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Flashlight Review: Wurkkos T1
- Stephen Knight
- 18 hours ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 36 minutes ago
The Wurkkos T1 is a 5500 lumen tactical flashlight/torch. This is one of the most exciting new flashlights in 2026 with impressive brightness, throw, and RGBW side lights in a fairly compact form factor. This review is written from the perspective of a flashlight enthusiast and light painting/night photographer.
Disclaimer
The Wurkkos T1 was sent to me by Wurkkos for an honest review. I approached Wurkkos for this review sample. Product links are affiliate links.
Design and Construction
The Wurkkos T1 is a 21700 format flashlight/torch which is suitable for a wide range of uses with both outdoor and tactical modes. It's main selling points are 5500 lumens max brightness, 415m max throw, plus red, green, blue, and white side lights. The main emitter is a Cree XFLSNA 3V 6000-65000K LED which I've not tested before. Dimensions are 34mm head diameter, length of 145mm, and 208g weight (with battery). The light has an IPX8 rating, so should be able to withstand wet weather or a quick drop in water. It also has an impact resistance of 1.5m.
The light came in a branded box, with the T1, 21700 battery, 2 O-rings, a lanyard, side clip attached, manual, and USB-C to USB-C cable.
The included battery is a Li-ion 21700 5000mAh battery. This is thankfully not propriety. The light has inbuilt USB-C charging at 5V 2.4A max. Charging time was close to 2.5 hours. The light has a 4 level battery charge indicator. The Wurkkos T1 has a tactical tail switch, with rotary mode selector - more on the user interface in the next section.
The Wurkkos T1 was released around the same time as the fairly similar Sofirn SK31. The Sofirn has a slightly higher max brightness at 6800 lumens, but less throw at 395m. The SK31 has tactical and outdoor modes, but lacks the RGBW side light. Of the two, the Wurkkos T1 appears to be more useful for multiple use cases.
For light painting photographers, the Wurkkos T1 fits in the Light Painting Brushes Universal Connector, and now discontinued Light Painting Paradise Adapters. It is too large for T8 tubes. With the 5500 lumen max output (for 45secs), and stable 2249 lumen High output (for 5mins), this makes the T1 a compelling choice for creating light trails. As it is not high-CRI, I would recommend other lights for the illuminating side of light painting.
User Interface
The Wurkkos T1 has an interesting user interface (UI) using a rotary mode selector, and two stage tail switch. The rotary UI has modes for Lockout > Side Light > Outdoor > Tactical.
Lockout mode:
Press gently and hold from Off > Moonlight
Press gently from Off > Power indicator
Side light mode:
Press gently from Off > On
Press hard from Off > Strobe (press gently to advance Strobe>SOS>Beacon)
Press gently and hold from Off > Red
Press hard from On > Off
Press gently and hold from On > cycles White>Red>Green>Blue.
Press gently from On > advances Low>Medium>High
Outdoor mode:
Press gently or hard from Off > On (last mode memory)
Press gently and hold > Moonlight
Press hard from On > Off
Press gently from On > advances Eco>Low>Medium>High>Turbo
Tactical mode:
Press gently and hold > Turbo (momentary)
Press hard and hold > Strobe (momentary)
I really like the rotary switch to change the modes, the choice of modes, and that all modes start from off (which isn't the case with some rotary switches). The tail switch user interface is OK, but could be better. I like that Turbo mode is in the main mode cycle group, and memorised. Better than many previous Wurkkos/Sofirn UIs which required a double click for Turbo. The tail switch can be a bit fiddly, and there was a few times I inadvertently changed mode when I wasn't intending to, particularly in side light mode. The strobe is alternating frequency, which makes the strobe useless for light painting photographers who prefer constant frequency (e.g. 13Hz only). When using side light mode, you only need a quick gentle/half press of the tail switch to turn in the last mode memory. Anything longer than a quick press will turn on in red.
Beam, Output, and Runtime
The main beam uses a Cree XFLSNA 3V 6000-65000K LED placed in an orange peel reflector, for a hard edged throwy/general purpose beam, with claimed max 5500 lumens and 415m throw. The floody side lights use red, green, blue, and white 3535 LED emitters.
The brightness in lumens, throw in candela and distance (m) was tested using an Opple Light Master 3 Pro, and were as follows:
Turbo - 5540lm / 41,090cd (405m) - step down to approx. 1400lm at 45secs, then Medium at 5mins in 18C ambient temp indoors. Approx. 2 hours runtime.
High - 2584lm / 16,141cd (254m) - step down to approx. 1400lm at 5mins, then Medium at 20mins in 18C ambient temp indoors. Approx 2hr 45mins runtime.
Medium - 816lm / 5,101cd (143m) Approx 3 hours runtime.
Low - 342lm / 2,165cd (93m)
Eco - 30lm / 189cd (27m)
Moonlight - 5lm / 29cd (11m)
Side White High - 100lm / 212cd (29m)
Side White Medium - 24lm / 51cd (14m)
Side White Low - 2lm / 4cd (4m)
My light meter is unable to measure red, green, and blue side modes.
The maximum brightness is impressive for a light of this size, and lumens were measured to be very close to specification. One of my kids stated "woah, why does a torch need to be that bright?" Given the very high maximum lumens rating for a light of this size, I was impressed that the light managed 45 secs before brightness step-down on Turbo. The light manages 5 mins before brightness step-down on High mode, which pretty impressive given that many flashlights step down from this brightness in less than 1 minute. This step down is temperature controlled, and was tested in 18C ambient heat indoors. Varying ambient temperatures will affect the step down speed. A reactivation of Turbo will step down rapidly due to the temperature control. Heat management also works in Tactical mode. Heat is well managed, with the light not getting excessively hot to hold at any time.
Peak beam intensity/throw is below specification, given that my Opple Light Master 3 Pro tends to over-estimate by 25%, likely due to measuring at 2m instead of 5m. However, it's still pretty decent, and better than say, a KR4 with quad SFT-25R.
The brightness of the red, green blue, and white floody side lights were better than I was expecting, and bright enough to be useful for use cases such as camping and during astrophotography. I like that there are 3 brightness options.
The CCT, CRI, and Tint were tested as follows:
Turbo - CCT 6798K, CRI 70.5 Ra, Tint +0.036 DUV.
High - CCT 6414K, CRI 68.9 Ra, Tint +0.0061 DUV.
Medium - CCT 6261K, CRI 68.2 Ra, Tint +0.0074 DUV.
Low - CCT 6206K, CRI 67.9 Ra, Tint +0.0080 DUV.
Eco - CCT 6152K, CRI 67.3 Ra, Tint +0.0090 DUV.
Moonlight - CCT 6070K, CRI 68.6 Ra, Tint +0.0075 DUV.
Side White High - CCT 6251K, CRI 74.5 Ra, Tint +0.0059 DUV.
Side White Medium - CCT 5443K, CRI 66.6 Ra, Tint +0.0113 DUV.
Side White Low - unable to measure.
My light meter is unable to measure red, green, and blue side modes.
The main LED and white side light LED are of the usual "high brightness" flashlight fare, being (very) cool white, with a CRI around 70 Ra, and slight green tint (positive DUV). Of course, I would like to see a high CRI version as well to render illuminated subjects better, but that would have less lumens, and be less marketable. Having a high CRI side light would have been a good idea, as the brightness of the side light is not a selling point.
No PWM was detected in any mode.
Wurkkos T1 main beam profiles.
Wurkkos T1 red, green, and blue side beam.
Wurkkos T1 white floody side beam.
Conclusion
Positives:
Impressive maximum brightness / size.
Good throw for the lights size.
Rotary tail switch to change modes.
Red, green, blue, and white side lights are useful.
Last mode memory for most functions.
Turbo is part of the main mode cycle group.
Internal USB-C charging.
Negatives:
Tail switch can be a bit fiddly, particularly in side light mode.
Alternating frequency strobe.
For general purpose use:
The Wurkkos T1 is a very bright consumer flashlight that be used for tactical purposes, multiple outdoor uses, as well red, green, blue, and white side lights for niche use cases. Heat is well controlled.
For light painting/night photography:
The Wurkkos T1 is a good choice for creating (non-strobe) light trails. The alternating frequency strobe prevents the light being top of its league.
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