top of page

Flashlight Review: Wurkkos HD03

  • Stephen Knight
  • 10 hours ago
  • 5 min read

Updated: 42 minutes ago

This is a detailed review of the Wurkkos HD03 flashlight. This compact clip light is claimed to have a 680 lumens cool white spotlight, 320 lumens high CRI neutral white floodlight, and RGB colour LEDs with 20+ effects modes.


Disclaimer


The Wurkkos HD03 was purchased with my own funds. This review is written from the perspective of a flashlight enthusiast and light painting / night photographer.

Product links are affiliate links.

Wurkkos HD03 Flashlight / Torch
Wurkkos HD03 RGB Effects

Design and Construction

The Wurkkos HD03 is a versatile lightweight clip light, which is designed to clip onto clothing or devices, attach via magnets, free stand, or be hung using the supplied lanyard. This means that the HD03 has a wide range of uses. The weight is just 49g, and the dimensions are 28 x 25.2 x 60mm. The casing is made from aluminium, with Green, Orange, and Blue colour options at the time of writing. The light is IPX6 rated, and drop-proof to 1.5m, so should be able to withstand splashes, rain, and small drops.



The Wurkkos HD03 distinguishes itself from other clip lights such as the Olight Oclip by offering a spot beam, flood beam, and auxiliary RGB lighting in a TIR lens. More on the beam, optics, and runtime later in this review.


The light arrived in branded packaging, and included the quick start guide/instructions, short USB-C cable, plus a lanyard. The HD03 has a built in 600mAh Li-Polymer battery, with USB-C charging port. The charging port has a rubber flap, which I found a bit flimsy. Charging from empty took 1 hour 20mins. The HD03 also supports pass through charging, so can be run from a powerbank or USB-C power supply, but not at full power.


The overall construction quality is impressive for the light's low price of $19 (at the time of writing). The inside of the clip has some silicone padding. The magnet's strength is adequate for attaching the light to surfaces.

Wurkkos HD03 Clip Light
Wurkkos HD03 Clip Light
Size comparison - Wurkkos HD03 vs Olight Arkfeld Pro
Size comparison - Wurkkos HD03 vs Olight Arkfeld Pro
Wurkkos HD03 Clip
Wurkkos HD03 Clip
Wurkkos HD03 attached magnetically to a metallic surface.
Wurkkos HD03 attached magnetically to a metallic surface.

User Interface


The HD03 has two switches on opposite sides - a flood/throw switch, and mode change button.


  • Single click from Off - Low (no last mode memory).

  • Single click from On - Off

  • Hold from On - Cycles through modes Low > Mid > High

  • Double click from On - Turbo (single click to Low)

  • Triple click from On - Strobe mode

  • Double click in Strobe mode Cycles through Strobe > SOS > Beacon (single click to Low)

  • Triple click from Off - Lock (triple click to unlock)

  • Hold from Off - Moonlight mode

  • Double click from Off - RGB mode (last mode memory)

  • Double click in RGB mode - Cycles through RGB > Strobe > Red/Blue Beacon > Full Color Flowing > Red Blue Green Flowing > Gradient Meteor Light > Gradient Breathing Light > Gradient Single Light Rotation (single click back to RGB)

  • Single click from RGB - Off.

  • Press and hold in RGB mode - Cycles through colour spectrum, release on required colour.


For the spotlight and floodlight modes, the user interface is fairly similar to common flashlight user interfaces. There is no last mode memory, which may be positive or negative for different use cases. RGB mode thankfully has last mode memory, but only for solid colours. The RGB effects modes are OK, but a bit gimmicky. Wurkkos claim 20+ colour effects, but I can only count 8. However, the colour can be adjusted for some of the modes such as Strobe. The colour cycle for selecting a colour is too fast and it is difficult to release on the required colour.  A red strobe could be used a bike light.

Wurkkos HD03 mode switch.
Wurkkos HD03 mode switch.

Wurkkos HD03 Flood/Spot Switch
Wurkkos HD03 Flood/Spot Switch

Beam, Output, and Runtime


The Wurkkos HD03 has three types of beam:

  • Spotlight 6500K cool white, single emitter, claimed 680 lumens.

  • Floodlight 5000K high CRI neutral white, 9 emitters, claimed 320 lumens.

  • RGB coloured (auxiliary) lights, 9 emitters.


Brightness (lumens and candela or lux/1m) were tested as follows:

  • Spotlight Turbo: 542lm / 2418cd - step-down to 230lm at 65secs. Runtime tested at 70mins.

  • Spotlight High: 229lm / 1043cd

  • Spotlight Medium:82lm / 373cd

  • Spotlight Low: 15lm / 68cd. Runtime tested at 35 hours.

  • Spotlight Moon: Unable to measure

  • Floodlight Turbo: 296lm / 522cd

  • Floodlight High: 72lm / 127cd

  • Floodlight Medium: 17lm / 29cd

  • Floodlight Low: 4lm / 7cd

  • Floodlight Moon: Unable to measure

Whilst the maximum lumen output is less than specification, it is still impressively bright for such a compact light, and sustains around 40% of the original output for most of the 70 minute runtime. Runtime was exactly as specified. The light does turn off abruptly at the end of the runtime, instead of stepping down to moon.


With a maximum throw of 98m, this light is most suitable for indoor or nearfield use.


Correlated colour temperature (CCT), colour rendering index (CRI), and tint were tested as follows:

  • Spotlight Turbo: CCT 5790K; CRI 69.2 Ra, Tint +0.0052

  • Spotlight Medium: CCT 5596K, CRI 68.2 Ra, Tint +0.0069

  • Floodlight Turbo: CCT 5032K, CRI 98.5 Ra, Tint -0.0009

  • Floodlight Medium: CCT 4979K, CRI 98.2 Ra, Tint +0.0010

The spotlight is the usual cool white, 70 CRI, green tint style of emitter commonly found on flashlights. Thankfully, the floodlight emitters produce a nice neutral white, high CRI beam, with neutral tint.


I was unable to measure RGB brightness as the output was minimal. In fact, the HD03 was vastly out illuminated by an Aputure MC Pro panel light running on just 0.1% output. The RGB lights on the HD03 are only useful for looking at. This is a shame as Wurkkos advertising makes it look like the RGB output is at least mildly useful. My hopes of using this light as a small RGB accent light for photography were dashed.

Wurkkos HD03 Optics
Wurkkos HD03 Optics
Wurkkos HD03 Spotlight Beam Profile
Wurkkos HD03 Spotlight Beam Profile
Wurkkos HD03 Floodlight Beam Profile
Wurkkos HD03 Floodlight Beam Profile

Conclusion


Positives:

  • Versatile mounting options (clip, handheld, free-standing, magnetic, and lanyard).

  • Lots of beam options - spotlight, floodlight.

  • Decent white light output for the light's size.

  • High CRI floodlight with neutral tint.

  • Fairly easy to use.

  • Moonlight mode.

  • Last mode memory for RGB mode (solid colour).


Negatives:

  • RGB brightness is poor (only useful for looking at, not illuminating anything).

  • RGB colour cycle to select a colour is too fast.

  • Spotlight is cool white with low CRI and slight green tint.

  • USB port cover is flimsy.

  • Light turns off abruptly at the end of the runtime.

  • No last mode memory for RGB effects.


The Wurkkos HD03 is a good value for money and versatile clip light. It is one of those lights that you didn't know you needed, but comes in very useful. The RGB implementation though is mediocre, with low brightness, and it is very difficult to accurately select a colour.









  • Stephen Knight Instagram
  • Stephen Knight Facebook
  • Threads
  • Youtube

© 2021-2025 Stephen Knight. All Rights Reserved.

bottom of page