The Wuben G5 flashlight wasn’t even on our radar until recently because we kept thinking why would we need something like it? We didn’t think we needed the Wuben G5, until we got one. This compact, feature-rich flashlight surprised us in the best way. Now, it’s one of our top EDC picks.
It turns out that Wuben was really on to something by making a powerful tiny flashlight that comes in handy more often than we realized.
Now full disclosure, we do get a commission for any Wuben flashlight you may purchase through our links, but that didn’t have any impact on our opinion and we bought it with our own money. We actually own the Wuben G5 and have been quite surprised by it and we think you will be too.
Features
The Wuben G5 is a 400 lumen flashlight that is jam packed with features right out the gate, which makes it a really intelligent purchase. With the ability to have RGB colors you can use the lights to flag an area, create a unique mood in your room, or have lights that don’t interfere as much with night vision goggles (red).
The beacon light and emergency flashing lights features can come in handy when you want others to be aware of your presence. For example, at night walking your dog, or riding a bike, or just marking a location.
A bonus feature is that it can be clipped to your pocket, hat, backpack etc. so that you have a hands-free light. Since the light can be angled 180 degrees with just a turn of the flexible head lamp, you can actually aim it at the ground when you’re walking for effortless illumination while it’s clipped to something.
The Wuben G5 has you covered with an IP68 waterproof rating. That means go ahead and keep playing in the rain with it. The sliding side port cover helps keep the internals dry and allows easy access to the USB type-C charging port. While the sliding cover is fully closed, it locks the flashlight from accidentally being turned on.
The construction of it seems to be a very durable metal that lends itself well to protection against drops or bumps into other objects. The finish is also very nice, it’s not too smooth, so you can grip it nicely and it has a matte finish.
We went with the Green version to put some variety of color into our EDC gear. Which speaking of EDC gear, this small and lightweight flashlight (only 52 grams) is easy to carry and will fit in places other larger flashlights won’t which makes it a great addition to your lineup of EDC flashlights.
Controls
The Wuben G5 edc flashlight is turned on by the push button located on its side. You can turn the brightness up or down with the rotary dial allowing you to adjust the lighting to your liking. With a max brightness of 400 lumens and a low of 2 lumens, it has plenty of light for most everyday tasks. The lowest lumen setting is nice for a quick bit of light that won’t blind you if you just woke up and need to check something.
There is a quick access to turbo mode from any level of light by quickly double-clicking the side button to enter and exit the turbo mode. It also doesn’t just turn off the flashlight once the turbo mode is exited, it takes you back to the setting you last had which is very nice.
To cycle through the RGB colors hold down the side button and then rotate the dial. When the flashlight is off and you want to turn on the emergency flashing lights mode, ensure the sliding cover is open and the flashlight is off. Then double-click the side button.
To cycle through the different emergency flashing lights colors just double-click again until you reach the ones you want. The color options are red + green, red + yellow, and red + blue.
Illumination
In our testing of the Wuben G5 it performed exceptionally well. As of this post, we’ve been using it daily for a few weeks now on only a single charge.
The light is somewhat floody, so it illuminates what is directly in front of you quite well. But it probably won’t be a flashlight you want for trying to illuminate things that are very far away.
Wuben states 82m distance, which is plenty for most common needs such as night-time dog walks, late night runs, or just checking to see what fell in between the car seats when you slammed on the brakes because of that flock of geese that was crossing the road slower than Christmas comes every year.
The light is bright and has more of a natural white color tone making it good for identifying things by their color if needed.
Night Shots With The Wuben G5
Turbo mode illuminates very well with 400 lumens (right) when compared to the medium setting (left). We could see detail quite well on a dark street. Even though the trees are different, you can still see a big difference in the level of brightness.
Here is a comparison of medium setting (left) vs. turbo (right) in a dark open field. Even the medium setting was remarkably well lit directly in front of us. Clearly the turbo mode was much brighter and much better for faster identification of things.
Magnetic Tail End
The bottom of the flashlight has a magnetic tail end which is super helpful and surprisingly strong.
It’s great for those times you’re working under the hood of a car or searching for treasures in your uncle’s old tool shed and need a steady light so you can use both hands.
Battery Indicator
You can check the status of the battery life by clicking on the side button and holding it for a five seconds while the flashlight is off.
It will illuminate with a solid blue light meaning it has full charge, a flashing blue light means it has somewhere between 40% – 90% charge, a solid red means it has about 15% – 40% charge, and flashing red indicates about less than 15%.
The charging indicator will turn red when it is plugged in and charging to let you know it is charging and the light can still be used while it is charging; a very nice feature if you find yourself needing to use it while it’s charging.
Extras
It comes with a lanyard and it’s worth mentioning that the packaging of the flashlight and its contents was top notch. It was almost like a fancy mini puzzle to unpack it all making us feel like the quality and care that went into it was quite refined.
The lanyard has the Wuben branding on it and is comfortable to wear, but we did find that it would slide open at times and fitment adjustments were often needed. Not a dealbreaker, but something to be aware of if you like to use a lanyard.
Wuben offers a 5 year warranty, which is pretty solid assurance to have on something that you may be using daily.
Final Thoughts
If you’re in the market for a new EDC flashlight, the Wuben G5 should be on your shortlist.
It has very useful features like beacon and emergency flashing lights modes, as well as double-click to turbo. In a small package form that is sturdy and bright with its 400 lumens, magnetic tail, the Wuben G5 really has become our favorite addition to the collection.
The only thing we wish is that it had another power source in addition to it’s internal battery (like AAA or AA battery) to rely on when USB charging isn’t possible.
So while it may not be the flashlight you want for the apocalypse, it’s certainly an awesome EDC flashlight that will get the job done for almost all of your daily tasks where you need a flashlight.
Pros:
- 400 lumens, compact design
RGB & emergency lighting
Magnetic tail and adjustable head
Great value
Cons:
No backup battery option
Lanyard adjustment can be finicky
We picked up the Wuben G5 on a sale, but even at its regular retail price, it’s still an exceptional value.