Brutal brightness and more functions in the barely HUF 3000 lamp.

Introductory

The Utorch W1 lamp joked. Surely you have also heard of cases where the buyer bought a very cheap product, such as a hand-knotted Persian rug, and then when it arrived it turned out that the rug was a 10 x 20 centimeter piece. The seller did not lie, really carpet, really hand-knotted, even the size was indicated, but the buyer did not look. The pictures are correct, the only problem is that no one thinks that a rug can be 10 x 20 inches.

Well, that's what I did, just the opposite. Based on the picture, I thought that I could finally take a brilliant mounting lamp here, which will fit under the saddle of the engine, with me on many thousands of miles of rides. Then my package came, it included 4-5 products for testing. I knew the lamp was coming too, I packed the boxes on top of each other, but I just couldn’t find it. Then it turned out the turbidity, the lamp thought to be small is not small, but definitely big, at least so big that it is impossible to take it with me with the engine.

External

The lamp, which is considered small based on the images, has an actual size of 17,5 x 12,6 x 4,6 centimeters and a weight of 290 grams. Well, that's all, just not small. The oversized housing is made of hard, knockable plastic, but softer plastics bolted to the corners have also been bolted to prevent it from dropping. The lamp has been given a leg that can be folded out into several positions, which when fully folded up functions as ears and pliers. This corresponds to the materials used for the lamp body.

There are three bulbs on the Utorch W1 lamp. Two of these huge LEDs are located on the front panel, with a lens above it that directs the light from the two luminaires to a common point. The third burner was on the side of the lamp, which is both smaller and weaker than the front panels.

On the back panel you will find a switch to turn it on and off and to switch between modes. Next to it, under an openable transparent cover, we find a conventional and a mini USB connector, next to which, there are still 4 tiny blue LEDs under the cover. The battery window is also at the rear, protected by a sliding cover.

The Utorch lamp looks quite durable and looks good. The metallic plastics around the yellow corners and the lenses will toss up the look, we will tend to vote confidence in the structure even before it is turned on.

Operation and experience

The Utorch W1 lamp is advertised on Gearbesten as Rechargeable, which is essentially true if a battery were added but not added. Let's say it wouldn't fit in the price, but it's good to know that we need to get a minimum of batteries for the lamp advertised as rechargeable. Fortunately, we can put up to AA pencil batteries in the battery compartment on the back, and you will need three of them. If you don’t want to spend on constant battery replacement, you’d better order two 18650 batteries. These are 3,7 volt pieces, depending on the capacity and type of goods, we can get them for up to 680 forints, so I suggest that you put two of these in the basket next to the lamp.

You can find the battery here: 18650 batteries 

As I wrote above, the lamp has several functions. The fact that we can use it as an external battery has already been mentioned, but not that we can choose from four modes with the lamp switch. When turned on, the light on the side of the house is lit, it is essentially a traditional flashlight. The next time the button is pressed, the front panel "reflectors" switch on. By the third pressure, the front light is halved, and by the fourth, the “reflector” switches to strobe mode.

After turning on, the flashlight part will light up, but we will not fall backwards from it. Not bad, but I’ve come across a much higher brightness than that. The surprise comes with turning on the front panel LEDs. These are not at all an exaggeration to call a reflector because of their brightness. If you use it in a tent, or if you mount it next to it, you will get almost daylight, within a few meters of course. Because of this, half the brightness is not so superfluous, which obviously increases the battery or battery life. This includes the 4 blue LEDs under the transparent cover on the back showing the charge so you can see when the power is in a pre-discharge state. The last mode is the stroboscope, which I think will be good to watch out for because the very strong light flashes very quickly, so it can even trigger an epileptic seizure in those who are prone to it.

The lamp is really good to use, and the leg that can be folded out in several stages, on which we can lean the light beam in the right direction, is a great help in this. Folding this leg up 90 degrees gives a lamp that can be hung on the ceiling of the tent, and when fully penetrated, it functions as a pliers, in which case we can illuminate the way in front of us with the flashlight part.

As I wrote the brightness is not very connectable, I was surprised the first time I turned it on. The lenses effectively direct light. The flashlight function alone has become a bit weak, but this feeling may be just because of the brightness of the reflector. So after all it’s not bad, we’re not going to light it up for miles with it, but it’s still effective for 4-5 meters.

Conclusion

The Utorch W1 is a good buy, but not what I wanted to buy. Since I don’t pinch camping, but I love to mount it already has a place at home, going to the workshop, I’m sure it will be a useful companion for tinkering with my bike.

As I wrote there is no battery for it, it is not worth experimenting with a battery because using the full brightness of the reflector absorbs energy in a matter of seconds. For this reason, I suggest you look for two batteries in the link recommended above, you can basically buy it for as much as you buy 4 AA pencil batteries at home.

I also mentioned the price above. At Gearbest, they ask for $ 11, which is HUF 3140 at today's exchange rate, for which we also receive free delivery. I think this is why this lamp is not a friendly price, but rather a gift.

Here you can buy: The Utorch W1 LED lamp