Layman’s Flashlight Reviews

Wolf-Eyes continues their tradition of solid construction and rugged lights with their A1 model, which reaches down into the single cell AA range in an attempt at making a good EDC style light.

Wolf-Eyes A1

Meat and Potatoes

The EDC market is a tough crowd. These are the lights that have to be good enough to carry every single day. The lights that can easily slip into your pocket and not be in the way and yet still take a beating with the rest of them. Pockets tend to be crowded with plenty of other EDC items that all beat on each other in a quest for supremacy. The Wolf-Eyes A1 definitely fits the rugged criteria quite well. That much can be said for certain.

The machine work on the A1 is as solid and professional in appearance as I saw with the Wolf-Eyes T3, with a flawless appearance and beautiful anodizing. Aesthetically, Wolf-Eyes opted to go with more of an organic feel to the ribbing than is common to the industry. I am not entirely certain where my opinion lies as far as its looks, but I believe credit is due for taking the road less traveled. Finding unique methods for decorating the venerable flashlight is taking ever more creative thinking lately.

The output levels chosen for the A1 are surprisingly adequate, in spite of the odd mode order it employs. Starting out on Medium is a daring risk since you have to choose the level that “should” be most useful to most people, most of the time. Thankfully Wolf-Eyes did fairly well in this as its 30 lumen mode appears adequate for the majority of tasks I used the light for. From “medium” though it cycles through “low” to three modes that I have dubbed “high”, “higher” and “highest” which are all eerily similar to each other, and only can be told apart through careful inspection. Last of all is the seemingly obligatory strobe mode that I am beginning to wish was not included in quite as many lights. That is strictly a personal preference however.

Wolf-Eyes A1

Constructive Criticism

The A1 is yet another light to use PWM to manage its multiple brightnesses. Thankfully, as is the case with many lights I have reviewed recently, the frequency used is high enough not to cause visual irritation during use. My biggest problem with PWM is not on the visibility end of things however, but rather the underpinning efficiency. When all you are doing is reducing the duty cycle of the LED at full power, you are not allowing it to settle into the lower current ranges where LEDs are typically far more efficient. I would rather have the runtime this light should be capable of if full current regulation were in place for the lower levels.

One of the most essential components to a good EDC light is size. The A1 however is quite a heavyweight when it comes to other single cell AA lights. This light dwarfs all of my other single AA torches save offerings by Icon. Those behemoths are the only other models to challenge the length of the A1 and even surpass its girth, however those appear to me to be intended for a much different market and purpose, more accepting to the extra dimensions. Much of the A1′s size goes to further its solid build, but it definitely makes the lights presence known as you carry it. At it’s present size, I don’t really see myself doing so long term.

The biggest issue I take with this torch is a operational hiccup that I am not certain whether it is a bug or merely an undocumented feature. When you switch this light off for less than two seconds, it advances to the next mode exactly as you would expect it to. When you do so for greater than 5 seconds it reverts back to its initial starting mode of “medium” also as predicted. The problem lies in the intervening 2-5 second range. If you attempt to power the light back on during that time period, you find yourself in a lightless purgatory where the A1 refuses to activate in any mode until you again shut it off for more than the aforementioned 5 seconds. Since I can discern no possible benefit to this happening, I am forced to assume that it is either a very unfortunate side effect or even worse, evidence that the quality control of the electronic components of this light aren’t up to the same caliber as that for the metal work.

Wolf-Eyes A1

Conclusions

Those of you who are regular readers of my reviews know that I am loath to render unfavorable conclusions to any light, especially when you compare it to what was considered premium LED lighting only a few short years ago. However, when you consider what else is available in this same class, and the quality that Wolf-Eyes is proven capable of, this light comes across as over-large, under-efficient, and ill-featured.

Provided for review by the kind folks at PTS-Flashlights.