Wuben E8 Review – An OK EDC Light that Looks Really Cool

1. Pricing & Availability
2. What comes in the box?
3. Design & Construction
4. Size & Measurements
5. User Interface
6. Emitter & Beam
7. Mode Chart
8. Runtime
9. Driver & Regulation
10. Batteries & Charging
11. Switch
12. Carry & Ergonomics
13. Competition
14. Conclusion

Pricing & Availability

Wuben sent me this light in exchange for an honest review. Here’s a link to the Kickstarter. That’s a tracked link so they know I sent you, but I’ve chosen not to receive any affiliate commissions. The Kickstarter says the MSRP will be $67.

This is a pre-production sample. The final version will have side lights that shine through the scales, and the scales will be held on magnetically instead of screw-on.

What comes in the box?

The final version will be different and will have a different box and contents. Here’s what came with my pre-production sample:

• The light itself
• Battery (inside the light)
• USB A-to-C charging cable
• Screwdriver with Torx T5 micro bit
• Wuben hat

Design & Construction

The design is the stand-out feature here. It’s striking and modern with translucent plastic scales that can be changed out for customization, like pocket knife handle scales. Other colors will be available from Wuben, and in the final version they’ll be held on with magnets instead of screws. The button is M4 threaded so you can add accessories there too, and there are plenty of tritium/glow slots.

Build quality is great, as usual from Wuben. The machining and finishing are excellent. I like that they matched the texture/finish of the aluminum and plastic despite being different colors and materials. The one exception is the button, which feels cheap and rattly.

Size & Measurements

It’s fairly large for a 14500 light, similar in thickness to most 18650 lights.

Olight i3E | Wuben E8 | Mini Maglite | Wuben X4 | Olight Warrior 3S

Measurement	Measured (mm)
Typical Thickness	23.4
Length	90.9
Switch Diameter	10.8
LED Footprint	3535
Included Battery Length	50.3
Weight with included battery (g)	81

User Interface

This is a very simple UI, which I like, but I wish it didn’t have the UV mode. This UI is subject to change in the final release, and they’re adding a side light to the final version.

How it works:

• On/Off: Click the switch
• Change modes: Half-press the switch while the light is on. Or turn it off and back on quickly. The mode order is Low -> Medium -> High -> UV -> Low (and repeat)
• Memory: It remembers the last mode you used and will turn back on in that mode.

Notes:

• There are no shortcuts. No way to jump straight to any particular mode.
• UV is in the main rotation. That’s kind of odd, and you have to scroll through it every time you need to go down in brightness.
• I wish it didn’t have UV. That would simplify the UI and user experience significantly.
• A side light will be added to the final version. I don’t know how that will be integrated into the UI. With three channels going on, I think it would be best to have an e-switch on the final version, or a second switch for channel selection.
• Lockout is possible by loosening the tailcap a bit.

Emitter & Beam

The two white LEDs are SST-36F diodes in 5000K, and the UV is a 365nm SST-10. This is the first time I’ve seen SST-36F LEDs and they seem fine. I’m glad they’re in neutral white instead of cool. The SST-10 does a great job, but doesn’t have a ZWB2 filter. The final version will also have a side light, not shown in my pre-release sample.

The white beam is wide and bright, well suited to EDC. There are some artifacts on the edge of the beam but I didn’t notice them during normal use.

In the beamshots below, camera settings are fixed and the wall is 2.8M away.

In the beamshots below, camera settings are as similar as possible, the basketball goal to the right of the hotspot is 39M away, and the power pole in the center is 185M away.

E8’s UV beam is unimpressive at best. It will make brightly fluorescent objects glow, but that’s about it. It emits a tremendous amount of visible light that out-shines fine details. Since the UV and white LEDs partially share the same reflector, some UV gets into the white LEDs and makes them glow, shining a brownish hotspot in the middle of the UV beam. See this comparison below between E8’s UV beam and a Skilhunt MiX-7 G2+ UV beam shining at the same spot on a wall.

Mode Chart

Disclaimer: All of my measurements are taken at turn-on. Lumen measurements were taken on a Texas Ace 3.5″ Lumen Tube. 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. 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 these measurements with a grain of salt.

The official specs are above, followed by my own measurements below.

Level	Lumens	Candela	Throw (Meters)	CRI (Ra)	Color Temp. (K)	DUV (Tint)
High	990	3000	110	67	4720	0.0053
Medium	90	270	33	67	4670	0.0054
Low	11	33	12	67	4630	0.0055

Runtime

Performance is mediocre. Peak brightness is good but it starts stepping down immediately, and the rest of the runtime is unregulated and trends downward. Total runtime is good. UV always shuts off after 2 minutes.

Thermal regulation: My High and High Cooled tests are almost identical, so there’s no active thermal regulation here, just timed stepdowns. That means performance will be consistent, but not optimized for ambient temperature.

LVP (Low Voltage Protection): There’s a low voltage warning and also low voltage shutoff. The warning makes the light blink when the battery is very low. Eventually it will shut itself off to prevent over-discharge. You can then re-activate it in an emergency if you’re using an unprotected battery, but if you try that with the included battery its protection circuit will trip and cut power until you recharge it.

Driver & Regulation

The driver must be a boost circuit because it can drive 3V LEDs off a 1.5V AA battery. Some dual-fuel lights also have a buck circuit that’s used with a 14500 cell, but not here.

Regulation performance is poor. As you can see, every mode is affected by battery voltage when using the included 14500 battery. I imagine regulation performance would be much better on a AA battery, but I’m just using the included cell. UV brightness is not to scale and is not measured lumens. It’s just there to show the UV brightness is affected by battery voltage too, even more heavily than the other modes.

PWM: No PWM is visible to my eyes nor audible to my ears. My phone camera picks up PWM on Medium mode. My Opple detects PWM on every white mode.

Parasitic Drain: There is no parasitic drain because this light uses a mechanical switch.

Batteries & Charging

The included battery is a 920mAh 14500 cell with a USB-C charging port. The battery has an LED indicator that glows while its charging. The light also supports NiMH or Alkaline AAs, but won’t be as bright. There is no battery indicator on the light itself and flat tops won’t work. Charging takes just under three hours, which is pretty slow.

Switch

The switch is a reverse-clicky mechanical located on the tail. Clicking turns the light on/off and tapping the switch changes modes. The boot is aluminum and has an M4 threaded hole for customization. The switch rattles and has a lot of pre-travel. I think a simple silicone boot would have felt higher quality.

Carry & Ergonomics

Ergonomics are excellent. The hexagonal shape, scales with cutouts, and relatively large size (for its battery class) make it super comfortable and interesting to hold. It’s a decent fidget toy just because it feels cool.

Competition

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

Convoy T1, T2, and T3: budget alternative

• very affordable (starts around $15)

• highly customizable (lots of LEDs, optics, reflectors, switches, colors, and materials to choose from, mix, and match)
• battery and charger not typically included
• ships from China
• customizable UI
• sub-par clip

Skilhunt EC200S: more functional alternative

• less expensive MSRP
• less interesting to look at and hold
• e-switch UI with shortcuts
• similar brightness specs and similar size
• uses much larger 18650 battery for ~3.5x the capacity
• more LED options
• ZWB2 filter for the UV channel
• better pocket clip
• I haven’t reviewed this exact version but I did review EC200 and EC200S-Mini

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

I like the awesome aesthetics, great feel in-hand, USB-C on the battery, 5000K LEDs, simple UI, and scale/tritium customization options. I dislike the UV mode, pocket clip, large size (for its battery), and cheap-feeling switch. It’s not the most functional light in the 14500-tailswitch class, but it might be the coolest looking. If you’re after a piece of pocket jewelry to customize with scales and tritium slots, this may be a good option.

Thanks to Wuben for sending me this light for review!