**REVIEW: ~ Olight M3XS-UT Javelot ~ The little thrower with big punch** (photo heavy)

Olight MX3S-UT Javelot Long-range Flashlight

Olight M3XS-UT

Reviewer Overall Rating: ★★★★★

I received the M3XS-UT ” Kit”in excellent condition, perfectly packaged in its kit carry case, padded in a shipping cardboard box. The light Kit includes the M3XS-UT main light, extension-tube for use with 2-18650 cells, Two protected 3600mah Olight 18650 cells, a dual-18650 Olight charger, a 12volt DC 1000ma Power supply for the Charger, spare O-rings, and a hard-resin carry/storage lined with pre-cut foam with velvet front surface.

- This Olight MX3S-UT Javelot “kit” was provided to me for review by Lydia directly from: “https://olightworld.com/home/
Olight Official : https://olightworld.com/store/specialty/search-rescue-first-responders/m3xs-ut-javelot-kit.html
US Amazon : Amazon.com
UK Amazon : Amazon.co.uk
CA Amazon : Amazon.ca

The Olight M3XS-UT Javelot is a compact, 2-cell high-output Flashlight designed to throw a beam a long distance, and does it ever throw!

- Later on in the review you will see how the M3XS stands up to some beefy mega-thrower & powerful lights, including Olight’s own original classic monster the SR90 Intimidator, a Tom-E Modified BTU-Super Shocker, a stock DST, and a DBSAR modded DST, a Vinguyen modded 2015-edition Fenix 4-emitter TK75, a modded Acebeam X40, and others, and see how the M3XS-UT performs very impressively with Beam shot comparisons and intensity tests.

  • The M3XS-UT (UT stands for Ultra Thrower) arrived well packaged & in excellent condition.
    First observations of this light and its kit, like all the new Olights it is built with high quality, the packaging, & accessories. The case is a resin/plastic/pistol-style, handled, case, that is foam-lined with cut outs for the light, the extension-tube, charger, charger power-supply, and packet of spare o-rings. The foam liner, is even suede coated, a nice classy feature to add to the care of even the case quality. I did notice the case has extra cutouts for more accessories, and unsure what exactly they are for but can be used for extra batteries, other lights, etc.

- First to the light itself. Finish wise the anodizing it top notch,its a smooth satin anodizing, and i could not find any flaws or nicks on it what so ever. The tail-cap, extension tube, and head threads are anodized smooth, all greased with quality o-rings. The knurling on the battery tube is traditional Olight style, which i really like as its very coarse & provides good grip for bare hands or even thick gloves. I always like single-18650 sized flashlight bodies as they are easy to grip even with snowmobile mitts or heavy winter work gloves, (trust me… if you live in Canadian winters like i do, and spend any time on a snowmobile, snowshoeing , mountaineering, & Search & Rescue in winter months , traveling the wilderness, or in the back country with thick heavy winter gloves or mittens, the smaller flashlight bodies with good knurling like the M3XS is FAR better to handle & work with than the beer-can sized, thicker, bulkier lights and those with large tubes & bodies. This light & its shape reminds me of a modern, on-steroids version of the original Jacobs A60, but with many times the quality build, features, and far more throw & output.

- As a SAR-Tech, we know how important it is to have a good, reliable flashlight that can throw a beam a far distance for searching on the ground, water or from the air, be a compact size, light weight, ease of handling in adverse conditions, , a combination of good throw ability, and ability to control with one hand. Believe me when walking or hiking 5 to 10 miles with a Search & Rescue backpack, a lighter, more compact light is far better than carrying a heavy, bulky light. I have carried many “thrower” lights on my trips and runs, both modded and stock, and most of them are big, heavy, bulky, hard to handle with gloves on, and not really pocket-able in situations where you need to put a light in your pocket temporarily. When it comes to “Stock” factory throwers, this M3XS-UT tops them all for throw distance and compact, lightweight size. In this review, i faced this light against some powerful lights for comparison for throw ability, and it is very impressive in stock form in the reflector-based thrower category. Though some may find it a bit pricey at the initial purchase, but keep in mind this is not really a budget light in any form. It is a very refined, & well built flashlight, that can throw a beam a very long distance out of the box. it may not have the lumens output of the multi-emitter throwers, but in the single-emitter class of throwers, this light can hold its own when it comes to compact size plus throw ability, i have not found another light that compares to it in performance.

- The M3XS-UT can run on either four CR123 Primaries, or two 18650 LiIon cells, (using the included extension tube) The observed modes are good for the purpose of this light. It has Low, medium and High directly accessible using the side switch for mode-changing, while the tail clicky switch is used for turning the light on and off. There is a hidden “extra-Low” mode, and it is accessed by holding the side button down while turning the light on via the tail switch. (the standard modes are accessible from Low/med/Hi sequence as normal using the side button as normal while the light is on. The M3XS does not have a moon light mode, but then again it does not really need one as this light is built for ultra throw & long range searching at night outdoors, in cases where moon light is not really useful as it is in a tiny EDC or light used in a small space. It does tail-stand, but again its unlikely a “thrower” type light would be used for inside a room for that purpose very much.

  • On the business end of the light, the M3XS as a smooth reflector and a AR-Coated glass lens. The sample i reviewed here came with a “factory-dedomed” XP-L Cree emitter, in what i can see the best-fitting, best-refined LED reflector spacer i ever seen. It is beautiful in how they fit the reflector to the LED with the spacer, there are no gaps what so ever.

- It is perfectly centered built with a quality fit-and-finish i seen in very few lights of this style. Now back to the LED itself, it appears Olight has ordered these XP-L emitters without the domes from Cree, (as there is ZERO dome residue, meaning they look like XP-L emitters that were shipped to Olight without the domes), unlike a XP-L-HI that has a “coating” , the emitter in the M3XS is completely bare substrate and phosphor. Even my professional DSLR camera equipment is able to show the refinement of the design of the fit-and-finish of the business-end of this light, but i will promise if you receive the same light i have it is very well built with quality in mind. Interesting observation is that the tint of the factory-domeless XP-L is similar to a self dedomed XP or XM series Cree Led in the 1A bin range, but without any artifacts what so ever. it is a warmer tint than domed LEDs of the cooler bin, with a yellowish hue as we know from dedomed cooler tint binned LEDs, but not quite as much as a dedomed 3D or 4C would produce. either way this light throws a beam farther, and matches & exceeds lights two & even three times the size (and costs).

- This is the first modern, stock reflector-based thrower that i have tested that can throw a sharp beam to a kilometer that is small enough to fit in in comfortably in a smaller belt holster, a small knapsack, or even a deep jacket pocket.

- With the smooth, well polished metal reflector, The beam of the M3XS is very smooth with the typical average corona & flood-zone of a single emitter flashlight in the range of a 1000 to 1300 lumen single emitter design, but the hot spot is where this one really shines. It is very well focused to a small , tight, laser-like beam that holds together for a long distance. Like any dedomed-Cree emitter, the tint is on the neutral to warm side with a hit of yellow/green hue, but in this case very smooth as there is no dome residue it cause any artifacts.

  • The lens is a glass type, with AR coating & o-ring on the outside under the bezel.
    *photos, close ups, etc.

- Modes are well spaced. (extra-low, Low, Medium, and High, and a strobe mode which is hidden, but is accessible by holding the side button down while the light is on in any standard mode. This light has a tail switch clicky to turn it on and off, in addition to the side electronic button that changes modes.
However the side switch only cycles through Low, Medium, and High modes, to access the “extra Low” mode is accessible by holding the side-button down while the light is off, then turning it on at the same time with the tail clicky switch. It is not technically a firefly or moon light mode, as the lumens output is more of a extra low, and much brighter than the moon modes on most lights with a true moonlight mode.

- Run times for this type of light are not bad on the two 18650 cells supplied. as normal with most hard-driven lights of this output, the maximum mode will step down noticeably after being on for a few minutes, but then settles into a high mode for roughly a hour or more on high. Medium will give you 13 to 15 hours of running on fully charged cells, and low is several days continuous and will run longer than i have time to measure.

  • Many times the Amp-draw load can tell us the efficiency & what to expect in average run times of lights, below are the Amps-draw take at the tail cap with the supplied Olight 18650 cells, using a Fluke ET73DMMA with high-current 12-guage leads, at a measured open-voltage of 8.39 volts.

- Super-Low: 0.05 amps

- Low: 0.13 amps

- Medium: 0.80 amps

  • High: 2.67 amps

- Next is outdoor beam shots.

These were taken with a Nikon D5100 + Remote shutter using a Nikkor 18mm~55mm lens + UV + PL Filter, with all beam shot photos taken with the same settings for each light, and all the highest or turbo modes used.
I selected most of the best throwers i have to put the M3XS up against for throw comparisons.
The images are Adobe-Gamma corrected, & adjusted to appear as we see them as close as possible with human eyes, (as long as your monitor is set correctly.)

- Using all fully charged High-drain 25R Samsung cells in the other lights except the SR90 has the battery pack and the M3XS used the supplied 18650 cells that came with the kit. In the comparison throw beam-shot tests, i used several known thrower flashlights, some modded for more output and some stock. Included in this arsenal for beam shots are as follows in order as in the beam shots:

- Olight M3XS-UT Javelot

- Olight SR90 Intimidator (Stock)

- Defiant Superthrower, (Stock)

- Defiant Superthrower (Modified)

- Fenix TK75vn (2015 Edition) (Modified)

- Acebeam X40 (modified)

  • BTU SuperShocker, (Modified)

- As Seen in the outdoor beam shot photos, you can see the lean M3XS can hold its own for sheer throw in the center of the hot spot against some beefy known thrower lights.

  • In the first set of beam shot photos, from the parking lot location to the industrial building in the far distance over the ball-park fence based from Google-Maps, is 729.7 Meters. - from the light location to the fence is roughly 195 meters.
    Due to the dedomed nature of the XP-L emitter the tint is warmer and more neutral than the Hi version or domed cool white emitters and all of the lights in this comparison, ( even a bit warmer than the dedomed XM-L2’s in the TK75vn. ( with that hint of yellowish hue) in the photos you can clearly see how well it stands up to even my DST on steroids, and out throws the burly SR90.
    Map to building image:
    Beam shot images:

>> Below are the pros i like in this light kit that give it + points.

- well spaced modes, hidden strobe.

- Excellent build quality & beautiful finish.

- very compact light for the throw capability in stock form.

- Tail switch lock-out and side electronic switch for modes.

- good quality batteries & charger in the kit-option.

- Tailstands.

- Good runtimes.

- Can run on two 18650 cells or four CR123 primaries.

- excellent knurling for grip with heavy gloves.

- No PWM in any modes.

  • very tight hot spot with smooth spill.

> Specifications As per manufacturer
Max Output (lumens) 1200
Low (lumens) 3
Max Run Time (hours) 360
Beam Distance 1000
Peak Beam Intensity (candela units) 250,000
Water Resistance IPX8
Head Diameter 63mm
Length 211mm
Battery Type 18650
Weight (oz) 9.0000
pocketclip No
Beacon No
Body Color Black
Compatible Batteries 2 x 18650, 2/4 x CR123/16340
Mode Changing Method Rear Primary Switch
Holster Included Yes
Pocket Clip No
Crenulated Bezel Yes
Infinite Ouput Adjustment No
LED Type CREE XP-L HI
LED Tint Cool
Secondary LED Color None
Max Lumens 1200
Min Lumens 80
Beam Distance (Meters) 1000
Modes 4
SOS No
Strobe Yes
Switch Type Forward
Programmable No
Body Material Aluminum
Weight grams 255
Weight oz 8.9
Length Inches 8.3
Length mm 211
Body Diameter Inches 1
Body Diameter mm 25.4
Head Diameter Inches 2.4
Head Diameter mm 63

The “Kit version” here came with two Olight protected 3600 mah Lithium Ion Cells, the Omni-Dok 2-cell charger with powersuppply, the case, spare O-rings, lanyard), the 18650 extender tube, manuals, and a fine velvet-coated foam insert, all the goodies.

with the BT3100, i tested the cells at 3422 and 3463 respectivley, not quite at the rated 3600, but definitely top-quality cells. Internal resitance was low at 97 & 96. Keep in mind 3600 is basically the upper limit for a top-quality high-capacity 18650-sized cell, and any cell testing above a actual 3400 mah are good cells by any standard for capacity in an 18650 size.
The included dual-charger terminated the charging at 2.20 volts for each slot & cell.

>> Final thoughts:

- Overall the M3XS is a very powerful, compact thrower that performs pretty much at the top of the 2-cell thrower category. Yes there are more powerful throwers available, but they are all much bigger, heavier, bulkier, and not as practical for limited space applications. As an experienced ground & water Search & Rescue tech, and when having to hike into the bush at night with a backpack on a search, or doing a search in the winter wearing heavy gloves on a snowmobile or on a search trek wearing snowshoes, the M3XS would be the thrower light i would chose above all regardless of output.
The same goes for mountaineering, hiking, or any activity where you need to limit weight and size and need a thrower, this is a good choice. It’s price point may be higher than other lights of its size, but nothing really can compare to it for its stock throw ability when its size is taken into account, and again Olight has impressed with the quality & refinement of their new models as in the M3XS-UT Javelot. :slight_smile:

  • Den / DBSAR

Nice review there. Appreciate the beam shots. I agree the m3xs is a super thrower for the size.

Thanks. I will have some more beam shots/comparisons for this light soon added.

More Beam shots added from a different location. Same set of lights used in the comparison, Just over 371 meters from the tripod location to the water tower.

Great review, impressive for such a small light. Would like to see a head to head with a Maxtoch 2X.

That would be an interesting match up with that model, but i don’t have a Maxtoch 2X to test it against. Regardless this M3XS can stand up to some strong modded lights the burly TK75vn, Tom-E BTU Super Shocker, and the 5 amp monster DST in this comparo beam shot set its likely that it would out throw a stock 2X from the info i found on that light.

Lots of effort went into this thorough review. I enjoyed reading it, thanks :+1: .