What are Hanklights?
On flashlight enthusiast communities like r/flashlight and Budget Light Forum, you may sometimes come upon discussions about flashlights made by someone named Hank or lights being referred to as Hanklights. When you search around, though, you may not find any flashlights branded as Hanklights but instead see a lot of mentions of Emisar and Noctigon.
Hank is the mastermind behind the flashlight brands Emisar and Noctigon sold from the website intl-outdoor.com (and noctigon.com). Because these flashlights span across multiple brands, it is easier to refer to them together as Hanklights.
What’s all the hype about Hanklights?
Hanklights are known for their great build quality and for being extremely customizable.
All of Hank’s flashlights offer:
- Host color choices and finish choices like copper, brass, and titanium
- An overhwelming number of emitter choices
- Anduril UI
- Flashing pads so you can upgrade to the latest version of Anduril or customize the UI to your preferences
Other options include:
- Button options such as your choice of color for backlit buttons
- Various tube sizes
- Dual channel versions of his lights
- Stainles steel bezel (you can ask for a copper one too!)
- Optic choices
- Tailcap magnet
- Pocket clip
Many Hanklights feature Auxilary LEDs.
On top of all this, you can email Hank at contact@intl-outdoor.com to customize anything else that you may not see an option for on his site such as other drivers or unlisted emitters. He’s even gone so far as to sign his lights with an autograph if you ask him to.
Each flashlight is built to order, and Hank sells directly to customers from his website. He responds quickly to emails and has a reputation for helping to replace faulty components if they fail within warranty.
Who is Hank?
Hank Wang is located in Singapore and orders of his lights ship from China.
If you ever send an email to support, you’ll get a response directly from him. His responses are known to be short and to the point. He’ll respond to technical and/or random questions from folks.
Hank has a bit of a cult status in the flashlight enthusiast community. He’s shared photos of his workshop.
He keeps his BLF thread up to date with his latest updates. There’s also a subreddit dedicated to fans of Hank’s lights at: r/Hanklights.
u/Cheule noted from corresponding with Hank:
These products have razor thin margins. There just isn’t the same overhead as with the “major brands” who can staff customer service departments.
[…] When you email Hank, you are talking to the same guy who assembles the lights, does the marketing, repairs, and customer service. When I asked him about it, he said he had one assistant (who I get the feeling does just menial tasks).
Will Ship Accordingly (WSA)
When requesting custom options over email, customers will often receive an email back from Hank with the words “Will ship accordingly” to confirm that he can fulfill the request.
This has become an iconic phrase and has even been put on t-shirts.
Hank’s favorite lights
In May 2022, someone got a response from him that his favorite light at the time was the Emisar D4V2 with 519A dedomed and a boost driver.
He’s also noted multiple times that he prefers the cyan finish color.