Yes!! Another Olight S1A review, super exciting isn’t it? There are already dozens of them, I know… but Olight gave me this one in exchange of a review, so here it is:
This is going to be a picture review, no huge wall of texts to go easy on your eyes.
Packaging is compact and pretty straightforward without unnecessary fancy elements to it.
The light is held in place by an o-ring, I thought it was a pretty clever way to secure the light however this o-ring is not for the S1A.
Package contents: S1A light, instruction manual, Olight AA battery, lanyard with easy attach metal clip.
The S1A comes ready to use with an included battery, and it’s not any cheap alkaline but a lithium AA primary. Very nice touch!
It follows the same design of other olight baton series light. The deep pocket clips works great and allows it to sit flush when in pocket carry.
Build quality is just as solid as my other Olights.
Very uniform anodizing and consistent knurling.
The XM-L2 LED is not visible in the S1A because it uses a high transmission rate TIR optic. The advantages of an optic vs a typical reflector includes a more uniform beam and more drop-resistant by skipping the glass. The front bezel as well as the ring around the switch are blue anodized, Olight is one of the few manufacturers to use this kind of visual element.
There is a embedded neodymium magnet in the tailcap strong enough to support the light on all angles, here you can also see the spring also found on other Olight products. It saves some space by not using a PCB and a soldered-on spring. The threads are fully square cut and provides a very smooth twisting action. Both parts are anodized making tailcap lock out possible.
Looking through the battery tube we can see a bit of the driver and the plastic cover, this plastic piece also acts as a reverse battery protection which means it can only use button tops when it comes to 14500 cells.
If you have 14500 flat tops you can easily add a small solder blob on top to make it compatible with the S1A.
Size-wise the S1A is very compact and lightweight, being just 1mm longer than the Zebralight SC52.
Front shot
The beam produced by the S1A is a large round spot with a square-ish corona around. This type of beam is perfect for indoor use, compared to the SC52 is has a much larger but less intense spot, but makes close-up task more comfortably such as reading in the dark. The tint is a good CW with no hints of yellow or green.
The UI is very simple and intuitive:
-When on: hold to change modes, single click to off.
-When off: single click goes to last used mode, hold for moon and double click for turbo.
Hidden strobe mode is activated with 3 clicks in any state. There is also a very neat timer feature, you can set an auto-off timer of either 3 or 9 minutes by double click when the light is on. The Olight UI is one of my favorites, I really like the instant access to both lowest and highest mode and being able to turn it on/off without delay.
I was very impressed by the performance of the S1A. Compared to the ZL SC52 rated at 500lm, the Olight achieved 28% higher reading on a ceiling bounce test, both lights using 14500. When it comes to alkaline and Ni-mh the difference is even greater, the S1A being 67% brighter.
Final words: an excellent performer that accepts a wide variety of cells, being compact and lightweight it makes a great EDC for those who like the AA form factor. It is currently one of the brightest AA light in the market when used with a lithium cell.
Room for improvement: I have no major complains about the S1A however there could be improvement for the the electronic clicky, it needs to have better feedback and less squishy travel before actually actuating the switch. Other than that I’m happy with the S1A, it will go as my carry-on light on my next trip.
Thanks for reading 
