Nothing
Off	Power	3C	Enable/disable button LED
Off	Power	4C	Lockout
Off	W	1H	Momentary Turbo
Off	W	1C	Nothing
On	Power	1C	Off
On	W	1C	Cycle mode (levels 1-5)
On	W	1H	Turbo
Turbo	W	1C	Return to previous mode
Lockout	Power	4C	Unlock and turn on lowest mode
Any	Power	1H	Strobe
Strobe	W	1C	SOS

What they got right:

• Clicking the power button turns the light on/off. That’s simple and intuitive.
• Turbo is not memorized. It has its own dedicated shortcut, so you can access it quickly without overriding your memorized mode.
• Momentary Turbo is handy. I’d give it up to have a normal single-button UI, but if I have to use this weird two-switch UI, Momentary Turbo is nice to have.

What they got wrong:

• Holding power activates Strobe. That’s a terrible place for the Strobe shortcut. On most flashlights, Strobe is hidden behind a triple click of the power button. Holding the power button is a very common action on most flashlights that typically activates the lowest mode or changes the brightness. That means that if you’re used to other flashlights and aren’t careful, you might hold the power button expecting to activate the lowest brightness level but you’ll actually get blasted with Strobe mode. This is the most annoying part about this UI.
• There’s no direct access to low. Because holding the power button is reserved for Strobe, that doesn’t go to the lowest mode like on most flashlights. There’s no way to activate the lowest mode directly from off.

This light would be significantly better with the same single-button UI as Wuben’s other lights (X0, X1, X2, etc).

Emitter & Beam

A1 uses four Luminus SBT90.2 LEDs. SBT90.2 is the brightest throw-oriented LED available at the time of writing. It’s a fantastic choice for a large thrower like this. Four of them are even better!

The beam is narrow, but it’s wider than most throwers in this size class. The spill is also dramatically brighter than most throwers in this size class due to the massive lumen output. This beam has just about all the throw and all the flood you could ever need. The drawback is it’s not a very pretty beam. Because it’s a quad reflector, there are large flower petals at the edge of the spill instead of it being a perfect circle. There’s also a large, obvious ring circling the hotspot and cutting through the spill.

In the beamshots below, the basketball goal to the right of the hotspot is 39M away and the power pole in the center is 185M away.

Mode Chart

Disclaimer: This light does not fit in my Texas Ace lumen tube so I can’t measure lumens. For all the lumen data in this review, I assume the 20,000lm advertised Turbo brightness is correct and everything else is calculated relative to that. A candela measurement was taken at 10 meters with an Opple Light Master III on the highest brightness, and other candela figures were calculated relative to that. CRI, CCT, & DUV data were taken for each mode from a few feet away at the center of the hotspot with the Opple Light Master and Waveform DUV Calculator. Runtime tests were performed with the Ceilingbounce app on my smartphone. All of these tests were performed with a fully charged included battery unless otherwise specified. I cannot measure moonlight directly, so moonlight readings are calculated based on the brightness relative to the next-lowest mode. None of this is professional equipment, so take all of these measurements with a grain of salt.

Above are the official specs, followed by my own measurements below. I believe Wuben updated the throw distance spec from 2000M to 2500M at some point, but they forgot to update the candela figure on the website from 1MCD to ~1.5MCD.

Level	Lumens (est.)	Candela	Throw (Meters)
Turbo	20,000	2,050,000	2,864
L5	12,762	1,308,095	2,287
L4	4,223	432,843	1,316
L3	1,488	152,481	781
L2	411	42,171	411
L1	141	14,448	240

Candela/Throw: I measured way higher than the advertised 2500M (~1.5MCD). I double-checked my distances and math. I made sure my meter was measuring correctly with lower-powered lights too. I don’t know why my measurement was so high, but that’s what I got. As always, take it with a grain of salt because I’m using a $30 Bluetooth light meter, not professional-grade equipment.

Color Properties: The hotspot is too intense for me to get reliable color readings. It seems to be cool-neutral CCT, mildly greenish tint, and low CRI just like every other flashlight with SBT90.2 LEDs.

Mode Spacing is fine. There are no weirdly small or large jumps.

Runtime

Performance is excellent. Turbo doesn’t last long but that’s expected when pushing 20,000 lumens. Sustained output is awesome at 5-6000lm depending on the mode and that lasts for 1.5-2hrs. Levels 3 and 4 provide lots of usable light for hours and hours.

Thermal regulation is a timed step-down from Turbo only. There is no active thermal regulation. That means the light will perform very consistently but may also overheat in hot weather or leave some performance on the table in cold weather.

LVP (Low Voltage Protection): When the battery gets low the light steps down to a low brightness to warn you. That will last anywhere from 20 minutes to three hours depending on the mode, and then the light will shut off. You can briefly re-activate it in an emergency even after it shuts off, which is good.

Driver & Regulation

I’m not 100% sure what kind of driver Wuben is using here, but it’s a good one (buck or buck+boost). It appears to be efficient and very well-regulated.

This regulation performance is exactly what I like to see. It can provide near-full performance down to 2 bars of capacity remaining, but not all the way down to empty. That means it’s a good quality driver and the components are being pushed hard for maximum brightness. A light that doesn’t drop in output as battery drains is probably not being pushed hard on the highest mode. This is leaps and bounds better than Lumintop’s GT9-series FET driver.

PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes or camera, nor audible to my ears.

Parasitic Drain: I was unable to measure the parasitic drain due to the built-in battery pack.

Switch

A1 has two switches (Power and “W”) mirrored in two different locations (on the body and on the handle). It doesn’t matter which set of switches you use. The results are the same.

The Handle/Remote: The switches on the handle are A1’s best feature. In the past, I tested one of A1’s biggest competitors, Lumintop GT94. That light has a handle, but the switch is on the opposite side of the light from the handle, it’s on a flared part of the head, and it’s horribly balanced so there’s just no way to comfortably hold and control it. A1 has a comfortable handle with the switches right there for your thumb to press. It’s well balanced and operable with only one hand.

One cool feature about those switches on the handle is that you can remove and use the switch module as a remote control. I can’t think of any real-world situations where this would be useful, but it sure is neat! I found it helpful for doing brightness and runtime testing where I could put the light in a closed space and still control it. Perhaps you could use the remote by your side if the light is slung under your shoulder.

The Switches on the Body: There are two switches located on the body directly opposite from the handle. They’re hard plastic or metal and the power one has a backlight. They’re easy to press and audible. The best thing about these is they are ergonomic. If you choose to remove the handle, the light is still reasonably comfortable to hold by the body tube, and use these switches to control it.

The power switch has a blue and red backlight that activates for 5 seconds after the light is turned on to show you the battery charge level. Constant blue means 85-100% charge. Blinking blue means 34-85% charge. Constant red means 17-34% charge. Blinking red means 0-17% charge. It can also be turned into a breathing blue beacon light by clicking it 3x when the light is off.

Carry & Ergonomics

Ergonomics: This is the most ergonomic large flashlight I’ve tried. The large, balanced handle makes it very comfortable to hold and carry. The best feature is that there are buttons on the handle so you don’t have to use your other hand to control the light. I think this is the biggest differentiating factor between Wuben A1 and its biggest competitor, Lumintop’s GT9-series. Even if you decide to remove the handle, it’s still reasonably ergonomic and balanced to hold by the body tube and use the side switches.

Shoulder strap: While the light is comfortable to carry using the handle, it’s nice to have both hands free sometimes. The included shoulder strap is a weird design but I think you’re meant to put the pad on one shoulder, the middle strap across the other shoulder, and then hook the clips onto the light opposite from the pad.

Tailstanding is doable, but you have to unscrew the tailcap first and then it dangles to the side. That’s weird but not a huge inconvenience. The tailcap and its tether can be easily removed if you don’t want them getting in the way of tailstanding. Most of my usage was with the tailcap and its tether completely removed for convenience.

Mounting: There’s no obvious way to mount this light to a stand or tripod. That’s odd because it has a remote control and most other large lights include a tripod mount.

Batteries & Charging

Battery: A1 has a large battery pack integrated into the body tube. It consists of eight 21700 cells in a 4S2P configuration that are not user accessible. They even filled the screw heads with epoxy to keep users out. That means that if you manage to use this light enough to wear out the batteries, you’ll have to buy a whole new body tube/battery pack from Wuben if they still make them.

That’s not ideal, but it’s a tradeoff I’m willing to make for the convenience of integrated charging. For me, that convenience outweighs all the downsides of a built-in battery pack here (e-waste, planned obsolescence, expensive replacements, etc.) If you feel differently, buy a Lumintop.

Charging is facilitated by a DC barrel jack on the tail and the included DC power supply. The charging port is covered by a large, threaded, aluminum cap. That cap is tethered to the tail so you won’t lose it. The tether is part of a rubber seal that keeps dirt and grime out of the charging port. The tail also has a multi-LED battery indicator (my favorite) and a USB-A output port for charging other devices (like the remote). There’s a rattly button labeled “Switch OUT” but as far as I can tell, it just activates the indicator LEDs.

I don’t love this charging solution. A DC barrel jack feels cheap in 2023/2024, especially considering the exorbitant retail price of this light. I would have preferred a high-wattage USB-C-PD in/out port for charging and powerbank functionality. With that said, it’s still way better than having to remove and charge all the batteries separately.

Sparking: I noticed that when I plug the light in to charge, some sparks shoot out of the charging port. I asked Wuben about this and they assured me that it’s normal.

To prevent sparks, I always plug the charger into the light before plugging the charger into the wall. When it’s done, I always unplug it from the wall and wait for the indicator lights on the flashlight to turn off before unplugging the charger from the light.

Powerbank: There’s a USB-A port under the tailcap that lets you use the light as a powerbank. According to the user manual, it supports “QC2.0, QC3.0, FCP, AFC, PD2.0, DCP, BC1.2, and Apple”.

Competition

Here are some lights in the same class and how they compare.

Lumintop GT94X:

• less expensive
• heavier (especially with the extension tube and batteries)
• no batteries, charger, nor carrying case included
• user-accessible batteries (must be removed for charging)
• only supports 4 batteries out of the box, the 8 battery extension tube is sold separately
• low quality driver with extremely poor thermal regulation
• customizable UI with the ability to disable thermal regulation
• massive cooling fins
• absolutely awful switch placement (opposite side of the light from the handle)
• cleaner beam

Acebeam K75 V2:

• about half the price
• takes four 18650 batteries instead of a built-in battery pack
• no integrated charging
• single LED instead of four
• significantly lighter weight and shorter
• no buttons on the handle
• narrower beam with less lumens, but same throw distance

Lumintop GT98:

• eight SBT90.2 LEDs instead of four
• about 2x the lumens, similar throw
• significantly larger and heavier
• more or less expensive depending on sales
• possibly discontinued? I can’t find any in stock at the time of writing
• low quality driver with extremely poor thermal regulation
• customizable UI with the ability to disable thermal regulation
• massive cooling fins
• absolutely awful switch placement (opposite side of the light from the handle
• USB-C charging

This section is not comprehensive. If I didn’t include a particular light here, it doesn’t mean it’s bad or doesn’t deserve to be here. I simply cannot list every possible competitor.

Conclusion

A1 is very bright and very expensive. It’s got all the performance you could ever need and is built like a tank, but it’s still light enough to carry for awhile. This is the best blend of insane performance and user-friendly design in its class. Just putting the buttons on the handle makes it dramatically more usable than all the competition. Plus it’s got a great quality driver that provides consistent and stable performance. If you are looking for the ultimate thrower, this is it.

Thanks to Wuben for sending me this light for review!