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Wolf-Eyes 6T and 9T

A Product Review by Phil Elmore

I first heard of
Wolf-Eyes while exploring a Canadian Airsoft weapons page on the Internet. Wolf-Eyes tactical flashlights are
made in China and distributed from my neighbor north of the border. As
an American, therefore, purchasing Wolf-Eyes products is less convenient for
me than for our martialist friends in Canada. If the 6T Explorer and 9T
Raider models are any indication, however, the products are worth dealing with
Customs delays and currency conversions.

6T Explorer

The 6T Explorer is fairly representative of the tactical
Xenon-bulb flashlight as imported to meet increasing market demand.
Shorter than the hefty 9T, the 6T is 5.625 inches long and has a bezel
diameter of 1.25 inches. The body of the 6T is aircraft-grade aluminum.
It is directly comparable to several no-name Chinese import Xenon-bulb lights
on the market, such as those available from
Cheaper than Dirt
as of this writing. The Knurled body provides good traction and fits my
hand well.

The Wolf-Eyes 6T Explorer light.

Like the 9T, the 6T has an interesting tailcap switch that
is itself a 4-LED lamp. Protected by a plastic cover, the LEDs twist on
one-half turn before the cap reaches the always-on setting. They produce
3.5 lumens for a total of 68 hours on a fully charged LRB-150A battery, ideal
for reading or utility illumination. The tailcap also functions as the
pressure switch for momentary-on lighting of the main lamp. Activating
the main lamp deactivates the LEDs if they’re lighted. The tailcap can
be twisted out to momentary-on and always-off settings.

With the LEDs activated, pressing the switch turns
them
off while activating the main lamp assembly.

The main lamp produces a healthy 80 lumens, which easily
outshines its imported siblings and is more powerful than some baseline lights
from domestic producers. This is a function of the lamp only, but cost
is a factor in the choices of many martialists.

The 6T Explorer (right) easily outshines one of its
imported siblings.

Wolf-Eyes offers both DC- and AC-compatible charging units.
I actually used the battery charger that came with my 6T in trying to isolate
a problem I believe I caused. When I first installed the batteries, I
think I put them in backwards. Either because of this or because of a
problem from the factory, my 6T lighted weakly and then burned out completely.

I contacted Wolf-Eyes and they rushed me a new 3.7V lamp
assembly. The light worked perfectly thereafter. The instructions
state only to orient the “anode towards the tailcap” when installing the
battery, but I can never remember which end of a battery is the anode.
(In this case, the positive terminal needs to be pointed towards the cap or
the light does not work.)

The charger is easy to use and topped off my batteries
quickly. My functioning 6T is a nice light, if a little heavy it pumps
out bright light in a nicely defined spot ringed with lesser illumination.

Wolf-Eyes 6T Explorer disassembled, with charger.

9T Raider

My Wolf-Eyes 9T Raider tactical light came to me in the same
substantial cardboard box as did the 6T. Inside, I found a standard 9T
light, two LRB-150A batteries (cells of a type I’d not previously used), an
optional push-button tailcap switch, and a battery charger.

The Wolf-Eyes 9T Raider tactical light.

No stranger to tactical torches by now, I pointed the light
into my hand when I installed the batteries only to find myself blinking
away the afterimage of the reflected burst of light when the torch switched
on. Small wonder, I discovered for, as the product literature states,
the 9T pumps out an impressive 130 lumens for a total burn time of 50 minutes.

Wolf-Eyes tactical torches ship with large boxes.

The 9T Raider is not a small light by most industry
standards, but it is still within acceptable limits for tactical purposes.
It is 6.25 inches long and weighs 8.3 ounces, with a bezel diameter of 1.25
inches.

The Wolf-Eyes lights run on LRB-150A cells.

The push-button momentary-on tailcap switch is an optional
accessory. The 9T comes standard with the same 4-LED tailcap assembly as
is found on the 6T. When screwed all the way down, the 9V main lamp
assembly is set to always-on. When turned back a half turn, the LED lamp
assembly in the tailcap switch turns on and stays on. Backing off the
tailcap switch further turns off the LEDs (but the 9V lamp will still switch on
for momentary lighting when the face of the LED cap is pressed). Back
off the switch still more and the light is in always-off mode for storage.

Optional tailcap button switch (left) with LED
tailcap switch.

The LED assembly puts out a nice circle of blue-white
light.

The LED assembly produces a relatively weak five-lumen circle
of blue-white light for a total burn time of 60 hours, according to the
supplied documentation. It’s a neat option to have as part of your
tactical light a less intense but longer-burning source of utility lighting
for dealing with power outages, reading maps, or whatever. One assumes
the surface of the LED assembly is strong enough to do double duty as a thumb
switch. I actually prefer the tactical button switch with its lightly
textured rubber tab, but the LED option should not be discarded casually.

The knurled aircraft aluminum body of the 9T provides fairly
good traction. At half a pound, the light makes a decent striking tool,
too (though your guess is as good as mine regarding whether it will still
light after you bash in someone’s head with it).

The extra ten lumens in the 9T are visible (right) to the
naked eye.

Before I obtained the 9T, my 120-lumen Streamlight NF2 was
my brightest tactical light. Both are blinding. Side by side, the
9T’s extra ten lumens are apparent to the naked eye (at least comparatively).
The tradeoff for that extra power is more weight and length in this particular
case.

The 9T Raider compared to the Streamlight NF2.

I had the same problem installing the batteries in the 9T
that I had in the 6T, but I didn’t manage to burn anything out while getting
it in order. Be careful when setting up your Wolf-Eyes lights, as
there’s no point in burning out a lamp if you can avoid it.

Choosing Wolf-Eyes

The more product reviews I do, the more of an
internationalist I become. The Chinese-made tactical lights shipped to
me by way of Canada have impressed this American as solid and powerful.
There are many alternatives on the market that are as good or better, but the
cost and quality of the 9T and 6T are well matched and the lights perform
their functions well. These are the first tactical lights I’ve owned
that included low-power, long-duration secondary lights as well.

Wolf-Eyes has opened my
eyes to yet another tactical lighting option.

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