Olight Baton Pro, an updated model to Olight S2R Baton II that was release last year (2018), featuring higher Turbo lumens, higher capacity battery, bigger flood beam profile, improved bezel ring, longer pocket clip and bigger switch button.
This, is a short comparison review of Baton Pro to S2R Baton II. First, let's take a look at the specifications:
the outputs:
the usual disclaimer: I do not claim the above measured lumens as authoritative nor an indication of over/under-stating the number given by manufacturer. My home-made light-box is calibrated against known light output (e.g. SureFire, Elzetta, etc.) so take it with a grain of salt and just as a relative reading.
now, the runtime:
although Baton Pro is using a higher capacity battery (3500mAh vs 3200mAh), the total runtime on Turbo mode until the light turned-off is lesser than that of S2R Baton II. This is attributed to the higher sustainable ~250 lumens more in Baton Pro (700 lumens vs 450 lumens). Although Olight quoted the Turbo runtime for Baton Pro as 1 minute versus S2R Baton II of 2 minutes, in my testing, both behave in exactly the same manner when in Turbo mode: after running approximately 1 minute at Turbo output, it gradually drops down to 30 percent of the Turbo output in the next 2 minutes and sustain at that level for extended time.
here is what's included in the Olight Baton Pro box:
you get a USB Magnetic Charging Cable - MCC1A, a Lanyard, a Pouch, and a User Manual which the contents are pictured below:
Olight Baton Pro:
Olight S2R Baton II (left) tailstanding side-by-side to Olight Baton Pro (right)
included battery for Olight Baton Pro is 300mAh higher than Olight S2R Baton II -- 3500mAh vs 3200mAh. Do note that both the battery and body tube are interchageable between Olight Baton Pro and Olight S2R Baton II. You can simply swap one to the other anytime you like. There is just one major difference between the battery/body tube of Baton Pro and S2R Baton II with regards to charging contacts, which will be detailed later.
from this beam profile, you can see S2R Baton II on the left has a smaller spot than Baton Pro on the right. Also, due to a very slightly more focus output from the S2R Baton II, it has a very slight advantage over Baton Pro when it comes to throw. But do take note that both lights are utilizing TIR optics and thus they feature floodier beam than those lights that uses reflector (e.g. Olight Warrior X) at the same output lumens.
a welcoming update to the signature blue stainless steel bezel ring, it is now properly sitted above and covering the anodized aluminum host.
different angle and a closer look at the sitting of bezel ring between S2R Baton II (left) and Baton Pro (right). The reason the way the bezel should be sitted like Baton Pro (and many other Olights in Baton series) is to provide some protection of the light from drops like pictured below:
here you can see the scratch mark at the bezel resulting from less than 3 feet drop. To be honest, this is one of the main reason why yours truly prefer Titanium material like Olight's limited run S1R Baton II Winter Edition than Olight's anodized aluminum. Although Olight claim these are HA (Hard Anodized), but their HA are not as tough as from other manufacturers like SureFire, Elzetta, nor from Fenix and the likes of Zebralight. Below is a section captured from OlightWorld.com website that talk about the Olight's flashlight body material.
As a side note, there isn't a type III hard anodized surface (as blue underlined in above picture), but only Type III or Hard Anodized or hard coat, the lesser type of anodization are Type I and Type II. Comparing the durability of Olight's HA with lights in my collections, the Baton series HA are comparative to Type II anodized body from SureFire like the 6P/6PL of the old.
longer pocket clip on the Baton Pro (right) compare to S2R Baton II (left)
bigger side switch button on the Baton Pro (right). however, if you find it hard to locate the side switch button of Baton series to begin with, this bigger button doesn't help. Your truly rely on the position of the pocket clip to locate the side-switch button especially when wearing gloves.
length of Baton Pro is longer than S2R Baton II. now that we are done comparing Olight's Baton Pro to Olight's S2R Baton II, let's look at some close up of Baton Pro:
there are 8 circles milled into the bezel (dimples?), instead of plain boring smooth bezel. I found out the diameter of the circle is exactly the same as my hole puncher's punched diameter, so... I decorate it with some photo-luminescent tape...
the square-textured patterned body... somehow, my Baton Pro sample "feels" less grippy than the S2R Baton II body... this could just be my sample though... YMMV.
Baton Pro's pocket clip
the signature blue stainless steel bezel ring
the magnetic charging tail. There is a significant change of this tail contact compare to all previously release magnetic charging models from Olight -- I can no longer get the battery Voltage measurement from this tail contacts nor can I measure the standby current drain from the contacts. This means Olight has done something to this new Baton Pro battery/body tube charging contacts and it addresses one of the most frequently safety concerns by users -- "will it create shorts if the magnetic tail contacts come in contact with any electrically conductive materials?", the answer to this when comes to Olight's Baton Pro is "No!" (well, at the very least, I just can't get a reading from my working multimeters). So if ultra-low current drain is one of your safety concerns and has gotten you staying away from Olight's magnetic charging models and you absolutely loves Olight flashlight, then this will be the biggest reason to get this new Baton Pro.
attaching the MCC1A to Baton Pro
this is the same MCC1A charging cable that Olight's been using for several of their recent releases. In my testing, this MCC1A does not charge the battery to 4.2V (measured with several of my multimeter), but only up to 4.11 - 4.13V. If you want to get a fuller battery, use the slim, round MCC charger that's included with the S1R Baton II or S2R Baton II, that MCC charger will charge the battery to 4.19-4.20V. Side note: having not to push the battery to fully charge to 4.2V every time theoretically gives your battery a slightly longer life... but, that's the theoretically side of things. A rumour has it that Olight will release a variable charging current MCC charger to address the slow 1A charging when dealing with high capacity battery (guess it's not so much of a rumour as Olight has announced it during their Olight Fan Day a couple of weeks ago at US of A).
MCC1A charging in progress...
MCC1A charging completed.
the cut out photoluminiscent tape being stick to the milled circle, I choose to fill 4 of 8 circles, and the results:
I like it a lot. and for completeness, here is the usual UI diagram:
In conclusion, although the higher Turbo lumens of 2000 of Baton Pro may sounds like significant compare to 1150 lumens of S2R Baton II, but in reality, due to the flood beam profile, most of the output are spread through the bigger hot-spot and with a different LED (Cree XHP50.2), it takes a beating in the runtime even with a higher capacity battery. Olight Baton Pro is a minor upgrade to S2R Baton II in my opinion. Thus, if you own S2R Baton II, then I suggest to continue using it... well... unless/until there are special edition that is worthy of collection... (e.g. there is a blue colour edition of Baton Pro)... you know... something like copper or stainless-steel or titanium material... or maybe a warm or high CRI version that is... keeping our fingers crossed.