Wurkkos/Sofirn H25LR headlamp review

Rating: 4.5/5.

I needed another headlamp and was familiar with an earlier, micro-USB, white-led-only version of this light. Build quality of both is fine, I'd say not fantastic but perfectly usable for not too demanding purposes, and a terrific value for the price. Claimed water resistance level is IPX6. Headband is comfortable given that this is not a tiny light. I think it is still small enough to not need an over-the-head strap.

Wurkkos and Sofirn both sell these lights and I think I heard somewhere that the actual manufacturer is Boruit. There are various models with different configurations. The H25LR has one white led, one 660nm (deep red) led, and USB-C charging.

Order date: Nov 22 2024. Got shipping notice on Nov 24. Package delivered December 5, so about 10 days transit from China to California, not bad. Cost was $19.99 including an 18650 battery. Shipping was free due to order being above $19. This is hard to beat.

The included battery is labelled with Wurkkos branding and says 3000 mah. It is an 18650 button top. I didn't test the capacity or charge current, but I measured the length at around 66.5mm not including the button, with the button adding another 2mm or so. So maybe it's a protected cell, I don't know. The springs in the light are pretty stiff. If you loosen the "tail" cap by 1/4 turn or so, the light breaks contact with the battery, giving you a lockout from accidental turn-on and also from parastic drain. I tried swapping in an unprotected flat top battery and that worked fine including the lockout.

The UI is fairly sane given that it's a 1-button Chinese light with multiple colors and levels and doesn't run Anduril. Short click to activate white led at the same level as last time, long click for red, also at same level as before. Once either led is on, hold down button to cycle through 4 levels. I didn't attempt brightness or runtime measurements.

My general comment about the beam is that it's more directional that I'd prefer, particularly for close-up usage. This is for both the white and red leds. It's not terrible, it's just that I like floody beams for reading and fixing stuff.

The lowest levels of both leds are ok, not super low. Some people appreciate ultra low levels and I can understand that. These are just regular low. I find that level 2 of the white led is about right for reading, walking indoors in the dark, etc. The higher levels are there when you need them.

The red led goes from low to quite powerful, like several watts. I don't quite understand the purpose of a powerful red led. Does anyone really want long distance outdoor illumunation in deep red? I would have been fine with just the low level, or a redesigned light with two full sized white leds, plus an auxiliary small red led. The red led for me is for minimal disturbance to your own night vision and that of others around you. So it should be just bright enough to maneuver in the dark or see an object (telescope, say) well enough to reach and turn a knob. I don't remember ever wanting a bright red light.

There is a handy featue of an RGB led under the on-off switch. When you first turn on the light, that led acts as a battery level indicator (green=charged, etc.) and it stays on for a few seconds. Also, when you plug in a USB charger, it lights red during charging and green afterwards.

The instruction pamphlet says charging takes 4-5 hours, suggesting a 500 ma charge rate similar to the micro-USB version. I.e. it's likely to be the same charging circuit except with a USB-C connector. That is ok with me. The instruction pamphlet also amusingly says that questions and problems should be emailed to sofirnlight@gmail.com, heh.

A slightly more "premium" approach would be to include faster charging (3 amps) and maybe powerbank output. I do like lights with built-in chargers, as opposed to the kind where you have to remove the battery and charge it outside the light. Sorry about that, Hank ;).

Wurkkos now has the interesting HD10 Mini which is a 14500 powered anglehead light with Anduril, sort of like the Emisar D3AA. I don't really care for the 14500 battery type but it would be nice to have a lightweight 18650/18350 version of this light (Hank's D4W is too heavy). Or it would be of more interest if it could run on 1.5 volt AA cells in addition to 14500. As it was, I went for the 18650 version instead. For a lightweight headlamp I have a Nitecore HA11 and might get or concoct something ultralight at some point.

Anyway that's my new light day for now and it has been a good one.