Review: Olight X7 Marauder

I received the Olight X7 Kit version curtesy of Toby from OlightStore.com

Olight specs for the X7
Uses three top-class cool white CREE XHP 70 LED with a total of 12 light-emitting cores.
A maximum output of 9000 lumens which is great for strong illumination and minimum output of 3 lumens, which is suitable for long periods of using at night.
Powered by four 18650 rechargeable lithium batteries of high discharging rate , providing up to 3,000 lumens of output with three hours of run-time.
Comfortable hand gripping experience given by large square textures on the flashlight body.
Low-voltage indicator monitors the battery power level while the light is on, which will glow red when the battery power is running low.
Active Thermal Management: MCU detects the flashlight temperature through the internal thermal sensor in real time, and prevents overheating by reducing the output.

INCLUDED ACCESSORIES
Holster
User Manual
Car Sticker x 1

There are 2 versions available, the X7 Kit (the one I received) and the simple X7.
The single X7 comes with the light, while the kit versions has also 4 Olight Protected IMR 18650 3500mAh batteries and a charger.

Note that the normal version of the kit will contain a battery charger with 4 slots.

So, this is the standard box you get with the X7, with magnets to keep it closed.


Inside the box: X7, manual, holster.

There is a transparent plastic film on the glass of the X7, make sure to remove it before using the light, as suggested in the box.


The Olight distinctive blue PVD treatment on the bezels of the X7, on the body the usual HAIII anodization, black.

The 3 XHP70 in their OP reflectors.

There are some heatsinks on the head.

The knurling on the body of the light. Note that there’s no lanyard hole.

There is only an electronic switch, at the head. The run of the single stage switch is short, and I believe it requires medium to high force to be pressed.
The switch is located under a rather wide rubber cover, and is positioned in a recessed area of the light making easier to locate.

On the left side of the light there is a LED that works as battery charge indicator

Anodized squared threads, allow physical lockout of the light.

The outside of the tailcap is flat and allows tailstand of the light.

The tailcap has a design typical of the multi batteries flashlights, it can rotate around and has 2 ledges that you need to fit in the 2 holes inside the body.

The positive poles of the tailcap and the body are slightly recessed, as seen here. So you need button top battery (protruding wide tops are not ok) to make the X7 work.

In the dark you can see some cyan GITD powder, deposited on the outer surface of the reflector.

In my medium sized (Eu) hands.

What does the scale have to say about some not so small lights?

TM16GT

X7

Eagletac SX25L3

Manker MK34

And some comparative pics:


I always like holsters: they protect the lights and IMHO makes the more comfortable to carry, and so to use. In this regard, the sheath is well done: has a plastic D-ring and is MOLLE compatible

UI
A single click turns the light on – off.
To change level when the light is on keep pressed the switch, and the light will cycle low, medium, high mode, in loop.
From off a long click will activate moonlight mode.
To access Turbo, make a double click. To access TurboS, make a double click when you are in Turbo mode.
A triple click will activate strobe mode.
Has memory only for moonlight, low, med and hi modes. Turbo and TurboS will be “remembered” as high mode.
When the batteries are running low, the LED indicating the battery status will turn on.

Output & runtime
All the testing has been done with Olight 18650 3500mAh IMR Protected batteries. Olight recommends to use unprotected IMR batteries to get max performance with the X7.
Measured output is consistent with Olight Specs.

Sampling frequency is every 2” for Turbo modes, every 90” for high mode.

I tested the 3 higher levels both at Room Temperature with no cooling, and cooled by a fan.
Uncooled vs cooled plots show a big difference, due to Olight output regulating circuit. Remember that the 2 types of plot represent 2 opposite situations: one where the light sits inside a tube with no air circling (the worst one for cooling), and one where the light sits in a tube with a 10” fan, standing few cm away, pushing cool air on it (the best one for cooling).
In real use, you should always be in between these 2 extremes, and should expect proportional difference in the regulation.









The light becomes hot at turbo levels, no surprise here. I can still keep it in hand in the outdoor, and I will enjoy this more in the coming winter.

Beamshots.
From the camera, 100 meters at the trees at the end of the field, measured with google maps and a laser telemeter.
As usual, on my camera the pics at ISO50 are less bright than my eyes with 2” exposure, but are brighter with 4”. Try imagine something between them.

In this pics I have my right hand on the camera, and in my left hand the X7











The 3 big LEDs with 4 die each have a huge and intense spill, but there is somewhat still visible a hotspot. I don’t know about the other samples, but the tint on my X7 appears to be slightly on the neutral side, especially in the spot area.














I’m editing a video with some comparison with of the MK34 (XP-G3 cool white version). While filming this comparison I could clearly see a more demarcated spot in the X7, with slightly better throw, mainly due to the higher output of the X7. Also, the MK34 has a cooler tint compared to the one the MK34.

My thoughts.
There are people that complains that a light is big and heavy, and people that complains that a small light can’t sustain much output for a long time, before activating a stepdown.
The X7 is very well built, with a lot of output and a solid regulation.
The X7 is a big light, and thus is able to run more lumen for a longer period of time compared to smaller and lighter lights: for example: at (uncooled) Turbo it turns on at around 6000 lumens, and only after 10 minutes, when the output is decreased to around 5300, there is a significant stepdown .
I like the temperature controlled output a lot. It actually prevents the light being over heated when unnecessary (for example when you restart the turbo after the stepdown), but smartly decreases the output only when needed. I think it should be a nice feature to have on more lights, preferrable to the simpler temporized stepdown that is common to almost all lights.
This light is made for close range illumination purposes. The LED that indicates the low charge of the batteries works fine, but being on the left side is visible only when you are holding the light with your right hand.
Integrating the LED under the switch, and making it brighter may be small functional upgrades.
I’d like to see this light offered in a neutral/warm tint, with a tripod screw on the body and a lanyard hole.

Thanks to: AntoLed for the camera and the luxmeter.
Thanks for reading.

EDIT 22 september:
Someone asked on-off tests. For this one I had my hand on the light for the whole test.

EDIT 27 Semptember:

EDIT 31 January

Impressively powerful floodlight, thanks for the review.

“providing up to 3,000 lumens of output with three hours of run-time”

This is not really true, is it? It steps down to 1800lumens for the majority of the 3 hours.

While I like the detailed runtime tests/graphs and it is nice to know the details of how the light steps down, the vast majority of users would not use the light like this. Almost always the light would be used in relatively short bursts. For this reason I would like to see how bright the higher modes are at different points in the battery discharge. For example, with 50% discharged cells how bright would turbo or turbo s modes be? This is not a criticism of your review in particular, just an observation that most reviews lack this sort of information.

The power of

Thank you for an informative review.

Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems from the photographs that non-protected batteries need to be button-top is this correct?

Also is their a range on the length of the battery to work in this light?

Lack of information? I don’t see it at criticism. In fact, I have this test on its way.
However, consider the following:

- how do you identify the 50% level of a battery?

- if you can identify that voltage, how would it be compared to the ones of other batteries?

- the result you get from your test, done at RT, can be the same when the cells are 50%… but have been charged quicker? or you are in the freezing snow?

  • all the above, how will it compare to other batteries? If you have 3500mAh that are able to get turbo only above 50% charge, would you rather run 2100mAh that are able to get turbo only above 20% charge?
    You just CAN’T have enough information.

After the runtime at mid mode, I’ll run the “50%” test.

Budda

Thank you for a prompt reply and again for a very good review. :slight_smile:

You are welcome.
Also, the on-off test is very very tricky.
Simple to do, but how do you do it?
at Room temperature? with a fan?
how well does the light in between these conditions?

Yes, the users does on-off many times, but how many times do they on-off at RT, on a table? or in front of a fan? in winter? or summer?
what will happen in winter, where you get extra heat removal, but lower battery efficiency? And vice versa?
with a temperature sensor the interpretation that you can get from the data, is very “situational”.

What I would do is do a runtime test, but in ~5min (or 2min) intervals, allowing enough time for the light to cool between intervals. This would simulate more closely actual usage. Of course, you are right it might perform differently with different cells.

I don’t like the 5 minutes, I prefere to do it closer (30”).
Again, I like to make the “worst” situation, so you should at least expect something better.

Consider also this. I can make the test , but my test are run with the light sitting on a table.
If you keep your hand on the light, you actually make it cooler.

+1

Everything is relative.

Yesterday 9/21 was on my calendar (unspecific to location) said it was the Autumn Equinox, but in my location it will not occur until 9/25; four days later.

A good example of relativity in a flashlight test, as Budda has just written, is that there is a difference between holding a light with your hand and having it mounted. :slight_smile:

All these variables have an impact on test results. This is also one of the reasons that car mileage tests are done in laboratories. The side effect is that unrealistic scenarios where ridiculous low acceleration values are used etc. The outcome is a set of unrepresentative data. It’s hard to come up with standard test methods. I’m very happy with the runtime graphs produced here, and the only additional interesting thing I would like to know (asked Maukka yesterday) is whether the full 9000 lumens can be achieved with semi depleted cells (answer: no, only about 4500 lumens). Anyhow, thanks a lot Budda for the hard work! :wink:


For this test I had to let my hand on the light for the whole test.

Budda thanks for the review, excellent product of Olight.

I like the way you think about worst situation.
Thank You Budda, I think I fall in love with this light :slight_smile:

should be online in half an hour, or so

Is this normal behavior when shutting down the light?

Thanks for the awesome review OP, btw.

Perfectly normal leds shut down at varying voltages, so yes, that could be normal behaviour.

My R50 Pro and X7 both do that.